Yakamas reintroduce salmon in Yakima River Basin headwaters

TUCQUALA LAKE, Wash. —
As staff members of the Yakama Nation Fisheries Program emptied nets full of young coho salmon into Tucquala Lake, they undid effects of over a century of dams barring migratory fish from the Yakima River Basin's headwaters.

The tribal-sponsored experiment is returning around 300,000 coho salmon this week in an effort to re-establish self-sustaining fish runs in the basin's upper reaches, starting in the waters above Lake Cle Elum in the central Cascades.

Dams have kept fish from the headwaters for over 100 years, beginning with crude crib dams built for irrigation and later with five dams on lakes feeding the Yakima River. None of the five dams have fish passages.

Fish returning to spawn will be captured below Cle Elum Dam and trucked around it.

"This is both culturally and spiritually important to the nation," said Dave Fast, senior
Continued@URL.... http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008017130_apwacohoreturn.html?syndication=rss

It will be interesting to see how this works out...the thousands of hatchery Chinook released in the upper reaches (below the dams) has really taken a bite out of the wild trout populaton up there...I wonder how 300,000 more salmon smolts will effect them? I read that they also want to eventually put in another quarter million sockeye smolts.

No mention on where the coho smolts are coming from in the article, but a little research turned up the source...a mishmash of Cascade River hatchery coho, Lewis River hatchery coho, Little White Salmon hatchery coho, and a remnant from the lower Yakima itself.

The paperwork also says that the program's purpose is "every purpose"..."conservation, recovery, education, harvest, research, and mitigation for dams, and will be an "integrated" program, meaning those fish will hopefully spawn in the wild.

Haven't we been shown...repeatedly...that out of basin hatchery fish used to implement every conceivable purpose and being allowed to spawn in the wild doesn't really work? There are wild rainbows, wild cutthroat, and wild steelhead up there...I wonder how they will react? Their own documentation shows four upper Yakima wild steelhead stocks, all listed under the ESA, all at "low" levels, and all of "high biological significance", and that "Ecological interactions through predation and competition may occur between the hatchery population and other populations, and natural populations may be incidentally harvested in fisheries targeting a more abundant hatchery stock."

These fish won't be clipped, since they'll be intended to spawn in the wild, and are eventually intended for commercial harvest in the Yakima River itself.

While I can see why the Yakamas might like this program, I can't see why anyone else would...for the rest of us and the wild populations there this is all risk, and no benefit.

Fish on...

Todd

APRE Summary

I had the same thoughts Todd.

Why repeat what history tells us doesn't work? Even if their is no native broodstock to work with, one would think that they would at least attempt recovery with a strain of E. Washington origin. Perhaps there are no E. Washington coho that can be spared for this experiment???? Only answer I can dream up.

On a side note, I was in the Yakima headwaters last weekend.....specifically the Little Naches area. Beautifual area and I was immediately drawn to the wild salmon signs found at various campgrounds, trailheads etc...apparently, it's quite a spring chinook breeding ground. Still amazes me how, in the middle of the cascades, hundreds of miles removed from the ocean.....there are salmon. Amazing critters!

One sign pointed out for a every salmon a person views today there were 50 a hundred years ago in this tributary.....would have been cool to see

One more total horse$hit move on the Yakima's part.

The wild trout population(s) Todd speaks of are/were (mostly) non-native to the basin's past, so the fact that their numbers temporarily tumble each time a crappy salmon substitute is "re-introduced"... can be lived with to a certain extent. What can't and shouldn't be lived with is a further decline in the few hundred remaining ESA listed native steelhead that swim/spawn in the same shared reaches as the now present, and future implemented "lemon-lime" salmon tards.

This will compliment nicely Red's (or whomever the hell's it is), new "Lodge in the Canyon"... chuck'n duckin for supposed fall trout, as the great "new oppurtunity" salmon happen to be convienently present. Marshall Warden Law can then hand out mountains of citations for targeting tribal recovery efforts.

Snag/terminal fishery iminent for the mouth of the Cle Elum in a couple of years, with the new single most desired lure for the river in October... a 3/8 th's oz. silver spoon rigged with a 3/0 siwash... Bull$hit !

cmon joe, how do you really feel?

sometimes todd you amaze me at what you step up and spew out ... sometimes i wonder were you get off stepping up on the pulpit and preach the the gospel of todd? who gives a rats fury @ss about the native trout in the yak? spawning salmon in any system is a must for a thriving eco-system. anybody who knows jack squat about alaska knows this. the huge trout in alaska are a result of millions of spawning dying, and dead salmon.

people just love to rip indians for everything, heres' a group that is stepping up and seeding the yak system. creating a fishery when our own goverment won't and can't.

i will step up and say the indians are doing the right thing on the yakima. i grew up in yakima. and was never able to fish the yakima for salmon or steelhead. had to drive to cowlitz to fish. my 15 yearold nephew now can fish for spring chinook in the yakima. something i certainly could not have done in the 80s.

rarely do i ever get pissed on these fishing boards but good god! any group that seeds any river system in todays bogged down system is a great direction.

cut the yakamas some slack!

