This fire entering the upper watershed, where we have sensitive spawning and rearing habitat, is concerning. You have a wildfire that is coming at a very inopportune time for the species and a wildfire that's being driven by a hundred years of fire suppression activities and a warming climate.
Even before the fire, biologists were so alarmed about a recent crash in the spring-run salmon population that last year they began capturing juvenile fish from Deer Creek to breed them in captivity.
The fire is burning near creek areas where adult fish typically spend weeks swimming in deep pools before spawning in the fall. Juvenile fish that hatched last winter also remain in the creeks this time of year and could be at risk, Johnson said.
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