Oregon salmon collapse in 2008?

According to the executive director of the the Pacific Fishery Managment Council, Donald McIsaac, the West Coast is facing "what appears to be an unprecedented collapse in the abundance of adult California Central Valley... fall chinook salmon stocks."

Blogger OneMuleTeam says: What really has fisheries managers (and me) worried is that only about 2,000 2-year-old juvenile chinooks — which are used to predict returns of adult spawners in the coming season — returned to the Central Valley last year, by far the lowest number recorded. On average, about 40,000 juveniles, or “jacks,” return each year. I was no math major but I know that 1/20th of average = not good.

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.

Help ban elk ranching in Oregon

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is considering changes to its elk ranching policy in our state. I am a hunter in Oregon and I am against elk ranching. The ranches threaten the health and integrity of our wild elk and deer, and hunters pay almost all the costs of regulating the elk ranches!

It would be best if ODFW would ban elk ranching altogether, but falling short of that, the commission should consider the following safeguards:

Retire elk ranching permits as the permit holders quit or go out of business.

Ban the practice of selling “shooter” bulls to out of state canned hunting operations.

Require that the elk ranchers provide double fencing to reduce the risks of escape and disease transmission.

Require that elk ranches carry appropriate bonding and insurance to cover the cost of escapes and disease eradication.


ODFW is accepting comments on this issue through Feb 8. Send an email to Odfw.commission@state.or.us to have your voice heard on this issue.

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.

Obsidians offer summer hike schedule for Eugene visitors

Kind of odd, but I've been getting more press releases lately for the blogs. Here's one worth printing:

The Obsidians outdoors club has announced a schedule of 22 hikes for visitors to this summer’s U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials and concurrent Oregon Bach Festival. Outings include 12 coastal, forest and mountain hikes and 10 urban hikes, presenting visitors an introduction to both the natural wonders of western Oregon and the unique attractions of Track Town, USA.

The trials will run from June 27 through July 6, with a two-day break in action on July 1 and 2. The Oregon Bach Festival runs from June 27 through July 13. Most hikes will be easy to moderate, in the five to six-mile range.


The full schedule is available along with additional information and registration procedures on the Obsidians website. All sign-ups will be done online using a unique registration system designed by the Obsidians just for this project.

All hikes will be led by experienced men and women familiar with the areas. There will be a $5 nonmember fee per person (minors under 18 free, with parents) with a suggested sharing of driving costs.