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WILD SIDE Salmon: A force of nature can be restored Comment By Joseph Vaile DailyTidings.com By Joseph Vaile Posted Nov. 11, 2014 at 6:09 PM Updated Nov 12, 2014 at 10:24 AM By Joseph Vaile Posted Nov. 11, 2014 at 6:09 PM Updated Nov 12, 2014 at 10:24 AM » RELATED CONTENT • How great weather can make a person feel awful • On landmarks, personal and geologic • The top five conservation success of 2014 • ‘Tis the season — for wild mushrooms • Shasta-area natives bring fight for salmon to Ashland • Kalmiopsis' future at stake if mining goes forward • Fires and forests evolved together, but now people are in the mix... • Counting fish in Bear Creek • A Thirst for Water: Salmon, steelhead struggle for life in Bear Creek... » Social News I remember the first time I saw a salmon jump over Rainie Falls . The image is seared into my memory. If you have ever been to Rainie, you understand the real power of the Rogue River. Downstream from Grants Pass, after the Rogue cuts through the Hellgate Canyon in the Siskiyou Mountains, the river narrows at Rainie Falls and drops about 10 feet over huge boulders in one of the most impressive Class V rapids around. The hydraulic power of Rainie is impressive. To witness salmon swimming up the Rogue and take a gravity-defying shot at jumping over the entire affair is nothing short of incredible. Pacific salmon are anadromous, meaning they are born in freshwater, spend most of their life in the ocean, but return to freshwater to spawn. They seem to do this with reckless abandon. On an early fall morning I took my 3-year-old for a walk on banks of the wild Rogue River. This year, the Rogue has had a booming Chinook salmon migration and I hoped we would catch a glimpse of these waterfall jumpers. I wanted to impart the magnificence of this life-cycle phenomenon to my son. Local residents are drawn to witness the salmon journey and take part in the excitement of their travels further up into the populated Bear Creek Watershed, and even into the city limits of Ashland. KS Wild is proud to have led successful salmon education hikes this fall, with more than 150 local residents participating in the five KS Wild’s salmon viewing hikes throughout the basin. It is encouraging that local residents are intrigued and wanting to remain connected to the natural cycles of their watershed.  Unfortunately, the salmon that once flooded our rivers have dropped off significantly throughout the decades. Some species suffered more than others due to alterations in stream habitat, the introduction of man-made pollutants, and the installation of dams that block their migration patterns. Coho salmon are one of the groups that have suffered most. They are now listed under the Endangered Species Act. Despite these troubles, there is still hope for salmon. Perfectly timed with the salmon migration, NOAA Fisheries just released a Recovery Plan for the Southern Oregon/Northern California Coho Salmon, offering a roadmap to recover the species.  Specifically, the plan highlights the need to:  • Improve logging practices by revising the Oregon Forest Practices Act; • Improve agricultural practices and reduce warm irrigation water entering cold streams; • Reduce water pollution; • Increase water in streams and stream flows; • Increase large woody debris, boulders, or other instream structures and conifer streamside vegetation; and • Reduce impacts of instream and streamside mining. The road map to salmon recovery is pretty close to the work plan of KS Wild , our Rogue Riverkeeper Program , and over a dozen other hard-working watershed groups. Interest in restoring salmon is at an all-time high. Now is the time to act.   That day down the Rogue River, we did not see any salmon. I was disappointed, but my son was nonetheless impressed with Rainie Falls, and we knew the fish were in the river. We were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of an osprey diving into the river in search of a fish.  But as we walked back upstream I was reassured that this was not the last time. The salmon will return next year. We will have many more chances to see the salmon and their shiny, metallic bodies leaping over Rainie Falls. In the meantime, we’ll be working to make sure that when the salmon get up to their spawning grounds, they'll find cool, clean water and healthy, intact streams in which to lay their eggs and start all over again. Joseph Vaile is executive director of the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (KS Wild, 541-488-5789, www.kswild.org ). His Wild Side column appears every three weeks. By Joseph Vaile DailyTidings.com By Joseph Vaile Posted Nov. 11, 2014 at 6:09 PM Updated Nov 12, 2014 at 10:24 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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