Big Creek Population

Bear Creek

Bear Creek flows north into Svensen Slough and the Columbia River (Figure 1). No hatchery releases occur in Bear Creek, but spawning of wild and hatchery Coho Salmon, Steel head, and to a lesser extent Chinook Salmon are known to occur in the basin. Historically, Bear Creek may have supported up to 200 adult Chum Salmon spawners (based on habitat-area spawner density expansions from data in Parkhurst et al. 1950 and Fulton 1970). However, few Chum Salmon have been observed in recent years. The lower portion of Bear Creek is primarily rural residential and there is a water storage facility in the watershed that provides water for the town of Astoria, OR. Water withdrawals during summer can result in significant temperature and dewatering issues (Bischoff et al. 2000b). Bear Creek has approximately 3.2 km of low gradient habitat suitable for Chum Salmon (Bischoff et al. 2000b). A rotary screw trap was installed at the same location from 2017 to 2019 near reach of tide, approximately 1.1 Rkm upstream of Svensen Slough (Figure 2). The trap was installed in late February and operated through the end of May or early June.