As I discussed here, ODFW is anticipating another year of poor steelhead returns in the Columbia Basin including tributaries like the Deschutes. Hopefully you read that prior post and took the angler survey. Next Tuesday, April 19th, ODFW is hosting a webinar at 6 pm where “ODFW fish biologists throughout the Columbia Basin will discuss summer steelhead management, what was learned from the survey, decision frameworks for fishery restrictions and more”. The seminar will be live on ODFW’s YouTube channel. If you fish for steelhead on the Deschutes, or used to, this should be on your calendar.

I believe that the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife is the only state agency that solicits public feedback while planning their budget.  The 2023-2025 budget request is being prepared and now is the time to weigh in if you are so inclined.  I have been a member of ODFW’s External Budget Advisory Committee for a few budget cycles, and was an individual commenter before that, and have found the process simultaneously interesting and frustrating. An important portion of ODFW’s funding is from license sales and there can be conflict between stewardship of our fish & wildlife and the need to generate revenue. Also, the voices of a few groups dominate the discussion rather than individual license holders. I encourage you to let yours be heard.

First, you need to review the budget materials here.  At least a high level understanding the proposed budget is important to making useful comments.  You can make comments directly to ODFW by attending one of their online “listening sessions” this week or via email to ODFW.Commission@odfw.oregon.gov by May 25.

Last week, ODFW held an online seminar to go over their recent research concerning summer steelhead returns on the North Umpqua River.  You can watch the replay here and read the entire 143 page report here.  The presentation is worth watching, I also suggest reading at least the summary of the report and scanning the rest.  This work was hastily done in response to the extremely low steelhead returns last summer and calls by many in the fly angling community to curtail hatchery steelhead releases.  No management decisions have been made, only the data was reviewed, but based on the report I would anticipate little or no changes to hatchery practices.  That decision will be made at the ODFW Commission meeting on April 22, you can get information on how to view that meeting here (it’s the last item on the agenda).  Keep reading for my comments on the report.

As you already know, 2021 steelhead returns to the Columbia Basin, including the Deschutes River, were the lowest on record.  Prior to the start of the season, the forecast was for 101,400 wild & hatchery steelhead to return.  In fact, only 69,669 did.  For perspective, from 2001 to 2010 the average return was 406,375 fish.  The 2022 forecast is for 99,700 steelhead.  We’ll see if this forecast is more accurate than last year.  Many biologists believe that some Columbia Basin steelhead are on the path to near-term extinction if dramatic changes are not quickly made.  ODFW is currently soliciting input on how to manage fishing regulations in anticipation of another historically low return year.  Keep reading for more and how you can get involved.

The North Umpqua River is not in Central Oregon but it is close enough that I have spent a considerable amount of time there over the years swinging flies for steelhead. It is difficult fishing but until the past few years it has been rewarding. It is still beautiful, although recent fires did burn some of the landscape. Like so many other rivers in Oregon the steelhead numbers have plummeted, especially the summer run which saw only 450 adult returns last year. These iconic fish in one of the west coast’s most storied steelhead rivers are clearly in peril. As a result, ODFW has been asked by some fishing groups to stop the release of hatchery steelhead in the river which have been scientifically proven to have a detrimental impact on wild fish. ODFW is now considering what actions to take and is soliciting public feedback. Keep reading for how to get involved.

The ODFW Restoration & Enhancement Board, where I am a member, had another interesting and productive meeting today. Today, we helped fund a number of projects, including two local ones. $20K was allocated for another summer of netting tui chub and brown bullhead catfish in local high lakes. This effort has been critical to maintaining healthy sport fishing in places like East Lake for many years. In addition, $101K was given to the Deschutes Land Trust’s Ochoco Preserve, contributing to their $1.7M project. This project should be of interest to anyone who fishes the Crooked River or who is interested in anadromous fish reintroduction in the Upper Deschutes Basin.

