SALMON RIVER ESTUARY

Salmon River estuary
Salmon River

Salmon River (Oregon Coastal Atlas)

The Salmon River estuary is located on the Oregon coast at Otis. The estuary is approximately 438 acres in area and has a watershed of approximately 75 square miles.

The Salmon River estuary is designated as a Natural estuary under the Oregon Estuary Classification system. The geomorphology of the area is that of a Bar Built estuary.

The Salmon River estuary is located in Lincoln County. Principal industries of the county are lumber, fishing, agriculture and tourism. The county seat of Newport is home to Oregon State Universitys Hatfield Marine Science Center, the Oregon Coast Aquarium and a busy commercial fishing fleet. By 2006, it had grown to 44,500 representing an increase of 12.7% over 1990, but less than 1% since 2000.

Along with Sand Lake, the Salmon River estuary is one of only two major estuaries in Oregon that are designated as natural. The U.S. Forest Service manages the Salmon River estuary as part of the Cascade Head Experimental Forest. The estuary is a unique natural laboratory for studying wetland restoration. Although cattle have grazed in the area since the late 19th century, most marshland was not converted into pastures until the 1960s, when three dikes were built around the bay. Beginning in 1978, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began breaching the dikes and restoring the marshes. The dikes were breached at nine-year intervals. This regular sequence has enabled scientists to study wetland recovery over time.

The Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries maintains a tsunami inundation map for the Salmon River and Neskowin area.

Sources

Cornwell, Trevan J., D. L. Bottom, and K. K. Jones. 2001. Rearing of Juvenile Salmon in Recovering Wetlands of the Salmon River Estuary. Portland, OR: Fish Division, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Information Reports. 2001-05. 2001.

Lund, Ernest H. Coastal Landforms between Roads End and Tillamook Bay, Oregon. OreBin 36 (11) (1974): 173-195.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Aquatic Inventories Project: Salmon River Estuary. 2002.

Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. Tsunami Hazard Map of the Neskowin Quadrangle, Tillamook and Lincoln Counties County, Oregon. Portland, OR: The Department. Open File Report O-95-24. 1995.

Oregon Ocean-Coastal Management Program. Learn about the Salmon River Estuary in Oregon's Coastal Atlas. Salem, OR: Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development. 2000.

Excerpts with permission from The Oregon Coastal Atlas, Compiled by Susan Gilmont, Staff, OSU Libraries (2007)