November 2010

It would be no surprise to tell you I love to angle for steelhead. Steelhead angling has been a passion inter-twined through much of my life. In fact, if scientists extracted part of my DNA, I wouldn’t be surprised if they discover a mykiss chromosome; it’s just simply a part of me. I don’t think I have a monopoly on that statement, though. Believe me, I know and have fished with many like me. But, what is truly amazing to me, personally, is I can’t pin point which aspect of the ex-perience I get jazzed up about the most. Is it the antici-pation of the trip? Does it happen as I step into a choice run and methodically work the water as I talk with my-self expecting a grab? Or is it the reflection after the connection with a steelhead, which seems to shadow my thoughts for days, perhaps weeks, and possibly years later. Those experiences are holistic in their value to me, even in the conservation challenges of today. Maybe it’s because the conservation challenge experience also surrounds me with others who are equally passionate and that seems to create a certain energy. Being part of a community to bring positive change for wild steelhead is a pretty cool experience and I highly recommend it. I fundamentally view the Wild Steelhead Coalition as based on two pillars to affect the politics of change in conservation for wild steelhead. The first pillar is the scientific information regarding wild steelhead and util-izing that information as leverage in arguments for con-servation needs. The second pillar includes developing a community of advocacy for wild steelhead through out-reach and sharing information, which engages us as well as challenge us to step up our involvement.

The President’s Run What I have discovered is that it’s not easy. Pretty much all of us who care about wild steelhead are an-glers and what we want most is what I just described in the opening sentences without complication. Add in our other life commitments that demand our attention and we have almost no spare time. One of our bigger challenges in the steelhead conserva-tion movement really does lie with the ability to create a stronger community of advocacy. A community where the opportunities to be effective are simple to under-stand and engage many of us to become educated in steelhead issues and be pro-active in taking action when opportunities arise. I believe we are on the right path in helping develop a community. Past President, Jack Berryman provided a great article challenging us all to become steelhead ad-vocates in a recent edition of Northwest Fly Fishing titled “Wild Steelhead Need More Advocates,” which is available on the WSC website. Trustee Dylan Tomine provided a compelling article in Fly Fishing Journal titled “Teetering on the Brink: Olympic Peninsula Hatcheries and Steelhead Politics” outlining the current plight of wild steelhead on the crown jewel of Washing-ton. Our VP of Conservation, Dick Burge, continues con-tributing articles to the Osprey explaining the need for and understanding of steelhead management plans not in place on our wild steelhead streams, as well as advo-cating for further habitat protection through land trusts and wild salmonid management zones. These articles are also available on the WSC website. Continued

The

Official Newsletter of the Wild Steelhead Coalition

www.WildSteelheadCoalition.org

Adipose

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President Rich Simms 425-789-1916 rks57@yahoo.com VP Membership Jim Schmitz 253-759-0477 lostriver99@yahoo.com

VPs Fundraising Brian Bennett 253-946-6722 brian_bennett@patagonia.com Ryan Petzold 425-238-4903 ryanpetzold@msn.com

VP Conservation Dick Burge 360-765-3815 fskibum@olypen.com

VP Communications Jonathan Stumpf 303-918-8802 jonathanstumpf@gmail.com

VP Science Nate Mantua 206-616-5347 mantua@atmos.washington.edu

VP Political Affairs Jim Holland 206-713-1866 hollandjim@hotmail.com

VPs At-Large Richard Hunt 425-745-2539 richard@obwilliams.com Bob Young 206-323-2189 fishbum@seanet.com

Secretary Jon Velikanji 206-522-4112 jvelikanji@qwest.net

Treasurer Nathan Keen 425-343-7590 mnckeen@frontier.com

Past President Jack Berryman 425-821-1774 cohojack@hotmail.com Trustees Frank Amato Les Johnson Nate Mantua Dylan Tomine John MdGlenn Bob Margulis Bill Bakke

Regional Reps Bob Ball, Region 6 North 360-374-2091 rball@olypen.com Rob Endsley, Region 4 360-961-2116 rendsley@earthlink.net Ron Nanney, Region 5 & 6 South 360-484-3409 ssteelhedr@wwest.net Steve Worley, Region 3 509-962-2033 worleybugger@elltel.net Mike Mathis, E. Wash., N. Idaho, W. Montana 509-927-6733 michaelmjmathis@comcast.net Adipose Editor Kim Lyons 425-489-9784 rivertrance@frontier.com

Speaking of our website, we are process of reviewing proposals to retool the current website to improve the quality of information and create a better community for steelhead advocacy. Jonathan Stumpf has joined the WSC as our new VP of Com-munications and is doing an excellent job leading the effort to achieve this goal for our website. Jonathan has also started utilizing social networking tools such as Facebook to get our work and mission more widespread in the steelhead community to help gain more involvement and support.

I would also like to thank Todd Ripley for his years of service on the board. I am happy to welcome Jim Holland as our new VP of Political Affairs and Bob Margulis as a new Trustee. Jim is a practicing attorney who will provide us solid advisement on legal matters and will help us track legislation that impacts wild steelhead. Bob has a vast background in community service and executive leadership that will be a valuable asset to our board. Kim Lyons has also stepped up to join us as the new editor for our newsletter, The Adipose, which will allow us to get back on our regu-larly scheduled publishing cycle. Kim brings great experience and enthusiasm in joining us. Look to The Adipose to move to a digital format in the future after we launch the new website. I would also like to thank Bob Young for his years of pro-ducing The Adipose.

