Newsletter

The Glide Wildflower Show, April 29-30, 2023

The largest showcase of native flora in the Pacific Northwest

Features of the show include:

  • Over 600 species of wildflowers, shrubs, trees, mosses, lichens, and ferns, collected throughout Southwest Oregon, artfully displayed and labeled
  • Special displays of edible and medicinal plants, natural dyes, noxious weeds, beekeeping, and photos of endangered flowers
  • Roving botanists available to answer questions
  • Sales of books and field guides; food, drink and homemade pies (a show tradition); and native plants

Presentations from knowledgeable speakers will include:

  • Tour the Show with a Botanist – Dr. Ken Carloni, retired UCC professor of botany
  • Medicinal and Edible Plant Uses – Steven Yeager, Mountain Rose Herbs in Eugene
  • Vegetation After Wildfire – Richard Helliwell, retired US Forest Service botanist
  • Exploring Oregon’s Botanical Diversity: Tools from Oregon’s Flora – Dr. Stephen Meyers, Oregon Flora Project, OSU
  • Guided Wildflower Walks – GWS collectors

The details:

  • Location: Glide Community Center, Glide, 17 miles east of Roseburg on Highway 13
  • $3 suggested donation
  • 9 am to 5 pm both Saturday and Sunday, with a photographers-only hour from 8 to 9 am
  • Handicapped accessible

 

Visit www.glidewildflowershow.org for more information. If you have questions or would like advice on planning your outing, email info@glidewildflowershow.org.

Kirk BlaineThe Glide Wildflower Show, April 29-30, 2023

A Message from the Steamboaters

By Kirk Blaine – February 6, 2023

As 2022 has come to a close and we have embarked 2023, the Steamboaters have been reflecting upon the work we completed this past year. From working to restore an all wild steelhead North Umpqua to increasing pressure on the owners of Winchester Dam, The Steamboaters are fighting to help conserve and protect the North Umpqua River and those wonderful fish that call it home.

2022 started rough. We experienced a relatively low winter steelhead return over Winchester dam, seeing 5,359 wild fish compared to the outstanding year of 2020 where the North Umpqua saw 10,131 winter steelhead. We received a late push of rain in April of 2022 to help bump the rivers up and get any straggling steelhead up to their native spawning grounds.

The spring continued to see copious amounts of water to help rejuvenate the entire Umpqua basin. Flows remained high through the early summer, worrying folks who were actively monitoring the wild summer steelhead that returned to the “Bend Pool” up Steamboat Creek. It wasn’t until mid to late June that flows dropped and the caretaker, Ed Kukimoto, observed the first fish of the year returning to the basin.

Summer continued with sustained flows of what seemed to be good fishing. Anglers were encountering fish consistently, a welcomed change from a closed river in 2021. Flows remained relatively stable, and the water temperatures did not get excessive until late summer. Only a few days did the temperatures reach dangerously high levels for fish. Unfortunately, we as anglers stand out at how good we are at catching fish, regardless of population size. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife counted a total of 1,346 wild steelhead over Winchester Dam. The second lowest run of wild fish ever on record (factoring in the harvest of wild summer steelhead below Winchester Dam pre 90’s). Through anecdotal observations and personal experience, it is likely we caught most of those 1,300 fish that returned this year. A reminder that we must practice the best catch and release techniques and actively limit our negative impacts. 

Through early 2022 we worked collaboratively with other groups including The North Umpqua Foundation to help restore an all-wild steelhead North Umpqua. We were successful in encouraging the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission to adopt this change for future management within the basin. An encouraging decision that will provide long-term positive effects to wild summer steelhead, maybe not for us, but for future generations who wish to continue to interact with these iconic fish.

Unfortunately, Douglas County and a local fishing guide decided to file a lawsuit against the commission, halting the implementation of the decision. The status quo will continue until the courts make a final decision in the next four months. 

The Steamboatyers continue to work to bring the rule of the law to Winchester Dam. Something new board member and WaterWatch Southern Oregon Program Director Jim McCarthy has been monumental in pushing forward. We are actively involved in litigation with the Winchester Water Control District over the take of ESA Listed coho salmon. There continues to be a massive hole in the south abutment of the dam. An inappropriate piece of conveyor belt covers the connection between the dam face and the fish ladder. Rebar is exposed on the fish ladder stem walls just below this false attraction flow. We have been referring to this as the fish spearing station. Winchester Dam still fails to meet state and federal fish passage regulations. I share this to illustrate the complete neglect dam owners have for our fish.

