Research to Action for Yukon River Salmon: Adapting to Climatic, Food-Web, and Habitat Changes
Salmon populations in the Yukon River Basin have plummeted to historic lows, disrupting fisheries, fueling conflicts, and impacting communities that have relied on salmon for generations. Researchers supported by this Alaska CASC project will combine traditional knowledge, field data, and modeling to identify the key drivers of salmon decline and create tools to guide restoration and policy efforts. This work will ultimately benefit Tribes, fishing communities, and land managers by supporting salmon recovery.
Public Summary
Salmon abundance in the Yukon River Basin has declined to historic lows, leading to unprecedented fisheries closures, conflicts between user groups, and serious impacts on Indigenous communities who have depended on salmon for millennia. These declines are linked to climate change, interactions with other species, and the quality of their habitat.
The goal of this project is to document, quantify, and map how these many factors are affecting salmon on the Yukon River so that communities and decision-makers can take the most effective local and regional actions to support salmon recovery and resilient communities. The project team will gather existing information, conduct field sampling, and document local and traditional knowledge to build a clearer picture of what is driving salmon declines. They will also create models that describe how stream temperature, habitat attributes, predatory species, beaver, disease, wildfire, and human development affect salmon populations.
Outcomes of this project include decision-support tools, interactive maps, and other outreach products to help fishing communities, Tribes, resource managers, and policy makers prioritize the locations and conditions where action can have the greatest impact on salmon populations. This research will benefit local communities independently of the ultimate scientific findings by providing gear, training, and financial support for rural community-based partners. This should build research capacity and raise awareness of Tribal members’ concerns and priorities within the scientific community and management agencies.
- Source: USGS Sciencebase (id: 683867e7d4be02091a0cf32f)
Salmon populations in the Yukon River Basin have plummeted to historic lows, disrupting fisheries, fueling conflicts, and impacting communities that have relied on salmon for generations. Researchers supported by this Alaska CASC project will combine traditional knowledge, field data, and modeling to identify the key drivers of salmon decline and create tools to guide restoration and policy efforts. This work will ultimately benefit Tribes, fishing communities, and land managers by supporting salmon recovery.
Public Summary
Salmon abundance in the Yukon River Basin has declined to historic lows, leading to unprecedented fisheries closures, conflicts between user groups, and serious impacts on Indigenous communities who have depended on salmon for millennia. These declines are linked to climate change, interactions with other species, and the quality of their habitat.
The goal of this project is to document, quantify, and map how these many factors are affecting salmon on the Yukon River so that communities and decision-makers can take the most effective local and regional actions to support salmon recovery and resilient communities. The project team will gather existing information, conduct field sampling, and document local and traditional knowledge to build a clearer picture of what is driving salmon declines. They will also create models that describe how stream temperature, habitat attributes, predatory species, beaver, disease, wildfire, and human development affect salmon populations.
Outcomes of this project include decision-support tools, interactive maps, and other outreach products to help fishing communities, Tribes, resource managers, and policy makers prioritize the locations and conditions where action can have the greatest impact on salmon populations. This research will benefit local communities independently of the ultimate scientific findings by providing gear, training, and financial support for rural community-based partners. This should build research capacity and raise awareness of Tribal members’ concerns and priorities within the scientific community and management agencies.
- Source: USGS Sciencebase (id: 683867e7d4be02091a0cf32f)