One scheme to help restore salmon to the Pacific Northwest is the addition of nutrients (i.e., raw or processed salmon carcasses, and commercially produced organic or inorganic fertilizers) to headwaters (e.g., watersheds, lakes, or streams) that are now nutrient deficient because of inadequate replenishment form oceanic or other sources. Salmon are a vector by which marine nutrients are captured and conveyed against the force of gravity into freshwater ecosystems. Especially in the upper reaches of watersheds, these nutrients, in both organic and inorganic forms, play an important, perhaps essential, role in maintaining viable salmon runs along with the associated ecosystem components. For example, a large proportion of the nitrogen in plants and animals in streams where salmon are abundant is undoubtedly derived from decomposed spawned salmon. This 'anadromous nutrient pump' has been attenuated considerably because salmon runs have been reduced severely in the Pacific Northwest for decades, sometimes for more than a century. The addition of nutrients to watersheds, lake, or streams where salmon runs are now much reduced would replace, at least partially, the 'missing' marine derived nutrients.

PB2001-107711. EPA-600/A-01-050. Microfiche.