Salmon Symposium seeks salmon solutions

Mat-Su’s annual Salmon Symposium is  a clearing house of information about the fish. Organizers of the event say  ensuring wild salmon abundance is not just a job for biologists anymore.

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There was a festival atmosphere at the Palmer Railroad Depot this week, although those gathered for the Salmon Symposium were there for a serious reason. Corrine Smith is a program manger with the Nature Conservancy, which coordinates with other organizations on the event.

She says the event brings people together to share the work they are doing concerning salmon.

“And so it’s continued as a very popular annual forum for people to get together, learn about what’s happening. A lot of decision makers come so it is an opportunity to educate them about salmon in the Mat Su and what habitat needs there are.”

The symposium is in it’s eighth year. State biologists rubbed shoulders with private consultants and representatives of environmental groups for two days to listen to presenters and view films. Smith says the information shared at the symposium goes out to all the agencies involved.

She says the goal is non-political.

“Our goal is to conserve salmon habitat so that there are fish to fight over, if people need to fight over them, so that there is a place for fish to return and that we have healthy fish runs. So we want to deal with the habitat issues, and stay out of the political side of the allocation.”

One threat to salmon runs in the Mat Su is habitat degradation due to development.

Frankie Barker, an environmental planner with the Mat Su Borough, says there are some relatively simple ways  people can help salmon fry grow up to be big fish. Stream and lakeside homeowners are urged to leave a buffer  of vegetation between lawns and waterways to protect fish fry. She says shade creates a habitat for juvenile fish.

“If you remove the vegetation, you remove that shade factor. Salmon need cool water, they need plants to hide under as juvenile fish, so, trying to make people aware of the importance of that vegetation. ”

The Mat Su Borough has instituted a fish passage program in recent years by working with state and federal wildlife agencies to replace culverts that block fish passage. The Borough’s salmon sport fishing is a main attraction for tourists in the Valley.