Stepping in when streams dry up

When it comes to saving salmon in a degraded landscape, Dave Brown figures it takes a little of both.

The lifelong fisherman has established a series of pens on his property near Daybreak Park. For the past few years, he’s used the pens as temporary shelter for thousands of wild salmon and steelhead juveniles stranded when creeks in the area run dry. He releases the fish after streams are flowing again in the fall and winter.

Year by year, Brown believes his effort is paying off.

He sees it in the ever-increasing number of adult salmon and steelhead returning to streams such as Mill Creek, which runs through the canyon near his pens.

“This place is full of fish, and it wasn’t before,” he said.

Brown’s effort amounts to a lifeline for fish suffering from the effects of a changing environment. A.....Continued@URL.... http://www.columbian.com/article/20081120/NEWS02/711209932