Here in this timbered, steep, up and down country of Idaho, the forces at work are not merely wind and water. Here, the tumble of rocks and cracking of large trees has been important to shaping river habitat for centuries. Avalanches are not just territory for the backcountry skier. They’re good for steelhead too. Think of them like door-to-river …
Rivers of Resilience – Asotin Creek
Asotin Creek is a tributary that drains into the Snake River near the town of Asotin in eastern Washington. With a drainage area of 250 square miles, Asotin Creek is slightly larger than the Wind River, but also much smaller than the Yakima River watershed. Like the Yakima, the basin is located in a semi-arid environment. Most of the watershed …
Rivers of Resilience – Wind
The Wind River, a tributary to the Columbia River just above Bonneville Dam, is, at only 224 square miles, a substantially smaller drainage than the Yakima. It receives more precipitation and thus is dominated by forests and industrial timberlands. The Wind River has had some habitat restoration but nowhere near the extent of the Yakima, but that is also because …
Rivers of Resilience – Yakima
It can be hard to maintain faith in the steelhead world. As noted in the recent article by Bill Herzog, it seems like we are losing wild summer runs faster than we can recover them. I would hedge that many, if not most, anglers feel the same. Steelhead are not disappearing for lack of effort though. Frankly, it’s amazing …
What happened to my summer runs?
Editors note: This is the first in a multi-part series looking at both the decline and recovery of wild steelhead runs. By Bill Herzog Here I am, as far into the corner of eastern Washington as you can get, waist deep in the mighty Snake River, two hander whooshing around me every few minutes. I’m immersed, literally …
Rules for catch-and-release of steelhead
There is no worse feeling than bringing a steelhead to hand and seeing the gills pumping blood. Such experiences are one of the reasons that anglers have created flies that reduce deep hookings. Still, fishing is a blood sport, and despite our best efforts, we ultimately cannot eliminate the potential for some mortality. While we can’t control where the …
Rapid Genetic Change in Hatchery-reared Steelhead
Rapid Genetic Change in Hatchery-reared Steelhead By John McMillan Here is another paper hot off the press from Mark Christie, former researcher at Oregon State University in the Michael Blouin genetics lab, and several other authors. They looked into whether and how quickly genetic changes could be detected in the offspring of wild steelhead when they were bred in a …
New Steelhead Science and Potential Management Changes
Surviving Puget Sound: One of the best parts of my job is sharing scientific research with anglers, who seem to have an almost insatiable appetite for understanding steelhead. Sharing information is important not only to help anglers understand steelhead, but also because more informed anglers make better advocates. Wild steelhead will need as many advocates as possible if we are …
Are there any wild steelhead left? Yes, there is no doubt. But it is up to us to ensure their future and the fisheries they provide.
A topic that is commonly raised in the steelhead conservation world is whether there are any “pure” wild steelhead left. Before I answer, I want to take a step back first. There are two types of hatcheries. We have integrated hatcheries, where fish used for broodstock are taken from the same population in which they are planted. These are …
The Steelhead of The Tongass National Forest
The Steelhead of the Tongass National Forest: A Brief Overview of Habitat, Life Histories, and Management By: Mark Hieronymus, Trout Unlimited Alaska At nearly 17 million acres, the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska is the country’s largest national forest. This complex landscape of western hemlock, Sitka spruce, western red cedar and yellow cedar is part of the world’s largest …