Your Comments Can Help Sandy River Wild Fish
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is currently taking comments from the public on four Hatchery and Genetic Management Plans (HGMPs) which seek to maintain the current hatchery operations (coho, spring Chinook, winter & summer steelhead) on the Sandy River.
Please send in your comments to let NMFS and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) know that the science is clear: hatchery fish and wild fish cannot thrive together. With the Sandy River dams removed, and stakeholder groups and the public spending millions on habitat restoration for salmon and steelhead, the time is NOW to manage the Sandy River for wild fish.
For more information check out the draft HGMPs and the draft Environmental Assessment by clicking HERE.
Click on the link below to view and send your comments to NMFS. The deadline for your comments is July 9, 2012
Use your voice to defend Klickitat wild salmon and steelhead!
The Klickitat River in southern Washington is among the crowned jewels of the Pacific Northwest. Long revered for its large native steelhead and spring Chinook, the river has some of the most intact habitat for fish and wildlife in the Middle Columbia Region.
Unfortunately, decades of hatchery released non-native Coho, Skamania steelhead and fall Chinook threaten the survival of Klickitat native salmon and steelhead. Since 1999, native Klickitat winter and summer steelhead have been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Similarly, the native run of wild spring Chinook which once numbered in the thousands has a thirty year average of 300 fish.
Potential expansion of hatchery operations in the Klickitat basin, detailed in the July of 2011 Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) released by Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and the Yakama Klickitat Fisheries Project (YKFP) will further imperil the river’s wild native salmon and steelhead.
The actions within the DEIS do not rely upon the best available science to recover wild
native fish, jeopardizing wild runs by continuing most releases of non-native hatchery fish at or above their current numbers.
BPA and YKFP are required to solicit and respond to public comments during the DEIS process. This means that before anything is changed on the Klickitat BPA and YKFP must respond to the concerns raised during the public comment process.
Click on the link below to send comments to BPA. The deadline for your comments is October 10, 2011.
Comments on DEIS Klickitat Hatchery Complex Program
Discontinue the Snider Creek Hatchery Program on the Sol Doc River
The Snider Creek hatchery takes approximately 50 early returning wild steelhead from the Sol Duc every year however the contract between the Forks Guide Association
and WDFW ends this year and the state is currently weighing options for the future of the program. Early returning wild fish are depressed throughout the state and concerns over
ese meetings and tell WDFW that the Snider Program must be discontinued.the impacts of the hatchery program have prompted many to call for the its termination. It is critical that wild fish advocates turn
out for th
Click on the link below to send comments to WDFW
We freed the river now lets free the fish! — Help end hatchery stockings on the Sandy River!
The Sandy River flows just 20 miles from downtown Portland and has the potential to be one of the healthiest suburban salmon and steelhead rivers in the world. Over the past decade $75 million has been donated towards Sandy River habitat restoration, yet the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife continues to resist any reductions in their Sandy hatchery programs. This is extremely detrimental to wild fish.
Click on the link below to sign a petition asking for ODFW to end its hatchery operations on the Sandy River.
Encourage Lane County Commission to vote for water quality and native fish
Please encourage Lane County to be the leader in Oregon for native fish protections from new development
The Native Fish Society encourages its membership to contact the Lane County Commissioners, urging them to adopt two proposals that will amend the county’s floodplain ordinance and establish a drinking water protection overlay zone. These proposals, if passed, would require the most fish-friendly riparian areas for new development on private land in Oregon. These proposals are a huge step in the right direction, but opposition is stiff, and without strong public support for the proposals, the Commissioners will vote against them.
Lane County was scheduled to vote on these measures on Oct. 26,
but a large public turnout beyond the capacity of the building forced the decision to be postponed to 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 9 at Springfield High School, 875 Seventh St., in Springfield.
Property owners and development interests are sure to be well represented at this hearing, so we hope to see you there to testify for habitat! If you can’t make the meeting, please provide written comments.
MORE INFORMATION: Lane County web page
TAKE ACTION: Fill out our petition to the commission and let them know we value wild, native fish and clean water!
Angling regulations public comment period for the Clearwater River ends tomorrow, September 30.
Please encourage the IDFW to keep the catch and release season, limit the use of bait, keep wild fish restrictions and encourage the use of single of barbless hooks on the Clearwater.
Click here to fill out the IDFW public comment survey to protect wild, native fish.
Keeping the current catch and release season is especially important as the majority of the wild steelhead run on the Clearwater, which is currently only about 1/3rd of the total run, are early-run fish, and the added angling pressure created by removing the catch and release season would greatly increase fishing pressure on these fish. Also, there is currently a harvest fishery on the Clearwater below the Lewiston bridge during the catch and release season, so those who want to harvest fish already have this opportunity.