Pacific salmon are wonders of nature. Chinook salmon are their kings. Spring Chinook salmon are wonders of wonders.
“Springers” (as they are commonly called) re-enter freshwater months before other Chinook salmon. They do so exceptionally well prepared for their upstream migrations. With much greater reserves of nutrients in their fatty tissues than fall-run Chinook, they can take advantage of the higher river flows of spring and early summer to reach spawning habitats far upstream. In fact, they reach as far inland as the heart of Idaho’s “River of No Return” wilderness, over 800 river miles upstream from the mouth of the Columbia River and over 6,000 feet above sea level. Throughout their range they reach and utilize spawning habitats that are unavailable to fall-run fish. For these feats they have been called “mariners and mountaineers.”
Northwest landscapes, rivers, salmon and people
Salmon evolved over eons in the watersheds of the Northwest’s dynamic landscapes. Over the last 25 million years their watersheds changed dramatically as the Olympic and Cascade Mountain ranges grew, basalt flows engulfed vast regions of present-day Washington and Oregon, and the northern California Coast Range was uplifted. The watersheds and rivers we know today were created by these and myriad other changes over time.
So too were Pacific salmon, which evolved into today’s species of sockeye, pink, coho, chum and Chinook salmon. As they evolved, they also diversified significantly within species by adapting to the unique chemical, physical and biological characteristics of each of their home rivers, including their seasonal flows and temperatures. Springers were some of the most magnificent and varied results.
Salmon attracted and sustained some of the first humans in North America. Many early groups thrived along the coast, particularly at the mouths of the Columbia and other great rivers of the Northwest. Some used sites far inland, at least seasonally, at locations springers would regularly reach but few if any other salmon could.
Oregon State archaeologists have recently uncovered projectile points that have been carbon-dated to nearly 16,000 years ago – about 3,000 years earlier than the oldest Clovis points ever yet found in North America. They were found along Idaho’s Salmon River, hundreds of miles upstream of the mouth of the Columbia on a prime migration route for springers (Archaeologists Uncover Oldest Known Projectile Points in the Americas: https://phys.org/news/2022-12-archaeologists-uncover-oldest-projectile-americas.html),
10,000 years before the first pyramids were built in Egypt, the first people of the Northwest were already salmon people. Over the millennia to come, salmon drove the development of their diets, tribes, cultures, art, traditions, trading and more.
Then, within just the last 250 years, waves of new settlers from Europe and around the world arrived. Salmon drove the rapid development of new communities and economies. The settlers drove most Native peoples from their lands, waters and salmon across the Northwest. With the tools of the new Industrial Age, the settlers also quickly drove massive changes to the region’s watersheds, forests and rivers. Salmon, considered an inexhaustible resource, quickly became anything but.
“Springers” (as they are commonly called) re-enter freshwater months before other Chinook salmon. They do so exceptionally well prepared for their upstream migrations. With much greater reserves of nutrients in their fatty tissues than fall-run Chinook, they can take advantage of the higher river flows of spring and early summer to reach spawning habitats far upstream. In fact, they reach as far inland as the heart of Idaho’s “River of No Return” wilderness, over 800 river miles upstream from the mouth of the Columbia River and over 6,000 feet above sea level. Throughout their range they reach and utilize spawning habitats that are unavailable to fall-run fish. For these feats they have been called “mariners and mountaineers.”
Northwest landscapes, rivers, salmon and people
Salmon evolved over eons in the watersheds of the Northwest’s dynamic landscapes. Over the last 25 million years their watersheds changed dramatically as the Olympic and Cascade Mountain ranges grew, basalt flows engulfed vast regions of present-day Washington and Oregon, and the northern California Coast Range was uplifted. The watersheds and rivers we know today were created by these and myriad other changes over time.
So too were Pacific salmon, which evolved into today’s species of sockeye, pink, coho, chum and Chinook salmon. As they evolved, they also diversified significantly within species by adapting to the unique chemical, physical and biological characteristics of each of their home rivers, including their seasonal flows and temperatures. Springers were some of the most magnificent and varied results.
