Don C. Brunell: Abundant Salmon Runs are Early Christmas Present

Pacific Northwest fishermen have good and very good news this Christmas.

The good news is timely releases of stored water from reservoirs like Lake Roosevelt behind Grand Coulee Dam kept stream levels up and water temperatures down. That helped young salmon migrate to the ocean and adults return home to spawn.

Overall, 2.3 million mature salmon passed through Bonneville Dam, making it the second-strongest year on record for the entire Columbia Basin.

The return numbers were positive upstream as well. According to the East Oregonian, Pendleton, a record number of fall Chinook salmon swam past M...