Drawing from the Past to Inform the Future: Exploring 500 Years of Skagit River Salmonidae Abundance

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Cultivating Food, Land, and Communities" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Recovery plans and goals for Pacific northwest salmon, trout, and char (Oncorhynchus spp., Salmonidae) seek to conserve and restore these keystone species throughout the Salish Sea and its watersheds. Archaeological data offer a window into past Salmonidae life-histories and can provide a long-term record of the species and their relative abundance for conservation practitioners. In this paper we examine the archaeological record of Salmonidae abundance within the Tronsdal site on the Skagit River delta, Washington State, as part of our larger efforts to reconstruct Salmonidae life-histories for restoration. We calculate the ratio of the Salmonidae number of identifiable specimens (NISP) to the number of all fish remains within each temporal context (NISP Salmonid/N All Fish) to examine change in abundance through time. Our data reflects a trend of fluctuating Salmonid abundance—early levels show high or increasing abundance, followed by a sharp decline and subsequent increase. Although abundance is one criterion within the Viable Salmonid Populations parameters used across Puget Sound to monitor and restore healthy salmon populations, this index will allow a longer-term baseline for ecological restoration efforts for rights-holders throughout the Skagit River watershed and contribute to baselines across the Salish Sea.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)   •
• Cultivating Food, Land, and Communities

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 40159.0