Forests and Fish 



583 



just before or during angling seasons 

 produces much better survivals than 

 plantings in late summer or fall. 



Few hatchery-reared fish can survive 

 overwinter in streams. The wild and 

 naturally propagated trout do suffer 

 heavy overwinter mortalities, too, but 

 their rates of survival are considerably 

 higher than those of hatchery fish. 

 Work at Convict Greek in eastern Cal- 

 ifornia by Paul R. Needham, J. W. 

 Moffett, and D. W. Slater demon- 

 strated that overwinter losses of wild 

 brown trout of all sizes averaged 62 

 percent and that more than 85 percent 

 of the fish hatched in the stream in any 

 given year would be lost in the first 18 

 months of life. Variable survival con- 

 ditions in any given season, rather than 

 the number of young produced, deter- 

 mined the number of fish that later 

 reached catchable size. It was also 

 shown that over a 5-year period nat- 

 ural reproduction in Convict Creek 

 contributed each year an average of 

 2,750 fingerlings, 3 to 4 inches long, 

 to each mile of stream. 



These facts lead to the conclusion 

 that we badly need a critical review 

 and revision of hatchery-rearing pro- 

 grams and methods to get the most out 

 of the costly, hatchery-reared fish. We 

 can also conclude that with hatcheries 

 we can only supplement to a slight ex- 

 tent the fish produced by natural 

 propagation. 



It behooves us, therefore, to look 

 toward stream improvement and main- 

 tenance of the stream habitat as offer- 

 ing a better solution of our problems 

 than the questionable and uneconomi- 

 cal program of merely planting more 

 fish. Good fishing in streams depends 

 mainly on good forestry and land man- 

 agement. The streams furnish the 

 "room and board" for fish. In turn, if 

 their environment is maintained and 

 improved, it will provide the long-term 

 basis for continued and permanent 

 good fishing in our forest waters. 



DAMS may be another threat to mi- 

 gratory fish. The large, multiple-pur- 

 pose development projects under way 



in many major western river basins 

 hold an ominous and uncertain future 

 for the continued maintenance of the 

 salmon and steelhead runs. With many 

 high dams already constructed and 

 many others planned or under con- 

 struction, it is imperative that good 

 forest practices be followed on the 

 watersheds that are still open and 

 available to migratory fish. In fact, if 

 the main rivers are blocked by high 

 dams, much good can be accomplished 

 on tributaries that remain accessible 

 for spawning purposes if our modern 

 standards are applied in timber re- 

 moval, grazing, road building, and 

 other factors. 



Our stake is heavy in sea-run fishery 

 resources such as salmon and steel- 

 head of the Pacific coast. The salmon 

 and steelhead fishery of the Columbia 

 River alone brings in approximately 

 1 7.4 million dollars annually ; the entire 

 fishery in California, Washington, and 

 Oregon adds 50 million to 60 million 

 dollars each year to our national econ- 

 omy. Every effort is being made by the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as 

 by conservation agencies of the States 

 concerned, to work out feasible mainte- 

 nance programs in light of the prob- 

 lems presented. 



The Willamette River in Oregon 

 has a fine run of large, spring chinook 

 salmon, for which there is an intense 

 sport fishery. This run alone produces 

 around a million dollars annually. 

 With such values represented, it is a 

 basic necessity that unblocked tribu- 

 taries of the lower Snake, Columbia, 

 Willamette, and Sacramento Rivers, 

 and other western streams that drain 

 large forests be fully protected with the 

 best and most modern watershed-man- 

 agement plans. 



Fish ladders may help on low dams, 

 but they are useless on high dams. Pro- 

 tection of soils and the forests on the 

 watersheds is more important by far. 

 Control of the lands will result in con- 

 trol of the rivers. 



One answer to this problem would 

 be to set aside by legislative action cer- 

 tain streams as fish refuges for spawn- 