Owners intend to repair the dam summer of 2023. They have applied for and received a permit to block fish passage from August 1- August 28, the tail end of historic peak summer steelhead migration. Steamboaters are discussing this obsurd decision by ODFW to allow these actions. In 60’s and 70’s owners were allowed to block the dam for almost a month, causing complete outrage among fishermen and the community. We will continue to ask ODFW to reconsider this decision. 

Lastly, late last fall, the Steamboaters partnered with the National Forest Foundation and the United States Forest Service (USFS), Umpqua National Forest, to host a tree planting up Copeland Creek, a tributary of the North Umpqua River. Around 25 volunteers, both Steamboaters and gracious public volunteers, planted around 500 trees on 1.5 miles of a decommissioned road. This work will decrease sediment runoff, keeps summer water temps down, and increases instream flows. All positive improvements for our wild fish.

As an organization we will continue this habitat work in 2023. We met with USFS Biologists before the new year to discuss how our work could benefit the forest. We plan to apply for numerous habitat grants and will continue to help with riparian planting post Archie Creek and Jack Creek fires.

2023 will be big year for the Steamboaters. We have embarked on crafting a three to five year strategic plan outlining projects or areas we will focus our work on. We will continue our advocacy for an all wild steelhead North Umpqua. The pressure will continue on Winchester Dam, and we look forward to continuing to work with our partners to improve habitat in the upper watershed. 

The Steamboaters will continue to host social gatherings to help share our conservation efforts and create a community working to protect and enhance the North Umpqua River. 

All this to say, we couldn’t do this work without your support. To all the new and historic members, we thank you. Your consistent advocacy and willingness to be apart of the Steamboaters is what makes our work possible. We thank you for this and hope you continue to be a positive voice for the North Umpqua and the fish that call it home. In June, we plan to host a celebration of our work and gather with all Steamboaters and interested folks on the banks of the North Umpqua River. We hope to see you there. 

If you have any questions or thoughts about our work, we encourage you to reach out today. Send us and email at Steamboaersboard@gmail.com.

Kirk BlaineA Message from the Steamboaters

Steamboaters Social Roseburg

The Steamboaters invite you to join us on Tuesday, December 6th at North Forty Brewery in downtown Roseburg for an evening gathering! Grab a beer or two and join a community working to conserve and protect the North Umpqua River. The event starts at 5:30 pm, but feel free to join whenever you can make it. We will gather in the upstairs loft, so see you there!

If you plan to attend, please RSVP by sending a message to steamboatersboard@gmail.com.

 

Kirk BlaineSteamboaters Social Roseburg

Lenny Volland – over 20 years and still giving to the North Umpqua River

Lenny Volland recently retired from Steamboaters’ board, and we want to send a big “THANK YOU” to Lenny and his wife Georgie of 58 years, for your contribution to the North Umpqua River.

Lenny was a PHD in Forest & Rangeland Ecology for the Forest Service, beginning back in the 1960s, and worked throughout the Pacific NW, including Idaho, the Klamath Falls area, and the Region 6 office encompassing the Pacific Northwest.

Lenny served on our board for the last dozen years.  He thought our main contribution was based on our credibility, our reliance on the facts and scientific analyses, and our presence and involvement with state & federal agencies in the issues that affect our river and our fish.

Lenny brought a professional perspective to many of the issues facing the North Umpqua and her fishery, and his experience from years working in the Forest Service helped us to interact and advocate more effectively with the agency.

We will miss having Lenny on the board but know he will continue as a Steamboaters member and giving back to the river he cares so much about.

Lenny and Georgie

Lenny on South Umpqua River

Lenny fishing his homewaters, North Umpqua River

Kirk BlaineLenny Volland – over 20 years and still giving to the North Umpqua River

Habitat Restoration by Umpqua National Forest and National Forest Foundation

The Umpqua National Forest in Partnership with the National Forest Foundation recently completed a road decommission project to reduce sediment input in Copeland Creek, an important tributary for native fish in the North Umpqua Basin. Photos below are of the project underway.

Kirk BlaineHabitat Restoration by Umpqua National Forest and National Forest Foundation

Annual North Umpqua River Trash Pick Up

You’re Invited! Steamboaters will be hosting their annual Hwy 138 Road cleanup with the decreased road construction! 

On Saturday, August 20th, at 9:30 am, the Steamboaters and other volunteers will gather at Bogus Creek raft put-in to distribute bags, trash grabbers, and vests. We will help direct folks on where to pick up trash that day. The cleanup will finish at 12:15 pm and meet at Susan Creek Day Use Area for refreshments provided by the Steamboaters. Multiple Steamboaters Board members will be there for conversations or questions. 

If you would like to join, please email Steamboatersboard@gmail.com. We hope everyone can make it for a beautiful day giving back to the River. 

