04/19/05 Where`s the fish?;Senate drought plan?

Commercial spring Chinook fishing on the lower Columbia River could conclude for the season as early as tomorrow. Respective Fish and Wildlife Department officials in Oregon and Washington are set to make that determination after reports from Bonneville Dam revealed the lowest count of upstream migrating Chinook since fish counts began. To compare, the ten year average for spring Chinook passing through Bonneville has been over 25,000 a year. As of last week, the count was only 199. Biologists are hoping this is merely a late timed run. Oregon's U.S. Senators have joined forces to introduce a bill to bring a national coordinated approach to drought preparedness and response efforts. And Republican Gordon Smith and Democrat Ron Wyden both hope passage and signing into law of the National Drought Preparedness Act will come soon as their state, along with much of the Northwest, face drought like conditions this year. The measure would authorize the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate drought preparedness and relief efforts with various agencies through a newly formed National Drought Council. May 17th is the date set for a Northwest based Animal Identification Symposium in Boise. The Northwest Pilot Project is sponsoring the event, designed to bring world renowned I.D. experts to Boise to participate in open forums, and discuss critical issues pertaining to regional and national animal identification systems. Now with today's "Food Forethought", here's Susan Allen. ALLEN: As a working mother my plate, like most of moms in my shoes is darn pretty full. Then I add to the mix the care and feeding of several horses, two geriatric dogs, a grumpy cat, some teenagers and a husband and I don't need to be reminded of another thing I fail to do correctly. But tell that to wildlife officials who are on a crusade for clean bird baths and feeders. Avian experts say more and more of us are feeding birds, it is a national pastime and we should be responsible to clean up after them. Come on it isn't it enough that I even remember to toss out some seed for migrating songbirds. And I faithfully hang those drippy little hummingbird feeders off my deck each summer. But no, according to experts millions of song birds are dying each year due to moldy food they find in feeders like mine. The little guys are very susceptible (like we are) to Salmonella among other diseases so specialists now recommend that bird baths and humming bird feeders be changed daily while bird feeders scrubbed out once a month, and we know who that task will fall to but that's okay it's all for the birds. I'm Susan Allen and this is Food Forethought.