Friday January 30, 2026
NOAA —
In 2015, low numbers of coho salmon returning to the Queets-Clearwater watershed to spawn forced the Quinault Indian Nation to close their salmon fisheries. “Coho not returning to rivers as projected meant no income for our fishermen and no food for our people to eat,” said Cleve Jackson, spokesperson for the Quinault Indian Nation.
One major driver of salmon decline was the loss of spawning and rearing habitat due to the historic removal of old-growth trees. To address this loss, NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Habitat Conservation funds projects that build engineered log jams on rivers and streams. In a place as large and remote as Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, sometimes that means flying in supplies to locations inaccessible to vehicles and large machinery.