Natural Resources Programs

The Natural Resources Program's primary goal is to restore and protect the agency's natural resources, while providing safe and aesthetic environments in which the public can recreate. Current efforts include addressing sensitive species conservation and forest health conditions, controlling invasive species, and collecting resource inventories while supporting applied research and strategic planning. To advance this work, natural resources scientists and managers work directly with park staff, sister agencies, non-profit conservation organizations and volunteers.

Salmon Recovery Efforts

Nearly every state park in Washington features a body of water – a river, a lake, Puget Sound or the Pacific Ocean. Pacific salmon, one of our most treasured and important fish species, use these waters to spawn, hatch, grow, then migrate to the ocean to mature before returning to freshwater to complete their life cycle. To complete their life cycle, salmon need access to freshwater, estuarine, coastal and open ocean environments. Salmon require clean, cold water, spawning beds, food, shelter and adequate stream passage conditions to survive the rigors of their fascinating life cycles.

Loss of habitat, over-fishing, pollution and climate change threaten the survival of these amazing animals. The Natural Resources Program is partnering with a wide number of stakeholders to advance salmon recovery by identifying and remediating park properties where salmon habitats are impaired. Current projects include:

• Removing fish passage barriers, like culverts, tide gates and weirs.
• Improving near shore habitat by removing creosote bulkheads and rip rap from the shoreline.
• Installing log jams on rivers for channel stability and to optimize fish passage and spawning conditions

For additional information about to State Parks' salmon recovery efforts, send an e-mail to salmon.recovery@parks.wa.gov.