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Protect
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Protect
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Written by
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Thursday, February 16 2012 |
By Dylan J. Darling / The Bulletin
Published: February 16. 2012 4:00AM PST
 The state, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and other collaborators are close to finalizing a plan for the historic return of adult salmon and steelhead to the upper Deschutes River this year.
Those involved are being tight-lipped about the specifics of the plan, which they said could be complete Friday but likely won't be immediately available.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Service, prompted by a public records request by The Bulletin, late Tuesday released a Jan. 27 draft of the “2012 Pelton Round Butte Adult Passage Strategy.”
Some of this year's returning adult spring-run chinook and sockeye salmon, as well as summer steelhead, will be trapped below the dam complex on the Deschutes River near Madras and released upstream of the dams, according to the 10-page draft strategy.
Still up for debate is what percentage of fish that return will go upstream and what percent will go to the Round Butte Hatchery.
The fish released upstream will be the first adult salmon and steelhead to swim in the river and its tributaries since 1968.
“The Department is advocating for a measured conservative approach in implementing the reintroduction effort,” according to the draft.
Earlier in the week, Brett Hodgson, ODFW's district fisheries biologist, said there had been changes made to the strategy since the Jan. 27 draft but declined to release an updated version, saying it was a “joint document” with the tribes.
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Read more... [Deschutes fish plan nearly done But details won't be available for some time]
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Advocacy,
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Written by
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Monday, January 02 2012 |
Gill-net ban back in spotlight
State senator backs proposal, which could end up on ballot
Published: January 02. 2012 4:00AM PST
SALEM — The use of gill nets to catch Columbia River salmon has long been the subject of controversy. The battle is heating up once again thanks to a new attempt, backed by a state lawmaker, to ban the devices.
Depending on whom you ask, the controversy arises either from environmental concerns or from a disagreement about which group — commercial fishermen or sport fishermen — should be able to harvest the most salmon.
Gill nets, often used by commercial fishermen, catch fish by their gills. In doing so, critics say, they injure fish and minimize the number that can be thrown back into the river alive. Those who’d like to ban gill nets on the Columbia would like to expand the use of seine nets, which have a smaller and, presumably, less punishing mesh.
The Endangered Species Act protects certain types of salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River, thus limiting the number that can be caught.
“There are definitely two sides to the issue,” said Steve Williams, an assistant administrator with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “From the sport-fishing industry side, they look at it as a situation where if they weren’t having to share the fish with the commercial industry, there would be more fish available for them. From the commercial fish side of it, they look at it as a long-standing historical business that’s been in this state for many years. It’s really an issue of, we have a limited number of fish and a lot of people fishing, and people on both sides have opinions about who should have those fish.”
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Read more... [Gill-net ban back in spotlight - State senator backs proposal, which could end up on ballot]
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Conservation,
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Tuesday, June 07 2011 |
I. Trout Unlimited Concerns
- The mission of Trout Unlimited is to conserve, protect, and restore North America’s cold-water fisheries and their watersheds.
- Tumalo Creek is one of the few cold-water sources for reducing temperatures and thus improving aquatic habitat in the Middle Deschutes.
- The City of Bend’s Bridge Creek Surface Water project will potentially increase diversions from high in the Tumalo watershed and not improve minimal irrigation season flows in the lower reach of Tumalo Creek.
- Alternative solutions for City of Bend water, which could increase flows in Tumalo Creek, improve connectivity to the Middle Deschutes, and improve aquatic habitat in the Middle Deschutes, have not been adequately evaluated.
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Read more... [Bridge Creek Surface Water Project of the City of Bend: A Position Statement]
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Conservation,
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Written by
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Sunday, May 29 2011 |
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 By Kate Ramsayer / The Bulletin
Published: May 28. 2011 4:00AM PST
A 4-year-old spring chinook has sent ripples of excitement through Central Oregon’s community of fish biologists.
The salmon is the first to return to the Pelton Round Butte dam complex, the result of a decade-long, more than $100 million effort to restore runs of salmon and steelhead in the Upper Deschutes basin.
“It’s a beautiful fish,” said Brett Hodgson, Deschutes district fish biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “Looking at the pictures, it appears to be about a 15-pound male, in very good condition.”
Jim Bartlett, a fish passage biologist with Portland General Electric, got the news Wednesday morning that one of the fish entering a trap had its right maxillary bone clipped — a unique marker indicating that as a young fry it swam in Upper Deschutes tributaries.
Bartlett immediately grabbed his waders, found a big net, and jumped into the holding pond where the inaugural spring chinook was swimming with regular hatchery fish.
“I sorted through the 300 fish so I could find him, and pulled him out,” Bartlett said. “We’ve been working on this for a long time. It’s pretty exciting.”
He took pictures of the fish, naming him “Lucky” and “Lone Ranger,” since “it was the first one that made the gauntlet.”
And he sent out an e-mail to others involved in the effort to return fish runs, joking that the first fish likes smooth, open waters and anchovies, but dislikes sea lions and barbecues.
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Read more... [A chinook returns to cheers - Salmon is the first to come back to dam complex]
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Conservation,
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Written by
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Monday, March 21 2011 |
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Published: March 21. 2011 4:00AM PST SISTERS — Sparks flew along Whychus Creek late last week as welders worked to piece together specialized fish screens along two parallel 140-foot concrete chutes. Nearby, a crane lowered a large frame into place around steel rods, prepping for more concrete to be added to the structure.
With less than a month to go before the start of irrigation season, crews have been busy constructing a complex $1 million fish screening structure at the Three Sisters Irrigation District diversion. The relatively new design will prevent resident fish — as well as future runs of steelhead and salmon, currently being introduced into Whychus Creek — from being swept down the district’s irrigation canal.
And as the crews build the screens in the forest about three miles upstream of Sisters, environmentalists have expressed concern that new state legislation would be a step back for fish protection measures.
The Three Sisters Irrigation District’s diversion on Whychus Creek was on a statewide top 10 list of places that needed additional protections for fish, said Mathias Perle, project manager with the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council. |
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Read more... [Keeping the fish safe - Whychus Creek screens protect steelhead, salmon]
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