Salmon Make a Big Return

Residents around the Salmon region have been marveling at the sight of chinook salmon returning to regional streams and tributaries to spawn. What makes this year so exciting is the numbers of the big fish that have returned. It has been decades since a significant number of these endangered fish have returned from the ocean to spawn throughout the region. This year's count of 316 spawning areas in the Lemhi River drainage has not been seen since 1978. Between then and now, chinook numbers have fluctuated from fair to downright dismal depending upon the conditions that prevailed when the young fish left the region as smolts. This year's returning adults are mainly members of the 1997 brood year; the offspring of adult chinook that returned to Idaho and spawned in 1997. Their high survival is a result of having the right conditions occurring at the right time to allow many of these chinook smolts to reach the ocean. High water levels throughout the region during 1996-1997 cleaned and scoured sediment from riverbed gravels. These clean gravels provided an excellent incubator and nursery for both eggs and newly hatched chinook during the winter of 1997-1998. When it came time for the spring migration in 1999, plenty of runoff from a heavy snowpack carried the chinook smolts through the river systems and reservoirs. Because sufficient spills were maintained at the dams, the smolts moved faster through the reservoir system and fewer were transported via barge around the dams. Those that were barged were not delayed, minimizing stress. Once in the Pacific, good ocean conditions provided the young chinook with ample food during their two-year stay prior to migrating back to Idaho. Now these fish have returned to the very streams from which they were hatched. They are making their number known by the presence of their spawning areas, called redds. Female salmon create these areas of clean gravel by using their tails to clear the gravel of sediment. Once the adults have spawned, they die leaving the next generation to develop in the gravel. This year, Fish and Game biologists have counted nearly 1,100 redds throughout the Salmon region. The Upper Salmon River area has approximately 477 redds, the highest number counted in the region followed by the Lemhi River drainage containing approximately 316 redds. Other streams in which redds have been found include the East Fork, North Fork, and Yankee Forks of the Salmon River, the Pahsimeroi River, Valley Creek, and Panther Creek. The presence of ten redds in Panther Creek came as somewhat of a surprise. Chinook have been missing from Panther Creek for many years until July when surplus hatchery fish from the South Fork of the Salmon River were released into the creek to provide a salmon fishery. The presence of redds indicates that some of these fish found conditions favorable enough for spawning. Whether this means a return of chinook to Panther Creek remains to be seen and fisheries biologists will continue to monitor their numbers in this tributary. With all these returning salmon, many anglers have been wondering why a season for the fish has not been opened. With the exception of the fish released into Panther Creek this summer, all of the salmon returning to the region are considered to be either naturally produced fish or hatchery fish closely related to natural fish. These fish represent a distinct genetic stock of chinook that has survived in the upper Salmon River and its tributaries for thousands of years. As such, they are all protected under the Endangered Species Act. Catching a salmon would surely be a thrill. But for many area residents, simply being able to see these big fish returning to spawn is exciting enough. With good water conditions and some effort on our part, perhaps the chinook can continue to come back in numbers high enough to remind us all of why this area is called the Salmon region.