In September, we held a steelhead community event that brought a great turnout from supporters. I also had the pleasure to meet the Dean of the UW Fisheries School at the event. I would like to thank Jim Schmitz and Jon Velikanje for their work putting the event together. Additionally, thanks to the continued support from Patagonia, and Blake Merwin and the entire Gig Harbor Fly Shop crew, for making these events successful.

All of this and many more efforts help bring together a community for wild steel-head advocacy. But, more importantly, a knowledgeable community has stepped into the steelhead conservation “run” to take a role in reversing the plight of wild steelhead. If you have been hesitant to step into the “run,” I invite you to do so. Heck, I will even invite you to step in ahead of me so you have the opportunity to experience the potential success it can bring. We can’t do it without you and your passion.

Sincerely,

Rich Simms President

Board of Directors The President’s Run Continued from page 1

In this issue:

• President’s Message 1,2

• Gig Harbor Fly Shop Movie Event 3

• Fall BBQ & Film Premier Recap 3

• 2010 Fundraiser & Conservation Award 3

• Historical Abundance of Columbia River Steelhead & Salmon 4

• Research on the Sauk & Skagit Rivers 5,6

• WSC 2011 UW (SAFS) Scholarship 6

• WSC Comments to WDFW Strategic Plan Summary 7

• 2009 WSC Scholarship Recipient Thesis Summary 8

• New Board Member/Volunteer Introductions 9

• Failing the Fish: Obama Management Plan 10

• Recovery Efforts in Hood Canal - Q&A with Dick Burge 11

3 The Adipose

Recap of the Fall BBQ and Film Premier  

The WSC would like to thank all those who attended this Fall’s BBQ and film premier of “Eastern Rises” on September 9th. The event, which raised almost $1,500 for the organization, was held at the University of Washington’s Center for Urban Horticulture.

We were fortunate to be the first to view the full-length film before its official release, and we would like to thank the producers from Felt Soul Media and board member Brian Bennett of Patagonia for helping us ar-range the premier.

Special thanks also to The Gig Harbor Fly Shop, Pata-gonia, Moldy Chum gang, and the volunteers who help make the event happen.

Join Us at Gig Harbor Fly Shop movie event

Join the Gig Harbor Fly Shop on November 19th for a special screening of the Felt Soul Media film “Eastern Rises”. The showing is at Kelly's Café & Espresso, 7806 Pioneer Way in Gig Harbor. • A portion of the proceeds from the evening will go

to benefit the Wild Steelhead Coalition

• Tickets are $10 and will be available next week at the Gig Harbor Fly shop or on their web-site.

• In addition to the film there will be a product raffle and a sneak peek of the new 2011 Patagonia Fly Fishing product line up.

We hope to see you on November 19th!

2010 Fundraiser and Conservation Award

By Nathan Keen and Jack Berryman

On May 15th, about 80 wild steelhead advocates gath-ered at the Redmond Marriott Town Center for the WSC’s 2010 fundraiser. While attendance was down, $3,000 was raised to support the work of the WSC. Many local organizations supported the event with do-nations and those in attendance participated in a raffle, silent auction, and live auction. We would especially like to thank our VP of Fundraising, Brian Bennett, for all of his work on this event. For a complete list of do-nors, go to : www.wildsteelheadcoalition.org/links2.htm . Our annual Conservation Award was presented to Sam Wright, a retired fisheries biologist. He began managing fish populations in 1957 and spent most of his career with the Washington Division of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). Wright’s main contributions to wild steelhead management include:

• Adipose fin marking for all hatchery steelhead;

• The Wild Trout Management Strategy;

• The Wild Salmonid Policy;

• The Endanagered Species Act (ESA) petition to list

Puget Sound wild steelhead;

• The WDFW’s halt to using juvenile steelhead for

“trout fishing” in Puget Sound rivers.

He continues to fight for wild fish and fish habitat, and is a valued partner in the mission of the WSC.

Sam Wright receives the 2010 WSC Conservation Award from President Rich Simms at the May 16th fundraiser event.

By Jim Schmitz

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Thanks to the Patagonia World Trout funding provided through the Wild Steelhead Coalition, this project continues to move forward. The primary Columbia project work over the past three years has been accessing historical books, reports, photographs, and art work that might help to explain what each corner of the Columbia basin once looked like, whether steelhead and salmon got there or not, and if they did what species and in what numbers. This is the great advantage of the internet: it provides the ability to access historical resources from dis-tant libraries, institutions, and private collections and to quickly search lists and individual documents for a specific term — steelhead, salmon, fish, fishery, and etc. However, my rural location was a limitation in being able to bring in larger historical works due to my dial-up internet service. I had to rely on willing folks to mail larger documents as hard copies or put on a CD. This altered two months ago with a technological marvel, an AirCard, provided by Wild Fish Conservancy, which now provides me broadband inter-net service to exchange large documents with greater ease of communication. It has opened up the ability to freely examine a much greater range of history re-sources. While this has somewhat set back the tim-ing of the Columbia project timeline for planned publica-tion of information because of adding yet more to the data-base, the project outcome will be the better for it related to some rather important finds as a result. One of the blanks in informa-tion has been how ocean pro-ductivity changes may have fit into the coastwide decline of wild steelhead and salmon in the Lower 48 over the past 150 years. A glimpse into this was recently found in a pioneer account of what the ocean food base in the vicinity of Puget Sound and Georgia Strait was in the year 1853 and again early 1900’s. It sheds great light on the probability that smolt-to-adult survival was, by present standards, inconceivably high. The ocean was, in fact, a natural “feedlot” during more favorable conditions whose fertility would now seem an invention of science fic-tion. A linking account from 1866 confirms a great baitfish collapse had previously occurred in both Puget Sound and the 100 mile tidal reach of the lower Columbia. David Montgom-ery’s work has found accounts of fantastic baitfish numbers in Europe during Roman times. Only the very earliest ac-counts of those few people who first arrived as settlers, or

