Wednesday, April 29, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
9
Saving Lake Abert was focus of BBR symposium
By Jim Anderson
Correspondent
Professor Frank Conte,
retired OSU limnology profes-
sor (emeritus) living in Camp
Sherman, has a long love affair
with Oregon’s only salt lake,
Lake Abert, located in Lake
County. He used Lake Abert as
a living textbook for his OSU
students’ studies, and sent
graduates out to follow careers
in water-related work over the
years he taught at OSU.
However, the object of Prof.
Conte’s affection is — as we
speak — dying. This undeni-
able fact has plagued Conte for
years, and each year his frus-
tration has become more acute.
As a result, he has contacted
resource managers, conserva-
tionists and politicians again
and again — all to no avail.
Last Friday and Satur-
day, Conte took another step
toward creating awareness of
Lake Abert’s situation by put-
ting on a two-day Lake Abert
educational symposium, shar-
ing what is known about the
lake’s past, present condition,
resources and future.
The symposium began at
the Camp Sherman headquar-
ters of the conservation group
Conte leads, High Lakes
Aquatic Alliance Founda-
tion (HLAAF) under the title:
Lower Chewaucan Aquatic
Ecosystem. (Chewaucan is
pronounced, She-wah-can, a
Warm Springs Confederated
Tribal name.)
The kick-off speaker
was Dr. Ron Larson, retired
USFWL wildlife biologist,
who spoke about “Lower
Chewaucan Basin Ecosystem-
Model of Drought Impact on
Water Levels of Lake Abert.”
Like Prof. Conte, Dr. Lar-
son shares an extensive work-
ing relationship with Lake
Abert, and is as concerned
about the present condition
of the lake as Conte. Larson
spoke of what drought is doing
to the lake, the irreplaceable
brine shrimp fishery, vanishing
shorebird habitat and ecosys-
tem that are in such jeopardy.
He was followed by cli-
matologist Dr. Stephen Bieda,
who addressed the science that
is resulting in the Great Basin
drought, and affecting the
snow cover of the Cascades.
Dr. Bieda’s collection of data
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left no stone unturned as he
addressed the reasons behind
the present drought, and what
we can expect in the future.
However, he qualified much of
his work by speaking about the
problems of coming up with a
full picture of what many are
calling climate change, when
he addressed “the things we
know we don’t know.”
Dr. Bieda’s data collection
left no questions as to what
is causing the present — and
upcoming — drought that is
affecting Lake Abert and much
of the Great Basin; data other
scientists can hang their hat on.
The only question that remains
unanswered is: “WHY?”
The afternoon session pro-
vided private water-users of
the Chewaucan River to state
their vision of their uses of the
water as it flows on its way
to become what will be Lake
Abert.
Conrad Weiler, a resident
member of HLAAF living in
Camp Sherman, had this to say
about the afternoon session:
“One of the saddest stories
came from one of Lake Abert’s
fishermen and his wife. ‘We’ve
had our (brine shrimp) fishing
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business at Lake Abert for 35
years, and it’s gone,’ he said. ‘I
just want the answer to what’s
causing this.’ Nobody in the
audience had one.
“One of the better points
made during the afternoon ses-
sion was the need for every-
one involved with Lake Abert
to come together and try for
a solution, rather then bat-
tling each other with blame.
Whether alfalfa, hay, or cat-
tle were taking more water
from the Chewaucan River
as it flows into Lake Abert, it
appears there is just less water
as drought conditions con-
tinue. It also appears from pro-
jection data that this dry condi-
tion will continue.”
The all-day Saturday
HLAAF symposium held at
Black Butte Ranch began with
an address by Professor Conte
regarding the educational
objectives of this session, and
his hope for feed-back on what
was addressed during the two
days.
He was followed by Dr.
Lewis W. Oring, retired pro-
fessor (emeritus) of natural
resources from the University
of Nevada, Reno, presented
findings on shorebirds dem-
onstrating the irreplaceable
role of Lake Abert as a refu-
eling resource for shorebirds
about to begin their long, non-
stop migratory flight to South
America.
Dr. Annette Henry, biolo-
gist for NOAA working out of
San Diego, California, talked
with local shorebird rehabber
Elise Wolf of Sisters. They
enjoyed a long, detailed dis-
cussion on what they have
seen and do when discovering
grebes falling out of the sky
after running out fuel.
Dr. Henry said: “It was
worthwhile to get everyone
together to engage in a con-
versation on Lake Abert. The
educational section was very
good—but we leave without a
direction and knowing the next
steps.
“I recommend forming a
steering committee to create a
path forward. The committee
should be comprised of experts
of different areas of the lake. A
panel of hydrologists should
review the Lake Abert infor-
mation to close the loopholes
on the reasons for the lake dry-
ing up.”
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