More than salmon

LEABURG: Last Saturday’s Salmon Celebration at the McKenzie Hatchery provided a number of opportunities for people to learn about the complex ecosystem in the area. Booths at the celebration covered topics ranging from macroinvertebrate identification or water quality, to riparian ecology, as well as an opportunity to view salmon spawning.

Dave Walp had a popular display featuring the pelts of a good number of the animals that populate the McKenzie Valley and the surrounding high country.

Among them was the skin from an 18-month old cougar taken after it tried to get Walp’s dog in the Coburg Hills. Stretching it out, he explained the feline’s tall equals about two-thirds of its body length. “It’s used in pursuit and kind of helps him turn the corners,” Walp noted. “It acts like a rudder.”

The celebration was hosted by the McKenzie Hatchery, Salmon Stewards of Lane County and the McKenzie Watershed Council.

McKenzie River Reflections