Moose populations tracked in Eastern Oregon

According to ODFW, wildlife biologists collared four moose in the northern Blue Mountains of Wallowa County the week of January 14, marking the first collaring of the animals in Oregon and an increased effort to trace moose activity in the state.

ODFW's Moose Fact sheet says Oregon’s moose are believed to have traveled south from Washington and Idaho to take up residency in the Blue Mountains. Although individual moose have occasionally been observed in northeast Oregon during the past 40 years only recently have animals been considered established residents.

The folks at the Testing the Waters blog have a great post with lots of photos of a Grande Ronde kayak trip where they spotted some Oregon moose last summer.

Trout Unlimited Oregon State Council meeting

TU Chapter 678 conservation officer Karl Mueller summarized the 2008 Oregon State Council meeting for Trout Ulimited in a recent blog post.

Issues discussed included:

An update on the Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) Carmen-Smith relicensing. Carmen-Smith is a hydropower project on the upper Mckenzie that blocks upstream passage for ESA listed Chinook and Bull trout.

Excitement over the TU-spearheaded Copper-Salmon Wilderness.

A look at the potential settlement of the Klamath Pacificorp relicensing issue.

Here's an updated photo of TU's protect, reconnect, restore strategy:

Timber industry-linked hunters support WOPR

This week the Mail Tribune ran an Op-Ed from timber industry linked sportsmen, Steve Mealey and John Lowe, calling out the sportsmen coalition that opposed the WOPR. Mealey is a retired forester and went on to work for forest products company Boise Cascade. Lowe is also a retired forester and has a really interesting presentation on the State of Oregon Web site, that quotes Teddy Roosevelt, "A forest which contributes nothing to the wealth, progress or safety of the country is of no interest to the government."

I have no business calling these guys out. Mealey is a badass. His bio says he was a grizzly bear researcher, comes from Oregon homesteader lineage and has probably spent more time in the woods than I'll ever do in my life. And these guys have a good point -- the anti-WOPR coalition never got a blessing from the Oregon Hunters Association. It didn't speak for everbody. But I can call out the Mail Tribune. They made them out to be unbiased hunters and that's just not the case. To quote Lowe's presentation again: Anyone who claims to be unbiased is fooling themselves or fooling you.

Lowe and Mealey have been at this way longer, and have more experience than I do -- but I think it needs to be clear where people's loyalties are. I'm opposed to the WOPR because I value biodiversity and healthy ecosystems. On the other hand, Lowe and Mealey have made their livings through managed forestry and that was not made clear in the Op-Ed.

One point of contention: The authors raise the spectre of declining elk and deer populations and blame it on the NW Forest Plan. That's bullshit. It's the old argument that ungulates love clear cuts. The browse available in a regenerated clear cut is better forage for a short period of time. But as soon as those stands turn into ultra dense, monocultured doug fir, they are biological wastelands for the next 50 years. And anecdotally speaking -- how much elk shit have you seen in a clear cut? Now how much do you see in a remote, old growth wilderness? I mean, the damn things are practically humping me in the backcountry so I gotta say a healthy old growth system wins out over clear cuts every time.

Register-Guard hopeful on Klamath River restoration

Editors at the Register-Guard are hopeful now that talks are underway to remove dams on the Klamath Basin, opening up habitat for the Klamath’s devastated salmon runs. The project is dependent on the dam operators (PacifiCorp) to sign onto the plan, which seems possible at least. But conversation groups Oregon Wild and WaterWatch have flagged this plan as being flawed, stating that the salmon would not get the water they need to survive under these provisions. EarthJustice has a video that gives an overview of the situation on YouTube.

Conservation hero rejects BLM WOPR in Oregon

The hook and bullet crew are coming out of the woodwork to slam the Bureau of Land Management’s shortsighted logging plan, the Western Oregon Plan Revision. It’s been panned by nearly every environmental and sportsmen organization in Oregon. Most recently, Field & Stream’s Conservation Hero of the Year, Brian Maguire, of Portland, took the BLM to task in The Oregonian: There is a place I fish that has a 13-feet-in-diameter, 1,000-year-old tree not far from the river bank. I don't see the tree as part of the economy but as a guardian of salmon spawning beds.

