GutshotApe
09-16-2002, 02:25 PM
This guest editorial is in today's Eugene Register-Guard, FYI.
GSApe graemlins/program.gif
Lawmakers Need to Save Elk River Hatchery
by Steve Taylor
Here we go again. The Elk River salmon hatchery near Port Orford - which everyone agrees is a model program - is once again faced with imminent closure.
It seems like only yesterday that we all went through this before. The last special session of the Legislature found the funds and the political will to save this hatchery and others from the budgeters' ax. Everyone thought it was settled. Then a new revenue forecast projected that tax income would be even less than expected, and we start all over again. Is this anyway to run a state?
The Elk River hatchery produces nearly half a million chinook salmon smolts annually at a cost of $300,000. That's a lot of bang for the buck. A little more than two-thirds of the fish go to the Elk River and the remainder goes to the Chetco River.
Additionally, 50,000 winter steelhead are raised for the Chetco. Looking at just the Elk River, more than half of the fish returning each year are hatchery fish, and many more are caught in ocean fisheries up and down the coast. Obviously, taking that many fish out of the system will have a profound impact on these rivers and their fisheries.
This is a big deal even beyond Oregon's south coast. Anyone who fishes for salmon in the ocean will be affected - including people in Coos Bay, Newport and as far north as Vancouver Island. A lot of people travel to the south coast to fish these rivers in the fall and winter.
It's impossible to know to what degree he was involved in this particular decision, but Gov. John Kitzhaber has to be held at least partly responsible. It's happening on his watch, and as Harry Truman said, "the buck stops here". Still, it's surprising that this governor, who has been a vocal salmon advocate and never misses an opportunity to be photographed standing in a stream with a fly rod in his hand, would agree to close the Elk River hatchery.
Kitzhaber surely knows, as we do, that all the lip service in the world in favor of restoring our salmon and steelhead runs adds up to nothing if we can't summon the will to support good, well-run hatchery programs to supplement natural production. He also knows that few sstreams will ever support any kind of consumptive fishery - sport or commercial - without help from hatcheries. Is eliminating the Elk River hatchery, a real fisheries success story, a legacy the governor wishes to leave, an accomplishment for which he wishes to be remembered?
But, there's more than enough blame to go around. The Legislature must share some of it for enacting new rules in the last session that severely handcuff the Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife in it's ability to shift funds between programs. This was no doubt well-intentioned and responding to past abuses, but the rules now make it much more difficult to transfer money from far less beneficial activities to maintain hatcheries (such as Elk River) that get money from the general fund. These rules should be changed.
One bright spot in salmon restoration has been the work of watershed councils and other conservation groups that have worked to improve our fisheries. They've done a lot of good; miles of streambank have been re-vegetated, habitats restored and barriers removed.
Even with their good work, the number of actual fish produced doesn't compare with the number produced by the Elk River hatchery. How can we keep these dedicated volunteers motivated when our state government can't manage to fund the most basic, fundamental tools we have to maintain decent fisheries?
Then there is the potential loss of the staff at Elk River, a group with more than 50 years of combined experience here. Closure would cast this talent to the four winds and even a subsequent reopening could not rebuild a staff with similar knowledge of these fish.
Curry County - already on the ropes economically - will take another devastating blow, this time to tourism. Hundreds of fishermen who come here for the fine fall salmon fishery won't any more. Moreover, one of the reasons many of us chose to live here - the good fishing - will be dramatically diminished. Call me cynical, but the bureaucrats and the governor may figure that a sparsely populated area doesn't have enough votes to matter much.
The south coast's legislators - Rep. Wayne Kreiger and Sen. Ken Messerle - are fighting hard to turn this around. They need your support. Others that are interested might contact members of the governor's natural resources staff, the speaker of the House of Representatives, the president of the Senate and the director of ODFW. All Oregonians have a stake in this issue.
--------------------------------------------------------
Steve Taylor of Port Orford is a member of the South Coast Watershed Coordinating Council. He prepared this column as an avid fisherman, not as a representatiive of the council.
