The Wild Steelheader, January 3, 2018

January 3, 2018

Nothing in steelheading is constant. The intricacies of rivers change daily along with the chosen lies of steelhead. While this can drive anglers mad it is also part of what keeps us coming back. But changes in steelhead angling over the past few decades have contributed to declines in the quality of many of our steelhead fisheries. The popularity of steelhead fishing has increased concurrent with a reduction both in wild steelhead populations and places to fish for them. Simply put, there are now more people crowded into fewer places and fewer fish to go around. Fortunately, this doesn't have to mean the end of steelhead fishing as we know it. Many wild steelhead fisheries have maintained opportunity despite overcrowding and diminished wild fish returns and there are lessons to be learned from these places. The common denominator for these fisheries? They all have restrictions on either the number of anglers or the number of angler-fish encounters. Such restrictions can be regulations limiting types of gear, catch-and-release encounters, angling from boats, guiding, non-resident angling, etc. There is no single prescription for a future in which we have robust wild steelhead populations and well managed fisheries with consistent angling opportunity. But we have a foundation of knowledge, data and cultural values on which we can build success. There will always be swings in wild steelhead populations and it is difficult to predict accurately when these will occur so we must manage conservatively in bad years and enjoy the good years responsibly. Future generations of chrome-crazed steelheaders will thank us for it. On the home front, Wild Steelheaders United is proud to announce new leadership.Dean Finnerty, longtime fishing and hunting guide whose home water is Oregon's Umpqua River, is now manager of TU's Wild Steelhead Initiative as well as northwest region director for TU's Sportsmen's Conservation Project. Dean joins our in-house steelhead scientist, John McMillan, and local organizers Nick Chambers (WA), Kyle Smith (OR) and Michael Gibson (ID) on the WSU team.           It's rare that wild steelhead recovery is strong enough to justify re-opening a major fishery -- but thanks to a variety of factors that's where we are with late winter run steelhead on the Skagit River. Wild Steelheaders United has helped local steelhead advocates press the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to re-open the Skagit for a spring steelhead season. This effort reached a milestone recently when NOAA Fisheries proposed to approve a plan to do just that. While there is a chance for a 2018 fishery, it is unlikely because the timeline is tight. Giving up another year of fishing opportunity is not ideal but a reinstated, well-managed fishery is worth waiting for. Take action to help shape the future of a spring steelhead fishery on the Skagit.         In Oregon, Wild Steelheaders United is working across the state to protect, reconnect, and restore some of the best steelhead habitat in the lower 48. The Oregon Water Resources Commission recently adopted a new rule that reserves the surface waters of the NF Smith for the specific purpose and support of "human consumption, livestock, and instream public uses including pollution abatement, fish life, wildlife, and recreation." The Commission also limited groundwater development in the sub-basin. These actions will help to protect wild steelhead spawning and rearing habitat and water quality in a remote area of this famous watershed that supplies clean water and fish for downstream fisheries and local fishing-based economies. Wild Steelheaders United and the Oregon Council of Trout Unlimited will continue to advocate for the NF Smith and other wild steelhead sanctuaries in the Kalmiopsis, aspressure from the mining industry to develop the area shows no signs of letting up.           For decades, illegal cannabis cultivation in California has damaged many coastal steelhead streams. The state recently adopted new rules for cannabis growers using water from such streams, requiring they have valid water rights, divert and store water only in the winter (wet) season, and reduce contamination of streams from agricultural runoff. These rules reflect several years of advocacy by TU and Wild Steelheaders United. Sportsmen from California and Oregon also rallied in defense of Cascade Siskiyou National Monument, which contains the headwaters of tributaries to the steelhead fisheries of the Rogue and Klamath Rivers. Also, TU recently garnered $2.54 million in grant awards for fish passage projects on Deer Creek and Payne's Creek - major salmon and steelhead spawning tributaries to the Sacramento River. On the Eel River, we filed new comments in the FERC relicensing process for the Potter Valley Project, two dams and a water conveyance tunnel in the Eel's headwaters. TU and Wild Steelheaders United have been engaged in this process since its inception, to improve passage for the Eel's wild steelhead population and other native fishes.             How many steelhead can you fit into a given watershed? Put another way, what is thecarrying capacity of a given watershed for steelhead? This question, and its answer, are important for steelhead fishery managers, and anglers, as we collectively try to rebuild wild fish runs up and down the West Coast.