Protecting Our Iconic Salmon
Even if you don’t eat them, salmon provide critical connection and enormous value to our lands, waters, and oceans. The Nature Conservancy works to protect native salmon, from the beginning of their complex life cycle to the end, by restoring vital habitat, improving water quality, and mitigating climate change.
Learn ABOUT THE ECOSYSTEMS ESSENTIAL TO SALMON SURVIVAL, THEN SCROLL BELOW TO SEE HOW OUR work protects THEM throughout their life cycle!
In coastal rainforests and interior dry forests, we’re protecting and restoring streams through active management and removal of unnecessary roads. We’re also installing log jams to improve habitat for young salmon.
We’ve helped restore natural processes along 10 miles of rivers, including the Puyallup and Skagit Rivers. We’ve also protected 12,500 acres along the Hoh and Clearwater Rivers, connecting a salmon migration corridor from the Olympic National Park to the Pacific Ocean.
In Port Susan Bay, we have protected and are working to ensure resilience of more than 4,000 acres of tidal estuarine marsh, mudflat, and eelgrass ecosystems. We are restoring 150 acres of marsh habitat, giving young salmon smolts a better chance of surviving their migration from Puget Sound.
We’re partnering to promote sustainable fishing that supports healthy salmon populations, not only to benefit Washington’s seafood industry but also to ensure mature salmon return to advance the next generation and, as they die, provide nutrients that feed flora and fauna throughout the forest.