Biologists save fish after landslide

Biologists save fish after landslide

By Shannon Dininny

Source: usatoday

11/10/2009

A gigantic landslide that buried a highway, uprooted homes and rerouted a river in Washington state's Cascade Range left hundreds of smaller victims: fish.

The landslide that inundated the Naches River last month created a barrier of millions of cubic yards of silt, mud and rock that slowed — and likely confused — spawning salmon and hungry trout. Then workers opened a freshly dug river channel that stranded small fish in ponds and marshes.

Fisheries biologists from 10 government agencies and private groups are working shifts to try to save the fish. The effort marks a step forward in rebuilding a rural area where the focus has been aiding the residents of as many as 600 homes who could be cut off from the outside world due to flooding or snowy weather this winter.

"The fish need help too," said Derek Newton, 70, who has volunteered for the Nile Fire Department for 10 years. "It's important to see them come back."