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When the fish don’t show up, the river tells the truth
In May, I sat in the boat with my brother on the Clearwater River, fishing for spring Chinook. Our excitement had been brewing for a year, since last season ended. The river looked right. The water felt right. It was the kind of morning that reminds you why people in Idaho wait all year for these incredible fish to come home. But by the end of the day, we had not gotten a…
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Idaho’s spring Chinook season: A reminder of what we’ve lost and what we can still restore
In late March, after a series of public meetings, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission announced Idaho’s 2026 spring Chinook season. Let’s be clear, as important as it is to have an opportunity to fish and harvest hatchery salmon, the limited spring Chinook season in Snake River basin is not a sign of recovered wild populations. These fish are still far from healthy and harvestable goals and nowhere…
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A step in the right direction for salmon on the Snake River
After decades of litigation, delay and dwindling salmon runs, the federal court has once again stepped in. And this time, the urgency could not be clearer. Without urgent intervention, salmon will disappear from the landscape In his February 25, 2026 opinion, Judge Michael H. Simon did not mince words. For more than 30 years, he wrote, “the abundance of these salmonids has…
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Masking decline: Why Snake River wild salmon and steelhead can’t wait
Across the Snake River Basin, wild Chinook salmon and steelhead are in serious trouble. For decades, we've seen steady erosion in population abundance, genetic diversity and productivity. And yet—some still point to hatchery returns, favorable ocean years or isolated stream projects as signs of progress. Here’s the truth: we’re masking a long-term collapse with short-term…
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Watch Meateater’s Cal investigate the Snake River dams
In the latest MeatEater video, Ryan “Cal” Callaghan heads to the Snake River to investigate the four lower dams and what they mean to salmon, steelhead and local communities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thd1OZ8QjUI Anglers, farmers, blue collar guys just drinking their morning coffee — everyone has an opinion on what these dams mean. But here’s the simple truth:…
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Solving a math problem for Snake River Chinook
Two recent studies demonstrate how dam breach paired with increased spill in the mid-Columbia would allow many Snake River spring/summer Chinook populations to reach various management goals I am sitting on my parent’s porch on a Sunday afternoon in July when the neighbors stop by to say hi. “Oh! You are a fish biologist,” they…
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Numbers look good, but are they really?
If you’ve seen the recent news regarding Snake River steelhead returns, you’ve likely asked yourself, what’s the issue with the four lower Snake River dams? With returns totaling nearly 100,000 steelhead over Lower Granite dam one would believe brighter days are ahead. But if history repeats itself, this is just a blip on the radar…
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