I agree that intact habitat is the main reason that the Quillayute population is so healthy, but it certainly doesn't hurt that 4000 plus additional spawners are helping to seed that wonderful habitat to its highest and best use, or that an additional shot of spring fertilizer is added to supplement the fall fertilizer supplied by the salmon.

That's not to say that carcasses are the only ingredient required to produce more fish. More carcasses in a badly degraded habitat could just as easily result in fish-choking algal blooms.

The examples you cited of steelhead populations where the parent escapements are not even capable of replacing themselves is a sign of a system terribly out of balance, especially in the face of such strong salmon returns.

Might the main problem in those systems be that abundance-based management revolves around a celebrity salmon species, while other salmonid populations take a distant back seat? As an example, there are major watersheds up and down the West Coast where managers have worshipped at the feet of enhanced sockeye populations to the detriment of wild chinook, coho, and steelhead stocks. Two that come quickly to mind are the Skeena system in BC, and Alaska's Cook Inlet. Could something analagous be occurring in the Snohomish or Cedar River?