Salmon Freshwater Habitat

This section of the Shasta River provides good salmon and steelhead habitat. Trees shade the water and keep banks stable. It may also provide suitable spawning gravel.

Trout and salmon need cold water to survive and grow. Rain, and snow melting from mountain peaks feed their stream and lake habitats. Healthy salmonid streams are usually shaded by trees. The tree roots make the stream banks stable and provide hiding places for the fish. Leaves from the trees fall into the stream and become food for insects, which are in turn eaten by salmon and trout.

Insects such as stoneflies, mayflies and caddisflies spend their early life stages as nymphs in the gravel riverbed. When mature, they swim to the water surface and then fly away to reproduce. Fish eat both the nymphs and adults.

As young salmon and trout grow larger, they move from shallow areas into deep pools. Pools are scoured when water plunges over or around boulders and logs. The "bubble curtain" is a favorite place for salmon and trout. They can't be seen by predators above and there is plenty of oxygen. The current brings insects and other small food items. At the end of pools, where the stream narrows, the current picks up and washes the gravels clean, making them ideal for nests.