What Salmon Need, and What You Can Do to Help!

A healthy salmon stream has:

• Clear, clean, cool water (<65 degrees F) with high oxygen content

• Abundant aquatic and streamside insects for food

• Deep pools and other protected areas for rearing

• Side channels for resting and waiting out high water flows

• Riffles: shallow, gravely areas with fast flowing water to serve as spawning grounds, and that help restore oxygen to the water

• Clean, silt-free gravels for spawning

• Navigable routes and adequate water flow with no blockages for fish migration

• A healthy riparian zone: the corridor of trees, shrubs, and ground cover along a stream, to keep the water cool, slow runoff, and reduce siltation.

What You Can Do to Help Salmon:

• Conserve water inside and out. Continuous stream flow is important to keep water cool and provide good habitat for fish and wildlife. Use rain barrels and cisterns to collect and store water for low water seasons.

• Use low phosphate detergents. Phosphates promote excessive growth of aquatic plants which deplete the stream of oxygen as they die and decay.

• Dispose of hazardous wastes properly - not down the drain, on the ground, or in the creek. Improperly disposed hazardous wastes (garden chemicals, automotive chemicals, paints, solvents, and other strong cleaners) can pollute creek water, groundwater, and eventually the Puget Sound. Household hazardous waste is collected from county residents free of charge at all transfer stations and recycle parks.

• Check and properly maintain septic systems. Malfunctioning septics contribute pollution to streams, rivers, groundwater, and the Puget Sound.

• Use garden and farm chemicals sparingly and carefully. Fertilizers can promote excessive weed and algae growth in streams, clogging gravels and robbing water of vital oxygen. Pesticides can kill good bugs, which are food for fish, as well as bad bugs. Use natural alternatives whenever possible.

• Limit access of livestock to creek. Livestock can trample stream banks resulting in vegetation destruction and soil erosion, and animal wastes can pollute creek water.

• Avoid altering the stream bed or surrounding area. Clearing or other changes to the creek or surrounding area can be devastating to fish. It may be necessary to remove blockages to fish migration, create pools, or enhance fish habitat in other ways. All stream work needs careful research and planning to assure beneficial changes. State or county permits may be required.

• Leave native vegetation undisturbed. Trees and plants along the creek provide shade and protection for fish, stabilize banks, and slow runoff. Fallen trees form pools in which fish can hide. Leaf litter = food for insects = food for fish.

• Replant bare, eroded areas around the creek with native plant species. Native plant species are more likely to survive, are better adapted to the local environment, and require less maintenance than nonnative plants and trees. These trees and plants provide shade to keep the stream cool, and prevent soils from washing into the stream.

• Report salmon sightings to Whidbey Watershed Stewards , at info@whidbeywatersheds.org or 360-579-1272. If you live near the creek or tributaries, watch for returning salmon November through January, and call WWS to report any returning fish you observe.

• Support community watershed restoration efforts. The return of salmon to Maxwelton Creek can only happen with your help! Learning what salmon need, and working to enhance stream habitat are ways creek and watershed residents can do their part.

Timeline of Salmon in Maxwelton Creek

1900 Plentiful salmon run, according to written records; 200-acre estuary extends to present French Road.

1915 Dike and tidegates installed to protect farmland and homes being created with increased settlement; estuary disappears in future years.

1955 Salmon run believed extinct. Doug McDonald writes a paper urging re-stocking, which was done for several years beginning in 1956.

1958 Salmon returned to the Creek as far north as Midvale Road, but later disappeared again.

1988 Fisherman Ben Reams releases salmon fry in creek for two years.

1989 New "fish-friendly" tidegate is installed at the mouth of Maxwelton Creek with help of Sen. Jack Metcalf, Puget Sound Anglers, early Salmon Adventure volunteers, and Diking District #2.

1990 Enhancement project begins: 60,000 Chum and Coho hatchery eggs incubated in the watershed in boxes built by Dave Anderson. The project continued through 2002 with many other volunteers and in several locations.

1995 Salmon return! 25 spawning Coho pairs sighted, beginning November 15 after hard rains. Coho adults continue to be spotted in following years. Local newspaper declares the return of salmon to Maxwelton Creek to be the number one story of 1995.

1996 A January flood washes out several culverts, and salmon are seen swimming across Maxwelton Road!

1998 MSA volunteer Rich Shaughnessy builds new egg boxes - the "Coho Condos".

2000 10 Adults counted. Jan Holbrook begins counting juvenile "smolt" coming downstream in spring. 300 juveniles found this year.

2001 A few adults spotted. Smolt count: 400.

2002 Last egg-rearing year - an experiment to see if population can sustain itself. No smolt count in next two years.

2003 10 "redds" - the gravel nests created by spawning salmon - are found by
Washington Trout biologists. Each redd indicates 2 adults were present.

2004 12 redds found. Salmon observed building redds at Outdoor Classroom site after heavy rains in early December.

2005 Spring smolt count resumed - count appears much lower than in previous years. Decisions to be made!

MORE DATA TBD