Puget Sound Vital Signs Measures of ecosystem health and progress toward Puget Sound recovery goals

Puget Sound Salmon Habitat Indicators

Measures of ecosystem conditions in salmon habitats

Salmon are a cultural icon of the Pacific Northwest. They are highly prized by anglers and commercial fishermen, are guaranteed to be available to Indian Tribes by treaties signed with the federal government, and are a favorite food of Southern Resident orcas.

Many Puget Sound salmon populations are threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The Salmon Vital Sign tells us about the health of salmon populations.

Salmon use many different habitats during their life cycle. They move from rivers to estuaries to the ocean, and back again. Healthy habitats along the way help salmon to feed, grow, rest, avoid predators, and spawn. Natural changes and human activities impact the quality and quantity of healthy habitat.

Puget Sound Salmon Habitat Indicators measure the health of habitats across Puget Sound that are important to salmon.

Salmon habitats from the headwaters to Puget Sound A diorama cross-section from a headwater stream below the Cascades on the left to the open Sound on the right, cut away beneath the waterline. Adult chinook, coho and chum spawn over gravel in the headwaters among log jams, below a road culvert. Fry with parr marks migrate downstream through streams and floodplains and freshwater pools, smolt in the estuary, and enter the Sound past beaches with eelgrass meadows and bull kelp. After years in marine water the adults return through the estuary and up the river to spawn. Eggs and alevins Fry and parr Smolts Ocean adults Adults return to spawn Stream Structure Freshwater Streams & Floodplains Estuaries Beaches & Marine Vegetation Marine Water Sediment Stream structure Stream temperature Freshwater riparian forest Flood events Floodplain function Hydrologic regime Summer low flow Estuary area Pocket estuaries Nearshore riparian forest Feeder bluffs Eelgrass sites Eelgrass area Understory kelp Floating kelp bed area Dissolved oxygen Marine water temperature

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Related Progress Indicators

Throughout their life cycle, salmon depend on a wide variety of freshwater, estuary, nearshore, and marine habitats. This leaves salmon vulnerable to many forms of human activities.