Living River Film Festival: This October, the McKenzie River Trust invites you to enjoy a weekend of films and events that focus a lens on the amazing landscapes of Oregon, and beyond. These films cast a whole new light on the rivers in our own backyards, exploring and celebrating our relationship to the lands and rivers that surround us.
From historic local footage and family-friendly films, to cutting-edge digital time-lapse, documentaries and Hollywood features – the Living River Film Festival has something for everyone. To enhance the screenings, most films are paired with dynamic speakers. Throughout the weekend, you’ll hear from passionate filmmakers, local historians, and land conservationists in our region, all working to bring you the stories of our region’s land and waters.
Sea-run sockeye salmon returns to Metolius: Last week, a fish biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed the first observed spawning sockeye in the Metolius River in over 45 years.
Mike Gauvin spotted the fish while conducting annual kokanee spawning surveys in the Metolius River near the town of Camp Sherman.
“I saw a flash of red color and was able to see the green tags that confirmed it was a sockeye,” he said. “I stayed very still so I would not disturb the fish and watched it swim over its redd; I snapped a few photos and was able to see the radio tag antenna trailing out of it mouth.”
According to Gauvin, this same sockeye had been captured earlier this summer at the fish trap located below the Pelton Round Butte Dam complex. It was given two green tags to help to identify it as an ocean-going sockeye salmon returning to freshwater to spawn and not a kokanee, a landlocked form of sockeye salmon. It was also given a radio tag so biologists could track its movements through Lake Billy Chinook and up the river. After tagging, the fish was release above the dams to continue its migration.
The fish is one of 85 sockeye released above the dam this year. These fish had spent one or two years in the ocean prior to making their return to the Deschutes River basin.
Coast Fork Willamette Watershed Council hosts watershed restoration workshop: The public, watershed volunteers, forest managers, scout/youth leaders, and trout enthusiasts are invited to a workshop on log placement methods in small streams to be held at Aprovecho 80574 Hazelton Road, Cottage Grove, OR 97424 and is sponsored by the Coast Fork Willamette Watershed Council. Register at Coastfork.org by October 10th. A $25 donation includes lunch. No prior experience or knowledge necessary.
Participants will learn about hands-on log placement practices that are very simple yet effective in improving the aquatic habitat of small streams for species like cutthroat trout. This workshop will provide an overview of the placement of logs to improve aquatic habitat, hands-on log placement into Calico Creek, as well as instruction on tree selection, permitting, and a special focus on how to maneuver material in a riparian zone WITHOUT the use of heavy equipment. Special thanks to Aprovecho, Kennedy Conservation Corps, Oregon Dept of Forestry, Oregon State Parks, Oregon Dept of Fish & Wildlife, and Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board who are all partners in this project.
See you in the creek!
-MS