were otherwise observers over longer periods of time than the early explorers, can provide these important pieces to the puzzle for explaining historical productivity. One has to go back very early to avoid the dilemma of the apt term “shifting baseline” as the perpetual limitation to be overcome for un-derstanding how ecosystems once worked — and, therefore, how to begin to piece parts of them together again. The Columbia basin historically accessed by anadromous fish was an enormous landscape of great eco-region complexity that made up the ecosystem whole. The remaining historical database from which to potentially reconstruct what it looked like is also large with sources tucked into obscure corners of bookstores, libraries, science buildings, and family attics. Some no longer exist. At some point one has to end the search and begin to publish, but it is a fine balance to try to ensure that one does not perpetuate previous inaccuracies that may continue to limit effective recovery strategies. At the same time, much of what has been found needs to be pre-

sented sooner than later.

The dilemma in this project is the sheer quantity of informa-tion and that much of it provides a very different perspective of both distribution of species and abundance than determined over the past 30 years since modern Columbia recovery planning be-gan through the Northwest Power Planning Council’s incep-tion in 1980-81. The end strat-egy is to publish a series of peer-reviewed papers, any one of which can entail a year of draft-ing and review edits. But each paper would only provide a part of the whole due to size limita-tions for peer-review publication. We are now focusing on a some-what different strategy which would result in a large informa-tional report beyond the size

considered for peer-reviewed journals, but which would fit with previous large informational reports provided by NOAA Fisheries in the past. This strategy would allow us to have an initial working draft around the end of this year and a final version for internal and public use sometime in the first half of next year. This strategy would make available a large amount of historical Columbia basin information that could be used for recovery planning in the shortest amount of time. We can then target select components of that information for peer-reviewed journals thereafter as something outside the scope of the present project intended to best fulfill the Pata-gonia World Trout grant expectations. Thanks to this grant, with the larger report completion, it will provide a funding lever for subsequent publication work through varied sources.

Historical Distribution and Abundance of Columbia River Steelhead & Salmon by Bill McMillan

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Fishing at Celilo Falls on the Columbia River prior to construction of The Dalles dam

Historical photo courtesy of www.bpa.gov/power/pl/olumbia/gallery/celilof.jpg

4 The Adipose

5 The Adipose

Continued on next page

Most of the Wild Steelhead Coalition members are aware that the Sauk and Skagit rivers were closed early the last two years during the winter seasons. Many of you probably didn’t know that a small amount of fishing activity continued during the closure in an effort to collect data on hatchery and wild steelhead. For the last two years the Washington De-partment of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), Skagit River Tribal Co-managers, and Seattle City Light have managed to obtain money to do genetic sampling of Skagit and Sauk River wild and hatchery steelhead. As it turns out, the safest way to catch steelhead for DNA sampling and acoustic tagging* is by using hook and line (fishing). Brett Barkdull, the WDFW district biologist and harvest manager for the Skagit River, Dave Pflug, a senior fisheries biologist with Seattle City Light, in addition to bi-ologists with Skagit River System Cooperative, Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, Puget Sound Energy, University of Washing-ton, and a couple local Skagit River guides have been catch-ing, obtaining genetic samples, and releasing steelhead in April and May for the last few years. The project is funded in part through the federal Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant program. Another portion of the money used to pay for this project is hatchery reform money that was acquired through the North-west Indian Fisheries Commission by the Skagit River Sys-tem Cooperative. The project is loosely referred to as the SK Grant. The purpose of the SK Grant is to determine the extent of genetic mixing of Chambers Creek origin hatchery steelhead with the wild steelhead stocks in the Sauk and Skagit Rivers. (Geneticists refer to this as introgression.) The original in-tent was to get two years worth of information from each site so a comparison could be made between years on an individ-ual site. The WDFW also intends to use the genetic samples to determine if there are separate populations of wild steel-head in these rivers. The team of biologists and guides mentioned above at-tempted to collect a total of 50 genetic samples of adult wild steelhead over the two year study. Sample collection was attempted at the following locations on the Sauk and Skagit Rivers and their tributaries: Lower Skagit River, Upper Skagit River, Cascade River, Sauk River, Suiattle River, and Finney Creek. They also attempted to collect a total of 50 juveniles taken from these same sites as well as the smolt trap at Burlington, and Chambers Creek origin juveniles from the Marblemount hatchery, The team also collected DNA samples from adult steelhead captured in tribal fisher-ies. In addition to DNA from wild and hatchery steelhead, the group also attempted to collect samples from two year classes of isolated resident rainbow populations at the following sites: Ross Lake, NF Cascade River, NF Sauk River, Clear Creek, Sauk River, Baker Lake, and Finney Creek above the migration barrier.

