Restoration actions in the nearshore are focused on pocket estuaries utilized and preferred by Skagit-origin Chinook salmon. Two lead entity organizations, WRIA 6 and WRIA 3/4, share the nearshore environment around Skagit Bay; therefore, only those nearshore restoration projects identified in the Skagit Chinook Recovery Plan that fall within the WRIA 3 and 4 boundaries are found in our lead entity program. Others can be found in the Island County HWS website. We will be providing links to those projects on this page soon.

Juvenile Chinook salmon use inland coastal waters such as the greater Puget Sound extensively, and survival during this residence period has been correlated with the overall success of their respective populations (Greene et al. 2005, Beamish et al. 2004). Chinook salmon using this area are exposed to different levels of survival risk due to differences in their migration timing, location, and duration of habitat use. Moreover, the greater Puget Sound environment is not homogeneous in habitat type or quality due to both natural and human causes. Thus Chinook salmon rearing potential varies across the landscape. A more specific understanding of the origins of juvenile Chinook salmon using this landscape will fill a glaring data gap needed for Puget Sound Chinook salmon population recovery by linking specific populations to specific areas within the greater Puget Sound and specific habitat types (see Chapter xx). The nearshore (intertidal and shallow subtidal) portions of the "salmonscape" can be influenced by human caused disturbances and thus can be improved by our management actions. A process-based restoration strategy is fundamental to long-term recovery because nearshore processes interacting with the landscape at a local scale determine and maintain the characteristics of habitats available to salmon and other species upon which salmon depend for their survival in the nearshore environment.