Learn How To Be A Salmon Steward!

It's an early, fall morning in the Rogue Valley. The leaves on the trees along the Bear Creek Greenway are beginning to change color and the air has a crispness to it. You stop along a bridge overlooking Bear Creek only to be surprised by the splashing of water and the glimpse of a female salmon preparing her Redd. Yes, that's right, there are salmon present in Bear Creek!

To view some videos of Salmon In Bear Creek from the Fall of 2022 Click on the links below.

To ensure that we can continue to witness this natural phenomenon and the end of the salmon life cycle, we must be Salmon Stewards!

10th Street in Medford

How can we help protect salmon? Here are 3 recommendations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that are simple and easy to practice:

1. Scoop the Poop (a Stream Smart pledge!): Be sure to scoop pet waste before rain washes harmful bacteria into nearby waterways.
2. Keep Salmon Off Drugs: Instead of flushing old medicines down the toilet, bring them to a drug take-back event (Jackson County holds these events at the Expo).
3. Use Commercial Car Washes: Commercial car washes use minimal water and remove pollutants - such as motor oil, antifreeze, and brake pad dust - before wastewater is discharged. When you wash your car at home in your driveway, these pollutants can very easily enter storm drains, which empty into nearby creeks and eventually rivers (such as the Rogue River).

For additional actions that we can take to be Salmon Stewards, check out NOAA's Take Action webpage.

Keep in mind that while we are still seeing salmon, they may be in reduced numbers. Why is this happening?

Salmon, like people, need healthy habitats to thrive. Habitat loss, passage barriers, drought, and runoff are making it much more difficult - and sometimes impossible - for salmon to complete their life cycle. On the West Coast, 28 out of 46 stocks of salmon and steelhead are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

 

For thousands of years, salmon have played a vital role in cultures and economies around the world. Salmon are also a vital link in many food webs and a keystone species in many different ecosystems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Download An Incredible Journey (a children's book) by clicking on the photo below.

An Incredible Journey: A Series of Educational Resources to Promote Salmon Stewardship