Summer habitat and movements of juvenile salmonids in a coastal river of Washington State

We investigated the summer ecology of juvenile steelhead trout Onchorhynchus mykiss and Chinook salmon O. tshawytscha in the context of habitat use and movement behaviour. The study area was a 14.8 km section of the Chehalis River, Washington, and is of particular interest due to recent proposals for both a flood retention dam and restoration actions in this watershed. Ten study reaches were paired in distance upstream and downstream from a central point where a passive integrated transponder antenna array was operated between late June and September 2014. Juvenile densities for each species were associated with reach-scale habitat and temperature characteristics. Juvenile steelhead underwent upstream and downstream movements up to 7 km, although more fish from further away moved downstream than upstream. Juvenile steelhead repeated horizontal movements throughout the study period, but daily detections were not associated with temperature or flow. The majority (81%) of steelhead movements occurred between the hours of 04:00-07:00 and 18:00-21:00. Juvenile Chinook underwent a downstream migration that was nearly complete by the end of August. Most juvenile Chinook were detected just once and movements occurred on days with warmer stream temperature and higher flows. The majority of Chinook movements occurred at night. Although juvenile salmonids are often thought to have small home ranges during summer months, our results suggest that horizontal movements may be more prevalent than previously thought. Summer habitat should be defined by a network of suitable rearing reaches with connectivity available in both upstream and downstream directions.