We have spent the last several weeks introducing and defining a variety of terms used in steelhead management. This week, we shift to looking at terms related to steelhead biology, specifically terms used to describe different life stages of juvenile steelhead. Let’s start with eggs. These are the little round suckers that produce the fish. Seriously, everyone understands the …
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 …
Science Friday: What is introgression?
For this edition of Science Friday, we continue to define terms used in studies that evaluate hatchery steelhead (and often other species of salmon and trout). Last week we defined fitness and discussed how it is measured and why it is important to understanding the biology of steelhead. This week we take another step into the deeper end of the …
Big WIN for sportsmen on the Elliott State Forest
On Tuesday, May 10, sportsmen and women won a huge victory when the Oregon State Land Board voted unanimously to keep the Elliott State Forest in public hands. The 80,000 acre Elliott is a popular area of public lands with high habitat and sporting values for salmon, steelhead and trout, deer, elk and other game species. The land board …
Steelhead 101: Defining native, wild, hatchery and natural-origin
In recent posts we covered the basics of defining escapement and run size, and the ways these are measured by resource managers. Today, we turn our focus to the complex terminology used for describing and comparing hatchery and wild steelhead. Steelhead are typically referred to as either being “wild” or “hatchery,” but they may also be defined as being “native” …
Steelhead 101: Estimating steelhead run size
Recently we have described the various methods used by biologists and resource managers to estimate steelhead escapement, which is the number of fish that escape and survive fisheries (all forms of angling) to actually spawn in a watershed. Run size is the total number of steelhead that return to a watershed each year. In order to estimate run size …
Steelhead 101: Using weirs to estimate adult steelhead escapement
Recently we have described how scientists use redd counts and snorkel surveys to estimate steelhead escapement. This week we focus on weirs, a totally different way of counting steelhead. Rather than sending out surveyors to sample stretches of stream where they count redds or fish, the operation of a weir is much simpler. A weir basically blocks the river and …
Bill that protects Methow River from mining moves forward
A bill that would protect lands in Okanagan County from mining is moving forward after a markup in today’s Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing. The Methow Headwater Protections Act of 2017, S. 566, comes on the heels of a 20 year mineral withdrawal, cementing protections for an area known for it’s agriculture and recreational importance in …
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 …
Steelhead 101: Using redd counts to estimate escapement of steelhead
Last week we defined the terms run size and escapement. If you didn’t see the post, check it out. This week we will discuss how fisheries managers actually measure escapement for wild steelhead using redd counts, and some of the challenges they face in doing so. We begin with escapement because it is usually measured first, and …