9 fish in 2.5 hours of fishing today and the only other angler I saw was my friend Scott. You can still find these productive, beautiful places close to home with a little effort. A quick trip to break up a weekend of chores.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research has a group focused on “thematic investing”.  These are trends, developments, and problems with a high probability of occurring that could also become interesting opportunities, although not fully realized today.  This group writes fascinating reports on a wide range of topics.  Their most recent 135-page, fully documented report is titled, “The World Is Not Enough – Scarcity Primer”.  It is concerning to say the least.  The report begins, “We will need 2x Earth’s resources to keep up with the current usage rate by 2030. Today less than 1% of the planet’s water is fit for human use and we could run out of freshwater by 2040.”  There are 10 themes in the report, below are bullet points from some of them that are relevant to this blog.  It’s not a happy list.

There has been a fair amount of press recently on the water bank pilot being implemented by Central Oregon Irrigation District, North Unit Irrigation District, and the Deschutes River Conservancy, including another column in the Bend Bulletin today. As I detailed in a prior post, this is a great concept although many implementation details need to be addressed. The core problem is that the water bank will only work if it is structured so that COID patrons sign up for the program in large numbers, which does not seem to be occurring. As reported in this Bulletin article, “more than 100” COID patrons have agreed to participate in the program. COID’s website states they have over 4,000 “accounts”, 100 participants in the program is a small fraction of that. A water bank is a great idea and needs to start somewhere, but a lot more work needs to be done for it to have a meaningful impact given the severity of our ongoing drought. I’m glad that the DRC has received the funding to continue that work.

As you have probably already heard, on Friday the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife Commission voted 5-2 to continue to allow the killing of wild steelhead on some southern Oregon coastal rivers. I spent much of the day on Thursday and Friday with the Commission meetings playing in the background while I did my “real” job and have a few observations I would like to share. I would have voted for catch-and-release only fishing, as 2 commissioners did, but I don’t think there were any good or bad guys in this vote. It was a reflection of how ODFW is run, how information is presented to commissioners, and most importantly, how different types of anglers perceive wild fish.

High Country News is running a series they call “Tapped Out: Power and water justice in the rural West”. Yesterday I posted about an article in HCN covering Klamath Basin water management that originally appeared in The Counter. Here’s an article in HCN from Columbia Insight about water banking. (I had not heard of Hood River-based Columbia Insight, its worth a look.) Water banking is being touted as a key tool for solving water management issues in the Deschutes Basin. It has been used effectively in some areas to move water from low-value uses to higher-value ones, but is increasingly being seen as an investment opportunity for financiers hoping to profit from buying and then reselling water at higher prices. Clearly, this is extremely problematic and yet another example of how our political leaders are failing us – we need to get in front of this issue with proper regulations to allow water banking to work for us in the beneficial way that it can.

I have been troubled by my last post from 3 days ago on the N. Umpqua. Did I really say what I felt or was I trying to be polite to an organization where I have volunteered for many years? Well, I caught up on some reading yesterday, including the latest version of The Osprey, and my error was crystal clear. I have written about The Osprey many times, as usual the latest issue has many excellent articles, but the tour de force was Pete Soverel’s, “For Wild Salmon and Steelhead, Time is Running Out – For Real”. I strongly encourage you to read this well informed frontal attack on West Coast fisheries management. The gloves are off for good reason. The end is near and fisheries managers are doing nothing useful to change course.

Which gets me back to the N. Umpqua. If the summer run was at 350 fish, 10% of a 10-year average that is already low compared to historical numbers, and there is no scientific basis for believing that the winter run will dramatically improve above 10%, then why is the river being opened to fishing on December 1? At a minimum, ODFW should wait until they can confirm significantly improved returns. The sad truth is that ODFW is actively managing our rivers to minimize angler complaints, not for the long term survival of our anadromous fisheries.

I have been a angler for over 50 years but a steelhead junkie for only about the last 15, so I merely had a taste of what it could be like in Oregon before the populations started plummeting. It was enough. For a few years I even parked a small trailer near Glide all winter so I could leave Bend early Saturday morning, fish my way down the fly water section of the North Umpqua and fish my way back the next day. It was exhausting but always rewarding, even when I did not touch a fish. Of course, the N. Umpqua has been closed recently due to fires and low fish returns so I was interested to see that ODFW announced it will reopen on December 1.

