Redds and Research – The White Salmon River Needs You

REDDS

Are you looking for a chance to reconnect with your watershed, give back to the fish you love, or maybe learn a new skill or two? If so, we have just the thing for you! Volunteer opportunities abound on White Salmon River tributaries, assisting in spawning surveys.

Native Fish Society volunteers, including some FWSR supporters, are working alongside WDFW and others to conduct wild Coho and Steelhead spawning surveys. We are currently conducting spawning surveys for Steelhead every 14 days on Mill, Buck and Spring Creek through the end of May. Mill Creek and Spring creek are very short. Buck Creek is split into 2 reaches and is about 1.2 miles long for each reach.

We need able-bodied folks to walk these streams, in-water, and locate and monitor the development and progress of spawning fish. You need to be able to show up at least once a month through the end of May. Training and equipment are provided, including training videos from WDFW and iPads on loan from WDFW to record data. Experienced monitors will walk the reaches with new volunteers.

This is really important work. The data is sorely needed, and as we have noted before, funding for monitoring work is really scarce, so volunteers are essential.

If you are interested and want to chat about his opportunity, please contact Washington Coordinator, J. Michelle Swope. You can reach her via email at jmichelle@nativefishsociety.org or phone, (360) 349-0743

RESEARCH

Salmon Recovery Funding Board projects for WRIA’s 29B (White Salmon). 30 (Klickitat) and 31 (Rock-Glade) are selected by the Klickitat County Lead Entity, run by Klickitat County. Final ranking of projects is done by the Citizens Review Committee (CRC). Projects go through technical review at state and local levels, but the rankings are not decided by technical review.

There are two open positions on the CRC, called the environmental interest positions. The County will take steps to fill these vacancies in the next few weeks. We want the County to have applications from two strong candidates for these positions. We want to support people who care about salmon and steelhead survival and who have broad and deep environmental views.

A volunteer would have to be a resident of the Lead Entity area, which is primarily Klickitat County and some of Benton County. The commitment would start with the 2023 round. The 2022 round is now underway. The CRC is scheduled for four meetings, so it’s not a heavy schedule, but of course there is some time reading applications. The upside is, of course, that you get to read, learn, and talk a lot about salmon and steelhead.

If you are possibly interested in volunteering on behalf of Friends of the White Salmon River, please contact Pat Arnold pat.arnold@friendsofthewhitesalmon.org or (509) 637-5749

Here are some additional resources:

Find the Klickitat Lead Agency webpage here. https://klickitatcounty.org/243/Salmon-Habitat-Recovery. The page has a link to the Lead Entity Recovery Strategy document.

The bylaws for the CRC are located on page 98 of the Klickitat Lead Entity Salmon Recovery Strategy, which can be found here https://klickitatcounty.org/DocumentCenter/View/10395/Klickitat-Lead-Entity-Salmon-Recovery-Strategy—April-2021
Here is what the bylaws say about CRC membership. “The Committee shall consist of twelve voting members (identified by Klickitat Lead Entity) unless changed by the Klickitat Lead Entity. Committee members shall serve three-year terms. The Committee may submit to the Klickitat Lead Entity nominations for appointment to the Committee. Previous members may serve at the Lead Entity’s discretion.” In other words, there are no specific requirements for representation of particular interests.

https://srp.rco.wa.gov/projects?site=310 Klickitat County Lead Entity projects

Here is a link to the map of lead entities across Washington State. https://rco.wa.gov/salmon-recovery/managing-organizations/lead-entities/. The Lead Entity system was created before the Salmon Recovery Regions were created. Klickitat Lead Entity projects fall under two Recovery Regions, which have different priorities. It is a very complicated and arcane planning and funding structure.  See Lead Entity Reference Guide and other resources on this page.

For more information on Salmon Recovery Regions and their relationship to Lead Entities: https://rco.wa.gov/salmon-recovery/managing-organizations/regions/ See Manual 19 Capacity Grants Regional Organization and Lead Entity Guidance August 202