{"id":12290,"date":"2020-08-18T21:49:07","date_gmt":"2020-08-18T21:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/first-pepperoni.flywheelsites.com\/?page_id=12290"},"modified":"2025-12-10T23:29:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T23:29:29","slug":"salmon-a-keystone-species","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/salmon-a-keystone-species\/","title":{"rendered":"Salmon: A Keystone Species"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Wild Salmon Center\u2019s keystone species logo, created by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edhepp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ed Hepp,<\/a> is based on a study by the Washington Department of Natural Resources. <strong>The report found that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bluefish.org\/cederholm.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">at least 137 wildlife species in the Pacific Northwest<\/a> alone \u2013 from caddisflies to orcas \u2013 are predators or scavengers of salmon at some stage in their life cycle.<\/strong> This study underscores the importance of wild salmon as a keystone species to food webs and watershed health as they transport vital nutrients and protein from the ocean to be deposited in upstream spawning grounds after they die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"957\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/t-shirt-art-wsc-blue-web-957x1024.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1468\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/t-shirt-art-wsc-blue-web-957x1024.webp 957w, https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/t-shirt-art-wsc-blue-web-600x642.webp 600w, https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/t-shirt-art-wsc-blue-web-280x300.webp 280w, https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/t-shirt-art-wsc-blue-web-768x822.webp 768w, https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/t-shirt-art-wsc-blue-web-1435x1536.webp 1435w, https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/t-shirt-art-wsc-blue-web.webp 1738w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 957px) 100vw, 957px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Can you find these species?<\/strong> Use this handy list to find some of the animals hidden in the illustration above and <a href=\"http:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/salmon-school\/\">check out our Salmon School page for more fun facts and games<\/a>.<strong><br><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Black-tailed deer<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Blakiston&#8217;s fish owl<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Caddis fly<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>California condor<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cliff swallow<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Douglas&#8217; squirrel<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Forest<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gray wolf<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Great blue heron<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Grizzly bear<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hooded merganser<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Humpback whale<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Northern steller sea lion<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Northern river otter<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Orca<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pacific coast aquatic garter snake<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pacific giant salamander<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>People<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Raccoon<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Western pond turtle<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Want your own Ed Hepp work of art?<\/strong> Check out our <a href=\"https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/shop\/\">gear store<\/a> and get your very own Wild Salmon Center custom tote bag, mug, and clothing apparel featuring our keystone species mosaic.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" id=\"attachment-12653\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WSC_PRODUCT_2019-11-1536x1024-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-29631\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WSC_PRODUCT_2019-11-1536x1024-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WSC_PRODUCT_2019-11-1536x1024-1-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WSC_PRODUCT_2019-11-1536x1024-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WSC_PRODUCT_2019-11-1536x1024-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WSC_PRODUCT_2019-11-1536x1024-1.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<div class=\"acf-fields-container\" data-post-id=\"12290\" data-canto-acf=\"true\"><div class=\"acf-field-image\" data-field-name=\"hero_image\" data-field-type=\"image\"><h3 class=\"acf-field-label\">Hero Image<\/h3><img src=\"https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Keystone-species-grid3_475x1500.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"acf-image\" data-id=\"12580\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Keystone-species-grid3_475x1500.jpg\" \/><\/div><\/div><style>\r\n        .acf-fields-container {\r\n            margin: 2em 0;\r\n            width: 100%;\r\n            clear: both;\r\n        }\r\n        .acf-field-image {\r\n            margin: 1.5em 0;\r\n            position: relative;\r\n        }\r\n        .acf-field-label {\r\n            margin-bottom: 1em;\r\n        }\r\n        .acf-image {\r\n            max-width: 100%;\r\n            height: auto;\r\n            display: block;\r\n            margin: 1em 0;\r\n        }\r\n    <\/style>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wild Salmon Center\u2019s keystone species logo, created by Ed Hepp, is based on a study by the Washington Department of Natural Resources. The report found that at least 137 wildlife species in the Pacific Northwest alone \u2013 from caddisflies to orcas \u2013 are predators or scavengers of salmon at some stage in their life cycle. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/native-wp-blocks.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12290","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Salmon: A Keystone Species - Wild Salmon Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/salmon-a-keystone-species\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Salmon: A Keystone Species - Wild Salmon Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Wild Salmon Center\u2019s keystone species logo, created by Ed Hepp, is based on a study by the Washington Department of Natural Resources. The report found that at least 137 wildlife species in the Pacific Northwest alone \u2013 from caddisflies to orcas \u2013 are predators or scavengers of salmon at some stage in their life cycle. 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