NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, February 3, 2022
Salmon are no longer kings of the Columbia
By ELI FRANCOVICH
Columbia Insight
THE DALLES — In 1957,
the steel gates closed on The
Dalles Dam, upstream from
Hood River, and one of North
America’s largest waterfalls
was inundated with water.
With that, an important
Indigenous cultural gather-
ing place was flooded and
an unforeseen ecological
cascade triggered.
Now, 77 years later, often
the most common fish found
flopping up Bonneville Dam’s
fish ladders are nonnative
shad, a silvery member of
the herring family and the
unlikely beneficiary of the
flooding of Celilo Falls.
“The shad are, even
though they run out to the
ocean and come back, they
are not great swimmers like
salmon are,” said John Epifa-
nio, lead author of a newly
published report examining
the proliferation of shad in the
Columbia River system.
Some years shad, which
were introduced to the West
Coast in the 1880s, make up
more than 90% of recorded
upstream migrants, accord-
ing to an Independent Scien-
tific Advisory Board report
to the Northwest Power
and Conservation Council
published in November.
What impact these fish are
having on native ocean-going
The Museum at Warm Springs/Contributed Photo
An array of cables, scaffolds and platforms at Celilo Falls enabled access to fishing grounds
until The Dalles Dam began operating in 1957.
species like salmon and steel-
head still isn’t clear. While the
report doesn’t offer any defin-
itive answers, it does show
how ecological disruptions,
whether from hydroelec-
tric development or climate
change, can hurt one species
while benefiting another.
T he for mer hor se -
shoe-shaped Celilo Falls is a
prime example.
Before the dam began
operating, the falls dropped
40 feet. Migrating steelhead
and salmon battled up and
over the falls during their
yearly migration.
But, for the nonnative
shad the falls proved to be an
unnavigable obstacle.
Now that the falls are
submerged that’s no longer
the case.
‘We’re salmon people,
not shad people’
Prior to 1960, there were
fewer than 20,000 adult shad
per year at Bonneville Dam,
which is downstream of
Celilo Falls.
After The Dalles Dam
was built, that number rose
to 1 million a year, and shad
numbers have increased on
average 5% each year.
That means the shad popu-
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lation is nearly doubling
every decade, Epifanio said.
In addition to the removal
of the physical barrier, the
hydroelectric system also
slowed the downstream flow
of water, which raised overall
water temperature. It’s possi-
ble shad, which can survive a
wider range of temperatures
than salmon, have capitalized
on that, too.
“There have been a lot
of changes. It just seems to
have favored these guys and
they’ve taken advantage,”
said Epifanio.
Regardless of the cause,
shad numbers have increased.
What’s more, they’re
making it farther upstream
and into the Snake River
above Lower Granite Dam,
said Jay Hesse, director of
biological services for the
Nez Perce Tribe’s Depart-
ment of Fisheries Resources
Management. The tribe was
not involved in the study.
“Their abundance is
increasing to really notable
levels,” he said. “And their
distribution at those higher
levels is also expanding.”
That’s concerned Nez
Perce biologists who worry
shad may hurt their already
struggling steelhead and
salmon populations.
The report doesn’t estab-
lish any direct link between
the shad increase and the
salmon and steelhead
decrease. However, it does
offer a few theories on how
shad may negatively impact
salmon.
For example, high-
er-than-normal shad numbers
may be supporting a larger
avian predator population
and shad may be competing
for food sources and nursery
habitat.
Such a large-scale change
in the Columbia Basin’s
migratory fish population is
alarming ecologically.
And for people and
cultures that venerate salmon,
steelhead and lamprey, it also
highlights the loss of a way of
life, said Anthony Capetillo,
aquatic invasive species biol-
ogist for the Nez Perce tribe.
“We’re a salmon people,
not a shad people,” he said.
What’s the problem?
Developing a commercial
and recreational fishery in the
West may be one way manag-
ers can control the prolifera-
tion of shad, said Stuart Ellis,
harvest management biolo-
gist for the Columbia River
Inter-Tribal Fish Commis-
sion.
“It’s a huge amount of
protein, perfectly good
protein,” he said. “There is
no reason not to catch these
fish — we don’t need them in
the system.”
The Wild Fish Conser-
vancy also is examining
experimental trapping meth-
ods that could trap shad while
not accidentally trapping
salmon, steelhead or other
unintended species.
Epifanio and other
researchers involved in
the study hope their report
prompts further investiga-
tion, particularly into how,
or if, shad are hurting native
species.
“At the very least, we just
need to continue to monitor
what these populations are
doing in the basin,” he said.
“We hope that we don’t just
monitor. We want to have
some solutions.”
