Adopt a Chinook Salmon

The river systems of North America spending their early life growing and feeding in freshwater streams, estuaries and wetlands. They spend the remainder of their life foraging in the ocean before returning to the rivers they were born in to spawn.

Young Chinook salmon feed on terrestrial and aquatic insects, amphipods, and other crustaceans. Older Chinook primarily feed on other fish such as whiting and mackerel.

The Chinook salmon is an important keystone species of the Pacific Northwest. They are a vital food source for a diversity of wildlife, including Southern Resident Killer Whales (only 73 individuals remain) being one of the only things they eat, bears, seals, and large birds of prey. These Salmon feed countless species including humans. They are also a key economic driver in commercial and sportfishing and they keep old-growth forests healthy by delivering ocean-derived nutrients.

Salmon are the world’s last natural food. When fished responsibly, salmon provide a variety of health benefits including be high in protein, low in calories and they contain health promoting essential fat called omega-3 which minimizes the risk of heart disease and diabetes.

Dams, river flow restrictions by water districts and power plants, and climate change are just a few of the decline of the salmon population.