In the world of salmon conservation, criticizing government agencies can be a popular sport. By nature they are easy targets: faceless, powerful, bureaucratic and slow to evolve even in the face of glaring need to do so. But often overlooked and underappreciated are the many well-intentioned, dedicated individuals working within those agencies.
The Perfect Honeymoon Suite for Wild Steelhead
When it comes to the Lower 48, it’s undeniable. The Snake River basin is the last best place to restore salmon and steelhead. And that isn’t just bias coming from an Idaho guy who loves and cherishes the wild landscapes and waters of the Gem State. The Snake River basin was once the preeminent producer of summer steelhead to the …
Twenty Years of Snake River Hindsight
Eric Crawford is the North Idaho Field Coordinator for Trout Unlimited and the Wild Steelhead Initiative. Before coming to TU, Eric worked a 25 year career as an enforcement officer with Idaho Fish and Game. He’s based in Moscow, Idaho. It was a fishing trip on a balmy November day, back trolling plugs with an old boss in an even …
Snake River Week: Why We Need a Free-Flowing Snake River
Science shows the four lower Snake River dams have negative impacts on salmon and steelhead. If we want to recover those fish, the dams must come down. This morning, Wild Steelheaders United and Trout Unlimited launched Snake River Week. We’ll take a look at TU’s new report- “Why We Need a Free Flowing Snake River.” Throughout the week, we’ll bring …
Science Friday: McMillan’s Barbless Podcast with ODFW biologist Ian Tattam
Science Friday this week comes from our own John McMillan’s Barbless Co. Olympic Peninsula Podcast, with guest Ian Tattam, Supervisory Fish and Wildlife Biologist and one of the researchers being funded by our John Day Steelhead Project. Click on over to John’s podcast and give those quarantine-wary eyes a relief from screen time. John and Ian cover a lot of …
Last Chance to Support the John Day Steelhead Project
We’ve seen unbelievable support from the Wild Steelheaders United community for our John Day Steelhead Project fundraiser over the past three weeks. We blew past our $10,000 goal in the first two weeks of the campaign and we’re well on our way to $15,000. All funds raised above our $10,000 goal will help our research partners purchase more acoustic tags, …
Marty and Mia Sheppard Support the John Day Steelhead Project
Last week, Wild Steelheaders United launched the John Day Steelhead Project, a crowdfunding effort during the month of May with the goal of raising $10,000 to help researchers at Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon State University, and partners install acoustic tags on John Day steelhead to track their migration upriver. You can learn all about the research, as …
The Science Behind John Day Steelhead Migration
On Monday, we launched the John Day Steelhead Project raising funds for a study being conducted by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, and a number of other partners. We’ve been impressed with the response to the crowdfunding campaign, with friends of Wild Steelheaders United coming together to fund $3400 towards our $10,000 …
Support the John Day Steelhead Project
The John Day Steelhead Project is raising funds for a collaborative research project between the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, graduate students at Oregon State University, the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, and other partners seeking to better understand John Day steelhead migration patterns and how Columbia River dams may be impacting the health and abundance of these fish.
Science Friday: The risks and rewards of barging steelhead smolts
Sea-run Snake River fish species must pass through eight dams, four in the Snake and four in the Columbia. Barging some of them past these dams helps them avoid most of the harmful impacts associated with the hydropower system.