<html><head></head><body><div class="ydp14a08801yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Yes, salmonid is a catch-all term for any fish in the family Salmonidae.</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">I have never done (nor seen) a fish survey from the area where Wylie is, but that sort of off-channel rearing habitat can be very important for juvenile salmonids. Coho salmon come to mind particularly, due to their life history and where I have found juvenile coho in other areas (e.g., beaver ponds are great rearing habitat for coho). </div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Peggy Mundy</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">(soon to be retired fish bio <img title="Emoji" alt="Emoji" class="yahoo-emoji-wrapper" height="16" src="https://s.yimg.com/nq/yemoji_assets/latest/yemoji_assets/1f609.png" width="16" style="padding: 0px 2px; vertical-align: middle;" data-inlineimagemanipulating="true">)</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Bothell, WA</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">peggy_busby@yahoo.com</div><div><br></div><div class="ydp14a08801signature"><div dir="ltr" style="font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><br></div></div></div>
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On Friday, April 15, 2022, 12:13:15 p.m. PDT, jimbetz@jimbetz.com <jimbetz@jimbetz.com> wrote:
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<div>Wayne Webber/all,<br><br> Thanks for confirming what I thought was going on. It certainly<br>seems to me that the people I talked to at WDFW were both not<br>talking with each other/consulting others -and- pretty much flying<br>blind ... with respect to the "cattail mitigation at Wylie".<br> I have had a couple of people from this list contact me directly<br>off list about this and their experience/knowledge seems to<br>confirm what you are saying, Wayne.<br><br> I will add this to the facts (rumors?). There is a gentleman<br>named Bill who rides his bicycle on the levies/trails around<br>Wylie. He lives in one of the houses along Mann road and is<br>usually seen with his dog, River. He seems to be connected to<br>the WDFW there and told me that the WDFW is concerned about the pH<br>of the water in the wetlands (the part where it was sprayed)<br>and that they needed a different (I think lower) pH in order for<br>that area to be a better habitat for salmonid. I do not know or<br>understand whether or not there is a direct relationship between<br>the cattails and the pH - perhaps it is a "if there were more of<br>another vegetation (such as sedges) then the pH would be different"?<br><br> I did learn something just today. I was researching salmon and<br>discovered that "salmonid" does not refer to the young salmon but<br>rather to all of the various species such as trout, cutthroat,<br>king, silver, sockeye, blackmouth, steelhead, etc. I tried, but<br>have not yet learned what phase of the life of a salmon would<br>use/be in the area at Wylie. It is not an area that spawning<br>would occur since that requires clear fresh water running over<br>gravel beds and Wylie is -mud- and vegetation and waterways.<br><br> - Jim<br><br><br>> Jim and Tweeters,<br>><br>> As someone with a strong background in plant ecology (as well as<br>> ornithology), I can assure readers that any assertion that cattails are not<br>> native to the Skagit estuary is ridiculous. A comparison with the Fraser<br>> estuary in BC (a much bigger river, to be sure) would be instructive. The<br>> Fraser has 3 main mouths-- the North Arm, the main arm, and Canoe Pass<br>> (which discharges between Westham Island and Brunswick Point). Many hundreds<br>> of acres in the upper intertidal zone, between the 3 mouths and for a fair<br>> distance to the north and south, are covered with a dense stand of<br>> vegetation dominated by cattails, and have been as long as anyone can<br>> remember.<br>><br>> Cattails (Typha latifolia) are mainly a freshwater marsh plant, although<br>> they also grow well in brackish estuaries with large amounts of freshwater<br>> inflow, such as the Fraser and Skagit estuaries. They cannot survive where<br>> high salinities prevail all the time, although they can withstand great<br>> variation in salinity.<br>><br>> Cattail stands are also highly productive from a biological point of view--<br>> for birds and other critters. Estuarine cattail stands provide excellent<br>> habitat for Red-winged Blackbirds, Marsh Wrens, Virginia Rails, American<br>> Bitterns, Common Yellowthroats, Northern Harriers, and other species.<br>> Wherever there are openings in the plant cover, they also provide good<br>> feeding areas for shorebirds and dabbling ducks.<br>><br>> I am not sure what kind of habitat WDFW would like to create, or what kind<br>> would be more productive than cattail marsh. It should be noted that the<br>> Skagit Wildlife Area was created mainly for the protection and production of<br>> wildlife, not fish. However, the widespread breaching of dikes in western<br>> Washington and elsewhere, and reflooding with salt or brackish water, was<br>> forced by fishery interests, with no concern whatsoever for effects on<br>> wildlife. They thought it would increase the survival of juvenile salmon.<br>> Perhaps there should have been more consultation between fishery and<br>> wildlife biologists and plant ecologists beforehand, in order to determine<br>> what kind of habitat would eventually result from this gigantic experiment.<br>> It seems to be evolving in directions that many of us did not expect. It<br>> remains to be seen whether the expansion of intertidal areas will in fact<br>> result in improved salmonid survival, or whether the whole experiment will<br>> go down in history as a failure. However, from a wildlife point of view, it<br>> seems to me there are much worse things than cattail stands that could have<br>> resulted, and I am wondering what the wildlife managers would like to see<br>> instead.<br>><br>> Wayne C. Weber, Ph.D.<br>> Delta, BC, Canada<br>> <a href="mailto:contopus@telus.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">contopus@telus.net</a><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Tweeters mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Tweeters@u.washington.edu" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Tweeters@u.washington.edu</a><br><a href="http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters</a><br></div>
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