The research team has successfully achieved the majority of these sample collection objectives, with the exception of adult samples from a few locations. The winter of 2008/09 sample collection effort, conducted when the rivers were closed in April and May, was successful on the Lower Skagit, Upper Skagit, and the Sauk. However, the team was not able to collect the targeted number of samples from the Cascade River because the fishing conditions in May were difficult. Sample collection on the Suiattle and in Finney Creek was not successful. They had more success in these systems in the winter of 2009/10. These data compliment an existing WDFW scale DNA data set collected in the winters of 2006/07 and 2007/08 on the upper Skagit and Sauk rivers. In addition, the group collected DNA samples of resident rainbows from several Upper Skagit tributaries. The list includes Goodell Creek, Bacon Creek, Diobsud Creek, and rainbows from the Blackwater River in British Columbia (Blackwater River rainbows have been planted into Ross Lake). The genetic information provided by this research is needed on all Puget Sound rivers. It will establish a genetic baseline for specific stocks and help determine if introgression has occurred which would impact that stock’s DNA (such a change would undoubtedly lower the wild stock productivity as well as change its life history parameters). This baseline will also help in the future if new studies show further intro-gression and also help biologists and fisheries managers un-derstand potential reasons for stock declines. In addition to the DNA data, the SK team recognized and took advantage of an additional research opportunity pro-vided by their capture and release sampling methods. The

Wild Steelhead Research on the Sauk and Skagit Rivers By Chris Grieve

“The genetic information provided by this research is needed on all

Puget Sound rivers.”

Photo by Rich Simms

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See related article on page 8 for a summary of Ms. Atcheson’s completed thesis.

WSC 2010 UW School of Aquatic & Fishery Sciences (SAFS) Scholarship

This past year, the WSC set up a scholarship program with the University of Washington (UW) School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. The WSC Board first agreed to support one student but with the excellent response we received from students, the WSC decided to support two projects. This year we are accepting proposals again from UW Gradu-ate level students who are doing steelhead specific research. Our students from last year were Margaret Atcheson and Sewall Young. Atcheson presented us with some great infor-mation on the interannual variation in steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) diet, growth, and consumption in North Pacific marine ecosystems. The WSC will be accepting proposals from students until December 1, 2010 and will announce the 2010 scholarship recipient on December 20, 2010, with $5,000 going to support the recipient’s project. This newly formed relationship between the SAFS and WSC is going to provide continued support toward steelhead spe-cific research for years to come. Thanks again to all of our supporters who have made this scholarship possible and look for more updates this year in on our website and in upcoming newsletters regarding the research.

Skagit Basin has an extensive acoustical receiver array in place that is used to study smolt migration patterns. Seattle City Light generously provided additional research funding to the team, which they used to purchase 120 acoustical tags. These tags were implanted in adults captured in the Hamil-ton-Birdsview area for DNA sampling. These fish were tracked as they moved through the Skagit mainstem, provid-ing valuable information on adult steelhead movement pat-terns in this river system. Acoustic tagging studies of juvenile steelhead demonstrate the value of this kind of research. Recent tagging studies con-ducted by Seattle City Light, the Corps of Engineers, and several other research partners indicate that only about 10 percent of steelhead smolts tagged in the lower reaches of the Nooksack, Skagit and Green Rivers are making it through Puget Sound and into the Pacific. These findings inform hy-potheses for new research. Are these survival rates the norm during early marine migration, or are poor conditions in Puget Sound a key factor in the decline of regional steelhead populations? Time will tell, and the answer will help to guide us toward more effective restoration efforts. Understanding how adult fish migrate to their spawning habitats will pro-vide similarly valuable information about survival in fresh-water. Ongoing steelhead population monitoring efforts on the Skagit have indicated an encouraging trend. WDFW and the tribes annually count steelhead spawning redds in index reaches as a basis for estimating population strength. The recent trend in redd count data indicates that early run wild fish appear to be increasing in abundance. This may indicate that the “wild steelhead release” regulation that was insti-tuted on the Skagit River in 2002 is having some success re-building this population. The SK group was able to collect DNA from both early and late fish, which will help to deter-mine if these are actually separate spawning stocks or a sin-gle stock that is expanding its run timing. Regardless, these findings provide evidence that wild steelhead release is an effective tool for restoring population abundance and diver-sity. There will be at least two papers written by the researchers. However, it will take a couple months to analyze the DNA samples collected this year and about 14 months before all the data is put together. This article was written by Chris Grieve with input provided by Brett Barkdull, District Biologist for Skagit River north to the Canadian Border and San Jaun Islands (Brett is also the Skagit River Regional Harvest Manager), Dave Pflug, senior fisheries biologist with Seattle City Light, Eric Doyle, biologist, and Dick Burge, retired WDFW fisheries biologist and WSC VP of Science.

*Acoustic tagging is a method of tracking fish movement by placing a small transmitter in a fish, releasing the fish, and tracking its movement as it swims by acoustic receivers that are currently set up in the Skagit River, Puget Sound, and the Straights.

Sauk & Skagit Research Continued from page 5

By Jim Schmitz

7 The Adipose

change, natural environmental damages (as large land-slides), extended periods of unproductive ocean conditions, past and ongoing hatchery impacts, cyclic management error and over harvests, and the impacts from man’s ac-tivities. WDFW should also assure that correct manage-ment science is applied to harvest planning by completing all fisheries management plans before fishing.

The category of Managing and Reforming Hatcheries and Harvest might be split into two categories, given the im-portance of each. • Under reforming hatcheries we again suggest the stra-

tegic plan draw attention to the literature and the new science that exists on subject.

• Harvest Reform should implant the idea of managing for conservation and for healthier stocks rather than immediate harvests that impede recovery or impact listed or declining stocks.

1. Conserve and protect native fish and wildlife

A. Improve conservation practices to enhance protec-tion and restoration of fish and wildlife • Given today’s environmental, habitat, and weather

uncertainties, Maximum Sustainable Fishing concepts should be replaced with new and more conservative management concepts that assure stocks will sustain and return to maximum health and productivity. Pre-venting over harvests of wild fish should be a major goal of WDFW.

