ODFW Aquatic Inventories Project

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Salmon River                     

Columbia River 2005-2007

Estuary Studies

Salmon River

The salmon river estuary on the central Oregon coast offers a unique opportunity to evaluate the response of fish and invertebrate prey to wetland recovery.  Since 1978, the USFS has completed three major dike removal projects in the Salmon River estuary, returning almost 70% of the historic wetlands to tidal influence. Because each project was initiated every nine years, the Forest Service restoration program has created a series of marsh recovery “experiments” at various stages of succession providing a one-of-a-kind natural laboratory for evaluating estuarine fish and prey community responses to restored wetland habitats.  The Salmon River Estuary project aims to provide information pertaining to salmon habitat recovery, juvenile salmon life history in undisturbed and restored habitats, and to develop appropriate designs for future restoration projects.

Project research activities:  
Fish surveys
Vegetation mapping
GIS mapping
Prey resources
Salmonid food habits
Physical habitat features

Additional Background Info and Data
Salmon River poster from AFS 2001
Salmon River Briefs, a background document with the most recent data
Oregon SeaGrant publication about Salmon River (leaving ODFW website)

Project contacts:
Trevan Cornwell
Kim Jones

Non-AQI Project Affiliates:
Dan Bottom
National Marine Fisheries Service
Hatfield Marine Science Center
2030 SE Marine Science Drive
Newport OR 97365
Voice: (541) 867-0309
E-mail: dan.bottom@orst.edu

Charles ("Si") Simenstad
Coordinator, WETLAND ECOSYSTEM TEAM
Voice: (206) 543-7185
FAX: 1-206-685-7471
E-mail: simenstd@u.washington.edu
WET WWW URL: http://www.fish.washington.edu/research/wet/WET.html
CRETM-LMER URL: http://depts.washington.edu/cretmweb/CRETM.html
Si's WWW URL: http://www.fish.washington.edu/people/simenstd/