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Feature article - Winter 2007 issue of Conservation Connections
FEATURE ARTICLE
HOLIDAY TRAVEL - SALMON STYLE!
by Brian Barr, Aquatic Habitat Restoration Project Manager
When I talk to folks about fish passage barriers, the image that pops immediately to mind is one of huge, silvery salmon hurling themselves against massive concrete dams. It is easy to relate to these fish as they rush upriver to reach their destination before the last tick of their biological clock. And, it is intuitively obvious that preventing adult fish from reaching vast lengths of spawning habitat across the Northwest has a deleterious effect on salmon populations year in and year out.
But there are more subtle fish passage stories. Southern Oregon's cold, dry January weather might fool us into thinking that winters west of the Cascade Mountain Range are crisp and sunny. But, during winter, we seldom are removed far from a lengthy period of rain sitting over our valleys, swelling our rivers and streams with chocolate-brown water. When these periods of rain hover over us, most people head inside - curling up before a fireplace or wood stove to take advantage of comfortable, safe conditions. Eventually we get back around to outdoor chores and activities, but not until the weather and the ground dry out.
But, what do the fish do?
Well, they do the same thing. Young coho, chinook, steelhead, and trout make their way to a nice safe spot, hunker down, and wait out the high waters with the swift currents and high turbidity that make for uncomfortable living conditions. Sometimes, high water refuge areas are deep pools filled with wood snags or backwaters in and alongside large streams and creeks. In other cases, young salmon, steelhead, and trout seek out smaller streams to find the right conditions to wait out the high waters. These areas of safety offer protection from the treacherous flooding rivers.
As watersheds are developed or managed, people force stream courses to lose their connection to side channels, "clean" them of woody snags and downed logs, and build dams or roads (typically with poorly-sized culverts) across the small streams that provide important high-water refuges. Many of these dams and road culverts prevent fish passage, keeping young salmon and other fishes from reaching refuge areas when streams are filling their banks. Eliminating access to refuge areas subjects fish to fast currents, washing them away from the stretches of river that provide the best opportunities for growth and survival. Young coho salmon, in particular, are poor swimmers and easily get washed away during high flows. It is easy to understand why areas that consistently sport large coho runs are streams with complex channels, and undeveloped floodplains, and few roads and diversion structures.
Here at the National Center for Conservation Science & Policy, we are working with landowners and water rights holders around the Rogue River Basin in southwest Oregon to improve fish passage conditions - even for young salmon that might only be three inches long - so that they can access high water refuge habitats. Check out our progress on our effort to restore the Rogue Basin's Freeways for Fish!
Feature photo: Removing small dams, like this diversion structure on Glade Creek, is important if young salmon and other fishes are to regain access to critical refuges from winter's high flows and summer's high temperatures.
Photo credit: Charles Rogers, Williams Creek Watershed Council
