Wednesday, January 13, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
11
Trout Unlimited project manager to speak in Sisters
By Craig F. eisenbeis
Correspondent
He has been described
as a man protecting ecosys-
tems “one salmon at a time.”
Darek Staab is the Upper
Deschutes Home Rivers
Initiative Project Manager for
Trout Unlimited, and he will
be speaking in Sisters next
week.
As part of its continuing
quarterly speaker series, the
Sisters Trails Alliance (STA),
will host Staab’s speak-
ing engagement next week.
Staab’s presentation is free
and open to the public. He
has titled his talk “Spring-
fed Rivers and Stewardship:
Conserving our habitat along
trails and streams for our
community’s future.”
STA board member Bjarne
Holm is the coordinator for
STA’s speaker series and
invited Staab to address the
STA forum. According to
Holm, “Darek will share a
mix of work he has under-
taken on the Metolius and
Fall rivers, focusing on out-
door recreation and steward-
ship and how we can help
take care of our waterways
and shared habitat.”
Originally from Utah,
Staab has worked in the
Pacific Northwest for the
past 14 years. His under-
graduate work was com-
pleted in Fisheries and
Wildlife Biology at Utah
State University, and he
holds a Masters of Education
in Natural Science Education
from Western Washington
University. He has conducted
research and education proj-
ects while studying fish and
rivers in the West and Alaska
for 22 years.
Trout Unlimited is an
organization founded in
1959 to conserve and protect
fisheries and watersheds in
North America and to fos-
ter the goal of ensuring the
health and stability of wild
and native trout populations.
Among Staab’s credits, he
played an important role in
the Elwha Dam removal and
Elwha River restoration in
Olympic National Park. The
dam removal, completed in
just the last few years, was
a landmark river restoration
project.
As the project manager
for Trout Unlimited’s Upper
Deschutes Home Rivers
Initiative, Staab has been
based in Bend for the last sev-
eral years. He started a new
youth education initiative
called the “Spring-fed Rivers
Stewardship Program,” which
strives to connect elementary
and middle school students
to their local spring-fed riv-
ers and provide field trips and
classroom visits focused on
river ecology and watershed
stewardship. The program
serves approximately 500
students each school year,
with students typically taking
part in field trips and class-
room instruction.
Holm has a vested interest
in the region’s unique rivers
and streams. As a geologist,
he notes that “The Metolius
and Fall rivers are unique
because they emerge directly
to the surface, fed from a
plumbing system of faults,
fractures and abandoned
lava tubes ... other drainages,
such as Whychus Creek, are
mainly fed directly from
rain and melting snow. The
underground storage of water
under the Sisters region is not
only extensive, but appears,
in part, to be fed by water
seeping into the ground west
of the Cascade volcanoes.”
There were specific rea-
sons why Holm invited
Staab to speak. “I have had
a chance to work with Darek
Staab on a couple of previous
occasions,” Holm explained.
“Working with the Sisters
Science Club, I help to orga-
nize the out-of-district com-
panies and organizations for
the yearly Sisters Science
Fair. Darek Staab has part-
nered with Michael Riehle,
the Forest Service district
fisheries biologist in Sisters
for the last couple of years, to
set up a large fish tank with
live trout and steelhead.”
Holm feels that Staab’s
experience teaching the
region’s natural and cul-
tural history to all age lev-
els deserves an even wider
audience. “Darek Staab
led a full field trip day for
an OSU Master Naturalist
Class I was part of last sum-
mer. The class spent most
of the day in the Camp Polk
Meadow Preserve to study
the ongoing stream restora-
tion efforts along Whychus
Creek. Students examined
all the major aquatic insects
that were returning to the
stream as a result of restora-
tion efforts. Later in the day,
the class was introduced by
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darek Staab will talk stream stewardship in Sisters.
Darek to the stream-bank
restoration efforts along the
Metolius River.”
Next week’s program is
the eighth in STA’s quarterly
series of free public presen-
tations designed to promote
outdoor public recreation and
education in Sisters Country.
The presentation will be held
on Thursday, January 21, in
the Sisters-Camp Sherman
Fire Station Community Hall
in downtown Sisters at 355 S.
Elm St. Doors will open at 6
p.m., and the formal program
will begin at 7 p.m. The pro-
gram is free and open to the
public. Snacks and refresh-
ments will be provided.
For more information
about STA call 541-719-
8822. Additional informa-
tion about STA can be found
on their website at www.
sisterstrails.com.
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