Earth Almanac: November/December 2001

Fish of Steel

Did you really see that flash deep in the silted, swollen flow? If you’re not sure, move upstream to the first falls. Never will you be quite ready for the silver fish that hurtles into the cold, wet air and hangs across black conifers or gray sky. It is a steelhead--the big, powerful, migratory strain of rainbow trout fresh from the North Pacific, or the Great Lakes, where it has been introduced. Toughest of all Pacific salmonids, the steelhead endures in dammed, dewatered rivers where our five West Coast salmon species are flickering out. Unlike Pacific salmon, steelhead don’t always die after spawning. Cut off from salt water by summer drought, they can survive in fresh water for a year, eating almost nothing. A few will make five spawning runs during their lifetime and attain weights approaching 50 pounds. One threat to self-sustaining steelhead populations is hatcheries, which take eggs early to fill available space, thereby selecting against fish that run later in the year and for ones that do well in crowded, shadeless conditions (in short, selecting for everything wild trout are not).

Decking the Desert

Not all of the arid land from western Arizona to Texas and northern Mexico qualifies as "desert," but throughout much of it you will encounter the desert Christmas cactus, a spindly, spiny shrub that grows to about three feet. During most of the year, even in spring, when it blooms in yellow-green flowers, it is a thoroughly unimpressive plant. But now its berries shine as scarlet as the tree ornaments for which the plant was named. On a bleak landscape in a drab season, the desert Christmas cactus gladdens the spirit of the lonely wayfarer.