Prompt #4 -Water is to Humans as Water is to Salmon: Essential

If you have not been to Washington State, you might be under the impression that our State is a vast, rain-soaked, forested landscape.  Or perhaps "The Emerald City" comes to mind.  The Space Needle. 

But the Methow Valley is a long way from the west coast's nearly continuous rains and drizzle.  Our valley is on the east side of the North Cascades, commonly referred to as the "dry side" of the state.  Here, Water is an issue.   One of the main issues concerning Water in the Methow, is the balance of rights between farmers and people who live here, and the rights of salmon, steelhead trout, and other fish who migrate to the rivers in our valley.

The Methow River begins in the North Cascades, where mountain streams swell with frigid waters  each spring as the temperatures warm enough to melt the snowpack in the mountains.  The snow-melt finds its way to the larger Methow River, and the Methow River runs down the valley and loses itself in the Columbia River, which eventually flows into the Pacific Ocean.

There are twenty different irrigation ditches that were dug in the Methow Valley in the early 1900s.  These ditches are used to divert water from the river to provide adequate water required to irrigate crops and fields.   Farmers rely heavily on access to water from these ditches in order to grow their crops, especially towards the end of a hot, dry summer.  In late summer, the amount of snowmelt coming out to the mountains lessens and  the Methow River becomes very shallow.

Archeologists have found evidence of people thousands of years ago that lived and/or summered in our valley.   This valley was the land of plenty: fish in the rivers, wild game, berries and edible plants, mild climate.  We know that salmon have come to spawn in our rivers and streams for a long, long time.  Until fairly recent times the salmon had only to contend with predators as they made their long journey from the Pacific all the way up the Methow.  Now, their river habitat has been significantly altered not only by a number of dams built for hydroelectric power, but also from logging practices, and the large amounts of water drawn for irrigation.

If salmon and steelhead trout don't have adequate water levels to return to, and to spawn in, the population of these fish are threatened.  Who cares?  Well, for one, the ecosystem does.  These fish supply food for a number of predators: bears, wolves, osprey, eagles, other fish, river otters, snakes, whales, dolphins, seals and sea lions, to name a few.  Humans!  While these fish are in the river, they eat larvae of insects that feed on other insect larvae; the fish help to keep the river ecologically balanced and healthy.

Government agencies have determined "minimum flow requirements" for the Chewuch and Methow Rivers.  If the rivers' flow slows to these numbers, water is no longer available for irrigation purposes.  An agency, named the Methow Salmon Recovery Foundation is now working to ensure that the salmon will have a place to come back to spawn, and that the people who live here can have access to enough water to sustain their crops.  It's not a simple issue.  There are, of course, a variety of opinions about how water resources should be managed, and who should make these crucial determinations.  Of course climate change and conservation practices are part of these discussions, as well.

I for one, cannot imagine our valley without these fish in the rivers.  I've seen them in all seasons.  I've swam among them as they've returned to a place up the Chewuch in their last stage of life; ghostly, tattered beings.  Their lives grace us in essential, and countless ways.  Like the eagles who watch over the river from their aspen and pine perches, I hope that our community will watch over the well-being of these fish, forever.