On rare occasions I post about something other than fish or water. I have a MSCS, like to maintain a current understanding of technology, and lately been spending an inordinate amount of time diving as deep as I can into the economic and investing aspects of AI. Recently, Paul Kedrosky has emerged as a compelling advocate of the AI bubble position, at least over the near term. This morning I asked Gemini “what are the errors in paul kedrosky’s analysis of an AI bubble” and was surprised by how quickly a detailed response was provided. LLMs clearly have limitations and uncertainties, especially from an economics and investor perspective, but they have become huge time savers for the sort of research and thinking I do. An LLM is not intelligent and could not have formulated Kedrosky’s argument but its ability to quickly provide an outline of a counterargument based on available sources in an obscure area was impressive. I still don’t understand how an AI company makes money by giving away access to these tools but they sure are useful.

Readers of this blog may recall that I am a member of the Deschutes Basin Water Collaborative which is nearing the end of a multiyear attempt to create a plan to address a wide range of water issues based on the state’s placed-based water planning process. It’s been a long, tedious process and, unsurprisingly, the outcome is going to be disappointing, but there have been informative conversations and presentations. One such presentation was given a few days ago and has been posted. “Water Quality Program Work in the Deschutes Basin” was a presentation by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality which covered their monitoring of “impoundments” (lakes and reservoirs) in the Deschutes River system from the headwaters to Lake Billy Chinook. I found it interesting and frustrating. The recording is of the entire DBWC meeting, the ODEQ presentation starts at 44 minutes and 50 seconds and lasts an hour and five minutes.

I try to avoid posting too much fish porn, but it’s been a while. We saw a beautiful sunrise before having a good day swinging flies for steelhead on the Lower Deschutes yesterday. I hooked into three fish. The middle sized one is in the photo below, it was somewhere over 32″ based on it’s length compared to my wingspan. Perhaps as much as 36″. I hope you are getting out there.

I spent the last two days camped in the Ochocos helping local ODFW biologists sample a remote river about two hours from Bend. This is the second trip I’ve done this year doing this in different areas. I previously had not spent any time exploring the Ochocos. Access is limited and pretty rough in spots. It’s not a premier fishing destination but it is beautiful and it is great to see that trout can survive at some level in small, heavily degraded rivers and streams. Cows, water diversions, and drought have certainly made an impact on what were once better aquatic environments.

I am a lifetime member of the Association of NW Steelheaders. I have been reconsidering my association with them as they have been sucked into the Deschutes River Alliance camp and actively spreading disinformation from the tin foil hat crowd but they continue to advocate for Snake River Dam removal, something that all steelhead and salmon anglers should care about. Here is a recent post from them on HR 2073, legislation introduced into the US House of Representatives that would prohibit the use of federal funds to allow or study the breach or alteration of the lower Snake River Dams. The post also includes a link for you to register your opposition to this bill.

Approximately 30 years ago the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife started tracking fish populations in various small creeks in the Ochoco National Forest. Some creeks and much of the North Fork Crooked River were already too degraded to hold redband trout, but some creeks still had robust populations. Every three years the survey is repeated and population trends are tracked. The primary purpose of the survey is to inform forest managers as they consider timber sales and changes in various forest management practices. Not too long ago this data was one of the reasons the proposal for expanding off highway vehicle access in the forest was strongly opposed. The survey is done by ODFW and US Forest Service personnel with the help of volunteers. For the past three days I was one of those volunteers, camping in the mountains, and visiting a number of creeks I had never seen before.

Over the past three months I have been exclusively fishing rivers in Oregon and Idaho. Today I got my lake boat out and headed to Paulina for the first time this year with one of my sons. As usual, it was beautiful, with very clear water, and plenty of willing fish. We landed more than our fair share, nothing huge, but lots of fun before the wind chased us off in the early afternoon. I am very concerned, however, by the incredible schools of tui chubs we encountered. They were everywhere in really big numbers. For many years, ODFW has been netting the chubs in East and Paulina lakes. Budget cuts have forced them to stop netting at Paulina and have a reduced program at East. It will be a real tragedy if funds are not found to resume netting at Paulina. The schools we saw were composed of small fish, but they will grow and reproduce quickly.

