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.

A couple more good opinion pieces have appeared in the Bulletin. Jerry Freilich’s excellent column, “Perfect Balance ad was out of balance“, was published on February 15. It was a thorough dismantling of the disinformation contained in the recent half page advertisement from a group of irrigators calling themselves “Perfect Balance”. Today Tod Heisler had a column titled “Water distribution is based on fiction“. Tod summarized one of the topics that many of us have talked about for years, but which needs frequent repeating: we are in a period of water scarcity, the water we have has been over appropriated, and it needs to be reallocated. I agree 100% but also know that there is no political will to do this and the legal challenges would be played out over decades. My solution is to charge for water which will force many hobby farmers to give up their rights and allow real agriculture continued and improved access.

The Bulletin recently had an article and an editorial on a topic I have been writing about for a very long time. I first had an opinion column in the paper about how property taxes can encourage water waste about 6 years ago. It took the paper a while to fact check what I wrote, like most everyone they had not previously heard about this issue, but they did publish it. I wish I kept a copy of that column, but here’s a quick summary, followed by a discussion of the pros and cons of the bill recently introduced in the Oregon State Legislature intended to fix the problem. As always, the devil is in the details.

A few days ago the Bend Bulletin ran a story on a recently approved piping project in the North Unit Irrigation District. Like most stories about water and fish in the paper it could have been greatly improved with a more complete discussion of the issue*. Make no mistake, I am a proponent of canal piping, but the manner in which it occurs and its cost benefit are important. As I detailed in this post from last August, I opposed this piping project during the public comment period. Many others did as well and in response NUID made some small concessions in their application, but this project remains a massive public subsidy mostly for private benefit.

We are far to early in the winter to make any predictions about what the water year will look like. I typically don’t start writing about it for a couple more months, but today COID sent out an “outlook” email from Kyle Gorman, our local region manager for the Oregon Water Resources Department, that contained an important reminder. By now we should all be familiar with the map on the left showing snow water equivalent for various basins as of today. Kyle points out that these percentages are misleading. The Deschutes Basin at 100% of average over the past 20 years is not as encouraging when you consider that the past 20 years has been a period of mostly drought. To get out of the drought we are still in we need a lot more snow for at least 3 more months and for a few years in a row.

Yesterday evening I looked at the weather and made a last minute decision to spend the final day of 2022 floating the Deschutes River from Warm Springs to Trout Creek. I rarely get to fish alone and looked forward to using my pontoon boat for the first time in over a year. It’s absolutely the best way to fish the Lower Deschutes, you can get into places that you can’t in a drift boat and there are spots where you can simply stand up in the middle of the river. As you can see, it was very cold when I launched, my boat was covered in ice, and the fog was very thick. As my Swedish ancestors would say, there is no bad weather only bad clothes. I have good clothes and it turned out to be a very good day.

I’m in my 8th and final year on ODFW’s Restoration & Enhancement Board, an experience that I have truly enjoyed. I’m proud of the fact that we have been able to fund a wide range of projects that directly benefit anglers all over the state including boat ramp and dock installation and repair, habitat restoration, dam removal, and some interesting scientific studies in support of activities like Klamath River dam removal. Of course, I have lobbied to fund projects that benefit Central Oregon like the annual effort to control invasive tui chub and brown bullhead catfish in East Lake, Paulina Lake, Crane Prairie Reservoir, and Lava Lake. See this 2022 project completion report for some interesting photos.

I don’t write often about my personal fishing trips, but last week I did something really fun that should be on your bucket list if you are a fly angler: bull redfish. It was easy to get to and affordable for a saltwater trip but had all the thrill of sight fishing for big, powerful fish that put a heck of a bend in a 10wt rod. I got at least one fish like this every day we went out. We stayed at the Dogwood Lodge, a liveaboard boat on the water, and were met by guides with skiffs every morning. Follow the link for all the info you need to plan your own trip. It was really fun. I’ll definitely go back.

