Announcement From Forestry

So excited to see the news from the Oregon Department of Forestry this week;

The coho are running! If you are lucky enough to observe these creatures during your visit to the Tillamook and Clatsop State Forests, keep your distance and try not to disturb them. They’ve made a long journey from the ocean and have important work to do!

Coho salmon spend 6 to 18 months in the ocean before returning upstream in October and early November, with peak spawning between now and mid-January. Their fry emerge in early spring and stay in the freshwater environment for a full year. This is why high-quality habitat is so important year-round.

The earlier salmon that had come up stream in the fall just after the rains made the river big enough to be deep enough for fish to come through, were hard to observe after the first few because of the hearty amounts of rain filled the river so that they could not be seen.

Right now the river is fairly low even though we have been having slight rainfall amounts each day.

The Coho do not begin to get their pink, reddish coloring until they begin their journey out of the ocean and into the freshwater channels.

The coho salmon is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or “silvers”. The scientific species name is based on the Russian common name kizhuch.  – Wikipedia

By the time the Coho make it as far as the farm, the bashing they get from their struggle upstream leaves them with scars, tears in their skin, missing fins, deeper red/maroon coloring and a very pronounced hooked snout. The tip keeps growing since the fish are no longer feeding but working toward its home alcove where it can spawn and die.

In the next few days I will try to get down to the river since we have historically good spawning areas to see the species for myself since last years run was pretty spectacular.