One of the many hats I wear is to arrange monthly presentations for Central Oregon Flyfishers. As you would expect, these are mostly talks on fly fishing but a few every year are on environmental issues. Next Wednesday, July 16, we will hear from the Wild Salmon Center. WSC takes a different approach than other environmental groups working to protect fish. Founded in 1992 and run since 1998 by Oregon native and fly fishing fanatic Guido Rahr, WSC works to protect “strongholds,” places still supporting wild anadromous salmonids. There’s a book titled “Stronghold” about Guido that I really enjoyed reading. The staff and board of directors at WSC are truly impressive. It should be a good talk and anyone can attend this meeting which is held at the Bend Elk’s Club and starts at 6 pm.

My wife and I returned yesterday from a 100 mile, six day float down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho. This river flows through the Frank Church – River of No Return Wilderness. We had some tough weather for four days but we were prepared and it was beautiful. It was great to be disconnected from normal life for a while.

Of course, we returned to concerning news on so many fronts, too typical these days, but I wanted to comment on the decision to end protections for 58 million acres of national forests by allowing road construction and logging, including in the Frank Church Wilderness. (This is an executive order and seperate from the bill being considered in the US Senate to sell public lands.) This order will have massive impact on many wilderness areas and this pristine river. The water was so clean and clear. Sediment runoff into the river from road construction and logging will be a disaster. If you want more on the trip, keep reading.

If you follow this blog you’ve probably been reading about the Trump administration’s recent decision to pull out of an agreement to restore salmon and steelhead populations in the Columbia Basin. Here’s a good overview from OPB. Needless to say, this is terrible news for anadromous fish. I have nothing to add to this except to direct you to a YouTube video of last Friday’s ODFW commission meeting where it was discussed starting at 2:34:49. (Yes, I do watch these things.) The frustration on the part of ODFW staff and the commission was on full display. Along those same lines, a discussion starting at 1:22:33 by the commissioners about the legislature overriding their decisions was telling. We live in a political world and ODFW has little political power.

This morning another member of Central Oregon Flyfishers and I met with a couple of the remaining staff at the Bend US Forest Service office to ask about extending the boat ramps at East Lake. They are aware of the problem and are trying to address it but a solution is at least three years out, likely longer. They are as frustrated as anyone but have many obstacles. Staff cuts have been huge. They have to consult with tribal authorities to get permission to dig anything for cultural reasons. They need a NEPA analysis. Etc. They may have a solution that is being piloted outside of Central Oregon but it will be a couple of years before they can make a determination that it will work. The good news is that they are aware that toilets at local lakes closed far too early last year and will keep at least one toilet per lake open to the end of the season if snow levels allow.

Yesterday I took one of my sons fishing on the McKenzie. It was cool and wet, and the river was a little high, but we landed a few nice rainbows, a couple of big whitefish, and many smaller fish. It’s not the Deschutes, but it is awfully nice to fish from a boat. An easy day trip to satisfy your need for trout before the Deschutes opens.

I am a long time member of Central Oregon Flyfishers, a great organization for local fly anglers with over 250 members. This year we have moved part of our annual banquet online and anyone can bid on items. There might be something there of interest to you. Check it out: https://new.biddingowl.com/COF2025Auction

Yesterday I played guide and took a fishing friend and one of my sons to Lake Billy Chinook. 22 bull trout were netted, all before noon when the bite stopped. Nothing huge, but a few around 18-19″ (measured) and all were very feisty. The lake is in great shape. A good day. I could see bigger fish on the finder, but they were down 50+ feet, too deep for fly fishing even with a 7ips line. Hopefully, they will come up as smolt migration increases.

One of my goals this winter has been to spend time on the Oregon coast steelhead fishing. Last night I returned from another trip. Exploring places I have not been before, driving down one lane dirt roads, taking long hikes through the forest in waders to streams without other anglers, catching steelhead, and seeing critters I don’t normally see is all good. On the other hand, while there I am constantly reminded how great it is to live in Central Oregon. It’s pretty hard to beat living around here, at least until this summer when we are all choking on smoke again.