The Deschutes Land Trust is one of the first organizations to which I donated after arriving in Central Oregon in 2004.  Their work restoring Whychus Creek and efforts to preserve Skyline Forest were, and continue to be, compelling.   Work started in 2017 on the Crooked River is exciting as well.  Recently, the DLT has had turnover in some key positions so I was excited to have the opportunity to meet with them and tour their Priday Ranch acquisition last week, a project that should be of interest to steelhead anglers.  I am happy to report that the DLT remains in competent hands and Priday Ranch looks like it will be a great acquisition and benefit to anglers on the Lower Deschutes.

I’ve had a lot of success trout fishing the past month or so, but today was another story. I tried a different spot and the water was high and cold (40 degrees), so the fish did not want to play. No regrets for me as it was a very pretty hike and I was all alone enjoying the many signs of beavers and other critters. Even with all the growth around here you can still find places like this nearby with just a little effort.

That’s the title of a recent article from Oregon Public Broadcasting containing a high level overview of the drought recently delivered to Oregon lawmakers. Testimony touched on themes that should be familiar to readers of this blog. We have been in some level of drought for over 2 decades. Temperatures have been above normal. Snow pack has diminished and melted more quickly. It will take a long period of above average precipitation for recovery. The drought is having significant detrimental impact on fish and wildlife as well as on people. The article is worth the quick read. I’m glad that our lawmakers are becoming informed, I hope that they finally take some real action. It is possible and long overdue.

The Southern Oregon coast is not my area of focus, but I thought I would plug this campaign by the Native Fish Society and others asking ODFW to stop the harvest of wild steelhead in coastal rivers. Steelhead are struggling to survive and I believe we need to err on the side of conservation. It’s easy to take action.

What to do when you can’t go steelhead fishing.

KTVZ recently had a story about the Wyeth boat ramp on the Upper Deschutes River being rebuilt. I am on the ODFW Restoration & Enhancement Board which provided a significant amount of funding for this ramp so thought I would share some background. During irrigation season the Deschutes River from Wickiup Reservoir to Pringle Falls is filled with water moving at a quick pace, but it is calm and easy to navigate. It is primarily used by people in kayaks, paddle boards, and similar as the fishing is mediocre at best. This is due to the very low water levels outside of irrigation season which provides minimal over wintering habitat for fish. For this reason, I was initially opposed to using dollars from angler licenses to rebuild the ramp. Given the plan to increase winter flows below Wickiup, however, I ultimately voted in favor of it. The R&E board has limited funds and I really struggled with this vote. If you are not familiar with this area, the Wyeth ramp is the closest to Pringle Falls, the Tenino ramp is nearest Wickiup, and the Bull Bend ramp is between the two. Last spring I put in at Tenino in an unsuccessful attempt to catch fish, I hope that this section of river will improve in the years to come.

The Conservation Angler’s latest newsletter has some interesting news stories, including one about the Deschutes Land Trust’s Ochoco Preserve on the Crooked River. It’s worth a quick look.

While there are many organizations in Oregon that are worthy of your support, I believe that if you are an angler WaterWatch should be at the top of the list. No other group has done more to restore flows in Oregon rivers. Click on the graphic above to learn more and register for their annual auction. If you value wild, native fish, they need your help.

The folks at DamTruth.org have created this sticker to help with awareness of the need to take down the lower Snake River dams. I’ve distributed a few at fly shops in Bend and Sisters and put them on my truck. Go get one and help spread the word! Let me know if your favorite shop doesn’t have any.

Of course, while I care about Orcas, the fact that Snake River steelhead populations are on the verge of collapse is a critical concern for sport anglers. The science on this is clear: the dams must go or an iconic run of steelhead will be extirpated. (Yes, I know, there’s no website on the sticker, I’m just the delivery guy on this one.)

