Upstream
Upstream

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1996-08-17

Total Pages: 473

ISBN-13: 0309053250

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The importance of salmon to the Pacific Northwestâ€"economic, recreational, symbolicâ€"is enormous. Generations ago, salmon were abundant from central California through Idaho, Oregon, and Washington to British Columbia and Alaska. Now they have disappeared from about 40 percent of their historical range. The decline in salmon numbers has been lamented for at least 100 years, but the issue has become more widespread and acute recently. The Endangered Species Act has been invoked, federal laws have been passed, and lawsuits have been filed. More than $1 billion has been spent to improve salmon runsâ€"and still the populations decline. In this new volume a committee with diverse expertise explores the complications and conflicts surrounding the salmon problemâ€"starting with available data on the status of salmon populations and an illustrative case study from Washington state's Willapa Bay. The book offers specific recommendations for salmon rehabilitation that take into account the key role played by genetic variability in salmon survival and the urgent need for habitat protection and management of fishing. The committee presents a comprehensive discussion of the salmon problem, with a wealth of informative graphs and charts and the right amount of historical perspective to clarify today's issues, including: Salmon biology and geographyâ€"their life's journey from fresh waters to the sea and back again to spawn, and their interaction with ecosystems along the way. The impacts of human activitiesâ€"grazing, damming, timber, agriculture, and population and economic growth. Included is a case study of Washington state's Elwha River dam removal project. Values, attitudes, and the conflicting desires for short-term economic gain and long-term environmental health. The committee traces the roots of the salmon problem to the extractive philosophy characterizing management of land and water in the West. The impact of hatcheries, which were introduced to build fish stocks but which have actually harmed the genetic variability that wild stocks need to survive. This book offers something for everyone with an interest in the salmon issueâ€"policymakers and regulators in the United States and Canada; environmental scientists; environmental advocates; natural resource managers; commercial, tribal, and recreational fishers; and concerned residents of the Pacific Northwest.

Fisheries Ecology and Management
Fisheries Ecology and Management

Author: Carl J. Walters

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2020-06-30

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13: 0691214638

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Quantitative modeling methods have become a central tool in the management of harvested fish populations. This book examines how these modeling methods work, why they sometimes fail, and how they might be improved by incorporating larger ecological interactions. Fisheries Ecology and Management provides a broad introduction to the concepts and quantitative models needed to successfully manage fisheries. Walters and Martell develop models that account for key ecological dynamics such as trophic interactions, food webs, multi-species dynamics, risk-avoidance behavior, habitat selection and density-dependence. They treat fisheries policy development as a two-stage process, first identifying strategies for varying harvest in relation to changes in abundance, then finding ways to implement such strategies in terms of monitoring and regulatory procedures. This book provides a general framework for developing assessment models in terms of state-observation dynamics hypotheses, and points out that most fisheries assessment failures have been due to inappropriate observation model hypotheses rather than faulty models for ecological dynamics. Intended as a text in upper division and graduate classes on fisheries assessment and management, this useful guide will also be widely read by ecologists and fisheries scientists.

Salmon Without Rivers
Salmon Without Rivers

Author: Jim Lichatowich

Publisher:

Published: 1999-08

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13:

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"Fundamentally, the salmon's decline has been the consequence of a vision based on flawed assumptions and unchallenged myths.... We assumed we could control the biological productivity of salmon and 'improve' upon natural processes that we didn't even try to understand. We assumed we could have salmon without rivers." --from the introduction From a mountain top where an eagle carries a salmon carcass to feed its young to the distant oceanic waters of the California current and the Alaskan Gyre, salmon have penetrated the Northwest to an extent unmatched by any other animal. Since the turn of the twentieth century, the natural productivity of salmon in Oregon, Washington, California, and Idaho has declined by eighty percent. The decline of Pacific salmon to the brink of extinction is a clear sign of serious problems in the region. In Salmon Without Rivers, fisheries biologist Jim Lichatowich offers an eye-opening look at the roots and evolution of the salmon crisis in the Pacific Northwest. He describes the multitude of factors over the past century and a half that have led to the salmon's decline, and examines in depth the abject failure of restoration efforts that have focused almost exclusively on hatcheries to return salmon stocks to healthy levels without addressing the underlying causes of the decline. The book: describes the evolutionary history of the salmon along with the geologic history of the Pacific Northwest over the past 40 million years considers the indigenous cultures of the region, and the emergence of salmon-based economies that survived for thousands of years examines the rapid transformation of the region following the arrival of Europeans presents the history of efforts to protect and restore the salmon offers a critical assessment of why restoration efforts have failed Throughout, Lichatowich argues that the dominant worldview of our society -- a worldview that denies connections between humans and the natural world -- has created the conflict and controversy that characterize the recent history of salmon; unless that worldview is challenged and changed, there is little hope for recovery. Salmon Without Rivers exposes the myths that have guided recent human-salmon interactions. It clearly explains the difficult choices facing the citizens of the region, and provides unique insight into one of the most tragic chapters in our nation's environmental history.

Clovis Caches
Clovis Caches

Author: Bruce B. Huckell

Publisher: UNM Press

Published: 2014-05-01

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 0826354831

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“A unique, significant contribution to our maturing studies of the Clovis era.”—Gary Haynes, author of The Early Settlement of North America: The Clovis Era The Paleoindian Clovis culture is known for distinctive stone and bone tools often associated with mammoth and bison remains, dating back some 13,500 years. While the term Clovis is known to every archaeology student, few books have detailed the specifics of Clovis archaeology. This collection of essays investigates caches of Clovis tools, many of which have only recently come to light. These caches are time capsules that allow archaeologists to examine Clovis tools at earlier stages of manufacture than the broken and discarded artifacts typically recovered from other sites. The studies comprising this volume treat methodological and theoretical issues including the recognition of Clovis caches, Clovis lithic technology, mobility, and land use.

Amphibians of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia
Amphibians of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia

Author: Charlotte C. Corkran

Publisher: Lone Pine Publishing

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13:

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Amphibians are provided, including: habitat preferences, tips for finding them, planning amphibian surveys, guidelines for handling and measuring them, their activity through the seasons, photography tips, a table that compares confusing species, current status. This handy, informative book is sure to be invaluable to biologists and field technicians as well as to individuals on a family outing or school field trip. Book jacket.

The Old Oregon Country
The Old Oregon Country

Author: Oscar Osburn Winther

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 1950-01-01

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 9780803252189

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The Pacific Northwest, the old Oregon country, was one of the most remote and inaccessible frontier areas, but it was also known to be rich in natural resources. The opening up of this region is a story of courage, endurance, and pioneer enterprise. Transportation in this rugged country was a problem to the settlers who would promote commerce and travel, just as it was a problem to the earlier fur traders. The construction of roads and development of water routes progressed through the years until the railroad finally came to the Northwest, but at no time did the scarcity of roads prevent settlers from pushing back the frontier. Here the whole story of travel and travelers in this region is told for the first time. The book is based largely on primary sources and, as such, is a contribution to history. As an account of courage and ingenuity, transportation monopoly against transportation monopoly, and man versus nature, it is fascinating reading. University Professor of History at Indiana University, O. O. Winther is the author of Express and Stagecoach Days in California and Via Western Express and Stagecoach.