A member of the Grays Harbor Pogie Club reminded us that the Peter's Native Coho Project, reported in the last issue, is a project of the Grays Harbor Pogie Club.

Coho and sockeye are found in freshwater year-round; coho in small coastal streams and sockeye in lakes. These fish are very susceptible to poor water quality, such as high temperatures and pollution.

Salmon species have adapted to use virtually every part of every stream here in the northwest.

Big rivers are used by pink salmon in the lower reaches, chinook in the mainstem and larger tributaries, coho in small tributaries, and steelhead in the uppermost tributaries.

Small streams are used by chum in the lower reaches, coho next, and cutthroat in the headwaters.

A moving fry is much easier to see than a motionless one. This is why salmon tend to spawn in parts of the stream that their offspring use for rearing; the emerging fry do not have to travel far to find rearing areas.

The size of a salmon is usually related to its age. Pink salmon are the smallest fall-spawning salmon and are also the youngest, at two years. Chinook can live up to nine years, the longest, which is why some chinook can grow to over 100 lbs. Cutthroat, which live longer than pinks, are smaller because they live in less productive areas of the watershed.

There is a sixth fall-spawning salmon, the masu, or cherry salmon, which is found only in Asia. This fish occupies the same niche that the sea-run cutthroat trout occupies here in North America.

Steelhead and rainbow trout are the same species of fish; rainbow are the freshwater form, and steelhead the anadromous form.

Steelhead and cutthroat trout were recently added to the salmon genus, Oncorhynchus, from the trout genus, Salmo. Also, the scientific name of steelhead changed from Salmo gairdneri to Oncorhynchus mykiss.

1.  Do you know the watershed you live in?  What is the name of the  watershed? 
You supply your own answer based on streams and rivers near your residence or 
place of work.
2.  What is a watershed?   
A watershed is an area of land between mountain ridge lines in which all water 
drains into a common stream or river system.
3.  How many square miles is the Chehalis River Watershed?  
Over 2600
4.  How many state parks are found in the watershed?  9  
What are their names?   
Millersylvania, Rainbow Falls, Schafer, Lake Sylvia, Ocean City, 
Westhaven, Westport Light, Twin Harbors, Grayland Beach.
5.  How many county parks are located in the watershed?  
10 Guerin, Kennydell, Bellmore, ORV Park, Yelm-Tenino Trail, 
Black River Mima Prairie - Glacial Heritage Preserve, 
Black River Preserve, Vance Creek, Schafer and Rose.
6.  How many major lakes are in the Chehalis watershed?  
What are their  names?  
The larger ones are Lake Sylvia, Lake Aberdeen, Summit Lake, Black Lake,
 Wynoochee Reservoir, Skookumchuck Reservoir
7.  Are there any nature preserves, wildlife refuges, or wildlife areas in  the 
Chehalis watershed?  How many can you name?  
Black River Preserve, Elk River Preserve, Scatter Creek Wildlife Area, 
Olympic Wildlife Areas, Chehalis Wildlife area, Grays Harbor NWR, 
John's River Wildlife Area.
8.  How many fish hatcheries are located in the Chehalis watershed?  
What  are their names?   
Lake Aberdeen, Satsop Springs, Bingham and Skookumchuck are 
state hatcheries.  Private hatcheries include:  Mayr Brothers, 
Long Live the Kings, Elma Game Club, Global Aqua, Domsea
9.  What kinds of businesses and industries use a lot of water and are  
located in the Chehalis watershed?  
How many can you name? 
pulp mills, aqua culture, tree farms, food processors, dairies, irrigators
10.  Capitol Forest is over 91,000 acres and is located in the Chehalis  watershed.  
It was purchased in the 1940's by DNR at 50 cents per acre.   True or False?  
TRUE  The actual acquisitions of logged off land from Mason County 
Logging Company, Mud Bay Logging Company, Weyerhaeuser Company 
and others took place between 1933 and 1942.  There have been other 
acquisitions since then.
11.  Name at least 3 major businesses or industries which are located in 
the Chehalis Watershed. 
Lumber, dairy, chicken/egg, seafood, oysters, pulp, distribution, 
coal mining, tree farming, farming (corn, peas, hay), food processors.
12.  What are two major tourist areas in the watershed? 
Answers could include the harbor, the ocean beaches, marinas,  
Capitol Forest or perhaps the rivers or lakes during fishing season 
and of course outlet malls.
13.  What city is the oldest incorporated city in the watershed? 
According to published sources and city hall responses: Montesano 1883, 
Elma 1888, Hoquiam 1889, Aberdeen 1890, Chehalis 1890, 
Cosmopolis 1891, Centralia 1892, PeEll 1904, Oakville 1905, 
Tenino 1906, Bucoda 1910, Napavine 1913, Westport 1914, 
McCleary 1943, Ocean-Shores 1970
14.  What cities have waste water treatment plants? 
All except Oakville, Bucoda and Napavine.  
If you listed Rochester or Grand Mound, remember they are 
not incorporated cities.  Napavine and the community of Onalaska are 
part of the Chehalis system.
15.  What cities get their public drinking water from rivers or streams?   What are the names of those rivers or streams?   
From the Chehalis River Basin Action Plan (1992): Adna, 
Boistfort and Curtis (Stillman Creek); 
PeEll (Lester, Grim and Mahaffey Creeks); 
Centralia and Chehalis (North Fork Newaukum); 
Aberdeen (Wishkah and Wynoochee); Hoquiam (Humptulips)

Beginning in 1990, the Department of Ecology studied the Upper Chehalis River basin as part of the Chehalis Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) project.

