There go the Weeds

A nice native rainbow (click image for detail)

THERE GO THE WEEDS!
by John Judy

I was up on the mountain one day this winter just around Christmas. It had snowed four or five inches during the day; skiing was wonderful. Then, sometime in the mid to late afternoon, the air started to warm up, the gently falling snow turned into rain and then the rain started coming down hard. Within an hour the parking lot had turned into a giant slushy. In no time all that water started rolling down hill.

Driving back to town there was so much flooding on the road I felt like I was rowing a gear raft to camp instead of driving my Suburban home. All I could think was, “Yea! That will clean out the nasty old water weeds down on the Deschutes.”

The Northwest has been on a low water cycle for several years now. Even in the heart of winter there has been little or no flooding. There have been no high water events to periodically clean up and wash out the stream. The water weeds have gotten out of control. Huge beds of them have sprung up all along the rivers edge. If you wade into them it’s mucky and over gown. They have gotten thicker and deeper with each passing season. But all that has changed now. The high water started just before Christmas and for almost a month and a half we had event after event of snow and then rain, snow and then rain. Once the ground was saturated each storm represented another push of cleansing water flushing through the system.

These cleansing floods do more than just wash out the water weeds. Spawning gravel will be cleaned and turned over ready for this year’s eggs to be deposited. Fallen trees that have been gathering in certain riffles and clogging the river will be pushed out of the way. Sand will be deposited in the camping areas. New beaches will be built. Even the insect populations will be effected and changed.

Studies out of Southern Oregon have show that in the year after a high water event, populations of certain larger carnivorous insects, like the October Caddis larva, insects that can’t run from the flood and rolling gravel, are greatly reduced. At the same time their prey, populations of smaller more mobile insects like mayflies and midges, will thrive and flourish. When the small insects flourish there is more food for juvenile fish. You will see increased survival of young salmon, trout and steelhead. Who says the world isn’t interconnected?

All and all after the floods this year we are looking for a good season. The river will be clean and healthy. The fish will be happy and strong. Best of all there will be plenty of water in August and September for the salmon and steelhead. We’re expecting good runs later on in the year.