NO LADDERS?

Anyone know the status of the license renewal and if ladders will be required to re-license?????????

In response to Brewer's comment to Todd's pulpit spewing... understood and sympathized with, no one likes a full time expert. Also I will say I typically find your posts and ramblings pretty funny... Your "thrown in" stance this time however (especially since you should know better growing up in Yakima) is straight BS !

This is why "we as sportsmen take it in the shorts all the way around, every time". Because it's about "you" not being able to fish salmon and steelhead growing up in the 80's... but now your 15 year old nephew gets to fish spring chinook... so all is better. Plus now the system is going to thrive and have pristine valleys in it's headwaters due to an increased nutrient load from hatchery fling backs ? Welfare accepted and continued.

Us, earth's temporary citizens, have not rights while squatting here, just a playground in which to demonstrate our foolishness. Me posting a second time in this thread illustrates the point nicely...

Not an Indian bash in sight... but same as it ever was... Bull$hit.

I've flyfished for trout on the Yakima since the early 80's. In that time, I've caught two steelhead on the river. I remember when the new hatchery was put on line at Cle Elum. My ex father in law and I decided to stop by the hatchery to see what was going on. The gate was closed, so we parked the truck and walked around. After a few minutes, a fellow who identified himself as a member of the Yakama tribe asked us what we were doing. We replied we were checking out the new hatchery. We were asked in a not so kind manor to leave the premises immediately.

After a few years of operation, people where singing the praises of the wonderful run of "wild" chinook that had showed up in the upper river. I believe 20K + returned that year. How these "wild" fish somehow made it from the into the rearing ponds near Easton must have been an act of god.

Hatchery Chinook, coho now, sockeye soon, steelhead no doubt in the future. Yakima
River fish factory, not a bright outlook.

Interesting thought to raise fish in the river. regardless of what they are doing.

Ive wondered several times about dedicating a creek and hatchery to fish raise for commercial harvest. Maybe then, bycatch will bother them.

Tribe in Marysville has there own hatchery and creek on the reservation.

Who would've ever thought that some day the Yakima river would be called a "fish factory." LOl, I love it!

Also interesting that no one here from the eastside, has jumped on the wet side bandwagon. Probably because they're still bonking Springer's. So far >6,000 have returned to date, and my buddies son and his friends have put a serious hurting on em.

The Indians should be congratulated for their efforts for RE-turning Salmon river to the Yak.

Mf

Reading that sentance gave me a headache.

Did anyone note that the "coho re-introduction program" is so that the Yakamas can have a net fishery IN THE Yakima River?

Brewer, yer missin' the boat on this one...big time. I hope that your nephew and his friends can catch all those SOB hatchery springers before they get up to the headwaters and further foul up the wild steelhead there.

Carry on.

Fish on...

Todd

rvr fisher what exactly is your point? your reply is worthless and well, pointless. besides backing todd, ?????, huh?

my point was that the yakima river used to be a great producer of salmon and steelhead. i know plenty about the reasons why those runs were ruined. maybe you two know it alls can pipe up and explain the history of where things went wrong with the yakima river. todd sure seems to enjoy being the great educator of any and every topic of salmon. the yakama tribe is doing the right and modern things to get the salmon returning.


i give the yakamas total praise in thier great efforts to return salmon when no other group is.

>6,000 springers, 5,999 hatchery and 1 wild one. That's something to be proud of.

i see that folks are trully lost as to how the system works on the yakama rearing system. the post above is typical.

I guess you didn't read my previous post regarding the rearing ponds at Easton.
I also know about other rearing locations near the Teanaway and Thorp.
I'm also am aware of how the hatchery is operated and who pays for the funding to run it.
So, how am I truly lost regarding this? Are you saying that "supplemental" hatchery fish should be considered as wild fish?

Todd your serious! All this time I thought you were joking...wow

My point is this, instead of blaming the Indians, for what the WHITE man destroyed (Dams with no or shitty fish ladders, irrigation canals, fertilizers, pesticides, and raw sewage dumping) we should be celebrating the Indians achievements. The Indians have always netted Salmon on the Yakama, and always will. Besides back in the 80's new and improved fish ladder's we're built at each Dam not only on the Yak, but the Naches river, because it was only time before the Indians would get their Hatchery.
I don't expect people from the Seattle area to understand what magnitude this has to my area. But everyone down the Columbia river does. More opportunity to whack fish.

Oh, and that's probably 6,000 Springer's that survived out of the 20,000 to start with.

Mf

Wow, this Yakima salmon fantasy is getting truly fukking retarded now.

Have you ever actually seen high fructose corn syrup being manufactured Brewer ?

Didn't think so...