Kelt Reconditioning: Giving Wild Steelhead a Boost in the Yakima Basin
Abstract
Residents of the Pacific Northwest have witnessed the dramatic decline of wild steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) populations throughout the Columbia River Basin. Once numbering up to 100,000 in the Yakima Basin, the development and expansion of the West forced steelhead into the threatened and endangered protections of the Endangered Species Act. Dams were constructed in the mainstem Columbia and Snake rivers to provide benefits like hydropower to the region. The challenges posed by the hydropower system were compounded by forest and fish harvest, urban and industrial development, road construction, industrialized agriculture, construction in streamside and floodplain habitats, and intentional and unintentional planting of non-native and exotic species.
Authors
Citation
Bosch, B., J. Trammell, and D. Hatch. 2017. Kelt reconditioning: giving wild steelhead a boost in the Yakima Basin. The Osprey 86:16-17. Online at https://www.ospreysteelhead.org/archives/the-osprey-lower-columbia-river-pound-nets-8c6xg-jtayz-7yj2x-na2lz-ljzh9-j5kx3-5kjx8-cg7b4.