Each winter, the Nisqually River Education Project takes classrooms to the middle watershed to throw frozen salmon into the Nisqually’s tributaries. There’s a crucial ecological reason behind it: marine-derived nutrients. “Marine” refers to the sea, “derived” means sourced from, and “nutrients” are essential compounds that support life and growth. As salmon mature in the ocean, they gain significant mass as they consume food, therefore their bodies are full of nutrients that came from the sea.

Our salmon carcass tossing trips play a key role in transferring these vital marine-derived nutrients from the ocean back to the forest. Prior to the decline in salmon populations, the abundance of returning salmon would spawn and die in the Nisqually and its tributaries, enriching the local soils and forests with the nutrients from their bodies. Currently, fewer returning salmon means fewer nutrients returning to the watershed.

When hatchery salmon return from the sea, they are harvested for eggs and milt at the hatchery to help spawn the next generation. Students on these field trips return the remaining carcasses to their historic spawning grounds, enriching the rivers and helping to create healthier habitats for next generation of salmon and supporting the entire ecosystem.

Get Involved

Each winter our team takes classes in the Nisqually Watershed on Salmon Carcass Tossing field trips! Want to arrange a field trip for your class? Contact davy@nisquallyriver.org 

Pre-Trip Presentation

 Here’s our Salmon Tossing pre-field trip Salmon Nutrient Enhancement Presentation and the accompanying worksheet.

More Resources

For more classroom resources related to Salmon Tossing and the salmon lifecycle, click here!