AmeriCorps Watershed Stewards Project

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AmeriCorps Watershed Stewards Project
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What do we do?

• Restoration Projects

Environmental Education
Field surveys
Team Activities Professional Training
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What is a Watershed?
Its a place that gathers and stores water. It
acts like a sponge, it absorbs water and releases
it slowly.
Watershed Boundary
Tributary
Main- stem
Estuary
Ground Water
Ocean or Bay
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Salmonids in your Watershed

• Steelhead Trout
• Chinook Salmon
• Coho Salmon

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What does anadromous mean?

• ANADROMOUS fish are fish that are born in fresh
  water, travel out to the ocean to live as adults,
  and return to their home river to spawn.

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Salmonid Life Cycle
Egg
Spawner
Ale vin
Adult
Fry
Smolt
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Salmon Eggs in the Redd
Eyes
For every 1,000 eggs in a redd, only about 1 fish
will return to spawn!
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Big-bellied Alevin
Yolk Sack
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Fry
Parr Marks
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Good Fry Habitat
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What do baby salmon eat?
Larval stages of macroinvertabrates make great
food for salmon fry! Macroinvertabrates are bugs
you can see without a microscope.
Stonefly Larva
Caddisfly Larva
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Silvery Smolts
These little fish have to adapt to the BIG ocean!
They grow and their guts change so they can live
in salt water.
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The Estuary
Smolts need a clean and healthy estuary!
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Ocean-dwelling Adults
Salmon stay in the ocean and eat for a few years
(about 1 to 4 years)
Counter-shading for camouflage
Young adults
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Predators in the Ocean
All kinds of animals love to eat salmon!
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Spawner Adults
Kype
Male Coho
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Spawning Salmon
After the redd is made, salmon spawn. The entire
process takes only a few moments. Usually, more
than one male will add his milt to the females
eggs. This helps keep a good, strong mix of fish
living in the river. The female will guard her
redd until she dies. Her rotting carcass helps
provide nutrients for her babies.
Pair of Adults
White milt flows over the females eggs
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At Rivers End All part of the process
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Any Questions?