For decades in both my personal and professional investing I have favored areas with lower negative environmental impact.  Not only have I been able to achieve good returns, but this style of investing supports my personal values.  Herman Daly, one of the first economists to discuss the need for sustainable development, recently passed away.  The NY Times has an obituary that is worth the quick read.  Thankfully, while not universally accepted, his line of professional inquiry is no longer broadly dismissed as economic quackery.  I remained dumfounded that the well-established economic concept of “the tragedy of the commons” is not applied to ecosystems as a foundation of economic policy.

If you’ve been around Bend for any amount of time you probably recall a few years ago when there was extensive discussion of dredging Mirror Pond and the potential of adding fish passage to the Mirror Pond dam. Despite considerable effort no action was taken. Last year an advisory committee was formed to look at the issue again, some design work was done, and it is now time for public input at a meeting being held on November 7th from 9 to 11 am. Here is a link to official background material. Here is the link to attend the meeting via Zoom. KTVZ has a brief story on this. Mike Tripp, a member of the advisory committee, alerted me to all this and provided background material and his perspective on the issue, below. My 2 cents is that wild, native fish must be able to move freely up and down rivers in order to access food, spawning habitat, and pockets of cold water in the summer to maximize their health and abundance. Adding passage to the dam that creates Mirror Pond is an excellent idea.

That’s part of the title of the lead article in the latest issue of The Osprey. I encourage you to read it. I’m in my 6th decade and have become more and more aware of the power of age and personal perspective. Things that I have seen and know to be true are just not understood or appreciated by people who do not have the same lived experiences. The article is a powerful example of this from someone who has dedicated his life to steelhead fishing and preservation. I hope that all the shops, guides, and individual anglers who seem determined to catch the few remaining wild steelhead read and consider it.

The latest in the long running saga of the Snake River dams is that NOAA fisheries has finalized the draft report I discussed in this post. The September 30, 2022 report says that much needs to be done, especially habitat restoration, but that dam removal is the key action that must be taken to avoid the extirpation of many Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead runs. And time is running out. You can read the entire report here. The question is, will action be taken? Scientists have known all this for years, and the courts have ordered action multiple times, but nothing effective has been done so far. What’s that myth about Sisyphus?

I’ve had people contact me with questions about presentations of mine they have seen on YouTube. Really? I had no idea what they were talking about. After the latest email today, I searched and saw that two online presentations I gave earlier this year to Sunriver Anglers were recorded and uploaded to YouTube. One on fishing the Williamson River and one on fishing Lake Billy Chinook for bull trout. I clearly need better lighting and to speak more slowly at times. This month I am giving presentations on streamer fishing to Southern Oregon Fly Fishers and Central Oregon Flyfishers. Show up if you are in the area.

Its one week until the WaterWatch auction in Portland. As I have written before, if you care about water in rivers in Oregon there is no more deserving organization of your support than WaterWatch. Head over to their website for examples of the great work they do. If traveling to Portland is not in the cards, you can participate in the online auction starting on Monday, the 19th. I will be floating down the Grande Ronde river during the auction, but I have purchased a Golden Ticket. If drawn, it will allow me to pick one of the live auction items before bidding begins. Pretty good deal.

Like many, I just have to swing a fly for steelhead this time of year so a friend and I headed over to the middle fork of the Willamette River yesterday. Historically there were no steelhead in this river but there is a reasonable run of hatchery fish, so I had no problem going after them and harvesting a couple in just a morning of fishing. These will be in my smoker very soon. It’s about the same distance from Bend as Maupin and, surprisingly, we only saw a handful of other angers on a Saturday. Easy floating, easy wading, and lots of good swinging water.

Yesterday ODFW announced the closure of steelhead fishing on the John Day as of September 15.

“Wild steelhead returns were looking more positive earlier this summer,” said Stephan Charette, ODFW John Day district fish biologist. “Unfortunately, we have since seen wild passage slow down, though numbers are still improved from the record low return observed last year.”

