The Osprey: An In-Depth Look at the Thompson River Wild Steelhead Crisis
As I write this column, it’s the 31st day of the partial government shutdown, set off, as we all know by now, by a political dispute over whether or not to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.
And believe it or not, the shutdown has even affected The Osprey, causing a delay in some articles being turned in because authors affiliated with shuttered federal agencies were among the approximately 800,000 furloughed workers or the peer-review process held up.
While The Osprey is often critical of government management of our wild Pacific salmon and steelhead, many of our authors are government scientists, and many of the ideas for stories originate in federally-funded research.
And even though conservationists and wild fish advocates have many concerns and disagreements with government oversight of natural resources, nevertheless, the shutdown has also highlighted how important agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and Environmental Protection Agency are to the nation’s publicly-owned fish, wildlife, water and land.
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
• WILD FISH CONSERVATION HITS AND MISSES
• HATCHERY STEELHEAD REPLACING DESCHUTES REDBANDS
• CLIMATE CHANGE AND SKAGIT SPAWNING TRIBUTARIES
Perhaps the most disturbing stories of the negative impacts of the shutdown come from our national parks. Campgrounds are littered with garbage, overflowing restrooms and at least some people ignoring park rules that help protect their fragile environments. Visitors have been spotted (and sometimes photographed) walking off boardwalks onto sensitive meadows in Yosemite National Park and letting their dogs run free with wildlife at Yellowstone. Perhaps the most disturbing reports come from Joshua Tree National Park where people have driven their off-road vehicles across the desert, churning up the fragile soil, and at least one incident of someone knocking down an ancient Joshua Tree. In some cases, environmental damage perpetrated during the shutdown may take decades or longer to recover — if ever.
Here in central Oregon where I live, who knows what kinds of damage is being done in the forest with a reduced presence of Forest Service staff where firewood theft and poaching ESA-listed bull trout are ongoing problems.
In addition, the shutdown has postponed wildfire-related work such as firefighter training and planning for prescribed burns to reduce fire danger in western national forests. That could translate into bigger, harder-to-extinguish fires this summer with potentially severe consequences for wild fish and fish habitat.
At least for now, I’ve not heard of any direct damage being done to wild Pacific salmon and steelhead fisheries because of the shutdown, but when agencies such as NOAA and the US Fish and Wildlife Service are closed or severely cut back, it doesn’t help any. Neither does it help when agencies like the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management that play important roles in managing and restoring wild fish habitat are in the same boat. But if the shutdown is reinstated, we will surely see more repercussions for our wild fish resources.
There wasn’t much wild fish advocates could do to change the situation. But as we work to move the natural resource agencies to better and more effective wild fish conservation and recovery policies, we also need to recognize the key role they play to eventually reach those goals