Habitat

Successful Projects Help Recover and Protect Habitat

Habitat restoration and protection is paramount for salmon recovery. While challenges such as population growth, development, and climate change remain, significant progress is being made throughout the region including the following projects:

• At the Stillaguamish River delta, more than one hundred acres of estuarine tidal marsh is restored providing expanded areas for juvenile Chinook salmon to grow. The Nature Conservancy led this work at Port Susan Bay and is collaborating with the Stillaguamish Tribe as they restore and connect the neighboring zis a ba parcels.
• On the north shore of Orcas Island, nearly two thousand feet of near-shore habitat is protected including eelgrass beds, which are important feeding and rearing areas for salmon. The San Juan Preservation Trust led this work including the restoration of the uplands while ensuring public access.
• In the Elwha River, more than twenty logjams were installed in one mile of the river to help split the high-velocity flows in the winter and create deep, stable pools with complex cover for rearing and side channels for improved spawning. The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe led this work, which will benefit multiple species of salmon.

The Puget Sound region aims to fund and implement seventy-two hundred acres of floodplain, estuarine, near-shore, and shoreline and streamside buffer restoration activities, Puget Sound-wide, by 2030. This target quantifies how much habitat restoration the region will collectively achieve in the next five years if Watershed Chapter implementation targets for those habitat types are met.

Continuing Challenges to Habitat Protection and Restoration

• Population Growth and Infrastructure: While Washington State has laws meant to direct development and protect habitat, these have not proven sufficient and often are disconnected from salmon recovery planning. Puget Sound’s population growth is increasing the demand for housing, roads, water systems, and associated infrastructure. This infrastructure often destroys or disconnects salmon habitat. Development continues to destroy habitat at a pace greater than habitat is restored. Restoration also takes time as small plants grow into forests. When healthy habitat is destroyed, it can be decades or even centuries before an area can be restored fully. The Partnership and partners work to both protect what is remaining and fund restoration to increase the amount of habitat available for salmon.
• Climate Change: Warming freshwater and ocean temperatures, altered streamflow, and rising sea levels are affecting salmon. The Partnership and partners support science to anticipate where climate change affects salmon and act to increase salmon survival in Puget Sound.

To learn more about other indicators and targets that assess progress improving salmon habitat, visit the Puget Sound Vital Signs page and the Puget Sound Progress Indicators page.

For more information about habitat project actions, visit the Recreation and Conservation Office’s Salmon Recovery Portal and Project Search public databases.