The Caddis Fly: Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

A recent application by Chetco River Mining & Explorations, LLC proposes to mine for gold between river miles 14 and 38 on the Chetco River in southern Oregon including sites within the Kalmiopsis Wilderness and Federal Wild and Scenic designated portions of the Chetco River. The Chetco and its substrate is critical habitat for the Southern Oregon/ Northern California Coho ESU.

Coho are present only in small numbers in the watershed and their fry and yearling are particularly vulnerable to manmade disturbances in watersheds. The reason for this is that while the majority of Oregon fall chinook migrate almost immediately upon yolk absorption to estuary habitats, coho remain in freshwater for approximately 18 months before heading to sea. This is one reason why Oregon coho are in so much trouble while chinook persist in relative abundance.

The company plans to use an 8” suction dredge to temporarily remove up to 177 cubic meters of gravel from the Chetco annually passing it through a sluice and back into the river. The mining is proposed at nine existing placer gold mine claims. Because the claims were in existence in 1983, mining activities are permitted to continue even within the Wilderness and Wild and Scenic areas.

In addition to impacting threatened coho, the proposal will also impact spawning habitat for fall chinook and winter steelhead.

With the price of gold on the rise, we are likely to see more attempts such as this one on rivers throughout the state, particularly in southern Oregon.

For those of you that fish the Elk and Sixes rivers in Southwest Oregon, I’m sure you’ve been following the Sportsmen for Copper-Salmon Wilderness campaign to protect the Elk River’s headwaters. This wilderness proposal has support from both of Oregon’s senators — Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith.  It also has the support of the local chambers of commerce, Governor Kulongoski, the mayor of Port Orford Oregon and a slew of environmental and sportfishing organizations.

So what’s holding this up? Oddly enough, it’s some jackass senator from Oklahoma that doesn’t have a damn thing to do with Oregon. Tom Coburn (the guy trying to bring guns into the National Parks against the will of park employees) is strangling Copper-Salmon, and a slew of other wilderness bills in Oregon.

The Register-Guard ran an editorial today, blasting Coburn for holding up popular wilderness bills in Oregon. The Mail Tribune in Medford ran an article about Kulongoski’s efforts to push this legislation forward.

Help keep pressure on Coburn by calling his office in DC (202-224-5754) and telling his staff how important the Elk River fishery is to you and other Oregon sportsmen. Or email Coburn and give him a piece of your mind.

The Medford Mail Tribune reported today that Jackson County received a $100,000 grant to study the composition of sediment behind the century old Gold Ray dam. This is a necessary first step in determining whether to notch, remove or improve passage at the 35 foot tall structure.

Gold Ray dam is a former hydroelectric dam that was decommissioned 35 years ago. With the removal of both Savage Rapids and Gold Hill diversion dam planned and in process, Gold Ray will become the last barrier to a free flowing river for 157 miles from the Pacific to Lost Creek Lake. In fact, improving or removing Gold Ray dam is ODFW’s fifth highest priority for enhancing salmonid passage in the entire state of Oregon. Once Savage Rapids and Gold Hill dams are removed, Gold Ray will remain the single largest artificial barrier in the basin. Upstream of Gold Ray there are 333 miles of spawning and rearing habitat available to sixth different runs of salmonids.

“We’re been wanting to do something for years, but funding hasn’t been there,” said Lin Bernhardt, the county’s natural resources manager. “Now, for fish-passage reasons, the priorities have increased and the attention has increased.

“It’s doing absolutely no good. In fact, it’s doing lots of harm,” Bernhardt said. “We need to figure out how to deal with those issues.”

This should be good news for the Rogue’s salmon and steelhead populations.–Karl