Most of us working on behalf of wild steelhead love our jobs. Still, after a long week we are ready to hit the water — and share some more Science Friday steelhead knowledge. This week we touch on a study conducted by Andrew Brown at the University of Washington, along with several co-authors. The paper is here: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0059162 …
Lessons from a steelhead rescue and captive rearing program on California’s Carmel River
By: Natalie Stauffer-Olsen, Staff Scientist, TU’s California Science Program One of the things that I have always admired most about O. mykiss is how adaptable and resilient they are. The rainbow trout, in both its resident and anadromous forms, evolved to take advantage of the most abundant habitats for their different life history stages as well as the genetic …
Science Friday: Why are half pounders declining in the Trinity River?
When anglers dream of steelhead, they mostly fantasize about fish that have spent 2-4 years in the ocean and return to freshwater to spawn as full adults, packing four or more pounds and brutish power into their physique. However, one of the most common forms of returning steelhead in some rivers is not the adult, but the so-called half-pounder. …
Science Friday: What the heck do all those acronyms mean?
Science Friday! Another chance to dive into the weeds and define some of the jargon used when discussing, studying and evaluating hatchery steelhead. This week we focus on acronyms commonly used in hatchery management plans. Anyone who has read through a Hatchery Scientific Review Group plan or review, or most any resource management plan for that matter, has probably …
What does the Antiquities Act have to do with steelhead?
A seemingly innocuous little law passed in 1906 has become highly controversial in recent years. The Antiquities Act, signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt, was a response to an escalating problem of looting of archeological and geologic resources and empowers the president to designate to significant historic, cultural, and scientific features as national monuments. The Antiquities Act has …
Steelhead 101: Using snorkel surveys to estimate adult steelhead escapement
Another week, another post on how scientists and fisheries managers measure steelhead escapement. Last week, we described redd counts and why they are an important tool. This week, we review snorkel surveys. Snorkel surveys entail divers swimming in the river and visually counting adult steelhead. Like redd counts, snorkel surveys do not cover an entire river, but rather break …
We Are Wild Steelheaders
Wild Steelheaders United is announcing our “We are Wild Steelheaders Month,” a celebration of wild steelhead across their native range in the Western U.S. For the next month we will be posting videos of anglers up and down the West Coast, discussing why wild steelhead matter to them. Anglers of all persuasions support better management of wild steelhead stocks. But to reach …
How many steelhead can you fit into a school?
It depends on how old and big they are. Over the past year we have talked extensively about the value of life history diversity in steelhead, and in particular, that a broader range in spawn timing – which results in a broader range of emergence for juveniles – can help ameliorate density-related impacts by spreading steelhead of various ages …
California water supply takes hit from marijuana
Photo: California Department of Fish and Wildlife By Brian Johnson, Curtis Knight and Mike Sweeney Originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle California, the nation’s top agricultural producer, also is the source of up to 70 percent of the marijuana consumed in the United States. The marijuana industry is largely unregulated and there are few protections to ensure illegal water …
The Russian River, Drought, Fish and Wine
By Sam Davidson It’s tough times in California right now, water-wise. The Golden State is more like the Vermilion State – that being the color of extreme (or even exceptional) drought conditions in much of the state, in maps such as this. California’s salmon, steelhead, and trout are suffering as much or more than any other aquatic species in the current …
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