For the sake of salmon, no LNG terminal on the Columbia

According to the AP in the Register-Guard: The National Marine Fisheries Service wants the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to at least temporarily deny a permit to dredge the Columbia River to build a liquefied natural gas import terminal below St. Helens. The terminal likely would harm valuable salmon habitat. Northern Star Natural Gas Inc. wants to build the terminal, one of three under active consideration in Oregon, at Bradwood Landing. The other two in planning stages are near Astoria and Coos Bay.



Columbia Riverkeeper is opposed to the terminal and has an awesome action sheet to tell your representatives to oppose the terminal.

BLM head visits Oregon, touts scheme to disregard Northwest Forest Plan

Jim Caswell, nominated by President Bush last summer to head the BLM, said the agency plans to disregard elements of the Northwest Forest Plan in its efforts to increase timber harvest on O&C BLM land under the Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR). From the Register-Guard: The new plan will end watershed assessments, surveys of plants and animals before an area is logged, and upper management review of decisions made at the regional level, Caswell said.

Six reason's the BLM WOPR won't work

There's a great guest column in the Register-Guard today laying out six reasons why the BLM WOPR won't relieve Oregon county funding woes. Here is a summary of the six reasons:

1. Timber prices have fallen by as much as 50% since 2005 thanks to the mortgage crisis.
2. Because of public opposition to old-growth logging, the BLM is unlikely to meet its goals.
3. The market for old growth is limited since most Oregon sawmills have retooled for smaller trees obtained from thinning.
4. BLM’s proposed increased harvests will depress timber prices further.
5. Clear cuts and narrower stream buffers threaten wildlife and the values that draw people to live in Western Oregon.
6. U.S. taxpayers spend more than $40 million each year to recover Willamette and Coast Range steelhead and salmon stocks, which the BLM plan threatens. Each wild fish caught is worth an estimated $200 to sportsmen.

The BLM comment period on the WOPR wraps up January 11.

Oregonian, Weyerhauser address global warming and salmon decline

A lengthy article in this week's Oregonian illustrates how climate change will likely affect salmon in the Columbia River Basin. A lot of this isn't news if you've been following along with the National Wildlife Federation's Target Global Warming Campaign to get anglers and hunters fired up about the issue in Oregon.

These are the projections: Warming by the 2040s will turn rivers and streams across 20% of the Northwest, including much of the main Columbia and Snake rivers, lethal for salmon in summer. About 80 years from now, up to 40% of salmon habitat in Oregon, and 20% in Washington, will be too warm for salmon to survive.

But there is an unexpected voice amongst the scientific panels -- timber giant Weyerhauser. The Oregonian quoted Robert Bilby, an aquatic ecologist with timber company Weyerhaeuser and a lead author of a new scientific assessment of how global warming will affect salmon:

"We're talking about the survival of a cold-water fish in warming conditions," he said. Rising temperatures "potentially will make large areas of the Columbia Basin uninhabitable to these species in the not-too-distant future."

Ok, so what's Weyerhauser doing here? Read on: We may have to identify areas that are totally uninhabitable and not spend resources there. I don't think Weyerhauser is paying aquatic biologists out of altruism. They're working an angle, and it sounds like finding "uninhabitable" land to ease protections on is a potential motive.

Hunters and Anglers oppose BLM WOPR in Oregon

This is a press release from a coalition of hunting and angling groups in Oregon, opposing the BLM's Western Oregon Plan Revision:

The Bureau of Land Management plan to roll back habitat protections on 2.6 million acres in western Oregon is a threat to the state’s legacy of hunting and fishing, according to a report released today by Oregon sportsmen’s groups.

“For most Oregon hunters and anglers, our public land is the only hunting and fishing estate we will ever own,” said Mike Beagle of Eagle Point. “The Bureau of Land Management proposal lacks the balance needed to support Oregon’s priceless outdoor heritage.”

The report comes from Trout Unlimited, Oregon Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association, Oregon Division Izaak Walton League of America, Oregon Council Federation of Fly Fishers, Northwest Steelheaders, Berkley Conservation Institute and Native Fish Society.

The groups released a report critical of the Bureau of Land Management’s Western Oregon Plan Revisions, or WOPR. The WOPR ramps up development on 2.6 million acres of public forests managed by the BLM. Scattered throughout western Oregon, the land includes watersheds critical for salmon, steelhead and trout as well as forests that are habitat for Oregon’s prized big game species such as Roosevelt elk, blacktail deer and black bear.

