News Release

North Coast Salmon and Trout Habitat Snorkel Surveys

Date: October 13, 2023
Contact: Sally Freeman, 503-861-4424

Astoria, Ore. – Do you know exactly where salmon and trout grow up in Oregon’s north coast streams? Join us as we kick off this year’s Nature Matters speaker series to explore the North Coast Watershed Association’s (NCWA) work this summer with partners at the Necanicum Watershed Council, and Bio-Surveys LLC to conduct the first ever snorkel surveys of 300 plus miles of streams from Necarney to Gnat Creek.

Join North Coast Watershed Association staff for a 7 p.m. presentation at the Fort George Lovell Showroom, 1483 Duane Street, Astoria. This free event is open to the public. Doors open at 6 p.m. to purchase dinner or beverages at the Fort George Brewery before the event.

Graham Klag, NCWA Executive Director, and Kelli Daffron, NCWA Project Manager, will take a deep dive into the ways that data collected about salmonid presence, abundance, beaver dams, water temperature, barriers and other factors will be used to pinpoint areas where our watershed restoration and enhancement actions can make a big difference for the little salmonids that depend on the health of our ecosystem.

Graham Klag, Executive Director of the NCWA, helped design the project’s survey application used in the field for the project’s electronic data collection and mapping using ArcGIS Survey123. Graham has worked on a myriad of ecological restoration projects around Oregon and Washington and holds a master’s degree in environmental studies from The Evergreen State College and a BS in Biology from the University of Puget Sound. Kelli Daffron, Project Manager for the NCWA, helped conduct snorkel surveys this past summer and has a host of fish and swamp stories to share! Kelli holds a B.A. in Psychology and Anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has worked to restore the forests and streams around Astoria since 2017.

Nature Matters, a lively conversation about the intersection of nature and culture, takes place on the fourth Thursday of each month from October through May. Nature Matters is hosted by Lewis and Clark National Historical Park in partnership with the North Coast Watershed Association, the Lewis & Clark National Park Association, and the Fort George Brewery + Public House.