October 22 - Message fro Len Clarke, President of the North Coast Chapter:  "Steelheaders made over 40 calls to Jim Skarr at the Trask hatchery following our broadcast email requesting a "Call to Action at Trask Hatchery".  They asked many questions inquiring about times and locations for the activity.  About two dozen members actually show up and participated. 
 
"The response was outstanding", said Jim Skarr,  "we could not have done it without the volunteer help - Thanks go out to the Steelheaders!"
 
Paul - I sincerely appreciate the support from you and Sharon in getting this message out to the membership.  It was a great display of what we can do as an organization.  Thousands of fish were sent to the food banks and thousands of carcuses were put back in the upper rivers for nutrition.  I am sure the folks who participated will return next year as they enjoyed the satisfaction of being included in such a worthwhile event.  I hope we can do something similar with notification process next year.
 
Thanks again, Len."

 
October 19 - You will recall last month that we sent out an action alert to all Northwest Steelheader members with internet access to consider helping the North Coast Chapter in Tillamook assist a project at the Trask River Hatchery once the rains begin to fall.

Well, the rains have fallen on the coast.  See the following email from North Coast Chapter President Len Clarke:
 
"Several inches of rain hit the Coast this weekend and the trask River Hatchery needs our help.  We expect thousands of fish to attempt to enter the hatchery Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. Volunteers are needed to get into the fish pens, net the fish, dispatch them, pass them by a magnetic device to see if the fish has a tag (to determine where they came from), cut the nose off those with a tag (for analysis), hand them off to a biologist who examined their scales and the put the fish on ice for the journey to the food banks.  There are 20 jobs along the way including time in the water with the fish all the way to keeping statistics along the way.  There is something for everyone to do in the process.  It is both interesting and fulfilling.  When you are done you will feel like you have contributed to a worthy cause - from the initiation of the hatchery process to providing food for those in need. 
 
If you can help,  please call Jim Skarr at the Hatchery at 503-842-0250.
  
This is a great project, thank you so much for your help."

Len Clarke, President, North Coast Chapter

September 24 - This is a special call from the North Coast Chapter in Tillamook to Northwest Steelheaders everywhere to consider lending a hand to assist in an unprecedented project at the Trask Hatchery that could take place in the coming week once the rains begin to fall. 

Members of the North Coast Chapter are seeking volunteers to help process Coho at the Trask River hatchery.  These are fish returning to the hatchery shortly after the first serious rain in the fall.  The fish are processed for the eggs to start the hatchery activity while the carcass is being sent on to the Oregon food bank and other needy organizations.  Timing is obviously critical to have fish in good condition.  Last year, the chapter helped process 2000plus fish - it was a major event.  The hatchery only has 3 folks on staff so the 20 plus volunteers were really active.  Dark fish are placed back in the rivers for natural processing.
 
This year with the huge returns of Coho, the hatchery anticipates 12,000 fish returning in a few days after the the initial major fall rain storm which they anticipated to occur in late September or October.  A similar situation is happening at the North Fork Nehalem hatchery.  This will be overwhelming and the hatcheries need our support.
 
Note Chapter President Len Clarke's experience from last year: "It was an education and thrilling to be on the first line for this activity.  We got into the fish pens, netted the fish, dispatched them, passed them by a magnetic device to see if the fish had a tag (to determine where they came  from), cut the nose off those with a tag(for analysis), handed them off to a biologist who examined their scales and the put the fish on ice for the journey to the food banks.  There are 20 jobs along the way including time in the water with the fish all the way to keeping statistics along the way.  There is something for everyone to do in the process.  It is both interesting and fulfilling.  When you are done you really feel like you have contribute d to a worthy cause - from the initiation of the hatchery process to providing food for those in need.  You will be very pleased with yourself after participating in this worthy project."