Thousands of salmon on the White River near Mud Mountain Dam.
Posted on 09/09/2009 10:15:11 AM PDT by llevrok
NEAR BUCKLEY, Wash. - From the air you can see a dark cloud at the base of a diversion dam on the White River near Buckley.
But look closely and you'll see that cloud is really a mass of fins, tails and humped backs - wild pink salmon, more than anyone can remember seeing here, literally climbing over each other to get upstream.
But they can't get past here without some human help.
The Army Corps of Engineers traps the fish here and trucks them around the even larger obstruction upstream, the Mud Mountain Dam.
In normal years, when 30, 40, 50,000 pinks return, the corps can get most of them around, but this is NOT a normal year.
"We're looking at least a 100,000 fish here right now and we're one a half weeks pre-peak," said explains Resource Protection Manager Russ Ladley of The Puyallup Tribe of Indians
Biologists with the Puyallup and other tribes worry the Corps will not be able to keep up with a run of this size.
"The fish are simply arriving faster than they can truck them away," said Ladley.
Many of the fish may not make it to the preferred spawning grounds above the dam but even so, this kind of return is great for a river system.
The carcasses of dead salmon will slowly deteriorate releasing nutrients that will feed the entire ecosystem including many more species of salmon. While the rest of nature is taking away from mountains, salmon are the only thing that brings nutrients back.
And the Buckley section of the White River could us a little nutrition.
"Ten years ago there were basically no pink salmon returning to Buckley," said Ladley.
Fish passage projects downriver or improved ocean conditions may be helping but for whatever reason, wild salmon are taking back their river, by force.
The Army Corps of Engineers tells us they tried to prepare for this run by sending in more workers and equipment.
Their ultimate plan is to improve the fish trapping system to handle future runs.
Thousands of salmon on the White River near Mud Mountain Dam.
Now the complaint is that the salmon run is TOO strong.
Video at the site is amazing. You could walk across the river (as the old timers used to say)
WA ping
It has to do with natural cycles in the Pacific Ocean, which are controlled by nature, not man. PDO has gone negative which will result in more La Nina conditions and less El Nino conditions, which in turn will bring the salmon farther south back to where they were 30 or so years ago. Not rocket science, but one more sign global warming is not happening.
Yippee!!!!! More smoked salmon, please. Make sure you smoke it with the right wood and send it back to me ASAP. I also make a tremendous lime, cilantro butter for regular broiled salmon. TREEEmendous news.
My ex-father in law was one of the Indian officials that got fought for that law/ruling....other than that he was an ok guy.
Pinks are some of the worse salmon out there second only to Chums. Fresh they are ok, after a couple hours they turn to mush.
..which in turn will bring the salmon farther south back to where they were 30 or so years ago. Not rocket science, but one more sign global warming is not happening.
—
Good points.
food moves, fish move
4 years ago..
CA: Record fall salmon run begins on Sacramento River
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1444434/posts
I don’t know for sure, but I think the salmon that I got hooked on was smoked with acacia wood from the far northwest near Canada. I try to find it whenever I can, but it is dear. I love salmon any way I can get it, but I thought the wild salmon was the best. I dunno. Supposedly, what I think was “acacia” wood is preferred by native Americans 100 to 1.
Oh. So what’s the premier salmon? I thought it WAS wild salmon. Landlubber here in Missouri, but I HAVE been treated to outstanding salmon on visits to the Northwest.
The best salmon is Alaskan Red Salmon, or Sockeye. And the best Red Salmon is the Copper River Reds. The Copper River is a glacier fed river in Alaska.
Second best is a tossup between King Salmon or Silver Salmon. Both Alaskan, of course.
These are wild salmon we are talking about.
Say WA? Evergreen State ping
Quick link: WA State Board
FReepmail sionnsar if you want on or off this ping list.
Ping sionnsar if you see a Washington state related thread.
You are probably thinking of alder wood -- a member of the birch family that is common in the Pacific Northwest.
An Acacia tree is something totally different and rarely found in the USA.
You can buy alder wood (or chips) in many supermarkets -- even in Texas -- and I use it frequently.
More proof of the decimation of the eco system by hillbilly white folk and their CO2 pollutant, which they brought with them on the Nino, Pinto, and Queen Mary.
Alder’s OK, but I prefer apple, or a mix of the 2.
Apple works with salmon, to be sure. And it works really well with pork loin.
acacia goes better with elephant.
THAT’S it! ALDER wood!!!! I couldn’t remember. I knew it started with an “A” and YES Sockeye! Um...m...m...m...m!!!!!! I’m getting homesick for the Northwest again, at least as I remember it — cool, rainy, a rich woodland smell, ocean smells and views, small fishing villages, the mountains, no mosquitoes. Why did all the crazies have to move there? Now it’s Starbucks, liberals, hot and dry and STOOPID. 8-(
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.