North 40 Fly Shop eMagazine October 2017 | Page 22

DOG
INLAND
NORTHWEST
STEELHEAD
DON’T ASSUME THEY’LL
BOUNCE BACK
BY DAVID MOSKOWITZ
Many news outlets are reporting that Columbia
River and Snake River summer steelhead runs
may come in a bit late this year. Unfortunately,
the numbers as of August 31 show it’s too late
for any kind of major rebound. That puts our wild
steelhead, which push into eastern Washington,
eastern Oregon, and western Idaho, at unprece-
dented risk.
Will these treasured wild steelhead be around
next year? Five years from now? Ten years from
now? Given current management decisions, and
this insanely depleted “abundance” it’s anyone’s
guess. Can we afford to lose these iconic fish?
That answer is easy: No.
Here are the unvarnished stats regarding this
catastrophic lack of wild steelhead:
Skamania steelhead returns (summer steelhead
heading to rivers in the lower Columbia and to
rivers between Bonneville Dam and The Dalles
Dam) were forecast at over 11,000 fish, includ-
ing over 4,000 wild steelhead. However only
3,491 total Skamania steelhead passed Bonne-
ville Dam, with only 1,236 being wild fish.
Upriver summer steelhead (steelhead pass-
ing Bonneville Dam between July 1 and Octo-
22
ber 1), divided into an A-run and a B-run (B-run
steelhead are those over 30 inches), are looking
even worse.
So far, 71,472 have passed Bonneville Dam
but that only represents 30 percent of the 10-
year average. Of those, only 24,877 are wild
summer steelhead, which represents just 29.4
percent of the 10-year average.
Adding great risk to these remaining fish,