WILLAMETTE NATIONAL FOREST, Ore.– Keeping the ecosystems of the Willamette National Forest safe comes down to the Nutrient Enrichment Program being used by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Part of what that program entails is workers throwing salmon carcasses into the Santiam River and wooded areas.
Reed Fischer is the STEP Biologist with the ODFW and has been part of the program for three years. Like the Easter bunny hiding Easter eggs, Fischer will go to a total 12 specific locations along the Santiam River and leave hundreds of salmon carcasses for the native wildlife to eat. Fischer said this gives the ecosystems the nutrients it needs to continue thriving. Since the 1980’s, the ODFW and fish hatcheries have worked to keep this program moving.
“You have to imagine Oregon before there were dams, fish could go to the ocean, they could swim all the way up to the streams and creeks and with them their bodies would be filled with nutrients,” Fischer said. “Beforehand, there’d be 2,000 of these salmon per hatchery sitting around in totes like this after a spawn, pretty early on they understood it was really wasteful not to do something with these nutrient loads.”
With a full month of carcass drop-offs, Fischer said it won’t take long for the wildlife to find the remains and for the nutrients to spread. However, these carcasses are very much a danger to both humans and pets because they are full of harmful bacteria, which the ODFW is cautioning the public about…