• WDFW will manage hatcheries conservatively to eliminate impacts to wild stocks based on the best available science.

• Conduct a scientific review (possibly by the University of Washington researchers) of hatcheries and their importance and impacts to the past and future health and management of wild stocks.

• Develop management programs that protect juveniles and all life history forms of wild stocks

• Investigate and publish the causes for decline of wild stocks

• Develop a system of Wild Salmonid Management • Develop a plan to protect and manage wild fish and

their habitats in response to climate change.

B. Increase protection and restoration of ecosystem functions. The key to recovering and maintaining healthy wild stock populations is through the protection and restoration of their riverine habitats and adjoining terrestrial zones. • Recover damaged habitats that are of high priority

and key to wild stock recovery and productivity. • Establish river corridor preserves on all productive

rivers through joint efforts with other state and fed-eral agencies, and through conservation and conser-vancy programs that advocate for increased river protection.

• WDFW should also seek legislation to improve their

WSC Comments to WDFW 2011-2017 Strategic Plan Regarding Wild Steelhead & Salmon Last August, the Wild Steelhead Coalition, Washington Council of Trout Unlimited, Native Fish Society and Steel-head Committee of FFF, and members of the Steelhead Sum-mit Alliance provided their comments and recommendations for the new WDFW Strategic Plan. In general, there was agreement with the materials in the basic draft and sugges-tions are made to add a few significant concepts to the impor-tant priorities and to help with the construction of goals and objectives.

• Adding “Achieving Healthy Rivers & Ecosystems” as a top concern under the section “Priorities and Initiatives”, because recovery of wild fish will depend on the actions taken to recover and preserve river basins and their his-torical ecosystems.

• Under the category of “Recovering Salmon and Steel-head Populations” and other subsections as appropriate, the WDFW should note the importance of applying mod-ern science and even cutting edge science to stock/DPS (Distinct Population Segment) recovery, rebuilding and management programs. Due to the political framework that WDFW must work in, and the fact that managers often continue in the same management mode due to time, past experiences and historical limitations, we have noted that new science often takes several decades to be incorporated into management. We also suggest that WDFW perform evaluations on old scientific management practices that are presently in use. • A second recommendation for this category is noting

the importance of recovering and managing wild sal-monids through higher levels of the Viable Salmonid Population (VSP) parameters. VSP levels should in-clude perspectives from the historical record on abun-dances, life history diversity and the distribution of wild fish.

• The Category of Climate Change should include major

objectives such as reducing the threats of flooding due to the already damaged condition of all Washington water-sheds; and the synergism with logging, agriculture, etc with early winter large flash floods due to climate change.

• In Renewing our Conservation Focus WDFW should pro-vide information in this priority category on the impor-tance of managing wild salmonids at elevated Zones VSP levels to improve wild stock health, increase stock resil-ience and decrease the future potential of depletions from the uncertainty of riverine habitat impacts from climate

SUGGESTIONS made to the WDFW 2011-17 Agency Goals and Objectives include:

Primary RECOMMENDATIONS that were made to the WDFW Strategic plan include:

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The Adipose

UW Fisheries Student Completes Graduate Work With Support from the WSC Scholarship In 2009, the WSC awarded two scholarships to University of Washington graduate students. One student, Margaret Atcheson, received a $5,000 scholarship to study the ef-fects of climate change, and the feeding habits and growth variables of steelhead in the marine (ocean) environment. Her thesis, “Interannual Variation in Steelhead Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) Diet, Growth and Consumption in North Pacific Marine Ecosystems”, is now completed. Be-low is a brief summary:

Steelhead trout have never been the primary focus of off-shore marine research due to their low abundance and low economic value in commercial fisheries relative to Pacific salmon species. Since steelhead can spend more than 50% of their life at sea, attain as much as 95% of their body mass in the marine environment, and experi-ence up to 50% mortality rates at sea, it is of utmost im-portance that we understand what biological and physical factors influence steelhead feeding ecology during their ocean residence. The objectives of the research were: 1) To analyze interannual variability in marine diets of steelhead trout, 2) To determine which physical and bio-logical factors influence steelhead marine growth, and 3) To utilize a bioenergetics model to evaluate the underly-

ing mechanisms of growth and the relative importance of physical versus biological factors.

The study utilized data collected during the summers of 1991 to 2009 onboard two Japanese research vessels in the central North Pacific and central Gulf of Alaska. Sampling of steelhead were conducted with research gill-nets and long lines, and scale samples (to determine age) and stomach samples were taken from juvenile, immature, and adult steel-head collected.

The dominant food catego-ries for steelhead were fish and squid species, particularly juvenile Atka mackerel, three-spined stickleback lantern fish, and the minimal armhook squid. However, the composition of steelhead diets varied significantly depending on: 1) the ocean age of the steelhead (the amount of time spent in the high sea) 2) the abundance of pink salmon (which steelhead com-pete with for similar food sources), and 3) year-to-year variabilities in ocean productivity driven by climate, spe-cifically water temperature. If the steelhead’s primary food source is scarce, they do have the ability to change their diet, but this does have a significant impact on their growth and survival rates.