Who: Anyone interested in cleaning up the Wild and Scenic North Umpqua River

What: Trash Pickup with refreshments afterward

When: Saturday, August 20th, 9:30 am refreshments at 12:15 pm 

Where: Bogus Creek Raft put-in

How: Folks will split up and tackle multiple sections of the river. We will organize folks in the morning to cover different river sections. Please bring adequate clothing and water. 

Kirk BlaineAnnual North Umpqua River Trash Pick Up

Multiple Updates for the North Umpqua River

By Joe Ferguson – June 23, 2022

Fish Creek/Copeland Creek Aquatic Restoration

Steamboaters has sent a letter of support to Umpqua National Forest endorsing the proposed Aquatic Restoration project on Fish Creek and Copeland Creek.

In both of these drainages, the projects will commence a couple of miles above the River, and include placement of boulders and logs in the stream and may include bank stabilization in some areas.  The project is identified as aimed at anadromous fish, and will clearly benefit steelhead in Copeland Creek.  It’s unclear how much of the project area on Fish Creek is accessible to salmon or steelhead, but as Bob Nichols, UNF’s Fisheries Program Manager points out, improving the health of the creek and riparian area will benefit downstream areas as aquatic invertebrates and increased amounts of wood eventually wash downstream.

Steamboaters offered to help with monitoring, both in gathering baseline data and in ongoing evaluation of the benefits, either on-the-ground surveys or with funding, particularly on Copeland Creek.

ODFW’s Proposed Fish & Wildlife Agreement with the Coquille Tribe

ODFW has adopted an agreement with the Coquille tribe implementing Oregon’s treaty obligations relating to fish and wildlife management and the tribe’s rights to harvest in their traditional area.  (www.dfw.state.or.us/tribal_relations/docs/Coquille_Agreement.pdf).

The draft still leaves many of the details to be worked out, but appears to grant extensive hunting, fishing, and harvest rights; the area includes all of Lane, Douglas, Coos, Curry, and Jackson Counties (map of the area is on page 24 of the draft).

Hatchery System Impacts Analysis

On May 24 ProPublica and OPB produced an in-depth report on the failure of hatcheries to provide anadromous fish to replace the lost production from dams and habitat degradation.  The report focuses on the Columbia River but also discusses the problem from a larger perspective.

https://www.propublica.org/article/salmon-hatcheries-government-climate-change

Kirk BlaineMultiple Updates for the North Umpqua River

A Message from our Partners at The North Umpqua Foundation

May 14, 2022

News from the Big Bend Pool – A message from our partners at the North Umpqua Foundation

Beginning with the summer of 1992, The North Umpqua Foundation (TNUF) has provided a caretaker at the Big Bend Pool and we are pleased Ed Kikumoto will be returning to that position again this year. Ed is in the process of setting up the visitor’s area which will again be open to the public.

The North Umpqua Foundation sends a big thank you to Kirk Blaine, President of the Steamboaters, for hauling the Air Stream trailer up to the Big Bend Pool on May 14th, just another example of the way the two organizations work together for the river.

Hope to see you there!

Kirk BlaineA Message from our Partners at The North Umpqua Foundation

North Umpuqa Summer Steelhead – Wild is the Future

April 5, 2022

It’s official, only 449 Wild Summer Steelhead returned to the Iconic North Umpqua River last year, the lowest run on record. It is an emergency and we must take action to do everything we can to restore these fish.

For decades, conservationists, including legendary Steamboater Frank Moore, have been working to protect this fragile run of wild steelhead. Recently, the Steamboaters have been a part of the North Umpqua Coalition, a group of conservation organizations working together to restore an all wild steelhead North Umpqua. Our mission is simple – focus on the management practices we can control and we know work. In the North Umpqua, we don’t look far for answers because the river’s wild winter steelhead show us the way.

Three decades ago, fisheries managers elected to end hatchery releases of winter steelhead into the North Umpqua. They invested in habitat restoration after decades of extensive logging and managing winter steelhead for the wild genetics and diversity, not fish reared in other watersheds or concrete raceways. Since then, the run has seen a dramatic recovery. In 2020, ODFW reported over 10,000 fish crossing Winchester dam and in 2015 over 13,000 wild winter steelhead made the journey over the dilapidated dam. This, by far is the largest run of wild fish in the entire Northern Oregon Coast.

In 2020, the Archie Creek fire obliterated ODFW’s Rock Creek Hatchery in the Umpqua Basin. In response, ODFW moved hatchery programs to Cole Rivers hatchery on the Rogue River in Southern Oregon. After rearing there, those fish have been moved back up to the North Umpqua Basin.