Salmon attracted and sustained some of the first humans in North America. Many early groups thrived along the coast, particularly at the mouths of the Columbia and other great rivers of the Northwest. Some used sites far inland, at least seasonally, at locations springers would regularly reach but few if any other salmon could.
Oregon State archaeologists have recently uncovered projectile points that have been carbon-dated to nearly 16,000 years ago – about 3,000 years earlier than the oldest Clovis points ever yet found in North America. They were found along Idaho’s Salmon River, hundreds of miles upstream of the mouth of the Columbia on a prime migration route for springers (Archaeologists Uncover Oldest Known Projectile Points in the Americas: https://phys.org/news/2022-12-archaeologists-uncover-oldest-projectile-americas.html),
10,000 years before the first pyramids were built in Egypt, the first people of the Northwest were already salmon people. Over the millennia to come, salmon drove the development of their diets, tribes, cultures, art, traditions, trading and more.
Then, within just the last 250 years, waves of new settlers from Europe and around the world arrived. Salmon drove the rapid development of new communities and economies. The settlers drove most Native peoples from their lands, waters and salmon across the Northwest. With the tools of the new Industrial Age, the settlers also quickly drove massive changes to the region’s watersheds, forests and rivers. Salmon, considered an inexhaustible resource, quickly became anything but.
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Try to picture the span of time in question as a football field. Imagine the left-hand goal line as 25 million years ago, when the watersheds of rivers of the Pacific Northwest were changing rapidly and salmon were evolving with them. On our imaginary field, the first humans arrive more than 99.9 yards away, on the opposite two-inch line. The first Europeans and the Industrial Revolution arrive just three one-hundredths of one inch from the goal line.
In other words, in one-thousandth of one percent of the time it took today’s salmon to evolve in our region, we have brought them from species of prodigious abundance to ones of great concern. |
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Springers’ status today
Today, wild spring Chinook salmon are in particular danger. Their numbers have declined precipitously in recent decades. They are in more trouble than other Chinook runs because the cumulative effects of more than two centuries of habitat degradation and barriers to their migration across their much larger range have taken an even greater toll on them than on fall-run fish.
Some genetically unique populations of spring Chinook salmon have already been lost. In many river basins, remaining runs are now on the brink and could soon also be lost – some perhaps within this decade.
The cultural, dietary, ecological, scientific, educational, and economic value of springers to the Northwest is incalculable. The impact of their possible loss is inconceivable. As Sara Thompson of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde has said, “The loss of spring Chinook would be a tragedy like none other.”
Recent genetic research: Findings and implications
For decades, fisheries managers and others have generally assumed that if spring Chinook disappeared, fall Chinook would simply replace them, because they were essentially the same fish. Recent genetic evidence has shown otherwise.
Over the last decade, Dr. Michael Miller and his research team at UC Davis have confirmed that spring Chinook salmon are genetically distinct from fall Chinook salmon. Today we know which unique genetic attributes created their ability to enter freshwater early and migrate far upstream.
Today, wild spring Chinook salmon are in particular danger. Their numbers have declined precipitously in recent decades. They are in more trouble than other Chinook runs because the cumulative effects of more than two centuries of habitat degradation and barriers to their migration across their much larger range have taken an even greater toll on them than on fall-run fish.
Some genetically unique populations of spring Chinook salmon have already been lost. In many river basins, remaining runs are now on the brink and could soon also be lost – some perhaps within this decade.
The cultural, dietary, ecological, scientific, educational, and economic value of springers to the Northwest is incalculable. The impact of their possible loss is inconceivable. As Sara Thompson of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde has said, “The loss of spring Chinook would be a tragedy like none other.”
Recent genetic research: Findings and implications
For decades, fisheries managers and others have generally assumed that if spring Chinook disappeared, fall Chinook would simply replace them, because they were essentially the same fish. Recent genetic evidence has shown otherwise.
Over the last decade, Dr. Michael Miller and his research team at UC Davis have confirmed that spring Chinook salmon are genetically distinct from fall Chinook salmon. Today we know which unique genetic attributes created their ability to enter freshwater early and migrate far upstream.
