Native Fish Society Bids Farewell and Best Wishes to Kirk Blaine, Southern Oregon Coordinator
Kirk and his daughter enjoying their homewaters on the North Umpqua River
Today marks Kirk Blaine’s final day with the Native Fish Society. Over the past four and half years he has served as the Native Fish Society’s Southern Oregon Coordinator, working with our River Steward volunteers and conservation campaigns from the Umpqua River to the Klamath River. Kirk has been an invaluable member of our team and we greatly appreciate his contributions to safeguarding Southern Oregon’s iconic homewaters and native fish.
In early 2020, at the onset of COVID-19, Kirk stepped into his new role at the Native Fish Society with eagerness and determination. He worked with River Stewards, staff, conservation partners, and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife on the development of the Rogue South Coast Conservation and Management plan. Central to this effort was increasing the monitoring and accountability for wild steelhead fisheries along the southern coast. Although we didn’t fully achieve catch and release regulations across the entire region for wild steelhead, thanks to the adopted plan and monitoring, much of the Rogue will be managed catch and release for wild winter steelhead this winter. Additionally, many free-flowing rivers were officially set aside for wild fish management - as wild fish emphasis areas.
Next, in his own backyard, Kirk spearheaded efforts to reform the harmful hatchery summer steelhead program on the North Umpqua River. Kirk’s leadership and collaborative spirit enabled the Native Fish Society to join together with a host of regional and local organizations to form the North Umpqua Coalition. The stakes felt genuinely high in 2021, wild summer steelhead in the North Umpqua at their historic low during this time - not an easy post to have as a local in Roseburg - and Kirk helped all of the coalition partners make the best use of a terrible situation and a rare opportunity to engage the ODFW Commission. We truly saw Kirk’s collaboration skills and abilities come alive during this work and ultimately produced a historic vote from the Commission - to permanently end the hatchery summer steelhead program on the North Umpqua River. Despite a legal challenge, which has delayed a full end to this program thus far, we have faith that as the hatchery summer steelhead releases slow and eventually stop, these iconic wild fish will recover and the efforts of the North Umpqua Coalition, the Native Fish Society, and Kirk will be there at the heart of their comeback story.
Most recently, Kirk has been integral to the coalition efforts to remove the deadbeat Winchester Dam on the North Umpqua River. For years, Winchester Dam has been killing fish and doing so without any accountability from its owners, the Winchester Water Control District. Kirk rallied the local community during last summer's terrible botched attempted repairs to the dam and found a way to use this tragedy to the advantage of wild, native fish and the North Umpqua. Kirk and volunteers were at the dam every day enduring the August heat and wildfire smoke documenting, sharing, and reporting the pollution and fish kills. This grassroots advocacy was pivotal for building the groundswell of public outcry that led to the agencies fining the dam owners more than $27m for fish kills and pollution impacts. As the financial, legal, and social pressure mounts, Winchester Dam’s days are numbered.
Throughout his tenure Kirk also advanced numerous important, albeit lower-profile projects, from barrier removal on the South Umpqua and Shasta rivers; securing millions of dollars of federal habitat funding for the Rogue Basin that recently helped remove Pomeroy Dam on the Illinois River; developing the Rogue Chapter; coordinating the Coastal Chinook Endangered Species Act petition; planning and hosting three Bass Bashes; assisting with the current grassroots efforts to protect the upper Rogue River from commercial jetboats; and increasing Native Fish Society’s partnership with Umpqua National Forest for more wild fish monitoring.
Kirk, we’re incredibly proud of your contributions and wish you the very best in your new role at the Wild Salmon Center. While we’re sad to see you go, we’re glad you won’t be far away and look forward to continuing to work together for the benefit of Oregon’s wild, native fish!
For those of you who would like to stay in contact with Kirk, you can reach him directly at kblaine15@gmail.com.
Kirk’s departure also means that the Native Fish Society will be hiring a new Southern Oregon Coordinator in the near future. If you’re interested, please get in touch with Executive Director, Mark Sherwood at mark@nativefishsociety.org.
