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Stars Align for 2022 Salmon Runs by Bill Monroe The Oregonian, January 1, 2022

Despite its Ground Hog Day feel, what with COVID variants and all, the new year brings some outright Christmas cheer into Oregon's 2022 outdoor outlook.

Eric Schindler, project leader for the Ocean Salmon Management program of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, told me a month or so ago he's "cautiously optimistic" about 2022 salmon runs, but "It's too soon to tell."

In the wake of the 2021 glut of coho, he made a hesitant prediction: 2022 may also be good, just not quite as good.

Schindler can take heart in a chart of ocean indicators published toward the end of the year for biologists to pore over as they piece together a jig-saw puzzle of seasonal predictions.

This year's trends show the most promise since 2008 and a decided improvement over the 20-teens.

So good is the news, in fact, The Seattle Times' reporters Hal Bernton and Lynda Mapes (both former Oregonian writers) teamed to report an astounding resurrection of cold-water copepods, tiny shrimp-like critters near the base of the food chain. They're eaten by both baby salmon and bait fish feeding larger salmon and steelhead.

The chart's largely green boxes ("good") and only four yellow ("fair") have no red ("poor") neighbors this year as have dominated past years' reports.

It's largely a result of the return of upwelling, which brings cold water and nutrients from the bottom to the pelagic zones nearer the surface.

While the news seems -- is -- great for 2022 and might suggest an OK year in 2023 as well, scientists continue to warn about warming. Each year of change for the worse seems to bring record warmth in the ocean.

But ... 2022 is looking much better than "cautiously optimistic" for this perennial holder of a half-full glass.

Chronic wasting optimism? The jury is still out on Idaho's intense testing for chronic wasting disease in mule deer a relative stone's throw from the Snake River/Oregon border.

However, Eric Barker, outdoor writer for the Lewiston Tribune, reported just before Christmas the Idaho Department of Fish and Game has collected samples from 561 animals taken during hunting season and an emergency hunt held in the epicenter where two cases of chronic wasting were diagnosed.

The disease hasn't appeared in 288 samples tested thus far, which somewhat sets a few minds at ease.

Final results won't be known for weeks, biologists caution.

Meanwhile, officials for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife are on full alert along both the Idaho and Washington borders in the northeast.

A new Oregon law takes effect Jan. 1 requiring everyone to stop at a chronic wasting disease check station, and biologists are stepping up efforts to test road-killed animals.

Trout stocking: Did you know it's possible to go fishing every day of the year in Oregon with a decent chance to catch something?

To make sure, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife conducts an active trout stocking schedule, even in the winter and spring.

Trucks will begin rolling Jan. 10.

While the stocking schedule is published on the department's user-friendly Web site, a more accurate version is found under each region in the weekly Recreation Report, also published on "MyODFW" each Wednesday. Click on "Fishing," then click on which region of the map you're interested in.

Want to learn more? The department offers fishing and hunting how-to seminars throughout the year, also published on the "MyODFW" site.

And the show season is upon us, beginning Friday with the Willamette Sportsman Show in Albany (Linn County Fairgrounds), Jan. 7-9.

On its heels will be the Portland Boat Show Jan. 12-16 at the Portland Expo Center, with the largest public display of boats on the West Coast and, this year, more inventory for this volatile market.

Then, of course, come the Sportsmen's shows: Puyallup, Wash. Feb. 2-6; Portland Feb. 16-20, and Central Oregon (Bend) March 10-13.

All shows offer seminars for beginners and experts.

Christmas for coho: Don't toss that tree!

You paid a lot for that Christmas tree, so make it mean more by donating it to Trout Unlimited's Christmas For Coho project on Jan. 8 and 15.

Trees will be collected at Northwest Fly Fishing Outfitters on NE Halsey in the Gateway neighborhood and the old West Linn Fire Station in West Linn off Willamette Drive. Hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Organizers suggest a $10 donation to help pay for the transportation of trees to a staging area, where they'll be stored until placed into salmon and steelhead tributaries to provide cover for juvenile fish.