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We also know that springers’ unique characteristics did not arise independently in each watershed. They are the result of a single genetic mutation millions of years ago that was followed by unique adaptations over immense spans of time to the watersheds they inhabit today.
There is no longer any reasonable basis for an assumption that spring Chinook salmon will magically “re-evolve” in any time frame meaningful to us if we lose them. What took nature eons to create cannot be replaced quickly. We can’t be sure it is possible at all. |
But some things are certain. It is possible to lose springers. We can lose them in specific basins. (We already have.) We can lose them entirely. If we lose them, we will have lost them not just for people living today, but for untold generations to come. The good news is that we now have a much better understanding of springers, an even stronger case for immediate action to save them, and a very good idea of what those actions must be.
Urgently needed: ESA protection for spring Chinook salmon
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) can provide protection for a population of a species that constitutes a Distinct Population Segment (DPS) – one that is discrete from other populations of a species and that is significant in relation to the entire species. Springers are a genetically distinct subset of Chinook salmon whose populations are uniquely adapted to specific watersheds. They richly deserve and urgently need protection under the ESA.
Several springer runs have already been listed under the ESA. Petitions for the protection of several more have been submitted in recent years. Recent genetic findings have bolstered scientific support for those petitions.
Pacific Rivers and the Center for Biological Diversity will soon file a new petition for ESA listing of the springers of Washington’s coastal rivers: the Chehalis, Quinault, Queets/Clearwater, Hoh and Quillayute. Our petition is the first to focus on these rivers, which are home to some of the most imperiled runs of springers. It is also the first to build its case on the most recent genetic research. Its scientific foundation will solidify the case for action to protect and restore springers, not just on the Washington coast, but across the Northwest.
We do not believe it is necessary to list all Chinook salmon under the ESA at this time. While some fall runs are also on the brink, others are currently in decent shape and holding reasonably steady or even beginning to recover. We do believe that listing of spring Chinook is warranted, imperative, and urgent.
We need look no further than coho salmon for an ESA success story. Since Oregon’s coastal coho were listed as threatened under the ESA 1998, coho runs have rebounded impressively and are now on the road to recovery. What we have done in the last quarter century for coho we must now do for spring Chinook.
Urgently needed: ESA protection for spring Chinook salmon
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) can provide protection for a population of a species that constitutes a Distinct Population Segment (DPS) – one that is discrete from other populations of a species and that is significant in relation to the entire species. Springers are a genetically distinct subset of Chinook salmon whose populations are uniquely adapted to specific watersheds. They richly deserve and urgently need protection under the ESA.
Several springer runs have already been listed under the ESA. Petitions for the protection of several more have been submitted in recent years. Recent genetic findings have bolstered scientific support for those petitions.
Pacific Rivers and the Center for Biological Diversity will soon file a new petition for ESA listing of the springers of Washington’s coastal rivers: the Chehalis, Quinault, Queets/Clearwater, Hoh and Quillayute. Our petition is the first to focus on these rivers, which are home to some of the most imperiled runs of springers. It is also the first to build its case on the most recent genetic research. Its scientific foundation will solidify the case for action to protect and restore springers, not just on the Washington coast, but across the Northwest.
We do not believe it is necessary to list all Chinook salmon under the ESA at this time. While some fall runs are also on the brink, others are currently in decent shape and holding reasonably steady or even beginning to recover. We do believe that listing of spring Chinook is warranted, imperative, and urgent.
We need look no further than coho salmon for an ESA success story. Since Oregon’s coastal coho were listed as threatened under the ESA 1998, coho runs have rebounded impressively and are now on the road to recovery. What we have done in the last quarter century for coho we must now do for spring Chinook.
