By Susanne Wright. Aug. 3, 2017. “The river is a dynamic ever-changing system, its power and its mutability, and its vitality have made it a great metaphor for human beings over history.” – Jeanette Burkhardt
Throughout history, the White Salmon watershed has been an invaluable social, recreational, agricultural and economic resource. With ever increasing demands on the White Salmon River has given the nickname ‘Hollywood.’ It is critical to educate those who fish, kayak, raft or walk its shores. Each one plays a part as a threat to the river and its fish, or in its protection.
A dozen years ago, Wet Planet Whitewater started a symposium that combined education and fun. The 12th Annual White Salmon River Fest, A River of Change was held in Husum, Washington on June 27 and 28. It’s an all-out celebration of the White Salmon River: workshops, whitewater rafting and kayaking, food, and dance.
The festival’s symposium, stacked with an impressive lineup of speakers and non-profit education groups, delved into the many aspects of the river: past, present, and future. Four topics of special concern were: protecting wild salmon and steelhead in the river and their spawning beds; protecting the critical function of large wood in the river as a natural component of a river habitat; avoiding the introduction of invasive species; and how each river user must respect other users.
The White Salmon River is more than a playground for whitewater enthusiasts. It provides food and water for people, farms, native plants and wildlife, and vital spawning grounds for native fish. With the breaching on Condit dam anadromous fish populations of salmon, steelhead, and Pacific lamprey once again swim upstream.
“The river is a dynamic ever-changing system, its power and its mutability, and its vitality have made it a great metaphor for human beings over history,” said Jeanette Burkhardt from Yakima Nations Fisheries “Many of the features we see in the river are a result of transformations that we can’t perceive in our time scale, and there are things we see on a daily basis that are changing the basin.”
The river’s most recent change came in 2011 with the removal of Condit Dam, built in 1913 by Northwestern Electric Company. Zach Zoller from Zoller’s Outdoor Odysseys reflected the attitude of many river users when he said, “With the removal of Condit Dam the White Salmon river is going through an incredible transition right now, and we have the opportunity to set precedent for how wild rivers should flow freely. It takes more than time for a river to recover, we all have to do our part, make a community effort to protect this river and habitat, respect other river users and land owners so we can keep the river wild and free.”
Invasive species like these zebra mussels are “knocking at our door.” We need to take steps to prevent their spread into new waterways.
Yet the river faces constant threats. Jon Erickson, U.S. Forest Service Wilderness and Wild and Scenic River Specialist for Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area presented: Aquatic Invaders and How to Prevent Them. Most worrisome are the zebra mussel, silver carp, mitten crab, and hydrilla, a freshwater weed. Non-native species can cost a state millions of dollars per year to combat besides causing immense negative impact to local ecosystems. Worse, these impacts don’t go away, they only grow.
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” Erickson said. By draining water from boats at its source, washing gear, boats, kayaks, and rafts before entering new bodies of water, boaters can protect the White Salmon from invasive species, he warns, because these pests are “knocking on the door.”
Ian Jezorek, USGS Fish Biologist, gave an update on fish recolonization post Condit Dam breach. Multi-group agencies strategized the best way to restock the White Salmon river. The consensus was, in this case, it would be a cool thing to allow natural colonization. Just let the fish do what they do and see what happens. After a five-year monitoring period post dam removal, Jezorak is recording healthy numbers of returning fish, although he stresses more time is needed to report reliable trends. “Fish populations are highly variable and they bounce around a lot. It takes a long, long, time set to really figure out what?s going on.”
The White Salmon River provides vital spawning habitat for native fish.
Protecting spawning beds in the watershed is critical for the success of a healthy fish population. Janine Castro, USFWS Geomorphologist, works on the cutting edge of river restoration. “A meandering river is not random,” she said. “It is the nature of rivers, the nature of all fluids on the planet to flow in a meandering pattern.” Wood and logs in the White Salmon provide a natural obstruction in the flow along with friction to decrease water speed, creating slow moving habitat for spawning fish. “In areas in the White Salmon where you have obstructions in the river, that’s where you have a lot of biodiversity.”
Wood obstruction may be essential for healthy fish habitat, but can pose a hazard for kayakers and rafters. Castro addresses this potential conflict by reminding water users that, “The White Salmon is a high energy system and wood structure is needed to slow it down. When you’re out there on the river, and you’re frustrated because it doesn’t do some of the things you want, and you have to go around it, remember that [the wood] serves a key purpose in that river system creating those slow water areas.”
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