Today, our family headed to the sleepy little town of Vernonia, Oregon for the 8th annual Salmon Festival. The festival itself was fun, but nothing much to write home about. However, actually getting to watch the salmon swim up the Nehalem River on their journey back to the ocean was pretty amazing. It's a feat I couldn't imagine tackling; watching them force themselves through the current, taking a quick break, and then once again swimming full force ahead. Those fish have some serious determination.
Salmon have a tough life as it is (with this swimming upstream business), but humans have managed to make their journey even harder. Dams impede migration (even with fish ladders) making it harder for salmon to return home, humans harvest them on their long journey, water pollution and global warming have changed the conditions of many rivers and streams making salmon survival difficult or sometimes impossible, and demand for water (especially for irrigation) has made many streams too shallow for fish to pass. These obstacles have been enough to list certain runs of salmon as threatened or endangered, and many runs have seen declines over recent years.
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| Finn patiently waiting to view some salmon |
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| Finn and his friend Aoife enjoying some tunes |
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| Finn and mom |
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| The view of the valley from Stubb Stewart State Park |
Hi Taryn,
ReplyDeleteThis was my first visit to your blog and I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed it! It seems we have A LOT in common :) I blog as The GREEN CT Realtor and write about environmental issues in real estate but also in my daily life as a mom of 2 wonderful children (ages 7 & 4 now.) Would you ever consider doing a guest post or would it be ok if I linked to you sometime? Wishing you all the best, and I'll be sure to follow your blog! Lynn
I have always heard and read about the salmon runs. It sounds like it would be a very cool thing to watch. We have read books about how the Native Americans would travel and camp during the salmon runs and fish. It is very cool that you can take the time to connect with them in that way.
ReplyDelete:)Lisa