BY MIKE STAHLBERG

The Eugene Register Guard

Steelhead appear to be returning to Oregon coastal streams early and in above-average numbers this winter, which is good news for anglers — and something of a “relief” for fishery biologists.

The latter entered the winter season with trepidation, given that chinook salmon returns last fall were “the lowest we’ve seen in two decades,” as biologist Bob Buckman of Newport put it.

“So far it seems like a pretty good year for winter steelhead, which is certainly a welcome relief after the poor salmon return,” said Buckman, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife district fish biologist on the mid-coast.

Buckman said there are encouraging reports and/or data from all the major watersheds in his …

PORTOLA, Calif.–The poison didn’t work, and neither did the hook and bobber. The electrical probes were somewhat effective, but don’t even ask about the explosives.

For the last decade, the state of California has waged a Sisyphean battle against the northern pike, a fish and a voracious eating machine. In the mid-1990s, when pike were first found in Lake Davis, a Sierra Nevada reservoir about four miles north of here, the discovery set off a panic over the potential impact on the local trout-fishing and tourist industries as well as the possibility of the fish migrating to fragile ecosystems downstream. Since then, millions of dollars and thousands of man-hours have been spent trying to spike the pike.

But while the methods, including …

A few weeks ago, on the banks of the Potomac River, the National Fish Habitat Board, a group of the nation’s leading authorities on aquatic conservation, unveiled its list of “10 Waters to Watch.” The waters featured on this list demonstrate the results of conservation efforts under the National Fish Habitat Action Plan, a bold new initiative to reverse persistent declines in our nation’s aquatic habitat.

“Thanks to an approach that teams federal, state and local partners, these 10 waters soon will begin to heal,” said John Cooper, Chair of the National Fish Habitat Board. “These and other projects across the country mark the beginning of an unprecedented effort to prevent the further decline of aquatic habitat across the country.”

The …

In a move to protect one of the country’s best-loved rivers from destructive logging of publicly-owned roadless forest, American Rivers called on Congress yesterday to increase protections for Oregon’s Wild and Scenic Rogue River.

The Rogue is one of the most biologically diverse watersheds in the country. It is the largest producer of Pacific salmon in Oregon, outside of the Columbia. The tributaries proposed for Wild and Scenic designation are among the most important areas in the entire lower and middle Rogue for spawning and rearing, particularly for winter and summer steelhead and coho salmon.

The proposal, supported by a coalition of conservation organizations, includes granting Wild and Scenic River protection to an additional 70 miles of tributary streams, and …

State officials and hundreds of Oregonians gathered near Alsea last Friday for the opening of the Oregon Hatchery Research Center, expected to become an internationally recognized destination for fish research. The $7.8 million facility, located on the site of the former Fall Creek Hatchery, will research differences that may exist between hatchery and wild salmon and steelhead. It was built with funds appropriated by the 2003 Oregon Legislature, and will be jointly operated by ODFW and Oregon State University.

In a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by Governor Theodore Kulongoski (pictured) and officials from OSU and the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission, the Governor underscored the importance of salmon and steelhead to Oregon. “Today represents a new step forward for Oregon’s economy …

New sampling data, collected by the Greater Yellowstone Coalition (GYC), has indicated that seven southeastern Idaho streams have extremely high levels of selenium in fish. All 21 fish collected by GYC had high levels, with many having amounts 2 to 4 times greater than EPA’s proposed selenium standards. Water, aquatic plants and aquatic insects were also collected as part of the sampling.

The data collection was commissioned by area landowners concerned about the effects of open-pit phosphate mining on fish and water quality in streams in the Blackfoot River and Salt River Watersheds. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare has already posted fish consumption advisories in East Mill Creek where selenium levels are lower than in the seven streams …

Environmentalists have warned that Congressional leaders have abandoned their responsibility to help local communities ensure that there will be enough clean water into the future. Negotiators for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives agreed to invest just $900 million in 2006 to keep untreated sewage out of rivers, lakes, and streams - $190 million less than in 2005.

“For communities that are striving to ensure they will have enough clean water for the future, the news is about as bad as it could be,” said Peter Raabe, Deputy Director of Government Affairs at American Rivers. “Local governments are doing what they can to protect our streams and creeks, and their representatives in Washington just let them down.”

The Clean Water …

The Susquehanna River was the big loser when conservation group American Rivers released its 2005 America’s Most Endangered Rivers report. With aging sewer systems discharging enormous volumes of raw or poorly treated sewage that eventually flows down into the Chesapeake Bay, judges felt they had no alternative but to award the 444-mile river that flows through New York, Maryland and Pennsylvania the lion’s share of the prize ahead of McCrystal Creek in New Mexico and Colorado’s Fraser River.

In fact, sewerage was the highlight of this year’s report, with some 860 billion gallons of untreated sewage reported to be fouling America’s rivers with pollution each year. American Rivers called on federal lawmakers to reject the cuts in clean water investment proposed …

A federal court settlement filed today is expected to dramatically cut sewage pollution in D.C.’s rivers. The settlement requires the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (WASA) to curtail the discharge of billions of gallons of sewage overflows into the Anacostia River, the Potomac, and Rock Creek.

The overflows, which contain raw human sewage, occur because of DC’s antiquated combined sewer system, which carries sewage and storm water in the same pipes. During rainstorms, the system cannot handle the combined flow, and overflows directly into the District’s rivers. More than three billion gallons of overflows currently occur in an average year. Bacteria levels in these discharges are often thousands of times over safe levels, making it unhealthy to swim, …

A Court of Appeals has ordered the Forest Service to stop a logging project in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. The court granted an injunction pending appeal that stops the road building and logging until at least next year when it can decide the merits of the case. In granting the injunction, the court found that the Forest Service appears to have violated the law when it approved the logging plan.

The court also found that the Forest Service exaggerated demand for Tongass logs and consequently designated much more land for logging than the agency’s own economists indicated was necessary to supply local mills.

“These are not small mistakes. Impacts of these errors are felt all over the Tongass, in places where …