In 1994, the Department of Ecology issued three TMDL reports that describe the water quality in the Upper Chehalis and Black Rivers.

The results of that study indicate that there is simply no capacity for the river to absorb nonpoint or point discharges within the area known as the Chehalis Reach.

As controversial as this study is, the Chehalis River Council supports the conclusions and recommendations documented in that study.

In a series of articles starting this month, Ecology researcher Paul Pickett explores the Chehalis River as discovered through the TMDL study.

You won't find salmon swimming up your shower drain--and yet your bathroom and kitchen faucets are linked to the salmon's migratory cycle.

It isn't news that fish need water. And it isn't news that a growing human population is drawing more and more water from streams and rivers for its own use. But many people don't realize how much impact an individual household can have. In a typical home, each individual uses between 70 and 90 gallons a day. Multiply that by the population of even a modest-sized town and you'll find a good portion of the neighboring stream taking a detour through a pipe. Think of the water splashing into you sink as a bit of salmon habitat.

If all the water disappears, the fish die (and that happens with some rivers). But the amount of water in the stream matters to salmon in more subtle ways, too. Juvenile salmon ("smolts") need fast flows in the spring to help them down to the sea. Low flows in the summer make it likelier that the water will warm up to a dangerous temperature for fish. Warmer water carries less dissolved oxygen while at the same time increasing the metabolism of the young salmon. Salmon don't survive well at temperatures above 65 degrees Fahrenheit, and usually die above 77 degrees F.

If water levels drop too far in the fall or winter, they may expose the nests ("redds") where the spawning females have deposited their eggs. And less water means less dilution of the chemicals we allow to enter the stream.

Households can do a great deal to conserve water, leaving it in the river for the salmon's migration. Among the easily accomplished steps to consider:

• Check for leaks. Even a slow drip can waste 20 gallons a day. Fix leaking faucets, and check toilets for failing valves (place dye or food coloring in the tank and see if it show up in the bowl). You can inspect your entire water system for hidden leaks by turning off all faucets and checking the meter to see if it continues to show use.
• Install low-flow shower heads. Not only will these save a dozen gallons or more for a typical shower, they usually pay for themselves in lower water and electric bills within a year. Low-flow aerators on faucets can save as much as 12 gallons per minute of use.
• Put a water displacement device (a weighted plastic bottle will do) in every toilet; this can save gallons per flush.
• Use water efficiently: Leave the faucet off while shaving or brushing teeth; use the dishwasher and washing machine only for full loads; keep showers short; while waiting for hotter or colder water from the tap, catch the spillage for watering plants or other uses; flush the toilet only when necessary not to dispose of bits of trash.

For more information on how you can help salmon recovery efforts in the Pacific Northwest, please contact your local conservation district, the CRC, or Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, 45 SE 82nd Dr., Suite 100, Gladstone, OR 97027-2522.

THE U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE'S CHEHALIS FISHERIES RESTORATION PROGRAM (CFRP)

As a reminder, the goal of the CFRP is as follows: "to optimize natural salmon and steelhead production while maintaining the existing genetic adaptation of wild spawners and allowing the highest compatible level of hatchery production."

If we are ultimately to claim success, we must achieve our goal. Therefore, we have to see salmon and steelhead numbers return to historic levels, and then prove that our program played a direct role. As you might imagine, this is no small task. We are in the fourth year of a proposed 20-year program, and are monitoring our project streams to demonstrate our projects' effectiveness. Along the way we will use this monitoring information to determine which types of projects are the best, and make adjustments as needed. Twenty years of monitoring information will determine our actual overall success.

I don't know about you, but I need to feel like I'm having some success in my work more often than once every 20 years. Fortunately, we do a lot of individual projects (95 to date), and each holds chances for small successes. Some examples:

A cooperator (perhaps your local conservation district) comes to us with a sound project proposal. We collaborate to work out technical details and come up with a worthy project. A small success.

The landowner likes the final design and wants to proceed. Cooperative agreements are drawn up and funding is secured. So far, so good.

The required permits are obtained, all the materials are purchased and crews are ready to work. The project is completed and it looks just like we had imagined it would. That feels like a success.

Let's say that this project is an off-channel pond designed to provide habitat for overwintering juvenile wild coho salmon and lots of other critters. We monitor a trap and it shows us that good numbers of salmon are using the pond, survival rates are good and the coho smolts are healthy and ready to go to sea in the spring. We are beginning to feel pretty good at this point, but the tricky part is yet to come.