The Coalition is asking ODFW to pause the planting of hatchery summer steelhead in the North Umpqua River starting this year. To be clear: we aren’t asking for an elimination of all hatchery programs in the basin, we are focused on the summer steelhead in the North Umpqua.

ODFW’s own monitoring shows that too many hatchery fish are spawning in the North Umpqua, and have been for decades. The Steamboaters are simply requesting that ODFW follow their own conservation management plan. This plan was adopted in 2014 to help restore and conserve multiple species of salmon, steelhead and cutthroat trout on the Northern Oregon Coast. It is absurd that ODFW will not comply or enforce their own rules and regulations in fisheries management.

To outline the science and give a historical perspective we go to Jeff Dose, current Steamboaters president, and retired fisheries biologist of the Umpqua National Forest. Jeff worked in the North Umpqua Basin for over thirty years and deeply understands the hydrology, biology, and ecology of the entire watershed. There’s no better person to provide insights on why a pause to the summer steelhead hatchery program is part of the solution to giving the North Umpqua’s iconic wild fish their best chance to rebuild their numbers.

A Change in Management for the Future of Wild Summer Steelhead

By Jeff Dose, Steamboaters President

The topic I’d like to address is what I clearly believe is a needed, and appropriate, change to the Coastal Multi-species Management Plan (CMP).  Specifically, since adoption of the CMP, there has been some substantially changed conditions to the environment within the North Umpqua basin from the Archie Creek fire and accelerated climate change.  There has also been a changed condition with the status of the wild summer steelhead population, with a substantial declining trend.  I believe plan amendments are entirely appropriate.  Changes from the original assumptions regarding wild NU summer steelhead involve both biological and environmental factors.

Habitat quality is already problematic in some parts of the watershed and will undoubtedly be further reduced from decreased water quality, sedimentation, simplification of stream channels from landslides, among other factors.  The biological conditions are such that there has been a decline from the observed abundance of 3,200 from which the CMP is based, while counts of wild summers at Winchester Dam have actually declined to under 2,000 for 4 of the last 6 years, with the 2021 run at about 350, the lowest on record since counting began in 1946. This is a major movement away from the desired abundance and towards the critical abundance of 1,200 identified in the CMP.  They are classed as Sensitive – Vulnerable and proactive management of existing threats is warranted.  It was true then and new information supports the need for even greater actions. If information appears to show that progress is not being made towards desired status goals, or declining towards critical abundance levels, the ODFW will consider if additional actions need to be implemented.  I strongly believe this is the case.

Please note that in an OAR for steelhead management goals there is direction to protect wild populations of steelhead from detrimental interactions with hatchery fish. The literature clearly shows that hatchery fish have the potential to cause either genetic or ecological (i.e, competition or predation) impacts on any population with which they spatially and temporally overlap.  They certainly do overlap in the case of NU summer steelhead at both juvenile and adult life stages.  The desired proportion of hatchery fish in the natural environment (pHOS) goal is to not exceed 10%.  This is either unmet or not accurately measured and is estimated to be over 30%.  Many of the returning hatchery summers counted at Winchester Dam are not accounted for in harvest or the Rock Creek trap.  Some indication of where they go, and likely spawn, is counts at Soda Springs Dam, which is some 40 miles upstream from Rock Creek.  In some years the number of hatchery summers has equaled and occasionally greatly exceeded wild summers.

The environmental and biological conditions affecting the long-term persistence and abundance of wild NU summer steelhead is putting them at great risk.  The potential social and economic benefits from a robust run of wild NU summer steelhead is great but is threatened.  One action that the ODFW and the Commission, can take to reverse this trajectory is to amend the CMP to eliminate the NU summer steelhead hatchery program.  We are not asking for a complete cessation of all hatchery programs, just a pause in the NU summer steelhead hatchery program for 10 years, which equates to about two generations.  It won’t solve all the threats but will go a long way towards that goal.  One final thought, the genetic diversity inherent in a wild steelhead population will provide for greatly improved resiliency that will be needed to cope with the anticipated future changes in environmental factors.  There is no better biological insurance policy.

On April 7th, ODFW will be hosting a webinar discussing the future of Summer Steelhead in the North Umpqua River. The webinar will feature Dr. Megan Jones, a social scientist with ODFW and a member of the ODFW science team. There will be a presenation followed by questions and answers. Please join to share your concerns about the future of Summer Steelhead in the North Umpqua River.

On April 22nd, the ODFW Commissioners will be reviewing the situation of North Upmqua Summer Steelhead. The Steamboaters will be at that commission meeting asking ODFW to comply with the Conservation Management Plan adopted in 2014. Please join us in person that day or over the phone testifying to the Commission.

Kirk BlaineNorth Umpuqa Summer Steelhead – Wild is the Future