GSApe graemlins/program.gif
Lawmakers Need to Save Elk River Hatchery
by Steve Taylor
Here we go again. The Elk River salmon hatchery near Port Orford - which everyone agrees is a model program - is once again faced with imminent closure.
It seems like only yesterday that we all went through this before. The last special session of the Legislature found the funds and the political will to save this hatchery and others from the budgeters' ax. Everyone thought it was settled. Then a new revenue forecast projected that tax income would be even less than expected, and we start all over again. Is this anyway to run a state?
The Elk River hatchery produces nearly half a million chinook salmon smolts annually at a cost of $300,000. That's a lot of bang for the buck. A little more than two-thirds of the fish go to the Elk River and the remainder goes to the Chetco River.
Additionally, 50,000 winter steelhead are raised for the Chetco. Looking at just the Elk River, more than half of the fish returning each year are hatchery fish, and many more are caught in ocean fisheries up and down the coast. Obviously, taking that many fish out of the system will have a profound impact on these rivers and their fisheries.
This is a big deal even beyond Oregon's south coast. Anyone who fishes for salmon in the ocean will be affected - including people in Coos Bay, Newport and as far north as Vancouver Island. A lot of people travel to the south coast to fish these rivers in the fall and winter.
It's impossible to know to what degree he was involved in this particular decision, but Gov. John Kitzhaber has to be held at least partly responsible. It's happening on his watch, and as Harry Truman said, "the buck stops here". Still, it's surprising that this governor, who has been a vocal salmon advocate and never misses an opportunity to be photographed standing in a stream with a fly rod in his hand, would agree to close the Elk River hatchery.
Kitzhaber surely knows, as we do, that all the lip service in the world in favor of restoring our salmon and steelhead runs adds up to nothing if we can't summon the will to support good, well-run hatchery programs to supplement natural production. He also knows that few sstreams will ever support any kind of consumptive fishery - sport or commercial - without help from hatcheries. Is eliminating the Elk River hatchery, a real fisheries success story, a legacy the governor wishes to leave, an accomplishment for which he wishes to be remembered?
But, there's more than enough blame to go around. The Legislature must share some of it for enacting new rules in the last session that severely handcuff the Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife in it's ability to shift funds between programs. This was no doubt well-intentioned and responding to past abuses, but the rules now make it much more difficult to transfer money from far less beneficial activities to maintain hatcheries (such as Elk River) that get money from the general fund. These rules should be changed.
One bright spot in salmon restoration has been the work of watershed councils and other conservation groups that have worked to improve our fisheries. They've done a lot of good; miles of streambank have been re-vegetated, habitats restored and barriers removed.
Even with their good work, the number of actual fish produced doesn't compare with the number produced by the Elk River hatchery. How can we keep these dedicated volunteers motivated when our state government can't manage to fund the most basic, fundamental tools we have to maintain decent fisheries?
Then there is the potential loss of the staff at Elk River, a group with more than 50 years of combined experience here. Closure would cast this talent to the four winds and even a subsequent reopening could not rebuild a staff with similar knowledge of these fish.
Curry County - already on the ropes economically - will take another devastating blow, this time to tourism. Hundreds of fishermen who come here for the fine fall salmon fishery won't any more. Moreover, one of the reasons many of us chose to live here - the good fishing - will be dramatically diminished. Call me cynical, but the bureaucrats and the governor may figure that a sparsely populated area doesn't have enough votes to matter much.
The south coast's legislators - Rep. Wayne Kreiger and Sen. Ken Messerle - are fighting hard to turn this around. They need your support. Others that are interested might contact members of the governor's natural resources staff, the speaker of the House of Representatives, the president of the Senate and the director of ODFW. All Oregonians have a stake in this issue.
--------------------------------------------------------
Steve Taylor of Port Orford is a member of the South Coast Watershed Coordinating Council. He prepared this column as an avid fisherman, not as a representatiive of the council.