Understanding how land use affects salmon, such as this chinook on its ideal spawning grounds, is key to effective recovery planning.

Successful management of salmon in the Pacific Northwest and recovery of listed species depends in part on scientists' ability to identify the effects of land uses on habitat and salmon populations, as well as the benefits of restoration activities on salmon survival and fitness.

The research of the Fish-Habitat Relationships Team approaches this problem along two main avenues. First, regional assessments will be used to evaluate links between landscape and land use attributes and fish population responses. Second, detailed life-cycle modeling will advance the ability to predict population responses to habitat change.

Near-term research objectives will focus on:

1. Broad-scale relationships among land uses and fish populations.
2. Development of a habitat-based salmon life-cycle model.
3. Stage-to-stage survivals for salmonids in freshwater and estuaries.
4. Influence of spatial structure (habitat and population) on population responses to habitat change.
5. Effects of changes in habitat quality on salmonid abundance and survival.
6. Climate change effects.
7. Analysis of fish density data.