If you’ve seen the recent news regarding Snake River steelhead returns, you’ve likely asked yourself, what’s the issue with the four lower Snake River dams? We try to add some context.
Time to go all in
It’s high time we admit we got it wrong and current efforts are no longer cutting it for salmon and steelhead survival on the lower Snake.
Changes coming to Idaho’s Clearwater River steelhead season
The Clearwater River Fisheries Working Group was tasked with providing recommendations to IDF&G that addressed both complaints from the angling community and mitigation of impacts on fish and angling opportunity due to overlaps of the fall chinook and steelhead fisheries. Here are the proposals and results.
The science is clear: Snake River dams kill too many fish
If you’re wondering why salmon and steelhead populations in the Snake River are in trouble, the answer is obvious: It’s the four dams on the lower Snake and the reservoirs behind them: They kill too many fish.
Idaho steelhead forecast: optimism or realism?
These days, good news in the wild steelhead arena is rare. Poor ocean survival, habitat degradation, hydro system mortality, a warming climate with associated increased water temperature — wild steelhead have a lot going against them.
Understanding this year’s forecast for the Clearwater River
Currently fishery managers are forecasting a steelhead run on the Clearwater that may rank as the fourth best among the ten-year average . With any luck we may be seeing a turnaround from some of the most underwhelming runs on record. We should be cautiously optimistic, though and here’s why.
Opportunity for fish and anglers on the Clearwater
The Clearwater River has seen its fair share of low points over the last five years, from depressed steelhead runs to spring/summer Chinook runs that underwhelm the communities reliant on these runs for their economies. But there is one shining bit of good news on this river: the status of fall-run Chinook.
The Perfect Honeymoon Suite for Wild Steelhead
When it comes to the Lower 48, it’s undeniable. The Snake River basin is the last best place to restore salmon and steelhead. And that isn’t just bias coming from an Idaho guy who loves and cherishes the wild landscapes and waters of the Gem State. The Snake River basin was once the preeminent producer of summer steelhead to the …
Science Friday: The risks and rewards of barging steelhead smolts
Sea-run Snake River fish species must pass through eight dams, four in the Snake and four in the Columbia. Barging some of them past these dams helps them avoid most of the harmful impacts associated with the hydropower system.