My friend Scott and I had a five hour session on Lake Billy Chinook today. We hooked seven of them. Nothing of any real size, the big one was this fish I measured at 18″, but it was fun. The water was 40 degrees, so still a bit cold, but it’s time to get out there.

As readers of this blog know, I have mixed feelings about hatcheries. Ideally, they would not exist, but we do not live in an ideal world. Seth White, the director of the Oregon Hatchery Research Center, has stared a new Substack (the modern version of a blog) with this announcement: “I recently decided to join the longstanding tradition of academics writing about their research and personal views for lay audiences. I created a Substack called Rising Rivers and the debut article is titled Abundant rivers: What role can hatcheries play in recovering harvestable salmon abundance while protecting wild populations?” I don’t know where he is going with this, but I liked the first post and subscribed.

I am not a wildfire expert but have spent the past five years or so educating myself by reading academic and other research by wildfire experts. It is a fascinating area and the conclusions contradict many of the recommendations from the US Forest Service and pro-logging special interests. The recent furor over the state wildfire maps motivated me to write an opinion column that was published in The Bulletin today.

As you know, at the beginning of every biennium our state legislature establishes the state budget, including ODFW’s. This process is now underway for the 2026-2028 biennium which begins in June. ODFW is facing a serious budget shortfall which will impact anglers and hunters throughout the state. It’s short notice, but an important hearing on a couple of bills will occur on Monday and you can provide input before next Wednesday at 8 am. I’ll provide context and a method of expressing your opinion below but you need to take action soon.

The ODFW commission had a couple of presentations this week that I found interesting. The first was on a chemical (6PPD which turns into 6PPD-q) that comes from tires, washes off roads into waterways, and kills salmonids, particularly coho salmon. You can watch a recording of that presentation here. It begins around minute 27 and lasts a little over an hour. The discussion after the presentation was valuable as well. The over simplified summary is that this is a serious problem and while research has been done more is needed. There are some promising potential solutions but individually they are not comprehensive, implementing a truly comprehensive solution would be expensive, and take decades to effect statewide. This is a big and complex problem. Let’s hope that funding for all the agencies and groups working on this continues.

I have been posting a little about Rogue Riverkeeper’s attempts to ban jet boats in the Upper Rogue River above Table Rock Road. A few days ago they announced victory. As someone who likes to float and fish for steelhead around Shady Cove (Lost Creek Dam to Dodge Bridge) I am happy with this outcome. Thank you if you submitted a letter in support for this action.

Jason Zweig is my favorite columnist at the Wall Street Journal. Today he referred to a 1972 book by George Goodman (aka Adam Smith) titled “Supermoney”. It contained this paragraph:

Jason quoted this passage in reference to the current US stock market, but after yesterday’s presidential orders designed to dismantle attempts to fight global warming I think it is applicable there as well. We are all at a huge party, we all know it will end, but no one knows exactly when. Unfortunately, unlike the stock market, there is no way to leave this party early. The Black Horseman will come for all of us.

The Bulletin reported today that the Deschutes Soil and Water Conservation District was awarded $509,992 of taxpayer money for unspecified enhancement projects. This is on top of the recent tax increase approved by Deschutes County voters for unspecified DSWC projects, a tax increase I argued against. The problem is that no commitment has been made by DSWC to increase flows in the Deschutes River from piping private canals or installing sprinkler systems. It appears that saved water will be retained by the landowner for their private use. On-farm water efficiency projects are important, but if taxpayers are subsidizing improvements on private land there should be public benefit.

It looks like the good summer steelhead run is continuing to winter steelhead season. Got three of these last Friday on the North Umpqua below Winchester. Pretty fun on a single hand 7wt rod. Now that I am mostly retired I plan to spend as much time as possible on the other side of the Cascades for the next few months.

My friend George Wuerthner writes frequently about wildfires. His central position is that forest logging (“thinning”) is detrimental to forest ecosystems and can increase the probability of destructive, large scale wildfires. Other actions are more important to protect communities. Of course, this is not intuitive and is not the commonly held opinion. It’s a complicated subject but yesterday he posted this article which provides an overview of some of his research. It is not a question of if, only when, a large scale, wind-driven fire impacts homes in Central Oregon but homeowners, building codes, and land use can make a difference. I have spent a lot of time over the past few years increasing the fire resiliency of my home, efforts that are continuing.

