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Steamboaters Board of Directors would like to say “THANKS!” to everyone who participated in the ODFW Sport Fishing Regula-tions process, helping to protect the wild winter steelhead that swim the Umpqua. In September the ODFW Commission voted 4-2 to reject the proposed regulations that would allow harvest of wild winter steelhead on the Mainstem and North Umpqua, and unani-mously voted down the harvest proposal on the South Umpqua. The bulk of public input on these regulation proposals was in favor of wild steelhead release, and we are grateful that so many friends of wild steelhead got involved. Know that your support carried the day for these fish. We would like to thank other organizations that support the release of wild steelhead on the Umpqua: Wild Steel-head Coalition, Native Fish Society, The North Umpqua Foundation, Federation of Fly Fishers, and Fly Fishers Club of Oregon. And thanks to fishing guides Scott Howell, Tony Wratney, Gary Lewis, and Dan Taylor, who all spoke out against the harvest regulations at Commission meetings. And finally we would like to thank Dr. Eric Knudsen for all of his hard work on crafting the report A Re-view of the Biology and Management of Umpqua River Wild Winter Steelhead. Dr. Knudsen‟s report underscores many of the flaws in ODFWs scientific reasoning for supporting harvest and gives suggestions on how to manage the fishery to promote wild steelhead stocks, and we believe that his work was influential with the Commissioners. Steamboaters plan to use many of the suggestions in Dr. Knudsen‟s report to help the State and Federal agencies managing the system to craft a conservation-based management plan for Umpqua River steelhead. So with that said, thanks again for your support and hope that you get some time to chase wild winter steel-head on the Umpqua this season.

President’s Message

We‟re over halfway through this winter now, and it's been pretty mild so far with very little precipitation. Concerns are rising about the lack of snowpack and the River is down to 3.7 on the Winchester Gauge. But it's kind of like the bass infestation in Davis Lake – it‟s bad but you might as well enjoy it. December had the River down to June levels and we caught bright summer fish. Right now the winter fish are coming in and Feb/March are looking very good.

Every day now we get depressing economic news and people are obviously cutting back on their spending. We‟ve modified our format for the winter banquet, with the intent of having a get-together while holding down costs. And annual dues are trickling in. I thought it might be beneficial to remind our members what they get for their $25 annual membership fees (some of these are covered in depth elsewhere in this Whistle).

This last year we spent a considerable amount of time and money participating in the fishing regulations process (see Willie Unrath‟s article). The reg‟s now prohibit harvest of wild steelhead, but it was a very narrow decision by the Com-mission. However, ODFW‟s management philosophy favors harvest, and there is no comprehensive management plan for the North Umpqua fisheries. We‟re likely to see this issue surface again.

As a result of the ban on harvesting wild fish, ODFW has received a request to start a hatchery winter steelhead program in the North Umpqua. We‟ve indicated our concern to them and will monitor this issue.

We've met with Forest Service and ODFW staff several times regarding the fish ladder at upper Steamboat Falls, ashave representatives from The North Umpqua Foundation, and a project is now in the works. This structure routinely blocks access for winter steelhead to the upper Steamboat Creek tributaries.

 We hired a video historian to conduct interviews with Frank and Jeannie Moore to capture their personal history and their lifelong association with the North Umpqua. We should have unedited CDs delivered in March and will look into pro-ducing a shorter edited version. We'll make copies available to several fishing and historical museums and to members.

The BLM is planning a pedestrian/bike bridge at the ex-isting abutments below Susan Creek to provide access to the trail on the south bank.

We've been in contact with ODOT regarding the pro-posed bridge over Williams Creek. We‟re concerned about both the timing and the erosion/sedimentation control proce-dures which were initially lacking at the Honey Creek project.

We submitted comments on BLM's Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR) and may join Pacific Rivers and McKenzie Flyfishers in appealing the final decision.

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Fly Tyer’s Corner by Dale Greenley

Clive Stevenson was a resident of Roseburg who fly fished the North Umpqua, South Umpqua and the South Fork of the Coquille rivers in the „40‟s through the 60‟s. A tall, lanky, balding man, he often came into Bill Jones‟ Umpqua Gun Store in the late 60‟s when Joe Howell was working there. Joe reports that he was very personable and quite a talker. He reported catching large steelhead, often on his pet fly, the Stevenson. There must have been some substance to his talk because in 1945 he won the Field and Stream annual fishing contest with an 18 lb. 3 oz. fish from the North Umpqua. Frank Moore recalls that he also won it a few years later with a big winter fish from the Coquille that was a shade under 22 pounds. For many years it was one of the largest fly-caught fish taken in Ore-gon. A loner, Clive was one of the early, serious local fly fishermen who seems to have been lost to the ravages of time. His fly survives in Trey Combs “Steelhead Fly Fishing and Flies.”