Here’s the full press release.

As the graph shows, adult steelhead returns over Bonneville Dam are looking better this year than last. Note that this is for all steelhead: wild, hatchery, and destined for a number of rivers. Improved ocean conditions have been very helpful. Turning to the Deschutes, the only counts we have are at the fish trap at Sherars Falls. Only a small percentage of steelhead moving up the river head into the trap, so it is not a full count but a way of comparing years. From July 14 through September 2, 9 wild and 16 hatchery steelhead have entered the trap. During the same period last year 7 wild and 12 hatchery fish were counted. So, this year is seeing a slight improvement on the Deschutes, but the numbers are still very low. Be careful with your catch and release practices if you plan to go after any of these fish. Also remember that ODFW believes that 100% of all wild fish in the Deschutes are caught at least once, with about a 10% mortality rate and reduced fecundity. Is it really worth it? There are a lot more steelhead in the Rogue this year…

UPDATE: Here’s another reason to pay attention to the Sherars counts. If the river is still open to steelhead fishing and 60 or fewer wild steelhead are captured at the trap by October 31, the fishery will close November 15.

It’s better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt. – Mark Twain

For the second time in as many columns, Gary Lewis demonstrated that he has not read Mark Twain. Mr. Lewis is great at describing trips where guides take him fishing but he has an inexplicable need to comment on issues he does not understand. His latest column has this statement about steelhead fishing:

If you value water in rivers and streams in the state of Oregon you should be a supporter of WaterWatch. There really is no organization that has done more to protect and restore flows in our state. If you live near or like to visit Portland, you should consider attending this event on September 24th. Learn more about WaterWatch here and register to attend here.

Yesterday the Bulletin had a story on North Unit Irrigation District’s latest proposed piping project. Unfortunately, the story left out a critical element of this proposal: no water savings will be returned instream. This is unprecedented for a local piping project that is to be primarily funded by public dollars. In contrast, 100% of the water saved by Central Oregon Irrigation District piping projects has been returned instream. This only makes sense, if the public is going to pay for conserving water we should get the benefit for fish, wildlife, and recreation. The public comment period on this project is open until August 10. Learn more here and please take the time to make a comment. Personally, I am not in favor of public financing for purely private benefit. For other ideas on how to use this money, keep reading.

As readers of this blog know, I regularly have opinion pieces published in the Bend Bulletin.  When I submit columns, I do so with extensive documentation of my claims, a sometimes tedious process but one I respect.  Fact-based journalism is one of the pillars of our democracy.  Unfortunately, these same standards are not applied throughout the Bulletin as evidenced by Gary Lewis’ most recent column, “Deschutes River steelhead by the numbers”.

Update on 8/4/2022: Today the Bend Bulletin printed this post I made 2 days ago.

Despite the claim that dams are a form of clean, renewable energy they are being removed in many places across the country due to their lack of cost effectiveness and dramatic negative impacts on ecosystems. Four power generating dams on the Klamath River are slated to be removed next year, the largest dam removal project in US history.  The Bend Bulletin recently published an opinion column stating that dams on the Snake River should not be removed.  Here’s a different viewpoint.

It’s not in Central Oregon, but Snake River steelhead and salmon should be of concern to all of us. Yet another study has recently come out, co-authored by scientists from ODFW, Oregon State University, and US Fish & Wildlife, among others, stating that the dams must be breached to avoid local extinction (extirpation) of these fish as well as pacific lamprey. This follows a draft report from NOAA which came to the same conclusion. Of course, dam lobbyists are fighting back hard and attempting to have the NOAA report altered. Public comments on the report are open until August 10. Here’s an easy way to make your voice heard on this matter.

ODFW has come up a little short of volunteers needed to backpack trout fry into a couple of local high lakes next Wednesday, August 3rd. You will need a backpack that can accommodate 30lbs of fish and water and the ability to carry that either 1.1 or 2.1 miles one way. I have always enjoyed doing this sort of thing in the past and look forward to helping again next week. If you want to come out and play, please contact Jen Luke at jennifer.a.luke@odfw.oregon.gov.