This is not a Central Oregon issue but if you like to fish the Rogue River around Shady Cove as much as I do, please keep reading. If you have ever fished this part of the Rogue then you may have encountered a jet boat creating a dangerous wake if you are standing in the river or floating in your drift boat or pontoon. Rogue Riverkeeper is attempting to ban all boats over 10 HP in the Upper Rogue above Fishers Ferry County Park, which make sense to me as an angler. There will still be plenty of river for high powered boats. Further, why ban all boats at rarely occurring very low flows? How is a pontoon boat a problem? Check out this blog post from Rogue Riverkeeper and click on their “take action” link to send a letter. (Yes, I wrote about this some time ago, but more comments are needed now on the final proposed regulations from the Oregon State Marine Board.)

My tradition is to fish the Lower Deschutes on December 31st, closing day. It has typically been a good outing as there is little angling pressure. This year I only had a half day and I walked down from Mecca. I quickly remembered why I don’t do that, where did all those people come from? I did not find a steelhead, but I did land this bull trout, and it was a pretty sunrise.

A couple of press articles recently came out claiming that salmon and steelhead returns in the Columbia Basin have held steady over the past 10 years.  Both stories acknowledge that returns are far lower than historical numbers but state they are an improvement from the 1990s.  The data is from the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, a group that works with the Bonneville Power Administration to “ensure, with public participation, an affordable and reliable energy system while enhancing fish and wildlife in the Columbia River Basin.”  Of course, federal courts have ruled repeatedly that the BPA is not doing enough to recover wild fish and is primarily focused on the delivery of power.  

I hope you have been having a good steelhead season on the Lower Deschutes. I certainly have. Things might not be as good next year. NOAA Fisheries recently sent out a report that contains the heading “A Potentially Tough Year Coming for Pacific Salmon”. Last year, “wind-driven upwelling delivered cooler-than-average ocean temperatures, and higher-than-average biomass of lipid-rich copepods.” In other words, a rich food web. Unfortunately, NOAA states that they are seeing “mixed signals” about 2025.

The current issue of The Osprey has an excellent article that all wild fish supporters should read. While the title is unwieldy, “Reflections of American Conservation and Economic History in Relation to Wild Salmon and Steelhead”, the contents are well written and expansive hitting on many of the topics I like to cover. I’ll give a very brief summary, little more than a teaser, and encourage you to read it yourself. It begins on page 16. Of course, if you love wild salmonids you should subscribe to this free publication and make a donation to support it. As an aside, I really dislike the way the issue is displayed on their website, but you can download it as a PDF for much easier reading.

On October 30th a judge denied a request to order ODFW to continue to release summer steelhead into the North Umpqua river. This is a long saga that I’ll summarize below, but it appears that the ODFW Commission’s April 2022 decision to stop these hatchery releases may finally be implemented, at least until the next legal maneuver. Here’s a blog post from The Conservation Angler with the announcement. Keeping reading for some background.

Yesterday I returned from a 10 day fishing trip to Brazil and have a number of posts to catch up on. Here’s a start. While away, I was contacted by a reader asking my opinion on the Deschutes Soil & Water Conservation District’s ballot request to get additional taxpayer funding. In short, I think they do good work, and could support additional funding in the future with a few changes, but there are issues voters should be aware of. For more on this see below and two recent opinion columns in the Bend Bulletin from current DSWC board members. One argues against additional taxpayer funding, the other is in support.

Contrary to the disinformation that continues to seep out from the tin foil hat crowd, last week a federal report stated that the Lower Deschutes River below the Pelton Round Butte hydroelectric project has very high water quality. As stated in this news article,

“Warm Springs Tribes have been engaged in restoration efforts on the Deschutes River for decades, not only to ensure clean, safe drinking water for the Reservation but also to improve fishery health. The report’s findings are positive signs for both objectives, as the lack of PFAS points to clean drinking water, the absence of 6PPD-Quinone supports fish health, and the water’s low turbidity and high clarity also correlates with fish health.”

