After five years of mostly poor steelhead and salmon runs, the fish have returned.
Brett Boyd, manager of the South Santiam Hatchery, said that, despite high water and unseasonably cold weather, the number of steelhead that have returned to Foster Dam already this year is close to the number that returned by Sept. 1 last year.
The average count for summer steelhead at Willamette Falls is about 14,000. As of June 17, more than 18,000…