Its the Estuary!

11/3/2008 11:04:00 AM

LNG is on path of fish sanctuary Study reveals area around Bradwood Landing is popular spot for salmon By CASSANDRA PROFITA The Daily Astorian Juvenile chinook salmon swimming down the Columbia River often turn a corner at Clifton Channel, about 20 miles upriver from Astoria, and enter the marshy backwaters that meander through a cluster of islands between Bradwood Landing and Svensen. There, they find a slower current, lots of critters to eat and refuge from predators. It's a great place for salmon fry to bulk up for their journey into the ocean, said fish biologist Curtis Roegner of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And research shows about 15 percent of all the out-migrating salmon in the river choose that back-channel route. But to get there, the fish have to swim past Bradwood Landing, where NorthernStar Natural Gas Inc. of Houston has proposed to build a $650 million liquefied natural gas facility. Over the past six years - starting before NorthernStar announced its development in 2005 - Roegner has been sampling the fish at Bradwood Landing for NOAA's Point Adams Research Lab in Hammond. He's found the site to be popular year-round among chinook salmon less than a year old, and he suspects some of the fish are wild. Complete article: http://www.dailyastorian.info/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=398&ArticleID=55675 Keep industry out the estuary! (Click on the picture)