Big Wild Bi-Weekly April 29, 2010

Dear Wildland Friends,

Well when it rains it pours and boy has it been a wet and windy week. Here's to hoping the weather clears out in time for a sunny and warmer Renaissance Fair weekend. Regardless of the weather, important wildland news keeps pouring into our office. This issue we'll touch on the recent discovery of more giant Palouse earthworms, the possible listing of the Northern Rockies fisher and the wolverine under the Endangered Species Act, the opening of the Chinook salmon fishing season, and the eroding and costly Dworshak National Fish Hatchery.

Under the supervision of University of Idaho soil scientist Jodi Johnson-Maynard, two giant Palouse earthworms and three cocoons were discovered in March on Paradise Ridge in Moscow. It had been twenty years since a live, intact giant Palouse earthworm was discovered by researchers. Considered native to the Palouse, many environmental groups, including Friends of the Clearwater, have approached the US Fish & Wildlife Service about registering the species on the Endangered Species list. However, that petition has been denied in the past because of a lack of scientific data about the species. Further research by Maynard and her field team will hopefully lead to a better understanding of the role the worm plays in the Palouse's ecosystem, and a population estimate.

Speaking of the endangered species list, the US Fish & Wildlife Service announced that they are about to embark on a year long study to determine whether or not the Northern Rockies fisher needs federal protection to avoid going extinct in the region. Largely wiped out by over-trapping in the the 1930's, the fisher is a valuable native species that once thrived in the Clearwater country's old growth forests. Members of the weasel family, the federal government has attempted to re-introduce the fisher to the region on four different occasions since 1959. Agency officials believe that populations have never recovered because of road building, logging, trapping, and development of the fisher's habitat. Once numbering in the thousands, it is estimated that there are only 500 fishers in all of Montana and Idaho. In related news, the US Fish & Wildlife Service also announced they are reviewing the status of the wolverine, another native predator from the weasel family whose populations have been greatly reduced in the Northern Rockies.

April 25th kicked off the popular Chinook salmon fishing season in Clearwater country. Also known as king salmon, the anadromous fish makes it's return to the Clearwater basin after spending anywhere from 1-8 years feeding in the Pacific Ocean. Based on estimates of chinook passing through the downstream Bonneville dam, Idaho Fish & Game offcials estimate that 23,000 chinook will be migrating up the Clearwater River. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these fish are no longer wild, but rather hatched, tagged, shipped, and monitored by officials the moment they leave the Dworshak National Fish Hatchery near Orofino, Idaho. Current regulations allow fishermen and women a daily bag limit of three hatchery chinook per day, twenty-four inches or longer. All wild chinook must be released.

The front page of the Lewiston Tribune this past Sunday offered a fightening, yet realistic view of the dilapidated Dworshak National Fish Hatchery. Built in the 1960's by the US Army Corps of Engineers, the Hatchery's main objective is to rear steelhead and chinook salmon due to the loss of the world-class North Fork of the Clearwater fishery when Dworshak Dam was built. Approximately two million steelhead, one million chinook, and hundreds of thousands of coho are produced each year at the hatchery. Despite it's production, the aging facility has major infrastructure problems: it's plumbing system is eroding and breaking down, the water-pumping and cooling/heating units are very costly and terribly energy inefficient, the hatchery has a major fish disease problem, and the estimated costs for repairs is close to one-hundred million dollars. Another concern is who is going to fit the bill? With wild fish populations continuing to decline in the Clearwater Basin, one has to wonder just how sustainable these fish factories really are and should we keep investing in them.

On a final note, please come out to East City Park this weekend for the 37th Annual Renaissance Fair. Friends of the  Clearwater, along with the Palouse chapter of the Sierra Club, will be selling delicious strawberry and huckleberry crepes from our tent. If you can spare an hour or two, we are still in need of a few volunteers. Please contact Diane Prorak at dprorak@gmail.com or (208) 882-3959 if you can lend a hand.

For the Wild,

Brett