Conservation update: Fly tying night and Sandy Rescue

Fly tying night at Trout Unlimited Chapter 678’s monthly meeting!

When: TONIGHT! Wednesday, January 12th 7pm
Where: Downstairs meeting room on the left at the Vet’s Club, 1626 Willamette St. Eugene.
What: Fly tying night. Bring your pedestal vise, fly tying materials and tools. We’ll be working on our winter steelhead patterns, drinking beer, and talking conservation. Learn from some of our expert fly tyers. Open to the public. We’ll also be going over some conservation news and issues.

Hope to see you all there.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Call on ODFW to restore Sandy River salmon and steelhead

From Spencer Miles: 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.

Runs of salmon and steelhead on the Sandy are currently 3-10% of their historic abundance, and continuing to decline year after year. Much of this decline can be linked to an unaccountable hatchery program. In a recent Portland Tribune article, ODFW District Biologist Todd Alsbury said that reducing the Sandy River hatchery program is a last resort.The ODFW has known for decades that hatchery fish reduce the fitness and long term abundance of wild fish, yet they have demonstrated that they are more interested in protecting their hatcheries than in protecting our wild fish. If future generations are to ever glimpse a spawning salmon, this must change.

Sandy river fall chinook, spring chinook, coho and winter steelhead are currently listed under the Endangered Species Act, and chum salmon have gone extinct.

As a supporter of Oregon’s native fish, take action here.