The fish ladder at upper Steamboat Falls (right below the campground) routinely fills up with logs, boulders, gravel and debris in the winter and blocks passage by winter steelhead to the upstream spawning tributaries. The structure is owned by ODFW, who also have maintenance responsibility through an easement from the Forest Service. However ODFW has no funds for the necessary im-provements. For the last several years we‟ve had work parties with ODFW staff to remove the blockages but this can‟t happen until the waters drop in late June, too late to help the winter fish. Steamboaters have had several meetings in the last year with Umpqua National Forest officials and ODFW to address the problem. The North Umpqua Foundation has taken the lead on the project and secured a grant from the Jubitz Foundation. TNUF is currently speaking with two passage engineering contractors. The plan is to complete the appraisal this summer. UNF is now writing a request for a quote. Some of the money for the project will come from PacifiCorps North Umpqua hydro mitigation settlement. Both the Steamboaters and the North Umpqua Foundation have pledged money for the project.

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Given the deteriorating economy and the poor turnout last year, the Board decided to have a smaller, less formal (and less expensive) get-together this winter. Mark Saturday, March 28 on your calendars and come to China Palace to socialize a bit with other Steamboaters. We‟ll order off the menu (dinner isn‟t required) and we‟ll have a presentation on Umpqua basin Native American culture/archaeology from Debra Barner, Umpqua National Forest‟s Heritage Program Manager.

Robert H. Williams died Sunday, February 1st, at his home on Rock Creek at the age of 72. Bob graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in accounting and became a CPA, marrying his high school sweetheart, Arlene Workman, in 1957.

It was a smoky summer steelhead season on the North Umpqua this year, with the Rattle Fire that blazed through the Boulder Creek Wilderness. The fire started mid-August by lightning strike and was 100% contained by November 1st. In total 19,775 acres of forest was burned, primarily in and around the area that burned in the 1996 Spring Fire. The area burned within the Boulder Creek Wil-derness is not subject to any human assisted rehabilitation in the form of salvage logging, replanting of trees, or any other form of vegetation management. Out-side of the wilderness there are 3,736 acres of land where salvage logging is al-lowed only if deemed necessary to restore habitat or to remove danger trees. The Forest Service is working with ODOT and PacifiCorp to cut down danger trees and treat potential landslides in and around the burned area. They will cut danger trees that pose risk to State Highway 138, Soda Springs Powerhouse, power lines, forest roads, and recreational trails. Daily monitoring will continue for a number of years until the area stabilizes.

Steamboaters is discussing the possibility of joining Pacific Rivers Council and McKenzie Flyfishers of Eugene in their appeal of BLM‟s Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR). This new management plan resulted from a settlement agreement between the Bush administration and the American Forest Resources Council with the intent of increasing timber harvest above the levels that have occurred under the Northwest Forest Plan. Unfortunately, this plan will be disastrous for water quality and fish. WOPR will cut the width of riparian management areas in half, and allow thinning of up to 50% of the forest canopy within 60‟ of fish-bearing streams. It will more than double BLM‟s forest road system, and will allow logging on BLM land in the Wild & Scenic River corridor. Many of the River‟s tributaries fail to meet temperature standards for salmonids and are listed on the 303d list of water quality impaired streams; this plan will result in higher stream temperatures and more silt in spawning gravels.

The appeal would be based on impacts to water quality and fish, and the failure to develop alternatives that would increase timber harvests without these potentially catastrophic impacts. Other Federal agencies have submitted comments showing that WOPR doesn‟t meet obligations under the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.

On Wednesday, January 28, 2009, the Bureau of Land Management held an open house to summarize and discuss their pre-liminary plans for improvements to the Susan Creek Day Use Recreation Area. The initial plans call for a looped extension to the East end of the existing parking lot. The loop will allow trailers and recreational vehicles to exit the parking lot without having to turn around in the limited space now available. The loop will also provide access to a couple more picnic tables and have a few parking spaces along it. The other improvement will be a trail from the day use area down stream to the bridge abutments. The exact route of the trail is open for public comment. The last couple hundred yards of the trail will entail either moving the highway to the North a few feet or pouring a cement footing along the bank at road level to support the trail. The last part of the improvement is to build a 12 foot wide foot bridge across the old abutments to connect with the North Umpqua Trail. At this time, the section of the trail from Swiftwater Bridge to the Wright Creek Bridge is the longest segment of the North Umpqua Trail. It is 16 miles long. The new Susan Creek Bridge will cut that trail segment in half so it will be 8 miles to Swiftwater and 8 miles to Wright Creek The current 16 mile length causes some problems. It is longer than most day hikers want to walk. Also, some hikers have required rescue because they didn‟t realize how far it was. The new bridge will facilitate rescue and eliminate some of the needs for rescue. The other problem is with trail maintenance. It takes a day to hike in and out from the middle. This leaves no time to work on trail maintenance in the center section of the trail. A bridge at Susan Creek will enable work crews to reach and maintain a section of the trail that is currently not maintained. If all goes according to plan, the project is to be completed by the end of 2010. Questions and comments should be addressed to Gregg Morgan in the Roseburg Office of the Bureau of Land Management.

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STEAMBOATERS

Charter Member Club – Federation of Fly Fishers

Member—Oregon Trout & Pacific Rivers Council