Juvenile Salmon Body Condition and Freshwater Prey Availability in Cook Inlet, Prince William Sound, and Copper River

This project will synthesize available freshwater temperature and biological data to characterize climate-related effects on juvenile salmon in the Cook Inlet, Copper River, and Prince William Sound regions. Available information will be compiled and novel datasets created to assess temperature relationships with food quality and quantity and juvenile salmon body condition and growth. This work builds on prior thermal sensitivity modeling work in the region to assess how the changing freshwater thermal template could affect food availability and growth in the juvenile life stages of Pacific salmon.

This project will identify watersheds that are both threatened by climate change and current and proposed development and that lack sufficient data to assess those potential impacts, as well as watersheds that appear more resilient. Those watersheds could then be targeted for enhanced monitoring, restoration, and conservation efforts by future AKSSF projects. This work will also highlight watersheds that are currently productive for juvenile salmon or that might experience an increase in productivity in the future as water temperatures rise. Those watersheds could then be prioritized for AKSSF-funded conservation and restoration efforts.