As I have been writing for years, the science clearly shows that the Lower Deschutes is in great shape.

The Deschutes River Conservancy recently announced a tour of a North Unit Irrigation District patron who practices “water wise farming”. Clearly, there are farmers who should be applauded for utilizing good irrigation practices and understanding how they do this is valuable. Unfortunately, according to the US Department of Agriculture, there are only 1,542 farms (those with typical revenues over $1,000) in Central Oregon. (No, that’s not a typo, you only need to make $1,000 to be considered a farmer.) At the same time, there are over 7,600 irrigation district patrons. These other irrigators are commonly called “hobby farmers” and they frequently use practices that could not be called “water wise farming”. It would be great if the DRC would talk about this as well. Below is a picture of a field close to where I live that uses flood irrigation, a water delivery method first used in Mesopotamia 5,000 years ago. Even wheel line sprinkler systems lose around 45% of the water that is sprayed into the air before it reaches the ground.

You can probably skip this post, but if you have time to kill while avoiding the heat, keep reading. As I recently wrote, I have joined the board of the Oregon Hatchery Research Center and attended my first meeting where one of the PhDs recommended this article, A commentary on the role of hatcheries and stocking programs in salmon conservation and adapting ourselves to less-than-wild futures, published May 31, 2024 in Fish and Fisheries. It was cause for contemplation and triggered a rant, below. If this is the sort of thing that we are going to discuss at OHRC meetings it will be an interesting board to serve on.

I fished East Lake two days ago with a friend and we experienced a really impressive callibaetis hatch in the morning. They were crawling over over us and the fish were eagerly rising. It was one of those fun but frustrating days as we had to perfectly match the hatch which kept changing. How many body colors and wing configurations does an angler need to have? Today my wife and I went back to kayak around the edge of the lake and we saw an incredible number of fish in shallow water including a really nice brown trout. It had to be close to 30″ and thick. We also took a close look at the tui chub nets that ODFW has deployed in the lake.

I was recently appointed to serve as one of two wild fish advocates on the board of the Oregon Hatchery Research Center, which you have probably never heard of. It’s a collaboration between ODFW and Oregon State University with a small budget, but doing some interesting research. I first became aware of the OHRC during my time on the board of ODFW’s Restoration & Enhancement program. Obviously, hatcheries, particularly those producing salmon and steelhead, are controversial but I think they have a role to play and with the current hatchery resiliency effort underway the timing of this appointment could be fortuitous.

At the urging of a collation of environmental groups, last year the Oregon legislature directed ODFW to review the state’s hatcheries and plans for the future. Hatcheries are a controversial topic with many opposed to current hatchery operations and many advocating for increases in production. That process is now kicking off and the public is invited to attend a meeting where the review plan will be discussed on June 27 from 10 am to 12 pm. Here’s a link to the press release with all the details.

The Source Weekly called me a few days ago to talk about my recent post, USDA: most local irrigators are not farmers. Yesterday they ran a decent story on the topic. There are things I would have included in the article, but I was impressed, especially given that the reporter had not previously covered water issues in Central Oregon. Frankly, it was refreshing to not feel compelled to write a criticism of local coverage like I do too often. I hope the reporter sticks around.

As a teenager my dream was to become a U.S. Senator. A few years of studying politics and philosophy as an undergraduate quickly dissuaded me from this ambition. For all of my adult life I have had little respect for politicians or political parties. Even at the local level it is rare to find candidates that deserve support. Even the ones who have called me and successfully wrangled a contribution after pledging to be a champion for water and environmental issues have failed to deliver. Needless to say, I am a deep skeptic. As Plato wrote over 2,000 years ago, the desire for office should disqualify you. Nevertheless, I am doing something extremely uncharacteristic and endorsing Phil Chang for Deschutes County Commissioner. I have lived in Central Oregon for 20 years and Phil is the only local politician who has educated themselves about local environmental issues, including water, and consistently advocated and voted accordingly.

