The salmon are swimming upstream to spawning grounds in record numbers right now, and many are swimming in the waters above !!! Good news, indeed. The news from authorities is that perhaps as many as twice last year's salmon are fighting their way up river. An increasingly healthy river?
It is true that no one, really, can accurately predict in advance what any given year will be good. Even before dams, marauders like sea lions, or pollution problems were faced, the salmon runs historically have varied sharply from year to year. It is my impression that -- since the salmon decide to come up river from broad areas of the Pacific Ocean, where they have been hanging out after reaching the ocean from the Columbia River and its tributaries -- who could possibly know for sure. I don't mean to disparage your skills, dear fish experts. We can just enjoy this year a bumper "crop" of returnees.
Unfortunately for them, the returning salmon who left as juveniles will die after they reach their original homes after first laying their eggs in the rivers and streams. But that is Mother Nature's way: the bodies they sacrifice at this point will nourish myriads of birds and animals that depend on their gift for survival.
Several times in my life I have visited and watched the salmon fighting against the current and manmade obstacles, or fleeing from hungry sea lions or animals or birds to complete heir life cycle by depositing their eggs so far from the ocean. It is really quite impressive, even emotional to watch.