We all need mental health days, I’m just back from 3 of them. That’s my fishing buddy Scott with a wild, native redband trout. We estimate it was right around 8 lbs. I love fishing around here, but you don’t catch trout like that in Central Oregon. The bonus was we only saw a few other anglers in 3 days. Here’s yours truly with a smaller, but still more than respectable fish. I hope you had a great weekend of fishing.

This blog does not talk about politics, but politicians certainly impact the way in which water is managed in our state. Last Sunday the Bend Bulletin had an interesting editorial which provided excerpts from interviews with the three major candidates for governor on the topic of water. I am thankful that the Bulletin has made water a focus area. I encourage you to read the excerpts if water is a factor in your governor selection process. Keep reading for my commentary on the candidate’s statements, if you are so inclined.

Reader of this blog are familiar with the science showing that releasing hatchery anadromous fish has failed to increase returns while negatively impacting the survival of native, wild fish. OPB and ProPublica have released a good article detailing the failure, one of many that have been written over many years. On a related note, as I assumed would occur, the recent decision to stop hatchery steelhead releases on the North Umpqua was appealed to the Marion County Circuit Court which ordered ODFW to release the fish. Not surprisingly, ODFW immediately complied. After all, ODFW management wanted to do this all along regardless of the effectiveness of the program. So much for having an independent ODFW Commission make these sort of decisions.

I camped last Sunday through Tuesday on the Lower D, one of my favorite annual trips. In my opinion, camping is the only way to fish the stonefly hatch. The fishing is best early and late when there are few other anglers, I spend the middle of the day at camp, maybe have a beer and watch the insane crowds float by, and have a relaxing, productive trip. I caught 23 redbands, the biggest I measured at 19″. My fishing partner Scott, did equally well and landed a 21″ bull trout. If you pick a spot where you can row across the river you can fish many miles of water on both sides so you don’t have to bring your own rock to stand on. BTW, the river is in great shape. Don’t believe anyone who tells you otherwise.

I would have bet big against this, but on a 4-3 vote the Commission directed ODFW to stop summer hatchery steelhead releases on the N. Umpqua. This was against the recommendation of ODFW staff. Am I glad I am not on the Commission. It was about 5 hours of testimony on both sides and a lot of people are going to be very angry. Wow. Just wow.

Last night around 9 pm one of Central Oregon District’s main canals breached. Per COID, at the time water was flowing around 250 cfs. “The Pilot Butte Canal conveys water to 17,338 acres along 25 miles between the north end of Bend, through Redmond to Terrebonne.” The breach is near my house, so I took a look. At 9:30 this morning much of the water had drained away, but there was still plenty left. It looks to me that around 3 houses were flooded along with multiple outbuildings and fields. COID says that the cause of the breach is burrowing animals. It seems to me that would make homeowners along the canal who oppose piping reconsider their position.

Last night the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife held a webinar on the outlook for wild steelhead in the Columbia River and Oregon tributaries like the Deschutes. The bottom line is that wild returns in many rivers were the lowest on record last year and are forecast to be even lower this year. For example, only 480 wild steelhead are projected to pass above Sherars Falls on the Deschutes River this year! (Talk about depressing.) While management decisions have not been finalized, the current recommendation is to close all steelhead fishing on both the Deschutes and John Day rivers until returns exceed certain thresholds. Keep reading for more information and a little commentary.

Today the Bend Bulletin published an excellent opinion piece from Tod Heisler on water management in the Deschutes Basin. Tod is the former executive director of the Deschutes River Conservancy, currently with Central Oregon LandWatch, and is one of the most knowledgeable people around on water issues. The themes he writes about are well known to readers of this blog but they need to be repeated until action is taken. We are in a crisis that our “leaders” continue to ignore.

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.