As I posted last August, every five years the US Depart of Agriculture conducts a “Census of Agriculture“, which they claim is a complete count of U.S. farms and ranches. “Even small plots of land – whether rural or urban – count if $1,000 or more of such products were raised and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the census year. The Census of Agriculture, taken only once every five years, looks at land use and ownership, operator characteristics, production practices, income and expenditures.” Last week the 2022 census was released and it once again clearly shows that while there is some important local commercial agriculture, most Central Oregon irrigators are not farmers as defined by the USDA. Given the fact that approximately 86% of all local water is used by irrigators, understanding where water is going is important for all of us.

ODFW is the only state agency that actively solicits public input when developing its budget. That process for the 2025-2027 biennium is now underway. I have been attending these meetings for many years. They have been illuminating and frustrating. If you want to understand how ODFW works, I encourage you to watch the video of the first public budget meeting which occurred last week, review the listed materials, and perhaps submit written comments. The good news is that a perennially underfunded agency has seen its budget grow recently and they have been able to undertake some good projects. Of course, much more needs to be done with a potentially smaller future budget. Side bar: For years, I have been an ODFW volunteer in a variety of ways and think they could improve in many areas, but am saddened by how often I hear department criticism that is mostly uniformed. Watching this video is a great way to start to understand how they make decisions.

You probably saw a lot of press in December about the Biden administration making an agreement with the “six sovereigns” that creates “a path” toward removing the Lower Snake River dams and hopefully restoring anadromous fish populations which are near extirpation. Here’s an example. While widely framed as a major step forward, I am disappointed in the agreement. It does not contain a commitment to remove the dams, which is the fundamental requirement for restoring anadromous fish populations. It increases hatchery production of anadromous fish, further weakening the genetic integrity of wild stocks. That being said, American Rivers is hosting an interesting series on Zoom that discusses the agreement and acknowledges its shortcomings. The agreement may only represent “a sliver of opportunity”, but the negotiators believe it is the best that can be done now. The recording of the first talk is worth watching. I remain disappointed, but understand the desire to make some sort of progress.

I’ve stopped writing much about the Snake River dams as there are so many other good sources of information regarding them. Of course, science and the courts have been clear for decades that the dams will cause anadromous fish in the Snake River Basin to be extirpated and no longer provide any real economic benefit. Politicians, agencies like the Bureau of Reclamation, the uniformed, and those who profit from the dams simply ignore the truth. Today, the Bulletin ran a good column on the topic from local resident and aquatic ecologist Dr. Jerry Freilich. Last Friday the Association of NW Steelheaders sent out their February Newsletter with a great article on the topic that addresses the half truths and lies being said by so many. I’ve reproduced that article below, it’s worth a quick read.

Fresh steelhead for Christmas Eve dinner anyone? I spent the past 2 days on the Lower Deschutes. It was cold but I have warm clothes and only saw one other boat both days. What’s a little ice on your rod, reel, and line? Just put it all back in the water. It’s really nice to have the day stretch pretty much to yourself. The first day was productive for multiple hookups and species, the next day was subfreezing in the morning and very slow. That’s fishing. Some of you might notice that’s a 6wt single hand rod and a small trout fly in the steelhead’s mouth. After mastering them, I have mostly stopped using 2 hand rods. They really are overkill if you are an experienced angler and I like the thrill and challenge of using lighter gear. Over the past year I have landed many steelhead and even chinook on various rivers using my 6wt single hand rod. It’s more sporting and a great feeling of accomplishment. I hope you have good fishing in 2024!

I arranged a tour of the hatchery operations at Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery for Central Oregon Flyfishers earlier this week. In my 8 years on the ODFW Restoration & Enhancement board I toured many hatcheries and this tour was the most interesting. They were in the middle of “propagating” fish and I saw something new to me. Like many, I have mixed feelings about hatcheries. Clearly, intermixing wild and hatchery fish is a bad thing. On the other hand, if we want to fish lakes where trout do not naturally occur then they must be stocked with hatchery fish. I know I enjoy fishing those lakes.

As I detailed last August in “Who uses all the water?“, the majority of irrigators in Central Oregon are hobby farmers having less than $10,000 a year in revenue (not profit) and often losing money on operations. As I wrote in that post, “Real agriculture is important, but our local economy is diverse and primarily driven by people attracted to Central Oregon for the outdoor lifestyle.  Shouldn’t water use support our current economy and rules governing its use be forward looking?  Why should taxpayers provide massive support for hobbies?  Perhaps most important, we are facing a climate crisis and can no longer afford the waste.  It’s time for fundamental change.”

