RIVERS
The Pacific Northwest is home to hundreds of rivers, streams and lakes. Unfortunately, some of the region's rivers have been polluted with industrial and agricultural run-offs over the years. Some rivers that once teemed with salmon and other fish are now barren. With vigilant government intervention, the health of the rivers in the Puget Sound - such as the Stillaguamish, Snohomish, and Skagit - is improving and, as a result, the salmon population is slowly increasing again.

Up north, British Columbia's Adams River - just 9 miles long - is home to the densest population of sockeye salmon of any particular run in the world. Every September, the Adams River turn crimson as hundreds of thousands of sockeye salmon make their way back to their birthplace to reproduce, lay their eggs and die. Interestingly, every fourth year, the returning salmon population swells to amazingly high numbers. It is estimated that 2.6 million salmon visited Adams River in 1990!

The millions of fertilized eggs mean a new generation of sockeye salmon, but they also mean an annual feast of eggs and dying salmon for other fish and animals. Once spawned, the small sockeyes must make their way to the Pacific Ocean. During the dangerous journey, they must dodge hungry seals, killer whales and commercial fishing nets.

The lucky few that survive the ordeal swim into the open seas and return fully grown three or four years later and repeat the same journey their parents made up the Adams River. However, poor logging practices, industrial waste, urban and suburban development, runoff from farms and yards, wasteful water use and climate change all threaten the health of our rivers and endanger the lives of the salmon.

Bob Fuerstenburg on how with the loss of species diminishes humans' connection to the world around us.

Bob Fuerstenberg, the senior ecologist for the King County Department of Natural Resources, has been analyzing why so many of western Washington's rivers and streams no longer support wild salmon runs. Fuerstenberg cites human development as the primary source of the rivers' decline in wild salmon and other wildlife. As our rivers and streams become more contaminated or altered, many species face a drastic decline in their population, or even extinction.

Tips to help preserve the health of our rivers and lakes: www.metrokc.gov/exec/esa/
hometips.htm

Visit splash.metrokc.gov/topics/salmon/
SALtopic.htm to learn more about the salmon migration in the Pacific Northwest.

The tides are up on
Tatoosh Island on
the Olympic Peninsula!

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