Years ago, I attended a conference regarding impact from development to salmon habitat. I learned two important lessons regarding watersheds like at Whipple Creek.
In many cases, coho salmon will use small creeks, some even called “non-salmon bearing” because many are so small. These very small creeks can even be what are termed intermittent (seasonal streams) that still serve as critical rearing areas for young coho and steelhead. Are these protected at all?
Fisheries biologists and others have long felt that stream buffers have to minimally be the width of the highest mature trees found next to streams. This was considered to be the height of a mature Red Alder (90 feet).
The journals of an early surveyor/timber cruiser of the Olympic Peninsula show that Western Red Cedar were the trees that ended up being the final “climax” species alongside salmon bearing streams. Optimal habitat width alongside streams and rivers should be 242 feet.
