Elbow:

The can be little doubt that we are in a warming period. Folks can argue about why we are warming, i.e. is this part of a natural trend or man caused, but the facts are clear that we are in a warming trend. (I believe most who try to ignore the facts simply do not want to take any action to resolve the problem. President Bush has acknowledged that global warming is real.)

Global temperatures clearly have risen, glaciers have retreated, and the ocean level has risen. Sea ice is thinner, and average date of ice off in lakes and rivers has moved up. Those are simply facts.

This appears to be the warmest century in the last 1000 years. This decade is clearly the warmest in the past 100 years and 1998 appears to be the warmest year in the past 1000. (The above information was taken from studies conducted by the U.S. NOAA) This is not a subject that serious scientists debate any more than the do the flat earth theory or evolution.

The issue, as far as it relates to salmon, would be that of warming rivers and smaller snow packs.

I am just beginning to research this for a possible article, but wanted to know is, do Northwest anglers see this as a problem?


It seems to me that continued warming, could change river levels and temperatures ranges enough to effect salmon, especially in the salmon's southern ranges.