Shading out climate change: Planting streamside forests to keep salmon cool

Abstract

Climate change poses a clear danger to salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River basin. Rising water temperatures increasingly limit their ability to migrate, spawn, and successfully produce the next generation of fish.Steve Wondzell, a research ecologist with the USDA Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station, conducted a study on the upper Middle Fork of eastern Oregon’s John Day River. By using computer modeling, he and colleagues found that adding shade was the single most effective way to cool the water and preserve habitat for salmon into the future. With enough added shade, they found that future water temperature in the river could be cooler than today, even as air temperatures warm.Adding sufficient shade involves strategically planting streamside vegetation that will grow tall enough to shield long sections of the river from sunlight. The Forest Service and other federal agencies, the state of Oregon, and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs are leading an effort to do just this. They are also working to reconfigure sections of the river that were artificially straightened in the past. Wondzell’s research confirms the importance of coupling riparian planting with those efforts and is helping the different parties involved direct their efforts in a more strategic way.

Citation

Kirkland, John; Wondzell, Steve. 2020. Shading out climate change: Planting streamside forests to keep salmon cool. Science Findings 228. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 5 p.