Last February Central Oregon LandWatch, the High Desert Food and Farm Alliance, and Central Oregon Community College surveyed Central Oregon Irrigation District patrons. The results of that survey were published on September 28. It’s a short and interesting article and I encourage you to read it. Earlier this month I asked COLW to see the raw data from the survey and was struck by the answers to two questions which reinforced my position.

ODFW issued a press release today announcing a $27.6M (!) “claim of recovery” against the Winchester Water Control District (WWCD) and their contractors, “one of the largest damages claims for illegal killing of wildlife that has been filed in the state”. I have no idea how this will wind its way through the courts, but based on what I have read, it’s an amount that will be next to impossible for WWCD to pay. Perhaps a settlement can be reached that includes dam removal. Keep your fingers crossed. Use the search bar above and enter Winchester Dam to learn more.

Almost 3 years ago, a coalition of groups filed suit to require repairs to the failing fish ladder on Winchester Dam on the North Umpqua River. The Native Fish Society has been doing an excellent job posting about this topic and the pathetic and potentially illegal actions taken by the dam owners. You can learn much more about this on the NFS news page. I am far from an expert on this topic, but it does appear shocking how state agencies like ODFW are not taking action to safeguard wild anadromous fish on the North Umpqua. NFS is now asking people to speak up at the ODFW Commission meeting in Bend on September 15. Learn more here and sign their petition, but attending the meeting is far more powerful.

A benefit showing of the 50 minute film, “Dammed to Extinction“, will occur on September 14th, 7 pm, at the Sisters Movie House. “The Columbia River basin was once home to the world’s most productive chinook salmon runs. Now, they are blocked from reaching their home waters by dozens of dams along the Columbia, Snake, and other rivers in the watershed. Along the Pacific Northwest coast, pods of orcas have hunted chinook salmon. Yet wild chinook salmon here are increasingly scarce. The orcas are going hungry; their numbers dwindling along with their primary source of food. Extinction looms for both species. Following the film showing, we’ll be joined by Filmmaker Steven Hawley and other special guests to discuss the issues with the Lower Snake River dams and the hopes for a future of thriving salmon runs.”

It’s not always a popular position, but I am a big fan of using the legal system to advance environmental causes. The judiciary is one of the branches of government and if the legislative and executive branches won’t protect our environment then we need to use the legal system. This seems simple and obvious to me.

Advocates for the West does exactly this at no cost to environmental groups who need help. They have had amazing success. They will be in Bend at Worthy Brewing next Tuesday, August 22nd, from 5:30 to 7:30. I’ll be there to hear the latest from their attorneys on legal battles to protect public lands, water, fish, and wildlife in Oregon. And drink a free beer too!

This afternoon I bought a quarter of a cow raised a few miles from where I live. Of course, I asked about the seller’s operation. He has a few cows but does not make a profit, he hopes to break even at some point, but the cows are simply a hobby at this point. He has 17 acres of COID water rights, but some of it is for extremely rocky land. COID has told him he needs to water it all or lose some of his rights, so he is going to do it. He is on a lateral where he and his fellow patrons have their gates open all the time, constantly filling their ponds, and run their wheel lines pretty much nonstop. He has old, leaky wheel lines and can’t afford to fix them. Even the less rocky land where he has wheel lines is not good enough to raise hay, whatever grows is what the cows eat, and he supplements with hay he buys. To be clear, I have no problem with people pursuing their hobbies and look forward to eating this locally raised beef, but clearly this is problematic. Unfortunately, this is not an unusual story.

Here’s an update on high lakes tui chub removal, also given by Tim Porter, ODFW Assistant Fish Biologist, at last week’s Central Oregon Flyfishers meeting. As you probably know, ODFW works with OSU-Cascades, Lava Lake Resort, Paulina Lake Resort, and East Lake Resort to net invasive species which dramatically degrade the trout and kokanee fishing if left unchecked. Tui chub removal in the high lakes has been ongoing since 2010 except for a few years for monitoring or due to COVID (2020).  Stocking the lakes with trout strains that may eat chub was ineffective while trapping has had good results.  Thousands of pounds of chub are removed annually.  Evidence of its effectiveness comes from angler reports and improved trout condition factors. Below is the presentation, it’s self-explanatory.