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Spring Chinook documentary: The Lost Salmon
Last fall we celebrated the release of The Lost Salmon, a full-length documentary film that makes a beautiful and compelling case for protecting and restoring springers. It was written and produced by filmmaker Shane Anderson, who has produced several important films with Pacific Rivers in recent years. All, including The Lost Salmon, are available on our website. The Lost Salmon chronicles Shane’s two-year journey across Washington, Oregon, California and Idaho to document some of the last genuinely wild springers, the historic and ongoing causes of their declining numbers, and their profound relationship to the people and places of the Pacific Northwest. The film follows the recent genetic research and concludes with an inspiring account of a springer stronghold today that shows what’s possible if we give springers a chance elsewhere. The Lost Salmon aired on regional PBS affiliates and is now streaming nationwide on PBS. We encourage everyone to watch this film to gain a better appreciation of the wonders of spring Chinook and the need for their increased protection. |
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Shane dedicated The Lost Salmon to “the loving memory of Jon Kurtz,” Pacific Rivers’ beloved long-time board member who left us much too soon.
The path to recovery for springers
The needed actions to protect and restore spring Chinook runs are many. They vary by region and river, but there are some clear themes. We need to:
Most of all, we need to protect and restore watersheds, not just for the sake of spring Chinook salmon, but for all fish, wildlife, and people. We need to provide the highest levels of protection for the healthiest remaining watersheds, and we need to accelerate work to improve the health of watersheds that have been degraded by deforestation and other damaging land uses. That is our mission.
All this can be done over time. The question is whether enough of it can be done quickly enough to save springers. Doing so will require leadership, commitment, partnerships, teamwork, focus, persistence, monitoring, and funding. We need to utilize every tool at our disposal to save spring Chinook.
To be clear: The Endangered Species Act is not a panacea for springers. It is, however, a key to a bigger toolbox. It’s time to turn the key.
The path to recovery for springers
The needed actions to protect and restore spring Chinook runs are many. They vary by region and river, but there are some clear themes. We need to:
- Reconnect rivers and streams to their floodplains to improve water quality, flows, riparian vegetation and spawning habitat.
- Better mimic the natural quantity and timing of flows that springers need in many rivers.
- Improve fish passage around many dams and other barriers that have been created over the last two centuries.
- Remove dams that are particularly harmful, such as the four on the lower Snake River.
- Prevent the construction of new dams, such as one currently being considered for Washington’s Chehalis River.
Most of all, we need to protect and restore watersheds, not just for the sake of spring Chinook salmon, but for all fish, wildlife, and people. We need to provide the highest levels of protection for the healthiest remaining watersheds, and we need to accelerate work to improve the health of watersheds that have been degraded by deforestation and other damaging land uses. That is our mission.
All this can be done over time. The question is whether enough of it can be done quickly enough to save springers. Doing so will require leadership, commitment, partnerships, teamwork, focus, persistence, monitoring, and funding. We need to utilize every tool at our disposal to save spring Chinook.
To be clear: The Endangered Species Act is not a panacea for springers. It is, however, a key to a bigger toolbox. It’s time to turn the key.
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A time for decision and action
In the Northwest, we have no more important or urgent conservation challenge than saving spring Chinook salmon. Honoring Indigenous people, cultures and treaties demands it. The ecological health of our watersheds demands it. Saving orcas and other species demands it. Our regional identity, quality of life, health, economy, and prospects for sustainability all demand it. But simply preserving the status quo won’t get the job done. Timid, incremental measures won’t either: there is simply not enough time left for us to depend on a little more of what already has proven not nearly enough. As a region, we must scale up our efforts an order of magnitude to give springers a fighting chance. Right now. |
Doing our part is a top priority for Pacific Rivers. Here’s how you can help:
- Watch The Lost Salmon, the new documentary by Shane Anderson, streaming on PBS in 2023 at https://www.pbs.org/show/lost-salmon/ and on the Pacific Rivers website at https://www.pacificrivers.org/storytelling.html.
- Write the following officials of the National Marine Fisheries Service to call for Endangered Species Act protections for all imperiled populations of spring-run Chinook salmon: Janet Coit, Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, [email protected]; Jennifer Quan, NOAA Regional Administrator for West Coast Fisheries, [email protected].
- Host a viewing party of The Lost Salmon or share a copy of this article and discuss with family and friends.
- Call or write your governor and members of Congress to urge new protections for springers at the federal, state and/or local levels.
- Look for timely alerts for specific additional actions the months ahead. Sign up for email updates at: https://www.pacificrivers.org/email-sign-up.html