Kate Fitzpatrick, the Executive Director of the Deschutes River Conservancy, was recently interviewed for a podcast where she discussed our current drought and actions that the DRC has taken to work with irrigators to help alleviate it. As I told Kate directly, I believe that she is overselling the DRC’s accomplishments (very few COID patrons have offered to share their water with NUID, the Crooked River is essentially dewatered below the NUID diversion, Whychus Creek is still too hot to support a healthy ecosystem, etc.), but Kate is trying and she does a good job of laying out a vision for change. WARNING: this is an informative but wonky, water policy nerd sort of talk.

I’m not a resident of Bend, but watched the online “open house” on their integrated water system master plan. If you are interested in Bend’s water system and planning it’s worth a look. I’ve followed this topic for years and learned a few things. For example, due to water conservation, water use today is less than it was in 2008 despite Bend’s enormous growth. We need incentives for irrigators with senior water rights to similarly conserve.

Here’s an opinion piece I submitted to the Bend Bulletin today. Their 650 word limit made it a bit choppy and forced me to leave out a lot, but I think the overall message is clear enough. UPDATE (6/24/21): the Bulletin published my column yesterday and today they wrote an editorial in support of bring back the water bank.

The Bulletin recently covered the plight of some farmers with junior water rights getting only 40% of their traditional water deliveries while senior water rights holders continue to get their full allotment. 

Beginning in the late 1800s settlers were lured by developers to Central Oregon with sometimes dubious promises of cheap land, good soil and weather, and plentiful water. Dreams of fertile farms helped bring the wagon trains.  The first to arrive and organize were given the most senior water rights and every right after that was more junior.  North Unit Irrigation District around Madras has the most productive farmland but the most junior rights.  While they have been here the longest, fish and wildlife have the most junior water rights of all.

I’m sure you’re aware by now that most of Central Oregon is currently in “extreme” or “exceptional” drought. As an angler, I’m particularly concerned with flows in local waterways. Here’s a chart from the Oregon Water Resources Department that may be new to you. It shows current stream flows compared to the average. Flows in most of the state are more than 40% below average. Crook County is at 11%! According to the Bureau of Reclamation, reservoirs in Deschutes County are 42% full, which is 55% of the average. In other words, they are normally 76% full at this time of year. Reservoirs in Crook County are at 47% capacity, which is 54% of the average.

The Conservation Angler’s recent newsletter has some really good stuff in it, I suggest you check it out. One slightly off-topic comment: for my day job I have spent a fair amount of time pouring over research on Bitcoin and Blockchain. There is a link in TCA’s newsletter to an article that does a reasonable job of discussing Bitcoin’s environmental impact at a high level, but leaves out something that continues to stun me. Given the enormous computing power required to run the Blockchain and mine new coins, the preponderance of server farms dedicated to this task are located in China due to their cheap, coal-based electricity. The result is that Bitcoin is responsible for about 60 million tons of CO2 emissions annually, an amount that is increasing. It is projected that Bitcoin will soon emit more CO2 than Japan, currently the 5th largest emitter in the world.

Oregon and Washington have released 2021 return projections and associated angling regulation changes. The forecast is somewhat improved for some salmon species. Steelhead returns are again projected to be very low and angling restrictions will be put back in place. It is important to note that even the improved returns are still a fraction of what they should be.

Last week, Advocates for the West hosted a Zoom meeting featuring Idaho Conservation League’s Justin Hayes talking about US Congressman Simpson’s proposal to partially remove the four lower Snake River dams. I thought Justin did a great job diving into the proposal, answering questions, and I learned a lot. You can watch a replay of the meeting on Advocates’ YouTube channel. While informative, the discussion reinforced my concerns about the proposal’s automatic re-licensing of many other dams and a moratorium on related lawsuits in the Columbia Basin. Snake River salmon and steelhead desperately need these dams removed, but not at the potential cost of further endangering anadromous populations further downstream. This concern was acknowledged in the discussion but not adequately addressed in my opinion. Nevertheless, I encourage you to watch the video if you’d like to learn more about the proposal.