Good article.
I've been curious how the White Salmon R. is recovering. Heard nary a word with the Elwah garnering most, if not all, of the the attention. 5,000 combined spring chinook and steelhead returning since the Condit Dam removal……not bad.
Does anyone know if there is hatchery supplementation contributing to this return?
Yes and no. There are no specific hatchery fish being released into the Big White Salmon River. There hasn't been any for decades, even with removal of Condit dam. However, tule fall Chinook from the nearby Spring Creek Nat'l Fish Hatchery "stray" into the White Salmon to spawn. The hatchery is about 1/4 mile away, on the mainstem Columbia. Tule fall Chinook have been spawning in the Big White Salmon for roughly 10,000 years. Indeed, the Spring Creek broodstock of tule fall Chinook came from the Big White, before Condit dam was built. The stock has been maintained as an integrated stock ever since.
Plus, URB's also spawn there, usually after the tules are done spawning. Those URB's are likely strays from Little White Salmon NFH, which is about five miles downstream. This year, the number of URB's returning to Little White Salmon NFH is expected to be astronomical. They need about 3,000 for hatchery broodstock, but the return is likely to be 30,000. So Drano Lake is going to be over-run with URB's starting in early October. Many of them will stray over to the White Salmon River to spawn on top of the tule redds. Given the limited spawning habitat on the White Salmon, redd super-imposition will likely be rampant. Not good since tule are ESA listed. WDFW is considering a six-fish daily bag limit of adult Chinook in Drano lake (clipped fish only) to deal with the URB's.
The big hurdle are the potential impacts to B-run steelhead (but that's a whole nuther story........).
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