Many of the people I work with have been askinh me why the spring run was so awesome. I read somewhere that there were two factors that made it so. Both of them were mother nature. I remember that one of the conditions was that of the ocean. I can't on the other hand remember the other one. Any ideas? Was the floods pushing the smolts out?
Any other theories would be appreciated too. Thanks!
Ps, this board is really shaping up! Thanks for the picture posting option!

The ocean conditions played a huge part in the success of the salmon runs as of late.

As for speculation, the flood was five years ago. It completely rebuilt and refreshed the spawning beds that Man has destroyed for so many years. Not to mention some of those upper rivers that people simply couldn't get to with the roads washed out (a la Clackamas River).

Yes, the other major factor attributed to the great spring chinook run is the high spring run-off in the Columbia River, which flushed many of the smolts safely and timely to the ocean.

ZaQ,

First, it's important to note that the vast majority of the Columbia/Snake River spring chinook run is of hatchery origin fish that were not dependent on natural spawning grounds and freshwater rearing conditions. The ESA listed native wild spring chinook faired better this year for the same two reasons as their hatchery cousins. The high spring runoff when last year's and this year's runs were migrating down the river sent most of the smolts over the spillways instead of through the turbines. That's a pretty clear indicator of the effect of the mainstem dams of juvenile salmon. Second, ocean conditions improved. Cooler water sent the salmon predators like mackerel back south, the cool water increased ocean upwelling that increased the food supply for salmon, so those smolts that made it to the ocean experienced unusually high survival rates. It won't happen every year, but sending more smolts to the ocean was sure a good start. Sad to say, most of this spring's smolts will migrate through the sushi turbines of the dams.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.