While there has been much to write about over the past month, I have been taking a break from posting to fish and recharge my batteries. (Last week’s Deschutes Fisheries Workshop had some really good presentations that I will be diving into soon.) An article in today’s Bulletin, however, has to be commented on. “After a promising spring, drought again stalking Central Oregon farmers“, had some good content but also omitted important elements. As readers of this blog know, I have said all along that the recent winter was not as good as many had been portraying it (e.g., calling it “promising”) and that the drought was not close to being over. Clearly, this impacts more than irrigators, which once again was the only aspect covered by the Bulletin.

This morning I attended the Oregon Department of Forestry Board of Forestry meeting in Sisters.  Since 2019 the BOF has been working on the Western Oregon State Forest Habitat Conservation Plan.  This plan is in draft form and is scheduled for adoption in November of this year.  While the HCP was not on the agenda, a large crowd of opponents and supporters attended to voice their opinion during the public comment period.  I had planned on giving comments as well, but after 2.5 hours I had not been called and most of the points I wanted to raise had already been made multiple times.  This HCP should be of interest to all Oregon anglers, I’ll give a summary of why below.  What was most interesting to me, however, was the clear divide between the camps.  We all know the rancor that is gripping our state and nation.  Some of the explanations I have read about these divisions have to do with “elites” and the “working class”.  This seemed to be exactly the issue today.

The State of Oregon is working on a revision to the Integrated Water Resources Strategy and is looking for public comment. Please take the survey before June 15. I have been highly critical of past versions of the IWRS, and based on the questions in the survey remain so. Once again, fish and wildlife are secondary concerns at best. This is not surprising given that the lead agency is the Oregon Water Resources Department which has a long history of serving agriculture, municipalities, and industry while ignoring input from the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. I will say that OWRD seems to be getting better but they have a very long way to go to effectively balance consumptive use with environmental needs.

If you are a fellow steelhead junkie, last night’s presentation by ODFW was excellent. You can see a recording by visiting their “Steelhead management in Columbia & Snake river basins” webpage. There was a ton of good information in the hour long talk, but here’s very brief summary. ODFW is currently working with forecasted returns for the upcoming season, which are lower than last year’s returns, but will watch actual returns and update regulations as needed. The current plan is to open the Deschutes for steelhead fishing on May 1 but to close it on August 15, prior to most fish getting above Sherars Falls. This is the opposite of what happened last year when the river was closed but opened on August 15 when actual returns exceeded the forecast. The John Day river is most likely to remain closed for a third straight year. Further east, the Grande Ronde and Imnaha rivers are projected to be open, although fish counts will be very low and they expect correspondingly low angling effort.

ODFW will host a webinar discussing the upcoming summer steelhead season on April 18. “For 2023, anglers should anticipate summer steelhead fishing restrictions and closures in the mainstem Columbia River and tributaries similar to previous years—including broad area and time closures, one-steelhead bag limits when open, and thermal angling sanctuaries near Oregon tributary mouths upstream of Bonneville Dam.” Get more information here.

I only fish Lake Billy Chinook for a few weeks in the early spring for bull trout but really enjoy the time. Today was beautiful and it ended up being shirtsleeves weather. To top it off, I was able to get three bull trout in a morning of fishing. A great day. I went alone so did not have anyone to take any photos, but here is one from three days ago when a couple of friends were in the boat. We live in fishing paradise.

I have good news if you fish local high lakes. At the ODFW Restoration & Enhancement board meeting this last Thursday and Friday we funded a bunch of good projects including tui chub removal this summer and next in local high lakes and Diamond Lake. No, ODFW does not consider this a high enough priority project to entirely fund themselves. Brown bullhead catfish reduction in Crane Prairie is also going to happen, but this is being dictated by the Deschutes Basin Habitat Conservation Plan. Cat fish eat endangered frogs. BTW, if you know how to catch a brown bullhead on a fly, please let me know.