Who's responsible?

Who's responsible? We have been covering this story for a while and it is very interesting to learn that so many people are contributing to the success of the possibly record fall run of Chinook salmon. Here's Ed Schriever, Head of fisheries for the Idaho Fish and Game Department: "A perfect storm where these things come together so that you get a couple of consecutive generations for the naturally produced fall Chinook. They are predominantly from the Hanford reach of the Columbia, the hatchery propagation and good ocean survival and fairly good conditions being managed in the Columbia River for those fish when they are juveniles going out and here we are looking at record abundances of adult fish."

That's not all. Here is Wyatt Prescott, Executive Director of the Idaho Cattle Association: "Along the Lemhi River, Idaho ranchers are making a difference. The Idaho Cattle Association sponsored a tour of the Lemhi ranches Sept. 17 to show off what ranchers have done to reconnect dried-up tributaries to the Lemhi and to increase flows to help spawning fish."

So at the end of the day, the credit gets distributed all the way around but I am certainly thrilled that beef ranchers can enjoy their role in an environmental success.