SPAWN OF THE DEAD

CAN DEAD, PELLETIZED SALMON BRING NEW LIFE TO WESTERN RIVERS?

HAL SCHRAMM

The mission of the anglers on a crisp September morning on a tributary of the Salmon River in central Idaho is westslope cutthroat trout. The stream is idyllic— gravel and rubble bottom magnified by the glass-clear water. There are no other anglers, and no sign of recent human visitors. But there are no fish rising either. Catching only two small cutts after several hours of casting confirms their scarcity. DAM IT ALL A generation ago, hundreds of chinooks slithered and splashed through the thin water to spawn in this stream, perpetuating their species. Today, as on all the previous autumn days since dams were built between here and the Pacific Ocean, there are no salmon. High-elevation streams with sparsely vegetated watersheds of rock and shale provide few nutrients to fuel a food web…

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Outdoor Life (Digital) - 1 Issue, October 2015

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