salmon habitat

Summer streamflows in the Nooksack Basin have been declining for decades, while the need for irrigation water grows as summers get hotter and rainfall diminishes.

Interested parties hope Solutions Table funding approved by the Whatcom County Council this week will spark collaborative work toward holistic solutions for water availability in the Nooksack River basin.

Salmon recovery is a priority for many in Washington who see vegetated streamside buffers as important to salmon-friendly habitat. But some in the state’s agricultural community see the threat of loss of productive farmland from proposals such as the Lorraine Loomis Act discussed earlier in this year’s legislative session.

When work is completed by the fall of 2022, coho, chum and chinook salmon will have access restored to 2.7 miles of Padden Creek from its mouth in Bellingham Bay near the ferry terminal.

An apparent focus on reducing the ongoing costs of recovery of Puget Sound rather than recovery efforts themselves worries some who are concerned about the health of the ecosystem.

This may surprise you: Water, even in wet Whatcom County, is a scarce resource.

As local streams get less water from lower snowpacks and grow warmer during hotter summers, some local grassroots organizations are working to reverse or soften the damage to habitat and the fish that rely on colder water.