Salmon are the spirit of the Columbia River
We work to protect and preserve salmon, so they can thrive in their environment.
King of the Reach Salmon Derby
Strengthening fish populations for generations to come
SALMON IN THE CLASSROOM
Teaching the next generation
Our Salmon in the Classroom program gives students a real-life, hands-on experience with the largest of all Pacific salmon, Chinook (King) salmon. Watch as Matilda, a Salmon in the Classroom graduate, reflects on her experience of having salmon in her classroom.
Follow the lifecycle of a Chinook salmon as it makes its way to the ocean and back.
Spawning
Spawning takes place in late summer and fall each year. A female Fall Chinook salmon lays up to 4,500 eggs in a gravel nest called a redd. After the dad salmon fertilizes the eggs, the mom covers the redd with gravel.
Alevin
The egg hatches into a tiny larvae called an alevin. The alevin has a large, orange yolk sac below it belly which contains a balanced diet of protein, sugars, vitamins and minerals. Kind of like a bowl of cereal they carry with them.
Fry
The yolk sac gets eaten while the alevin changes to a tiny fish called a fry, less than an inch long. The fry then begins to look for food on its own.
Fingerling
In about four months, the fry will have grown to about the length of an adult human’s finger, and they are called fingerlings. They begin to swim downstream to the ocean.
Journey to the Pacific Ocean
The young salmon’s journey to the ocean is full of obstacles. Only about 3 in 1,000 survive the journey. Ducks, herons, kingfishers, other birds and wildlife eat young salmon. Other fish like northern pikeminnow like to live in the waters surrounding the hydroelectric dams and feed on the small salmon as well. The smart, young salmon travel at night to avoid these natural predators. The fish must also navigate their way past hydroelectric projects on the Columbia River.
Smolt
As the baby Chinook salmon moves downstream, it imprints the smells of the stream where it hatched as well as different water bodies on its journey to the ocean. This homing skill will guide the fall Chinook salmon back home after it spends two to five years growing in the ocean. As the fingerling gets closer to the ocean’s salt water, it makes significant physiological changes to become a smolt.
Life in the Pacific Ocean
Once they reach the Pacific Ocean, young salmon feed on zoo-plankton, shrimp, crustaceans, anchovies and herring, as well as other fish. In two to five years, fall Chinook salmon can grow to weight over 20 pounds.
Returns to Spawn
Every salmon has its own time to return to the fresh water and its birth stream to spawn. Once that cycle is complete, the male and female salmon die. Their bodies decay in the streams and provide food for all kinds of other animals. That’s the cycle of life.
The river is alive
Chinook salmon
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Chinook salmon are a very important species of the Pacific Northwest. The largest of all Pacific salmon, Chinook (also called king salmon) provide a food source for a diversity of wildlife and are also highly valued by people who harvest salmon commercially, recreationally, and for culturally significant purposes. Most Chinook salmon live about three to seven years, spending their first year or so in freshwater habitat. They then move to the estuaries and open ocean where they spend two to four years feeding before they make the return journey to spawn and die.
Coho salmon
Coho salmon are the second largest of the Pacific salmon. They can reach lengths of 35 inches and weigh more than 30 pounds. They are also referred to as silver salmon. In the ocean, coho salmon have dark metallic blue or greenish backs with silver sides and a light belly. Fish spawning in freshwater are dark with reddish-maroon coloration on the sides.
Sockeye salmon
Sockeye are the third most abundant of the Pacific salmon (behind pink and chum) and are a keystone in the North American commercial fisheries. They are also a popular in recreational fisheries. Sockeye salmon have a four-year lifecycle and are among the smallest of the five North American Pacific salmon species. Their succulent, bright-red meat is prized above all others. Like Chinook salmon, they are born in freshwater. However, sockeye require a lake nearby to rear in. Once hatched, juvenile sockeye usually remain in their natal habitat for two years; sometimes longer in colder waters located in northern climates. They then journey out to sea where they grow rapidly for two years, feeding mainly on zooplankton.
Upper Columbia River Summer Steelhead
Washington state designated steelhead as its official state fish in 1969. Steelhead are the ocean-going (anadromous) version of rainbow trout. Like most salmon, steelhead return to the Columbia River to spawn. Unlike salmon, they do not spawn upon their arrival to the spawning grounds and then die, but rather overwinter and spawn the following spring. Steelhead can recover and return to spawn multiple times.
Our commitment to fish and wildlife
To learn more about what Grant PUD is doing to protect fish, wildlife and cultural resources, visit our fish and wildlife page.
