'A delta for the future': Scientists try to save salmon at Stilly's mouth

STANWOOD — On a cold May morning, Emily Howe loaded into a small motorboat to revisit her bug sample sites in the Port Susan Preserve.

Small flies and other aquatic bugs are a major food source for salmon. In the Stillaguamish River tidal estuary, where freshwater meets saltwater, those bugs are food for salmon.

“We’re trying to build a delta for the future,” said Howe, 44, is an aquatic ecologist with the Nature Conservancy. “Assuming we can make more fish upstream, and the ocean can keep making fish, we want to make sure that we can build an estuary that can handle and support all of those fish — even if those fish aren’t here right now.”

Around 20,000 salmon, historically, were supported by the south fork of the Stillaguamish River, which flows to Port Susan Bay. In 2019, fewer than 500 fish returned to spawn, according to a Nature Conservancy fact sheet.

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