The study found that marine growth of steelhead in their first year at sea was more dependent on sea surface tem-peratures, as steelhead have a higher propensity to diet on fish species located closer to the ocean’s surface. In the second year of saltwater growth, the steelhead become more interested in squid — the same food source of pink salmon. Pink salmon account for approximately 70% of the total abundance of all wild Pacific salmon, with wild Russian pink salmon comprising about 53% of that num-ber. The abundance of wild Eastern Kamchatka pink salmon has an odd/even year pattern with up to 380% more pink salmon in odd years, thus having a significant impact on squid availability for the steelhead during those years. Last, bioenergetic model simulations used field based inputs for diet and growth, and the results suggest that prey consumption and temperature are limiting fac-tors on steelhead growth at sea. However, steelhead can compensate for a low energy diet under optimal tempera-tures by consuming more food at a faster rate. In conclusion, year-to-year variations in climate, abun-dance of squid, and density-dependent interactions with highly-abundant stocks of pink salmon were identified as potential key drivers of steelhead diets in North Pacific ecosystems. This study shows that steelhead are able to compensate for low prey quality by increasing consump-tion rate and thus total consumption if temperature is in the optimal range. However, it is likely that changing wa-ter temperature (and related oceanographic properties) influences prey availability and prey quality, exerting both a direct and indirect affect on growth.

View Ms. Atcheson’s complete thesis at: www.WildSteelheadCoalition.org/AtchesonThesisWSC.pdf.

regulatory authority under the Hydraulic Project Ap-proval (HPA) State Act that now provides some limited authority to control in-river activities.

C. Promote and improve compliance with natural re-sources laws.

Violations of harvest and gear rules can have a ma-jor impact on wild stock health and sustainability.

2. Provide sustainable fishing, hunting and other wild-

life related recreational experiences.

A. Increase the economic benefits and public participation derived from sustainable fish and wildlife opportunities.

• WDFW should increase their management tools necessary to maintain and lengthen fishing seasons.

B. Expand access for fishing, hunting and other recrea-tional opportunities.

• River access is severely limited in many areas, harming conservation goals.

Read the entire letter to the WDFW : http://wildsteelheadcoalition.org/WSC_WCTU.pdf

WSC Recommendations to WDWF Strategic Plan Continued from page 7

This study investigated inter- annual variations in CLIMATE

and their potential effects on growth rate and feeding

habits of steelhead trout in the North Pacific Ocean.

9 The Adipose

New Adipose Editor, Kim Lyons I’ll start my introduction with the confes-sion that I’ve been a relatively inactive, dues-paying member of WSC for many years. In spite of my dormant participation, I have always been appreciative of the work that WSC does and what it has accom-plished. A couple of years ago, while read-ing Dec Hogan’s book, A Passion for Steel-head, I was deeply moved by the Afterward chapter titled “The Future of Our Sport”, written by Pete Soverel. In response to that, I made a pledge to myself to dedicate any future volunteer endeavors to wild steelhead conservation. I had served as the newsletter editor for the Northwest Women Flyfishers club from 1997 until early 2010, and also held a number of board positions within that organization over the years. Following the corporate dissolution of the women’s fly fishing club last February, I was happily enjoy-ing my retirement from the volunteer-newsletter-editor-biz when I saw the “Adopse Editor Wanted” posting in the last WSC newsletter. To make a long story short, here I am. I am also a long-time volunteer with the Washington State “Casting for Recovery” program, which provides annual fly fishing retreats for breast cancer survivors. Aside from fish-ing and conservation interests, much of my free time is spent following live music and attending bluegrass/jam-band festivals. I live in Bothell, WA with my husband, Mike Rhamy. Luck-ily he shares my addiction for steelhead, enabling a co-dependent lifestyle as steelhead bums. As stewards of the river, we wish to do our part to contribute to the ongoing preservation of wild steelhead and the beautiful places where they are found. I hope that my service with WSC as the Adipose editor may be a worthy contribution toward that goal.

New V.P. of Communications, Jonathan Stumpf

WSCers…

Can't tell you how thrilled and honored I am to serve on the board of directors as the VP of Communica-tions for the Wild Steelhead Coalition.

As a recent transplant to Seattle from Mon-tana and Colorado, I've only been chasing steelhead for five years, but have been pursuing the finned bunch since I was young enough to bait my own hook. After a childhood and early adult life chasing trout, carp, and walleye in Colorado, I moved to Missoula, Montana for graduate school. Why Montana? It depends on who's asking, but I feel safe tell-ing this group the rivers played as much a part in my decision as did the journalism program at the University of Montana.

I was fortunate to spend almost a year in the Big Hole River Valley, working on my professional project (the J-school's ver-sion of a thesis) and telling the story of the fluvial Arctic gray-ling, an imperiled fish--the last native population in the Lower 48--in the Big Hole River. With so many interests using the water, I learned quickly about the necessity for both conserva-tion and collaboration when discussing watershed and species, and used writing, photos, and video to tell that story. I hope my work in the Big Hole combined with my educational back-ground in digital and new media from the University of Mon-tana will benefit my work with you and the WSC.

I look forward to helping with the dissemination of information and the engagement of our members to improve the return of wild steelhead to the Pacific Northwest.

See you on the water… Jonathan Stumpf

New WSC Trustee, Bob Margulis

It is with great pleasure that we welcome Bob Margulis as a Trustee. Bob brings a vast body knowl-edge with his non-profit experience. His insight will be a valuable addition to WSC as we grow and advance the organization to become more sustainable in our conservation mission for wild steelhead. Bob is a WSC Lifetime Member and believes in our message that steelhead need stronger conservation and has joined our board to assist the organization move forward with that mission. The WSC Board voted unanimously for him to join us as a Trustee.

Bob has a rich background of community service that will balance well with the goals of WSC. Bob is currently serving on the Board of Trustees for Group Health Cooperative, as well as volunteering and serving on the Steering Committee of the American Lung Association of Seattle as a Master Home Environmentalist.

