Warm Springs tribes, ODFW try to resurrect Hood River’s spring chinook run

By Scott Learn
The Oregonian

PARKDALE — As salmon streams go, Hood River faces some unique challenges: glacial gullywashers from Mount Hood, heavy irrigation withdrawals for Oregon’s top fruit orchards and a once hardy population of spring chinook that scientists figure was wiped out four decades ago.

But the Powerdale Dam came down in 2010, improving prospects for young salmon migrating downstream. Investment in the basin has spiked, part of a 2008 accord between four Columbia River tribes and the Bonneville Power Administration.

And early signs are that Hood River spring chinook, which biologists from The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and Oregon officials are trying to restore, may be gaining a more secure foothold.  Read more