While most salmon create egg nests in streams, a portion of the Lake Ozette sockeye (blueback) population spawn on the beaches of its namesake lake.
Except where they can’t because there is too much vegetation in the way.
Lake Ozette sockeye spawn in gravel beds along the lake’s shoreline in November and December. To survive incubation, the eggs need oxygenated water which comes from wave action driving oxygenated water into the lakeside gravel, said Jonathan Scordino, a biologist for the Makah Tribe.
However, historic logging practices between the 1950s-1970s and other factors have increased fine sediments flowing into the lake, said Patrick Crain, Olympic National Park (ONP) fisheries biologist. Sediment settling on the spawning gravel has allowed vegetation to establish, resulting in thick vegetation and dense root mats along the shoreline, reducing the effectiveness of the wave action that cleans the gravel. It also physically prevents fish from using the gravel that was formerly available.
Changes to spawning habitat, as well as a myriad of other challenges, resulted in the collapse of the Lake Ozette sockeye population. Since the 1970s, the Makah Tribe’s recovery efforts, including restricting fishing and supplementing the population through a Makah hatchery program, have stabilized the population but it is still not recovering, Scordino said.
Lake Ozette is home of the only run of sockeye within the Makah territory. The recovery of the stock is important to the tribe as it is a prized salmon and treaty resource. The tribe has worked to enhance and understand the sockeye population at Lake Ozette in order to return to traditional uses.
In 2022, the Grassroots Salmon Recovery Project was established as a partnership of the tribe, ONP and citizen volunteers with a goal of improving the habitat by clearing vegetation by hand from Olsen’s Beach to promote recovery of Lake Ozette sockeye. The work was challenging in that it needed to be done with hand tools instead of machinery due to the culturally sensitive nature of the entire lake shoreline.
The Grassroots Project has no direct funding, using volunteer and staff time from partnering agencies and groups for three-day work parties that occur annually in mid-July. Starting in 2023, the project was fortunate to have U.S. Coast Guard Station Neah Bay partner on the project, Scordino said.
“Our involvement in the Lake Ozette rehabilitation project is just one of many initiatives that demonstrate our commitment to the Makah community,” said Micah Kaneshiro, Commanding Officer, USCG Station Neah Bay. “This project not only allows us to contribute to the preservation of a vital natural resource but also gives us the opportunity to work side by side with local residents, reinforcing the importance of collaboration and mutual support.”
The Grassroots Project has completely cleared 285 feet of shoreline at Olsen’s Beach since the start of the project and has begun treatment of an additional 75 feet, thanks to more than 100 people contributing more than 850 hours of time between 2022 and 2024.
“The Makah Tribe is proud of the dedication and hard work demonstrated by our fisheries staff in leading the Grassroots Salmon Recovery Project,” said Makah Tribe Chairman Timothy J. Greene, Sr. “Our partnership with the Olympic National Park and the USCG Station Neah Bay has been vital to the success of these efforts. We are grateful for their commitment to preserving our natural resources for future generations.”
“We’re just getting started but we’re starting to see coarsening of the sediment and increased use of the site by spawning salmon,” Crain said. “We are hopeful that our efforts will help kickstart the recovery of Lake Ozette sockeye.”
Makah fisheries management intern Cosmo Smith-Della, U.S. Coast Guard Executive Petty Officer Calvin Hernandez and Olympic National Park archeologist Matt Dubeau remove vegetation from a beach on Lake Ozette to improve sockeye salmon spawning habitat. Photos and story by Tiffany Royal
The post Beach restoration to support Lake Ozette sockeye appeared first on Northwest Treaty Tribes.