Protecting East Kitsap’s Salmon: Progress, Challenges, Next Steps
2025 Update to the Salmon Recovery Chapter

Over a dozen technical experts from the West Sound Partners for Ecosystem Recovery (WSPER) collaborated to develop this 20-year update to the East Kitsap Salmon Recovery Chapter. Leadership and support were provided by the Puget Sound Partnership and consultants Kara Nelson, Tom Ostrom, and ESA Associates. Access the full compressed report with appendices here.

What’s this update about?

This update, completed in June of 2025, reflects two decades of salmon recovery efforts in East Kitsap and sets a new course for protecting and restoring salmon and their habitats. It broadens the focus from just Chinook salmon to include coho, chum, steelhead, cutthroat, and other salmon species important to our ecosystem and communities. This update covers the WSPER salmon recovery lead entity geography, which includes Kitsap Peninsula drainages to west and south Puget Sound, the Key Peninsula, and several islands.

Why is this important?

Salmon are vital to the environment, local culture, and economy. Healthy salmon populations support fisheries, tribal traditions, wildlife, and clean waterways, and healthy salmon habitat supports healthy and resilient human communities. This plan guides how we protect and restore these populations amid ongoing challenges like habitat loss and climate change.

Key Achievements (Since 2005)

  • Over 180 habitat restoration and protection projects completed
  • Expanded focus on removing barriers that block salmon migration
  • Partnerships launched programs like Shore Friendly to protect shorelines
  • Collaboration with tribal nations, local governments, land trusts, and nonprofits strengthened
  • Improved regulatory and non-regulatory mechanisms for incentivizing land stewardship and habitat protection

Key Achievements

Our goal is a healthy population supported by a healthy Puget Sound that is not threatened by changes in the ecosystem.

Humans are part of the Puget Sound ecosystem. From the air we breathe and the water we drink, to the local foods we eat and the parks we enjoy, a healthy Puget Sound supports a healthy human population.

Challenges We Still Face

Challenges We Still Face

  • Ongoing habitat loss from development and land use
  • Impacts from climate change affecting stream flows and water quality
  • Need for better coordination, data, and regulatory support

What’s New in This Update

What’s New in This Update?

  • Includes all salmon species, not just Chinook
  • Incorporates the latest science and improved habitat data
  • Focuses on strategic, ecosystem-wide recovery actions
  • Emphasizes collaboration across governments, tribes, nonprofits, and communities
  • Highlights successes from the last 20 years and identifies future priorities

How Are We Tracking Progress?

  • Cleaning and organizing the salmon recovery database for accuracy
  • Filling in missing project details and removing duplicates
  • Improving project mapping and linking related efforts
  • Ongoing work with partners to verify project status and metrics

Our goal is a healthy Puget Sound where marine, nearshore, estuary, freshwater, and upland habitats are protected, restored, and sustained.

Habitats are our shared natural heritage and create the quality of life that makes Puget Sound an attractive place to live, work, and play. Human activity and development have deeply changed the Puget Sound region, and climate change is more than ever impacting habitat critical for species and human wellbeing.

How You Can Help

How You Can Help

  • Stay informed and share the importance of salmon recovery
  • Support local habitat restoration and protection efforts
  • Engage with local meetings and partner organizations
  • Promote salmon-friendly land management and a stewardship ethic in your community.