Salmon aren't the only species that return to the lower Columbia River and its tributaries in spring. Smelt, small ocean going fish that spawn in fishwater, once swarmed into rivers like the Cowlitz and Sandy in late winter and spring. However in the late 1980's smelt runs started a decline that eventually led to their listing in 2010 as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. So, when Tom Paulu from The Daily News in Longview, Washington reported a big mass of smelt 20 miles heading up the Columbia River, it was a moment, if brief, for spring optimism. Of course, the big