From Native Fish Society
Throughout the September Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission conference, the North Umpqua Union: Native Fish Society, Trout Unlimited, Steamboaters, The North Umpqua Structure, Preservation Angler, and Umpqua Watersheds, revealed their advocacy for a time out of the existing summer season steelhead hatchery program on the North Umpqua River. The time is best and the absence of existing resources makes it simple and easy for the department to execute this adaptive management modification. We wish to make our position clear, we are not requesting an overall closure of the Rock Creek Hatchery centers nor an overall removal of all hatchery programs being propagated at Rock Creek Hatchery, yet an easy time out on summer season steelhead.
Find Out More about the union’s advocacy work listed below and if you have any concerns, do not think twice to get in touch with Southern Oregon Regional Organizer Kirk Blaine today.
September 29, 2021
The North Umpqua Union
ODFW Commission
RE: CMP Adaptive Management Actions– Summertime Steelhead on the North Umpqua River
Dear Chair Wahl, ODFW Commissioners, Director Melcher:
Thank you for hearing The North Umpqua Union’s statement on Friday, September 17 concerning our deep issue for the decrease of the North Umpqua’s wild summer season steelhead population. We are grateful that a lot of you made the time to go to the hatchery and witness the damage brought on by the 2020 Archie Creek fire, that included both the Rock Creek and the North Umpqua watersheds. We likewise thank those of you who met regional supporters practically. Several fires began in the upper North Umpqua Basin this summer season and continue to burn.
To be clear, The North Umpqua Union is promoting for a time out of the summer season steelhead hatchery program, for 2 generations or 10 years, not the elimination of the Rock Creek hatchery center. Prior to burning in 2020, the Rock Creek hatchery center cultivated fish for numerous hatchery programs consisting of spring Chinook salmon, Coho salmon, winter season steelhead of the South Umpqua, and rainbow trout. The Union is asking for a time out of simply one program, not the removal of other programs or centers. We comprehend that ODFW is assessing alternatives concerning reconstructing the center in the future. We support an open public procedure that will take part in assessing those alternatives.
Presently, a hatchery summer season steelhead smolt (juvenile) release is prepared for the North Umpqua River in the spring of 2022, not 2023 as mentioned throughout the Commission conference, contributing to the seriousness of this crucial fisheries management choice. ODFW took 2020 summer season steelhead broodstock to Cole Rivers hatchery days after the Archie Creek Fire. These fish were generated and offspring are presently being raised at Cole Rivers Hatchery up until the spring of 2022 when they will be reminded Rock Creek in the North Umpqua Basin for acclimation and release. In the 2021 September Commission conference, Commissioners requested a complete assessment of options prior to moving on. That suggests this assessment needs to be total and choices about continuing the North Umpqua summer season steelhead program need to be made quicker instead of later on. ODFW has actually likewise gathered hatchery fish that returned throughout the summer season of 2021 for their broodstock in subsequent years.
In concerns to jeopardize, the North Umpqua Union thinks that a time out of the summer season steelhead hatchery program is a compromise. We have actually not requested a decrease in hatchery Spring Chinook launches, which tracking reveals the percent hatchery origin spawners (pHOS) is surpassing CMP targets. We comprehend the social and political worths of the spring Chinook hatchery program to the neighborhood and other stakeholders throughout the whole Umpqua basin. Also, The North Umpqua Union has actually ruled out promoting for the time out or removal of the winter season steelhead hatchery program on the South Umpqua River, something that might rather potentially increase wild populations because basin. We comprehend the social and political worths of this program also. Last but not least, our demand is not requesting an overall removal of the Rock Creek Hatchery center. This action was incorrectly described by others and secured of context in the September Commission conference.
Presently, we are seeing record low wild summer season steelhead returns in the North Umpqua Basin, and we are most likely to see this pattern continue in the lack of management modifications. The time to act is now. Returns in 2021 will likely be 25-40% of the existing crucial abundance limit determined in the CMP set at 1,200 wild summer season steelhead. We ask you to please acknowledge this emergency situation and act prior to it’s far too late. Stopping Briefly the Summertime Steelhead hatchery program is an adaptive management action in positioning with the CMP and the Environment and Ocean Modification Policy. It is the management action that finest reacts to the extreme modification in environment from the Archie Creek Fire by boosting the resiliency of the wild fish population. Wild winter season steelhead, which are growing after the elimination of hatchery raised winter season steelhead, reveal us that wild steelhead can thrive in the North Umpqua River. It’s time to offer wild summer season steelhead the very same opportunity.
All The Best,
The North Umpqua Union
Mark Sherwood,
Executive Director, Native Fish Society
mark@nativefishsociety.org
Dean Finnerty
Northwest Director, Trout Unlimited– Wild Steelheaders United
Dean.Finnerty@tu.org
David Moskowitz
Executive Director, Preservation Angler
david@theconservationangler.org
Jeff Dosage
President, Steamboaters
jfdose@msn.com
Becky McRae
President, The North Umpqua Structure
bmcrae@centurytel.net
Ken Carloni
President, Umpqua Watersheds
ken.carloni@gmail.com
