Coastal streams provide an important transportation corridor for upland sediments, nutrients, and organic matter. Streams also provide important habitat for fis hand wildlife and influence localized nearshore water temperatures and productivity. Key coastal stream processes include water flow, erosion/deposion, channel migration, nutrient transformation and cycling, and riparian dynamics. These streams contribute to the health of salmon populations even if they do not directly support a salmon or trout population.

Coastal streams in WRIA 6 are too small to support economicaly important runs of salmon, but some have small, local populations that support hte genetic diversty of the Puget Sound stocks. These streams also provide an important resource for salmon recovery in the region because of their cumulative contribution to the Puget Sound food web. These streams deliver freshwater and terrestrial invertebrates to the nearshore, providing important food for fish rearing near these systems. Stream mouths provide rearing areas, shelter, and lower salinity water to juvenile salmonids in the nearshore.

See 2000 Limiting Factors Report for additional information about WRIA 6 streams.