Biological Science in Oregon 

Adult coho salmon (Oncorhynchus

kisutch) spawning in a Columbia River 

tributary 

Fishing is an important part of 

Oregon’s culture. The Western 

Fisheries Research Center 

(WFRC) has been conducting 

research in Oregon for many years 

to provide information that can be 

used by managers to help keep fish 

and other parts of the ecosystem 

healthy. Below are examples of 

some of WFRC’s studies. 

If You Build It, Will They 

Come? 

Crims Island in the lower 

Columbia River is shaping up to be 

a “Field of Dreams” for juvenile 

salmon. Young salmon use tidal 

marsh habitats to grow and prepare 

themselves for entering the sea. 

However, most of the marsh 

habitat on Crims Island was 

ditched and drained to allow for 

farming and cattle grazing leaving 

fish with only a straight, narrow 

ditch with slumping banks. 

Now, 70 years later, efforts are 

under way to restore marsh habitat 

to its original condition. In 2005, 

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

used a fleet of earthmoving 

equipment to dig new tidal 

channels and rearrange over 90 

acres to provide a better home for 

young salmon. The WFRC is 

monitoring fish habitat use and 

food availability before and after 

the restoration. Also, by using 

quality does impact aquatic

animals in some areas of the state. 

Poor water quality can be in the 

form of high temperatures, low 

oxygen, or chemicals from human 

activities in urban and rural areas. 

To help managers develop plans to 

recover salmon, WFRC scientists 

have developed a computer 

program (using a Geographic 

Information System, or GIS) that 

combines all of the available water 

quality information for the 

Willamette and lower Columbia 

rivers, and the tributaries and 

streams that feed them. This 

decision support tool will allow 

managers to decide where there are 

the most serious water quality

problems and to direct habitat 

restoration efforts to where they

will most help recover salmon.

small pumps to flush food from

the fish’s stomachs, the amounts 

and kinds of food eaten will be 

compared to what is available in 

the water. This information will 

tell scientists if the new marsh 

habitat produces the high-quality

food that salmon need for good

growth in their new home. The 

information produced by this 

study will guide other habitat 

restoration projects in the lower 

Columbia River estuary.

Helping Recover Salmon in 

the WillametteValley 

As we work to increase the

number of salmon in our rivers it 

is important to consider the 

quality of the water. Although 

most of the rivers in Oregon are 

clear and crisp, poor water 

U.S. Department of the Interior USGS FS 2006-3067 

U.S. Geological Survey July 6, 2005 
has conducted research in this 

basin since the mid-1980s. Most of 

the research at the KFFS is 

conducted on two species of 

federally endangered Upper 

Klamath Lake fishes, the Lost 

River (Deltistes luxatus) and 

shortnose suckers (Chasmistes 

brevirostris). Studies focus on 

understanding the life history

requirements, assessing status and 

trends of populations, habitat use, 

behavioral ecology, and population 

dynamics of sucker populations. 

The KFFS staff works closely with 

personnel from the USGS Oregon 

Water Science Center, which 

conducts studies examining 

various aspects of hydrology and 

water quality in the Upper 

Klamath Basin. The close 

association allows for a 

multidisciplinary understanding of 

the Upper Klamath Basin 

ecosystem as a whole and 

enhances the studies conducted. 

The KFFS also works with 

managers from state and federal 

agencies and tribes to ensure 

information being collected is 

applicable to species recovery

efforts. 

the fall. Scientists have found 

that the numbers of young fish 

can vary considerably from year 

to year, and more often than not 

they cannot find any in some 

reservoirs. WFRC scientists are 

conducting field and laboratory

studies to understand why we see 

these differences in the number 

of young fish each year and 

continue their monitoring 

program so that the Columbia 

River will always have white 

sturgeon in it.

Studies of Endangered Fish 

in the Klamath Basin 

During recent years when 

droughts and water shortages 

have become more frequent in 

the western United States, the 

debate about water allocations 

and endangered fish has made 

the Upper Klamath Basin a 

nationally important site. The 

WFRC Klamath Falls Field 

Station (KFFS) located in the 

Upper Klamath Basin of 

southern Oregon was established 

in 1999, although the Center 

For additional information, please contact: 

Lyman Thorsteinson, Center Director 

U.S. Geological Survey

Western Fisheries Research Center 

6505 NE 65th Street, Seattle, WA 98115 

(206) 526-6282 ext. 236; FAX (206) 526-

6654; http://wfrc.usgs.gov 

Swimming Against the Currents of 

Change – Dams, Reservoirs, and 

White Sturgeon Spawning

 

White sturgeon (Acipenser 

transmontanus) attract attention 

because of their large size and 

prehistoric looks. People in

Oregon enjoy fishing for sturgeon, 

watching them breach and roll in 

the river, and viewing them in 

aquariums where they are 

displayed. What they don’t often 

consider is that every one of these 

large fish began life as an egg 

about the size of a pearl. Although 

harvest of these magnificent fish 

has been regulated since the 1950s, 

it wasn’t until the mid-1980s that 

studies were conducted to 

determine where and when white

sturgeon spawn. Since then, we 

have determined that white 

sturgeon spawn mainly during May

and June in very fast flowing 

waters such as in areas 

immediately downstream from

most dams. 

In the Columbia River, WFRC 

scientists measure the level of 

success of spawning by looking for 

small juvenile white sturgeon in 

Left, an endangered Lost River sucker; and

above, Klamath Lake 

USGS 

Weighing a juvenile (about 4 months old) white 

sturgeon from the Columbia River