If our new rearing habitat was indeed the thing that this particular stream needed in order to regain its health and produce more fish, then we have addressed a "limiting factor." If our limiting factor analysis was incorrect, and the real problem is water quality downstream, all of our fish may die anyway. Well, lets say that 3-4 years later more wild coho return to this stream than anyone can remember. At this point, we'd like to call it a success.

Hold on! Maybe ocean conditions were particularly favorable for our coho during their time at sea. We might have had good returns of fish regardless of our project. Okay, we see similar returns to our stream for several years and are able to account for things like ocean conditions. Now we are be able to claim some success!

For more information, including fisheries restoration opportunities, please call Mike Kelly at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at 360-753-9460.

In recent years, fear of cancer and the ability to measure chemical pollutants in minute amounts has focused attention on chemical pollution of drinking water. However, according to the American Academy of Microbiology, Americans should be made aware that waterborne diarrheal disease caused by microbiological contamination (bacteria, viruses, and parasites such as (cryptosporidium and giardia) exacts high costs in our society-including significant mortality among vulnerable populations- and is likely to increase without better source water protection and attention to our aging drinking water infrastructure.

In a report based on a 1995 colloquium of international experts in microbiology, engineering, epidemiology and risk assessment, the Academy says that the list of potentially pathogenic microorganisms transmitted by water is increasing significantly each year and urges government and institutions to communicate in every way possible with the public about the need to address microbiological safely of water.

In releasing the report, Dr. Rita Colwell, chairman of the Academy, said, "Microbiologically safe drinking water can no longer be assumed, even in the United States and other developed countries, and the situation will worsen unless measures are taken in the immediate future-the crisis is global."

Dr. Timonthy Ford of Harvard University, who chaired the colloquium, said that the extent of disease and death caused by waterborne pathogens has been underestimated and that governments and policy makers are not taking sufficient action to counter threats posed by new and resurgent disease, climate change, surface water pollution and development of antibiotic resistance.

Because of an increasingly contaminated global water resource, there has been a rise in waterborne disease worldwide, the report says. In developing countries treatment of water and wastes is nonexistent or grossly inadequate, and until sanitation is improved, it will be impossible to eliminate waterborne disease. In developed countries, deficiencies in treatment and delivery systems, anthropogenic impacts on source water, and emergence of resistant and more virulent microorganisms pose serious threats to human health. Moreover, the report says, that because of the variety of disease agents transmitted by water and extensive trade and travel, water borne disease cannot be eradicated even in developed countries but must be controlled at the community level by basic sanitation and availability of uncontaminated water.

The report says that in developed countries like the United States, diarrheal disease is so common that sufferers frequently downplay its significance and doctors cannot bother tracing the causes of individual cases. Therefore, many illnesses caused by waterborne agents go unreported. Moreover, few physicians are on the look out for rare or emerging organisms and laboratory analysis that might alert communities to outbreaks of waterborne disease is rarely done. The annual social costs of "mild" gastrointestinal illnesses in the United States have been estimated to be $19.5 billion for cases with no medical consultation and $2.75 billion for those with consultations.

In the United States, an increase in waterborne disease is expected because of a number of factors, including:

The report, A Global Decline in Microbiological Safety of Water: A Call for Action, was released in May by the American Academy of Microbiology. It is available in response to written requests from the Academy at:

American Academy of Microbiology 1325 Massachusetts Ave. NW Washington, DC, 20005
Fax: 202-942-9227 Email: academy@asmusa.org

Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, Ecosystems Education Program

Protecting and preserving wild salmon has become a popular topic within the last several years, both in the media and in natural resource agencies. Although the numbers of wild salmon have been declining for over a century, the debate over how to address the problem has been infused with a new sense of urgency. A landmark study in 1992 titled "Pacific Salmon at the Crossroads: Stocks at Risk from CA, OR, ID and WA" identified 214 wild spawning salmon stocks that were at risk of extinction or of special concern, including 17 stocks that were already extinct.

When we talk about the survival of wild salmon, we are also talking about the survival of the natural heritage of the Pacific Northwest. When thousands of mature salmon spawn and die, they do far more than produce another generation. This source of nutrition, arriving in the fall, allows many animals to survive the harshness of winter. Where salmon runs have become extinct, the local ecosystem suffers. Species like bear, eagle, mink and river otter suffer large population losses. Other species show less dramatic, but significant declines. The result is a permanently altered ecosystem. Wild salmon are quite literally the energy that fuels our natural environment.

Each individual stock of salmon is important. A chinook salmon from one river may be quite different genetically from a chinook of another river. This vast genetic diversity has allowed salmon to survive for two million years, by helping them adapt to a specific local watershed or adjust to a changing one. They have endured floods and droughts, disease, volcanic eruptions, and even ice ages. Every stock lost to extinction is a loss of important genetic information, leaving the remaining fish less able to survive.

We are fortunate to have Pacific salmon in our state, and often in our backyards. These fish are naturally found only in the northern Pacific Ocean, from California to Alaska, and from Siberia to Japan. Wild salmon are a natural treasure, and those of us who choose to live in the Pacific Northwest have an obligation to ensure their continued survival.