Salmon have a special place in the hearts of many north westerners, not only as food source but also as an indicator of ecological health. It's hard not to be awestruck by the journeys these fish make from sea to their native rivers, fighting countless hardships, driven by the instinct to spawn, only to die in the places of their birth, if they get that far. Scientists have only recently begun to understand the connection between these fish and their ecosystems. Throughout their life cycles, especially in their post-spawn deaths, they serve as large contributors to food webs and nutrient cycles that keep the system going.
In the 1990s biologists began to notice that the healthiest spawning streams were almost always loaded with salmon carcasses, which distribute the nutrients they accumulate in the ocean as they are eaten or as their bodies decompose. Many animals, including juvenile salmon, feed on these carcasses, and since many of the northwest's streams are nutrient poor, the wealth of nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon provided by this natural "fertilizer" is extremely valuable to whole freshwater ecosystems. As salmon runs decline, then, so does the health of the streams that support their next generation.

Volunteers Brian Simonseth and Deene Almvig prepare to toss a salmon
carcass into the Cascade River.

In 1997, in an effort to stop this cycle of decline, the Wildcat Steelhead Club partnered with SFEG and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to "fertilize" streams in the upper Skagit watershed with carcasses from the Marblemount Hatchery. In 2003 the Fidalgo Fly Fishers and the U.S. Forest Service were added as partners and expanded the area treated. Since the project began, more than 60,000 carcasses have been distributed by the hardworking, dedicated volunteers from these organizations, such as Bill Reinard and Brian Simonseth, who collectively spend up to 32 hours per week, five months of the year doing the "dead fish toss."

Meanwhile, steelhead carcasses await distribution.