His extensive experience of service and leadership also includes: Seattle Great City Initiative (Steering /Advisory Commit-tees), Washington Technology industry Association (Board of Directors), The Access Fund in Boulder, CO (Executive Com-mittee member of advocacy group representing climbers), Bellevue Community College (Board of Trustees), Washington Trustees Association of Community and Technical Colleges, Technology Alliance Council (Education Technology Initiative Task Force), Western Washington University’s Computer Science Department Advisory Board, NW Entrepreneur Network, Gates Foundation’s Smart Tools Academy Steering Committee, King County Council’s review of the county’s strategic In-

formation Technology Plan (Expert Panel Co-Chair), as well other work with as many other projects and organizations.

The WSC board is pleased to have Bob as a new team member.

10

The Adipose

A broad coalition of salmon and steelhead advocates have fired another shot across the bow in the long-running battle with the federal government and its woefully inadequate, illegal efforts to protect an endangered Northwest icon — the wild salmon and steelhead of the Columbia and Snake Riv-ers. On October 29th, conservation and fishing organizations, sci-entists and businesses, the Nez Perce Tribe, and State of Oregon filed a “motion for summary judgment” asking Judge James Redden to reject President Obama’s Salmon Plan. The 2010 Obama Plan began as the 2008 Bush Plan. Early in 2009, just before the judge ruled on the earlier version, the newly-minted Obama administration asked for some extra time to assess it. During the 4-month review, rather than starting fresh, the federal agencies decided that the Bush Plan was darn near perfect. So they adopted it as their own, though they supplemented it with their “Adaptive Manage-ment Implementation Plan” — the AMIP - as a so-called “insurance policy” — just in case they’re wrong about the Bush Plan. The failure and inadequacy of both the federal plan and the supplemental AMIP is no secret. After the Obama Admini-stration inherited the Bush Administration’s deeply flawed 2008 Columbia Basin Plan after inauguration, Judge Redden sent a strongly-worded letter indicating that the plan is unlikely to pass legal muster in his court. Tens of thousands of citizens including fishermen, scientists, conservationists, business leaders, and clean energy and tax-payer advocates have urged President Obama and his science czar Jane Lubchenco to ‘can the plan’ and start over.

The Western Division of the American Fisheries Society (WDAFS) — the nation’s oldest and best-respected fisheries science organization — panned both the original Bush Plan and the Obama’s AMIP - the “insurance policy.” Here are some choice excerpts from the WDAFS review:

• “In general, [rapid response] actions do not seem aggres-sive or encompassing enough to address significant de-clines.”

• “[WDAFS] finds the AMIP to be inadequate for ensuring the protection of threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin.

• “AMIP does not always use the 'best scientific information.”

• "Regarding dam breaching: Compared to other actions in the contingency plans, which are addressed generally and suggest movement toward implementing the action, the breaching of the Lower Snake River dams takes a tortuous path just to initiate a study (emphasis added)."

One of the few revealing documents released by the Obama Administration in late August as part of the government’s ‘official record’ includes a NOAA scientist strongly criticizing the 2010 Plan (the Bush Plan and the AMIP combined) and agreeing with the WDAFS conclusions:

• “I’m surprised that a “science driven study of breaching Snake River Dams” is listed as a long-term contingency action only to be implemented after a significant decline in Snake River salmon status. Massive declines in the status of multiple Snake River populations have already hap-pened, and such a study will surely take years to complete. It seems to me that carrying out scientific and economic studies of Snake River Dam breaching should be carried out now to better inform stakeholders and decision-makers of the costs and benefits of such actions.”

• “I think that the WDAFS is correct in perceiving the AMIP is designed to support the 2008 BiOp and to defend the status quo over protecting threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead in the Columbia-Snake basin.”

• “I agree that the AMIP appears to place more emphasis on expanded monitoring and modeling than on implementing beneficial actions.”

This October 29th filing is one step in this most recent round of litigation. After several more procedural steps over the next several months, Judge Redden could issue his decision on the adequacy of the 2010 Obama Salmon Plan as early as March or April.

For more information on this, and information about Save Our Wild Salmon’s efforts to protect and restore healthy, self-sustaining populations of salmon and steelhead in the Co-lumbia and Snake Rivers, visit:

http://www.wildsalmon.org http://www.workingsnakeriver.org

Failing the Fish:

A broad coalition urges federal judge to “toss out” the 2010 Obama Plan for Columbia Basin Salmon and Steelhead.

Press Release from Save Our Wild Salmon

11 The Adipose

Long Live the Kings has been working to recover threatened salmon and steelhead in Hood Canal since 1993. They have focused on using hatchery propagation to increase the abun-dance of wild fish populations where numbers have diminished to a trickle. They realized early-on that the sustainability of Hood Canal salmon runs would require a comprehensive, holis-tic approach-one in which habitat, harvest, and hatchery efforts worked in harmony, and have now engaged in several initia-tives, with an array of partnering organizations, aimed at im-plementing a comprehensive recovery approach in Hood Canal.

Dick Burge, WSC’s V.P. of Conservation, has been par-ticipating with Long Live the Kings, along with a num-ber of other representatives from partnering agencies. Representatives from these partnering agencies have

submitted their opinions regarding this project in a roundtable discussion of the Hood Canal recovery issue on its website: www.lltk.org/roundtable/summer-2010. Dick Burge’s contribu-tion to this discussion, on behalf of the Wild Steelhead Coali-tion, is provided below:

Q: What are the inherent challenges and opportunities of salmonid recovery in Hood Canal?

