Here's a quick round-up of some recent Northwest news related to watershed health:

From the Puget Sound: Experiments with coho salmon and stormwater in Washington are showing that filtering stormwater with soils and sands (through rain gardens, green streets and other green infrastructure) does help protect fish: the unfiltered stormwater killed the salmon within 24 hours.  The filtered stormwater didn't.

From Portland State University:  Hope for urban salmon! A new book by PSU Professor Alan Yeakley and colleagues from Oregon State University looks at the critical role of urbanized areas in salmon recovery, and highlights restoration efforts in Johnson Creek and other Portland watersheds.  Staff from Environmental Services, the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, and former Office of Healthy Working Rivers contributed to the book and the reports behind it.   Read more about the highlights here, and here, and find the full e-book here.

From Corvallis: Coffee and mushrooms may be a tool for improving water quality in streams.

We'll sign off with this great quote from OSU professor Carl Shreck:

"...Portland is very avant-garde...When it comes to looking for positive ways to improve water conditions, Portland is one of the greenest cities in the world.”