The report highlights several specific areas of concern:

Reduced protections for spawning streams. The BLM plan would significantly reduce the current “no-logging” buffer on fish-bearing streams, allowing logging within 25 feet of the bank.

The BLM’s proposal would reduce critically important “Late Successional Reserves” or old growth forests by more than 40 percent. Oregon’s most popular big-game species count on mature forests for a certain degree of security, cover and winter forage.
The agency’s proposal to build 1,000 miles of new roads would open up areas that have traditionally been valuable for hike-in hunting and secure habitat.
The BLM proposes making several areas high-intensity ATV playgrounds. Sportsmen and wildlife will be crowded out of valuable habitat if those lands are handed over to motorized traffic.

The report urges the BLM to go back to the drawing board, and make wildlife habitat and fisheries a higher priority.

“Hunters and anglers know how important habitat is for the future of our favorite activities,” said Brian Maguire, of Portland. “Oregon sportsmen need to be heard loud and clear. Tell the BLM to keep habitat protections on the books, so we have fish in the rivers and game in the woods. Our kids deserve it.”

“I understand the need for logging, because I come from that world,” said Bob Gerding of Philomath near Corvallis. “We do timber thinning on our land all the time, because it’s sound management. But the kind of large-scale clearcutting the BLM is proposing now is bad for everyone.”

More than 750,000 people hunted and fished in Oregon in 2006, generating nearly $900 million for Oregon’s economy, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

You can check out the full report on Trout Unlimited's Web site.

Bush turns to science on spotted owl?

The Bush Administration has agreed to have a respected scientific panel review the Spotted Owl plan according to The Oregonian.

Pressure mounted, as scientists and Senator Wyden called bullshit on the adminstration's draft plan for the spotted owl which would have dramatically boost logging in old-growth forests and undercut endangered species protection.

Much of the scrutiny focuses on Julie MacDonald, a former deputy assistant secretary of fish, wildlife and parks that tampered with scientific findings in the Northwest.

For a solid look at the Bush Adminstration's War on Science, check out this article from Wired.

Oregon tells PacifiCorp to stuff its coal fired power plants

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, PacifiCorp has abandoned plans to build three new coal-fired power plants. The utility operates in six states, with most of its power feeding Utah and Oregon.

Energy activists in Oregon have put the plan to build new facilities under a microscope. And Oregon State Representatives like Ben Canon are trying to shut down the practice of buying dirty energy from the Rocky Mountain states.

PacifiCorp whined that it's going to cost more to use natural gas (a cleaner option). But I think Oregonians are willing to pay a little more to preserve what's left of their wild ecosystems and to try to stimey global warming.

Correction: PacifiCorp operates a hydropower dam on the Klamath and this post blamed PacifiCorp's dams for the Klamath's massive 2002 adult salmon kill -- which isn't the case. Nonetheless, they're not exactly blameless. Here is a note from Klamath Wildlife Advocate Jim McCarthy:

Oregon Wild would be the last to praise PacifiCorp for their activities in the Klamath, and their dams have certainly contributed to the steep decline in salmon runs in that river and create huge water quality problems. However, there is no evidence that their dams contributed to the 2002 kill. You'll find the definitive CDFG report on the kill here.

The blame with that kill lies primarily with low flows in the Klamath River as a result of a bad federal water management plan put in place due to political meddling by Vice President Dick Cheney and other White House appointees. Cheney and his cronies suppressed the findings of their own biologists who said that the plan would harm salmon. You'll find that story here.

It is true that many consider PacifiCorp's dams responsible in large part for the juvenile salmon kills due to unnaturally large salmon parasite hot spots that break out on the Klamath in spring. Unnaturally low flows due to irrigation diversions also play a big role in these springtime parasite explosions. These juvenile kills don't get the press coverage like the adult kills do, but many observers believe these kills led to the closure of much or all of the commercial chinook salmon seasons in Oregon in 2005 and 2006.

Shrimpin' ain't easy, but it is sustainable in Oregon

According to the Statesman Journal:

Oregon's pink shrimp fishery has achieved a new distinction that might appeal to environmentally conscious consumers. The industry has received the world's first sustainable shrimp certification under the Marine Stewardship Council certification program.



