Irishrover
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Sure we don't have the level of fish runs that were here back in the 1850s. True there was gross over fishing and logging took it's toll and along came the dams. But I think we have turned the corner. Things are happening now that provide better habitat for fish. One river that has made a good come back is the Umatilla. I can remember going up to Pendelton and crossing a dry ditch that was the Umatilia river. No so anymore. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZNOJ19y29g
The John Day River is another river that has made a come back. Farmers, Ranchers and others did a lot of habitat work to cool the river down and increase its flow. It is a river with no hatcheries and no dams. If you ever get the chance, it's one river a person ought to fish at least once.
http://www.cbbulletin.com/420824.aspx
Other good work contiues on the Grand Ronde water shed. The Grand Ronde right now is a fantastic steelhead river and the plan is to get chinook amd sockey salmon back there in good numbers.
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/feb/05/steelhead-surge-grand-ronde-river/
Ok enough cut and paste stories.......Lets take a look at the Sandy River. It's one of the few river that actually had a dam remove to help out the fish runs. I wish I still had the video of them blowing up that dam. Now there is no obstruction between the ocean and the head waters the Sandy. I have even seen them working on returning chinook to the Bull Run River.
Over in Central Oregon they have worked out a system to return steelhead, sockeye and chinook to the upper Deschutes, Crooked and Metolius. This is going to open a lot of water for fish to spawn in. Just one more article.
http://www.cbbulletin.com/423220.aspx
Other improvement I have seen are the re opening of the Columbia River to spring chinook fishing. It had been closed for years to get those chinook up river and over to the Handford reachand Idaho. Now I'll admit it's not much of a season but just a few years ago there was no season.
I was also pleased when they let us go back out on the ocean for coho. Back in the mid 1990 they shut it down. BY 2009 we were fishing a three fish a day limit back there out of Newport.
Something EJ said in another thread made me chuckle when he mentioned those wigwam burners. I had almost forgoten about them and all the logging that went on to feed those burners. I can recall driving hwy 99 and seeing all the mills with those burners glowing and sparks flying at night. This was before they put I-5 in. It took a lot of clear cutting to supply the wood for those mills. Now they are gone for the most part. They don't float the logs down the river like the used to. Before my time they used to dam the Sandy River fill it full of logs the blow the dam to get the timber down to the mills. Not a good thing if you are a salmon trying to spawn.
The other good things they have accomplished are taking the fish wheels out of the rivers, stopping horse seining, stopping purse seining, stopping gillnetting in Tillimook bay, the Nestuca River and the Nehalem River. There is still a lot of work to be done and it is going to take time, but I see thing getting better. I have relatives in Idaho who can now fish for chinook and steelhead on the Clearwater River, that's something.
The John Day River is another river that has made a come back. Farmers, Ranchers and others did a lot of habitat work to cool the river down and increase its flow. It is a river with no hatcheries and no dams. If you ever get the chance, it's one river a person ought to fish at least once.
http://www.cbbulletin.com/420824.aspx
Other good work contiues on the Grand Ronde water shed. The Grand Ronde right now is a fantastic steelhead river and the plan is to get chinook amd sockey salmon back there in good numbers.
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/feb/05/steelhead-surge-grand-ronde-river/
Ok enough cut and paste stories.......Lets take a look at the Sandy River. It's one of the few river that actually had a dam remove to help out the fish runs. I wish I still had the video of them blowing up that dam. Now there is no obstruction between the ocean and the head waters the Sandy. I have even seen them working on returning chinook to the Bull Run River.
Over in Central Oregon they have worked out a system to return steelhead, sockeye and chinook to the upper Deschutes, Crooked and Metolius. This is going to open a lot of water for fish to spawn in. Just one more article.
http://www.cbbulletin.com/423220.aspx
Other improvement I have seen are the re opening of the Columbia River to spring chinook fishing. It had been closed for years to get those chinook up river and over to the Handford reachand Idaho. Now I'll admit it's not much of a season but just a few years ago there was no season.
I was also pleased when they let us go back out on the ocean for coho. Back in the mid 1990 they shut it down. BY 2009 we were fishing a three fish a day limit back there out of Newport.
Something EJ said in another thread made me chuckle when he mentioned those wigwam burners. I had almost forgoten about them and all the logging that went on to feed those burners. I can recall driving hwy 99 and seeing all the mills with those burners glowing and sparks flying at night. This was before they put I-5 in. It took a lot of clear cutting to supply the wood for those mills. Now they are gone for the most part. They don't float the logs down the river like the used to. Before my time they used to dam the Sandy River fill it full of logs the blow the dam to get the timber down to the mills. Not a good thing if you are a salmon trying to spawn.
The other good things they have accomplished are taking the fish wheels out of the rivers, stopping horse seining, stopping purse seining, stopping gillnetting in Tillimook bay, the Nestuca River and the Nehalem River. There is still a lot of work to be done and it is going to take time, but I see thing getting better. I have relatives in Idaho who can now fish for chinook and steelhead on the Clearwater River, that's something.
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