Introduction

The coastal temperate rain forest of North America epitomizes the concept ecologists call the terrestrial/marine ecotone, a zone that possesses "a set of characteristics uniquely defined ... by the strength of the interactions between the adjacent ecological systems."¹

Some of this research and writing formed a basis for GIS analysis included in the 2004 Atlas of Pacific Salmon

Pacific salmon embody these strong interactions between land and sea. After adult salmon return to native streams to spawn, their decomposing carcasses provide nutrients vital to the health of the terrestrial ecosystem, contributing directly to increased algal and plant growth, the abundance of animal life, and the survival of juvenile salmon themselves. As salmon runs have declined in the Pacific Northwest, this fertilization of the regional landscape has diminished. Fisheries biologists warn, "Northwest rivers are starving from lack of salmon."²

Three maps — depicting the status of forests, salmon, and Native languages — provide a powerful glimpse into the state of the bioregion at the turn of this millennium. Interactions are at work here as well. Forest harvest, especially clearcutting, harms salmon directly by silting waters and raising stream temperatures. Native cultures and communities, tied intimately to the fish, suffer the loss of abundance in cultural as well as economic terms.

These maps offer three windows through which to view a single pattern of development: From Vancouver Island south, salmon runs, wild forests, and Native languages are present only in remnants of their historical abundance. In more northern latitudes, the fish, the forests, and Native communities and cultures are in a comparatively healthier state — one closer to the reciprocities that have sustained people, lands, and waters here for thousands of years.

The first goal of Ecotrust's salmon strategy has been to evaluate the status of Pacific salmon and steelhead stocks throughout the North American portion of their range — to the extent possible using available information. A daunting task of data compilation, this profile offers the first synthesis completed at a bioregional scale.

¹ Simenstad, C. A., M. Dither, C. Levings, and D. Hay. "The Terrestrial/Marine Ecotone." In P. Schoonmaker, B. von Hagen, and E. C. Wolf (eds.) 1997. The Rain Forests of Home: Profile of a North American Bioregion. Washington DC: Island Press, 1997.

² Gresh, T., J. Lichatowich, and P. Schoonmaker. 2000. "Salmon Decline Creates Nutrient Deficit in Northwest Streams." In Fisheries Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 15–21, January 2000.