D.B: The Wild Steelhead Coalition believes that a holistic vision of wild steelhead and salmon recovery in Hood Canal, and for other Western Washington waters, must include a pathway for all ecosystem components to recover toward historical levels. Working to restore the abundance of the badly depleted wild steelhead and salmon populations must include serious atten-tion to their habitat problems.

A chance for success in recovering Hood Canal salmon means starting with the watershed, estuaries and the migratory paths of wild fish and understanding what habitat changes, including water quality, have occurred in the last two centu-ries.

Habitat recovery and protection, and the elimination of segre-gated hatchery plantings, coupled with conservative fisheries management that addresses rebuilding the complete suite of the Viable Salmonid Population parameters (or VSP, defined as adequate abundance, diversity, productivity and distribu-tion) provides the best chance of success for restoring wild steelhead and salmon in Hood Canal rivers

Q: What will it take for current salmon and steelhead recovery efforts in the Canal to work?

D.B.: Wild fish habitat should be restored to conditions that early settlers found before the saw, the plough, in-river and streamside development, multiple pollutants and other damag-ing activities invaded the watersheds and marine waters of Hood Canal. These activities collectively removed much of the protective and rearing properties of the rivers and estuaries. Our collective concept of healthy wild fish habitat is badly skewed by what we observe today; a badly damaged habitat that seems natural and productive to us, given that it has been in this condition for over a century.

Although most Hood Canal Peninsula rivers have escaped some of the destructive anthropogenic forces that have occurred in other Pacific Northwest areas, such as dams and streamside

construction, past timber management practices have badly damaged the forest ecosystem, and present logging practices continue that destruction. As global warming increases over this century, those impacts will (be compounded), causing lar-ger winter floods, lower summer and fall stream flows and increased stream temperatures. These conditions will further degrade the productive capacity of Hood Canal rivers. Restor-ing and protecting the complete array of wild fish habitats and their associated ecosystem components is the only chance we have to prevent extinction of wild salmonids from existing an-thromorphic activities and changing environmental conditions.

Possibly the only way to accomplish habitat and ecosystem resto-ration is to preserve broad corridors along these rivers through one of several governmental acts or private organizations simi-lar to the preservation of wild fish ecosystems along the Queets (National Parks) and Hoh Rivers (The Hoh River Trust).

Q: How can we, as non-profits, landowners, business peo-ple, fishers, tribal members, scientists, agency staff, and citizens, ensure that salmon recovery in Hood Canal is supported and effective?

D.B.: Recovering wild fish stocks to healthy populations through management changes must include rebuilding the VSP parame-ters (i.e., abundance, diversity, productivity and distribution) toward past levels. Properties of the VSP parameters during the turn of the 19th Century are important to understand, even if they are not fully achievable; ignoring these historical parame-ters will assure we set our vision far too low, and rebuild/manage below what might otherwise be achievable. Following this approach, the Wild Steelhead Coalition envisions healthy populations that approach historical abundance, diversity that is allowed to rebuild to its natural genetic and habitat imposed levels, and wild fish fully occupying the productive habitat and productivity/escapement levels that meet, and at times exceed, the rivers carrying capacity for juveniles.

The Wild Steelhead Coalition envisions a new fisheries manage-ment system for Hood Canal Rivers that is conservative and always errs on recovering and maintaining healthy wild stocks. We support this concept in terms of fisheries planning that manages for maximum juvenile production supported by exist-ing habitat for each stock to assure maximum sustaining river and ocean abundances, instead of managing populations down to the knife edge “allowed” by mathematical harvest models.

We believe, with habitat restoration and good management, wild steelhead will return to these waters in numbers that will ex-ceed the combination of hatchery and limited wild stocks that are continually diminished by introgression, ecological competi-tion, and mixed stock fisheries.

Q: What needs to happen for recovery to last? D.B.: For some species, as wild steelhead, we must recognize

that recovery will be very difficult and productivity may be lower than that of other species of salmon. A second recogni-tion is that these are small rivers that can easily be depleted again. A more conservative fishing approach for steelhead would include catch and release fisheries for sport fishers, lim-ited ceremonial and subsistence harvests for the local Indian tribes, and maintaining healthy return levels that assure the maintenance of abundance, diversity, productivity and distri-bution (i.e. high VSP characteristics). Other salmon species may provide higher or lower harvests depending on the ability of a recovered habitat to support their production.

WSC’s Dick Burge participates with Long Live the Kings for Hood Canal Recovery Effort

11

12

The Adipose

The Wild Steelhead Coalition was founded in 2000, and is dedicated to increasing the return of wild steelhead to waters of the Pacific Northwest.

218 Main Street, Box 264 Kirkland, Washington 98033

The annual WSC membership period runs from January - December of each year.

Your Membership dues payment enables the Coalition to fulfill our mission of increasing the return of wild steel-head to the waters and rivers of the Pacific Northwest.

To JOIN WSC, go to: www.WildSteelheadcCalition.org/newmember.htm

To RENEW your membership, go to:

www.WildSteelheadCoalition.org/renewalmember.htm

If you have any further questions regarding membership please contact Jim Schmitz, V.P. of Membership at: lostriver99@yahoo.com

The Wild Steelhead Coalition is a Federally Recognized 501c(3) organization;

as such, your donation is completely

tax deductible and may qualify for matching funds through your employer.

An easy way to increase the impact of your donation is to have your employer match it.

Thousands of companies have Matching Gift Programs that will double, or even triple, individual tax-deductible contributions made by their employees. Check with your personnel office to find our about your company’s pro-gram. They will give you a matching gift form that you can fill out and send to us with your contribution.

WSC Membership & Renewals: