|
Conservation
|
Conservation
|
|
Written by
|
|
Monday, January 02 2012 |
Tumalo Creek fish story
Federally protected bull trout reportedly found in 1988 — and later thrown out
Published: January 02. 2012 4:00AM PST
More than two decades ago, Tumalo Creek spawned a fish story perfectly constructed to appeal to conspiracy buffs.
It has a controversial discovery, government employees, a group of true believers and, of course, a possible cover-up.
Who are the players? A state biologist. A fly-fisherman. The U.S. Forest Service. And, at the center of the story, there’s a frozen fish in a coffee can.
If it were still around, the fish could have a significant effect on how we use our local streams and rivers today, particularly Tumalo Creek. It also could complicate the city of Bend’s contentious $68.2 million Bridge Creek water project, which is now undergoing an environmental review by the U.S. Forest Service.
As it stands, however, none of that matters. That’s because in 1988, that frozen fish, reportedly a federally protected bull trout, disappeared.
“The first thing that comes to your mind is, how could they possibly lose something like that, with the significance it could have?” said Craig Lacy, a local fish biologist and member of the Native Fish Society. “The next thought is, was it deliberate or not?”
Lacy was the president of the Central Oregon Flyfishers in August 1988 when the suspected bull trout was found in Tumalo Creek. Like many other “fish heads,” he was excited about having a threatened species living once again in what is believed to be its natural range.
Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife biologist Timothy Unterwegner discovered the trout while he was surveying fish populations in Tumalo Creek from Shevlin Park Road near a Tumalo Irrigation District diversion. The fish differed from the brown, brook and rainbow trout that were known to live in the creek. This animal was longer, had a silvery hue and didn’t have a spotted dorsal fin. To Unterwegner, this indicated he was holding a bull trout.
|
|
Read more... [Tumalo Creek fish story - Federally protected bull trout reportedly found in 1988 — and later thrown out]
|
|
|
Conservation
|
|
Written by
|
|
Wednesday, November 09 2011 |
ODFW held a public meeting on the proposed McDaniel Ranch purchase in Bend on November 3rd. The Deschutes Chapter board has not had a chance to take a position on this proposal. However after attending the meeting in Bend, I believe this property offers a unique opportunity not only for the 1000+ acres it entails, including 2.5 miles of Malheur River, but also for public access to the Riverside Wilderness Area of 3,800 acres and adjacent BLM land of ~ 15,000 acres. These lands are currently marginally accessible, being surrounded by private lands. Utilization of these lands by hunters, fishermen and wildlife viewers should increase, benefiting Malheur and Harney County economies.
The agency has proposed the purchase using a habitat mitigation and restoration fund established from construction for the Ruby pipeline. The funds are designated for land acquisition, so there’s no direct cost to the public, and no drain on ODFW’s license purchase funds. It’s an excellent project, but they’re receiving a lot of opposition from the interests that dislike public land management, particularly for fish and wildlife.
Please support ODFW’s purchase of the McDaniel Ranch - email your strong support to:
|
|
Last Updated on Wednesday, November 09 2011 18:11 |
|
Read more... [McDaniel Ranch Action Alert - ODFW to purchase property for fish and wildlife]
|
|
Conservation
|
|
Written by
|
|
Wednesday, October 26 2011 |
|
 Bend water is famous.
It has won awards for its clarity and flavor. It makes amazing beer. It tastes great straight from the tap. It’s so good we’ve never had to filter it. And perhaps best of all, it’s cheap, flowing from Bridge Creek to Bend on a century-old pipe. But now the Environmental Protection Agency says it is not clean enough.
By October of 2014, if we do not begin filtering the drinking water we get from picturesque Bridge Creek that empties into Tumalo Creek just below the falls, the city must start sending “boil your water” notices and possibly paying costly fines.
Responding to this EPA mandate, and dealing with a few other issues such as leaky old pipes and the potential for a forest fire in the watershed, has been the subject of three years of study for city officials. But the answer they’ve come up with—a $68.2 million plan to install a new pipe to carry the water to a hydropower plant connected to a high-end membrane filtration facility—is not turning out to be the popular project for which they’d hoped.
Last week, two Oregon conservation groups that oppose the project filed formal objections with a federal agency that regulates permitting of hydropower plants. And they promise more legal challenges are on the way.
The number of Bendites opposing the project is also growing. This group of critics includes Old Mill Developer Bill Smith, attorney and land-use watchdog Paul Dewey, former Deschutes River Conservancy Director Bruce Aylward and Jack Holt, a prominent businessman and former Bend Chamber of Commerce president. It’s a startling combination of people who rarely agree.
“This group of people—we don’t trade Christmas cards,” said Smith. “Just that alone should say the city is making a mess somewhere.”
It’s a project that, because of the big names and massive price tag, is under the microscope. And whether it’s fair or not, the current city council’s decisions and leadership on this project is being viewed through the eyes of a skeptical public that’s watched the city make big gambles that haven’t always paid off.
|
|
Read more... [Down the Drain?: Critics say Bend’s multimillion dollar water system upgrade is a boondoggle in the making]
|
|
|
Conservation
|
|
Written by
|
|
Friday, September 23 2011 |
|
By Joe Burns, KTVZ.COM POSTED: 7:07 pm PDT September 22, 2011
UPDATED: 10:49 pm PDT September 22, 2011
Take from this link: http://www.ktvz.com/news/29273590/detail.html
BEND, Ore. -- It's the largest infrastructure project that the city of Bend has undertaken, a surface water project to replace aging pipeline and spend more than $70 million in the process, a cost to be passed on to ratepayers.
Despite the critics, city councilors Wednesday night approved an early purchase of a million dollar steel pipe that moves the project along and is expected to cut costs by some $2.3 million.
Such a big project, as expected, is drawing controversy. Several opponents spoke out Wednesday night claiming that the project is not good for the environment or for ratepayers.
Dr. Mike Tripp usually doesn't get involved with political issues -- but on this one, he says he had to.
"The citizens of Bend are worth representing because this has not followed a proper path, it needs to be redirected," Tripp said.
|
|
Read more... [Critics Fighting Big Bend Water Pipe Project Council Rebuffs Critics, Buys $4 Million in Steel Pipe]
|
|
Conservation
|
|
Written by
|
|
Friday, September 16 2011 |
 By Nick Grube / The Bulletin
Published: September 16. 2011 4:00AM PST
Last weekend, Bend residents Mike Tripp and his wife went on a hike along Tumalo Creek downstream of Shevlin Park. What they found startled them.
Below the Tumalo Irrigation District diversion that sends water to Central Oregon farmers every growing season, the creek had been dammed and a backhoe was parked in the dry stream bed.
There were dead fish on the rocks and the only water flowing below the dam came as a trickle from a large pipe.
“I was angry that the water wasn't there,” said Tripp, who's the conservation chairman of the local branch of Trout Unlimited. “It was yet another example of people just not valuing the creek.”
He later learned that the dam and other equipment were part of a state-sanctioned construction project being performed by the district, and that the fish kill was a consequence of this temporary disruption of the stream flows. But that knowledge didn't alleviate his concern about the lack of water in Tumalo Creek. If anything, it heightened that concern.
“It's just a reminder that the whole creek below the diversion is in a precarious state with this minimal flow that's there,” Tripp said.
Tumalo Creek, which flows into the Deschutes River, provides a cold-water habitat for fish.
That cold water also helps cool the Deschutes, which sometimes exceeds state water quality standards for temperatures during the summer. Higher water temperatures can be lethal for fish and other aquatic life.
Because of Tumalo Creek's importance to the health of the Deschutes River, a lot of attention — and money — has gone toward restoring habitat and improving stream flows in the cold water tributary. |
|
Read more... [Construction cuts Tumalo flow - A trickle of water is all that's left of the creek downstream of Shevlin Park]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
page 1 of 3 |
|
Powered by Joomla!1.5 Multicategories
|
|
and Facebook
Deschutes TU News 
