This weekend Mckenzie-Upper Willamette chapter of Trout Unlimited continued our outreach to the Calapooia Watershed Council and assisted in their restoration efforts. We removed blackberries and english ivy along the banks of the Calapooia hoping improve riparian conditions by giving native plant communities a chance to thrive.
The Calapooia is a small river–a west side Cascade tributary that heads near Tidbits Mountain and runs parallel to the Mckenzie to the north. Historically, the river was home to a fair population of spring chinook and was apparently the nothernmost distribution of native winter steelhead in the Willamette basin. Steelhead populations remain stable but typically the number of returning chinook can be counted on one hand. Though the upper river is undammed two impoundments on the lower river laid waste to salmon populations. Brownsville dam was removed last summer. Here’s the former dam site:
With the removal of Brownsville Dam and its fish slaughtering ladder, Sodom dam on the lower river remains the only barrier to fish passsage. Check out the old “fish ladder” at the site of the former Brownsville dam:
With the removal of Brownsville Dam and the inevitable improvements (at the very least) to Sodom Dam the future looks better for Calapooia salmon and steelhead than it has for a century. Oregon Fish and Wildlife hopes to improve chinook number to around 1000 returning adults per year. The upper watershed is almost all in Weyerhaueser ownership and despite being heavily logged the river remains beautiful. The only thing it needs is some large woody debris to give the chinook an assist. It also looks like it might harbor a fair sized trout or two . . . when it opens I’ll find out
Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski had a great Op-Ed in the Oregonian this week. The news comes after NOAA fisheries released its latest court ordered Biological Opinion intended to guide the operation of the Snake and lower Columbia hydrosystem in a manner safe for the 13 threatened Snake/ Columbia River anadramous fish stocks. This was the agency’s third attempt, the previous two biological opinions didn’t meet the requirements of the Endangered Species Act to recover listed species.
From the Op-Ed:
I am resolved to keep fighting for our wild salmon and steelhead. I prefer to settle Oregon’s issues with the federal government at the negotiating table but, thus far, such negotiations have yielded little. If it requires another round of litigation, and that is my only option, then I will pursue that option. Oregon’s interests and the future of our wild salmon and steelhead are that important to me — to all of us.
Please send Kulongoski a note, thanking him for supporting our fisheries.
This week the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced that Bull trout will remain a listed species in the contiguous United States. The decision was part of a five year status review requested by then Idaho governor Dirk Kempthorne (now US Secretary of the Interior). Mr. Kempthorne requested the review because he contended that Bull trout are thriving in Idaho and ESA protections are unwarranted.
Bull trout now inhabit approximately 45% of their historic range. In Lane County, a population exists in the South Fork Mckenzie estimated at three hundred adults as well as in the mainstem Mckenzie above the Carmen-Smith hydroproject that utilizes Anderson and Ollalie creeks as spawning and rearing habitat. Also, Bull trout have been recently documented spawing in the Upper Middle Fork Willamette river above Hills Creek reservoir for the first time in many years, no small accomplishment for the reintroduction project spearheaded by the US Forest Service in partnership with Trout Unlimited Chapter 678 and other conservation groups. A healthy population exists in the Metolius, one of the only thriving populations in Oregon.
This is not the end of the matter: a decision will be made later this year on whether to break bull trout into five distinct populations that will be evaluated separately for future protection (or lack thereof) and recovery efforts.
From Peter DeFazio: Congressman DeFazio (D-Springfield) was pleased today by the full House passage of his bill, H.R. 3513, the Copper Salmon Wilderness Act of 2007. The Copper Salmon Wilderness Act would permanently protect nearly 13,000 acres in the headwaters of the Elk River on the southern coast of Oregon, and designate more than 11 additional miles of the river as either Wild or Scenic under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. The legislation also protects some of the last remaining stands of Port-Orford-cedar in the Elk River watershed.
The Copper Salmon Wilderness Act must now be passed by the Senate before it can go to the President to be signed into law. Unfortunately, Tom Coburn, a senator from Oklahoma is holding up the works in the Senate. But Coburn is more like a speedbump than a roadblock, since this bill has the support of both Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith. It also has the support of the local chambers of commerce, Governor Kulongoski, the mayor of Port Orford Oregon and a slew of environmental and sportfishing organizations. For more info, check out the story in the Oregonian.
TU’s Mike Beagle and Sportsmen for Copper Salmon have worked hard to make this wilderness happen. Congratulations Mike on this first step to a big win for TU.
Somehow, we managed to pick the date of the latest snowfall in over 50 years in the southern valley for our spring trip. I won’t waste a bunch of words on the weather. It wasn’t good–snow, rain, wind, hail, enough said. The fishing was fairly slow too. The caddis were in hiding but small fish would key in on the March Browns that were popping off when the sun would break through the clouds. Near the end of the drift we got into some fairly nice fish though:
A pretty decent fish considering the adverse conditions. A couple minutes later we picked up this nice cutt:
After those fish, were were satisfied and got off the water as quickly as possible!
From ODFW: Salmon disappeared from the Upper Klamath Basin in Oregon almost 100 years ago when Copco Dam in California blocked fish passage upriver.
Today, however, with PacifiCorp’s four large hydroelectric dams up for re-licensing and facing mandatory federal requirements to provide passage to migrating fish, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is proposing to reintroduce chinook salmon into Upper Klamath Lake and tributaries.
Do you have some great photos of restoration projects or fishing outings? If so, you should try Flickr, a digital photo sharing service from Yahoo. If you’re already on Flickr , sign up to join our new Oregon Trout Unlimited group. The photos you choose to share with the group will appear on the sidebar on the right of the page (like the photos you see there now).
Also with Flickr, it is easy to embed your photos into blog posts, like the one you see below. If you have any trouble with this, shoot me a note.
Fishing Central Oregon Coastal Lakes May 14
Lloyd Thurman presents Fishing Central Oregon Coastal Lakes
When it comes to lake fishing, most of us think about central Oregon. Much
less attention is given to the lakes on our coast, but many good fishing
lakes reside in the Dunes National Recreation Area, and Lloyd Thurman has
been fishing most of them for the better part of his life. With a fly rod
and a float tube he enjoys year-round fishing upon these less-pressured
coastal lakes for a wide range of species, including trout, bass, salmon and
steelhead. Lloyd’s program covers all of the important fishing lakes on the
central coast. He’ll bring maps, pamphlets and encyclopedic knowledge.
Attendees will want to bring their note pads.
All locations and dates are subject to change depending on forest fire and weather conditions. Gas prices and length of stay have influenced dates and locations for our outings. For more information, contact Andy Andrews at 503 – 646 - 2375, or email andrewsclga@gmail.com.