Dean attorney disputes resignation
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
Clearing and
milder
Turning cloudy
47° 32°
45° 40°
Times of clouds
and sun
Mostly sunny
Partly sunny
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
51° 31°
53° 36°
46° 32°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
50° 32°
49° 41°
55° 33°
55° 38°
47° 32°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
48/43
33/29
39/27
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
40/30
Lewiston
47/39
42/31
Astoria
49/40
Pullman
Yakima 34/26
49/41
39/31
Portland
Hermiston
47/36
The Dalles 50/32
Salem
Corvallis
50/33
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
39/27
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
50/35
51/31
41/28
Ontario
35/22
Caldwell
Burns
39°
27°
46°
29°
64° (1934) -28° (1950)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
50/31
0.00"
0.00"
0.07"
0.93"
0.66"
1.21"
WINDS (in mph)
39/24
41/18
0.02"
0.02"
0.09"
1.55"
0.98"
1.63"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 36/21
51/35
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
47/32
49/36
37°
24°
44°
29°
66° (1934) -18° (1950)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
46/38
Aberdeen
30/26
28/24
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
46/42
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
56/29
Fri.
W 6-12
WSW 6-12
SW 6-12
SSW 7-14
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
47/20
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
7:14 a.m.
5:04 p.m.
9:01 a.m.
8:16 p.m.
First
Full
Last
New
Feb 8
Feb 16
Feb 23
Mar 2
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 85° in Zapata, Texas Low -27° in Willow City, N.D.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
WALLOWA COUNTY
— An attorney for the Bob
Dean Oregon Ranches
reached out Monday, Jan.
31, to dispute the circum-
stances by which former
ranch manager B.J. Warnock
left his job there, saying
Warnock’s departure was a
“dismissal.”
Attorney J. Logan Joseph,
of the Joseph Law Firm in
La Grande, confirmed in an
email that Katie Romero, who
comes from New Mexico
according to her website, is
the new manager “of all Dean
family cattle operations in
Wallowa County,” and said
that Warnock’s “dismissal”
was “on or about Jan. 17 of
this year.”
Warnock has not returned
a request for clarification on
the matter.
Romero has stated that
her boss, Bob Dean’s wife,
Karen Dean, has forbidden
her from speaking to the
press. Bob Dean is suffering
mental trauma following a
surgery in June, Karen Dean
said in early January, so she
is speaking for him.
Joseph said he knows
nothing of Wallowa County
Sheriff Joel Fish’s investi-
gation for possible animal
neglect other than the inves-
tigation is ongoing.
Fish confirmed Jan. 31
that he still is investigating.
T he ca se i nvolve s
hundreds of cattle that were
trapped in heavy snows in
the Upper Imnaha area late
Anna Butterfield/Contributed Photo, File
Calves rescued from the deep snows in the Upper Imnaha
get some refreshment Jan. 2, 2022, at the Joseph-area ranch
of Mark and Anna Butterfield. They are among many rescued
in late 2021.
last fall, and the cows were
unable to get themselves or
their calves to safety. It is
believed at least two dozen
mother cows died, some
of which “literally ‘milked
themselves to death,’ in an
attempt to provide for their
calves,” Wallowa County
Stockgrowers President Tom
Birkmaier said Jan. 19.
Numerous rescued calves
were taken in by area ranch-
ers and cared for. It is still
uncertain how many cattle
were involved, but Warnock
originally said there were
more than 1,500 on summer
pasture that they were trying
to bring out last fall.
Birkmaier and others
rallied fellow ranchers to try
to rescue the cows and calves
over the past month. The
effort included taking hay to
the animals by snowmobile
or dropping it by helicopter. It
also included bringing cattle
out on a trailer pulled by a
tracked vehicle that was able
to get into the animals after
private and public efforts to
open backcountry roads.
Joseph added in his email
the Dean family’s appreci-
ation for the help of locals
in rescuing the cattle and
calves.
“The Dean family would
like to thank all of the local
ranchers and any other
persons that assisted in the
location and retrieval of
these cattle,” Joseph wrote.
“It is truly encouraging to see
a community come together
in such a fashion under such
circumstances.”
IN BRIEF
5 train cars derail, spill grain
BAKER CITY — Five cars on a west-
bound freight train derailed Friday afternoon,
Jan. 28, near Baker City, spilling grain.
The incident happened about 4 p.m. near
Old Highway 30 about 1 mile south of the
Milepost 306 interchange in south Baker City,
said Susan Stevens, manager of communica-
tions for Union Pacific Railroad.
The train crew was not injured, and the
railroad resumed normal operations after
several hours.
The case of the derailment is under inves-
tigation, Stevens said.
— EO Media Group
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
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0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
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ice
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