By Lucas Holmgren, The Mountain Times
Southwest Washington rivers were once the “Valhalla” of steelhead according to a wise fish conservationist named Dave Brown. As he showed his spring-fed fish rescue facility, he told me about how he’d moved to the area because of the abundance of steelhead born in creeks and rivers like the East Fork Lewis, Salmon Creek, Kalama and many others. Over a few decades he saw the direct decline of what was once a barely-hidden treasure of fishing.
Historically, adult steelhead were inhabiting rivers like the Washougal, East Fork and North Fork Lewis year-round in various run timings, while glacier-fed rivers could hold year-round runs of Chinook salmon as well. Each river had its own unique “strains” of fish that would out-migrate to the ocean and return at specific times to spawn. Southwest Washington has rivers with larger waterfalls, which not only block some species like Chum salmon from going up, but also provide oxygen and cold water in the summer. Because of these falls, rivers like the East Fork Lewis and Washougal could support adult summer steelhead that could hold at these falls during the low, warm water periods.
Today one can still say that technically there are “year-round” steelhead in Southwest Washington rivers. However, the abundance and flourishing runs have dwindled down to a disappointingly low percentage. This is not something to be blamed on any one factor, but rather a “death of a thousand cuts.” Does this mean Southwest Washington steelhead are doomed to extinction? I don’t think so at all.
Although we’ve lost a few species to extinction, a documentary by a fishing friend Shane Anderson called “Rising from the Ashes” details how wild summer steelhead were trapped by dams and landlocked. These fish simply kept spawning and feeding in the reservoir created by the dam as rainbow trout. Steelhead are rainbow trout and they are well documented to spawn together, with some going to the ocean and others staying “resident.” When the dams were removed, those “great grandkids” once again had the chance to migrate to the ocean decades later. Within four years it was clear that the species had not only survived, but were immediately able to make the massive migration to the Pacific and back again, resulting in the largest wild run of summer steelhead on the Washington coast.
This amazing example gives me hope for the summer steelhead that have gone “extinct” in their adult life cycle, trapped behind the three dams on the North Fork Lewis River. I don’t believe they are acknowledged, but they existed before the dams in the thousands. Could these steelhead still be swimming to this day? Are they just wild “rainbow trout” waiting for their opportunity to swim out into the ocean to feed? Summer steelhead in Southwest Washington rivers such as the Washougal and East Fork Lewis have barely hung on, and 2024 even had some solid fishing, but it’s the most at-risk fish we have. Any chance we get to keep cold, clean water flowing and help these fish to thrive? Let’s do what we can. Broodstock anyone?