Task 1: Nooksack Supplementation Program - FFY 2012 Objectives:
The purpose of the project is to assist in the recovery of the threatened South Fork Nooksack Chinook population. The Nooksack Supplementation Program is designed to identify native South Fork Nooksack Chinook fish and to rear them to maturity at Kendall Creek Hatchery. The project is being conducted at Kendall Creek Hatchery because of the abundance of well water on site and its proximity to the South Fork of the Nooksack River. The objective is to utilize DNA data to determine spawning pairs that will produce offspring with genetic diversity equivalent to that found in the wild. The progeny of the captive brood fish will be reared at Skookum Creek Hatchery and released into the South Fork of the Nooksack River as sub-yearlings. The project is being undertaken to rebuild this threatened stock and ensure it persists while habitat restoration is being implemented.
Task 2: Dungeness Supplementation Program - FFY2012 Objectives:
The purpose of this project is to assist in the recovery and supplementation of the Puget Sound Chinook stock in the Dungeness River system. This specific task is focused on completing the second acclimation site on the Dungeness Fork. Completion of a second acclimation site will allow us to split the current zero-aged smolt production of 100,000 fish between two ponds. Raising both groups at the same time at different sites allows us to take advantage of optimum release time on all of the fish. It will also promote broader distribution of spawning adults to the more favorable habitat in the upper reaches of the Dungeness Fork and the Grey Wolf River.
Appropriate acclimation sites are not in abundance in the upper river system. Several sites were evaluated but most were proven to be unsuitable mainly due to a lack of road access and water supply. This region is in U. S. Forest Service ownership and land use restrictions are in place over broad areas. The best potential site is just upstream of the Dungeness Forks Campground at River Mile 15.8. This site has good road access and a level spot for rearing tank placement.