Apologies to Ice-T for the headline. And oddly enough, I'm not the first one to say "Shrimpin ain't easy"...

Redden slams salmon plan

U.S. District Judge James A. Redden slammed the latest Columbia River salmon recovery plan. According to this article in The Oregonian, this plan is actually worse for salmon than the last one. I can't imagine what the people putting this plan together are thinking -- are they trying to let the salmon go extinct so they don't have to worry about it anymore?

Wolves traveling together in Eastern Oregon

According to the Baker City Herald, wolves in Eastern Oregon are traveling together. There is no confirmation that these wolves are a breeding pair, but ODFW has reviewed 101 reports from people who said they saw a wolf or wolves, or tracks, or heard wolves howl -- more than double the 46 reports catalogued in 2006. Most of the sightings are near the Eagle Cap Wilderness.



Wolves are native to Oregon, and according to ODFW: The last wolf bounty was paid in 1946 and wolves were considered extirpated in Oregon. Between 1974-1980, there were four recorded sightings of wolves in Oregon nevertheless.

Unexpected ally: Shamu pitches in to save our wild salmon

Here at Oregon Outdoor Journal we've been pushing for the removal of the four lower Snake River Dams for a while, mainly because we're salmon crazy. But there is a constituency out there that is even more salmon-crazy than we are -- and potentially more popular than us: Orcas! A post in the Seattle P-I blog addresses the problems Puget Sound orcas are facing:

The connection has been made and the science is clear: If we hope to recover the iconic orcas of Puget Sound, we need to find them more salmon to eat, and fast.

RIP: Klootchy Creek Giant -- Oregon Sitka blows down

My pal BP has a great post about the giant Oregon Sitka Spruce that blew down in the storms last weekend:

This is one of the oldest living things in Oregon, and one of the biggest trees in the state as well. The tree was coming to the end of its natural life cycle, and showed signs of wear long before this storm finally snapped its trunk.

Here are a couple of other great blog posts about The Klootchy Creek Giant:

Travels With A Muse got to spend some time with the tree last month and took some photos before it fell. And The Grumpy Forester has an amazing retrospective on the Klootchy Creek Giant.

Wyden, Devaney investigate political influence on engangered species science

According to The Oregonian, the Interior Department's inspector general will expand an investigation into the alleged political manipulation of decisions on 18 endangered species, including the northern spotted owl, marbled murrelet and bull trout.

From the article:

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. requested the investigation and Inspector General Earl Devaney will look into whether "improper political influence" by department officials led to reduced protections for those key Northwest species and others

Devaney is primed to dig deeper into the activities of Julie MacDonald, a former deputy assistant secretary of fish, wildlife and parks who was found to have bullied biologists and altered scientific findings.

Central Oregonians turning Deschutes into poop-chute

I know some of us on think the sprawling development in Cetral Oregon is a pile of shit, but this is ridiculous. According to a study from the U.S. Geological Survey:

The Deschutes and Little Deschutes Rivers in southern Deschutes and northern Klamath Counties, which receive part of their flow from ground water, are vulnerable to contamination by wastewater from conventional on-site wastewater treatment (septic) systems, according to the findings of a study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The USGS investigation was a part of efforts by Deschutes County and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to assess environmental impacts in a 250-square-mile area near La Pine, Oregon, where increasing residential development has led to increases in nitrate concentrations in ground water that drains to rivers.

Nitrates from people's home septic systems are leaching towards Oregon's blue ribbon trout stream. Nitrates promote excessive growth of aquatic plants and algae, causing large variations in dissolved oxygen concentration and pH that can be harmful to fish and other aquatic organisms.

Deschutes County is battling the problem by trying to establish new rules, including the requirement that new construction projects adopt the highest performing nitrogen removal systems available and all existing systems need to be upgraded in ten years. So why not a closed loop sewer system? County officials say it would take too long.

Audubon: Oregon birds spiraling toward extinction

The Oregonian wrote up a survey by the Audubon Society that says more than 50 birds that spend part of the year in Oregon are spiraling toward extinction:

While the list includes some species such as the spotted owl and marbled murrelet that have received wide notoriety because they are in trouble, it also includes lesser-known species such as Lewis' woodpecker (pictured), the willow flycatcher and varied thrush.