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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 3, 2016)
Wednesday, August 3, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon 9 Research buoy placed in Suttle Lake By Jim Anderson Correspondent On July 7 a new piece of equipment was anchored in the eastern part of Suttle Lake. It’s another important part of the continuing conser- vation effort to bring sockeye salmon back to their ancestral spawning grounds and under- stand what’s going on above and under the lake’s surface. Frank Conte, a retired USO limnology professor and founder of the organiza- tion that is responsible for the buoy — HLAAF (High Lake Aquatic Alliance Foundation) — is the man behind the buoy. He, HLAAF members and partners put a great deal of effort, money, engineering and dedication into creating the monitoring buoy now anchored in the lake. The organization asks that lake users please stay away from the buoy. Most of the aquatic monitoring equip- ment attached to the buoy is underwater, while the mooring lines are spread out from the buoy in about 63 feet of water. Approaching it with a boat could damage the securing equipment and set off a snowball effect of destruction. If you would like to know more of what’s going on and get the word from the buoy’s handlers visit https://hlaaf. wordpress.com, or attend the next meeting of HLAAF. Efforts to save sock- eye salmon got into high gear around 2012 with the removal of dams and other objects that were block- ing sockeye from reaching Suttle Lake, like the culverts that were under Road 12. FINEFURNITURE LES TAB E FFE CO Adam Bronstein Cra sman 541-410-1309 SpringCreekWoodworking.com Forest Service fishery biolo- gist Nate Dachtler and his crew modified several of the obstructions and other fea- tures that prevented salmon from reaching the lake. Sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka), aka red salmon, or blueback salmon, is an anadromous fish found in the northern Pacific Ocean and rivers such as the Columbia. Native peoples and the European- American pioneers depended on them for food. They can grow to three feet in length and must spawn in freshwater lakes, streams and rivers where they remain until they are ready to migrate to the ocean. Sockeye use patterns of well-lit, open surface waters in the lake, away from the shore. This is the main pho- tosynthetic body of the lake. Because sockeye can change their position in the water column, also adjusting tim- ing and length of feeding and choice of prey to minimize the likelihood of predation, it is vital to understand these factors — which the HLAAF monitoring buoy will help to do. Sockeye, unlike other spe- cies of Pacific salmon, feed extensively on zooplankton, organisms drifting in the lake. Individual zooplankton are usually microscopic, but some, such as copepods and aquatic insect larvae, as well as flying adult insects and shrimp, are larger and visible to the naked eye. It’s their time in freshwa- ter that has prompted the con- servation efforts now under- way by HLAAF and their partners. Sockeye salmon may exhibit many different life histories, but the majority being anadromous — where juvenile salmon migrate from freshwater lakes and streams to the ocean before returning as adults to their natal water to spawn. It’s a long way from the Pacific Ocean, up the Columbia, then up the Deschutes, then up the Metolius and finally into creeks and lakes, that the salmon must negotiate to reach their home waters of Suttle Lake. Not to mention the dams and other restric- tions along the way. The PGE transfer device at the Pelton Dam area is ingenious at helping sockeye get back to their ancestral waters. Upon reaching their home waters, the fish must have the conditions that will not only provide habitat for spawn- ing, but the biological quali- ties that will keep the fry and fingerlings going and pro- vide the necessary biologi- cal and physical attributes to get them past all they have to confront to reach the ocean. The team of people and organizations to make all that happen is varied and dedicated. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs people, PGE, USFS, ODFW, and HLAAF volunteers and members work together to help create the conditions that will provide safe passage for the sockeye, both ways — and at the same time help the sockeye’s landlocked cous- ins, kokanee, to survive in Suttle Lake. The new buoy now anchored in Suttle Lake is sending electronic data that will be available to all the H O L I S T I C H E A LT H C A R E Acupuncture • Chinese Herbal Medicine • Women’s health • Mental/emotional • Muscular/skeletal • Lyme disease Kevin R. Pett, PhD Si 20 nce 01 541 6 541-640-9788 • 392 E. Main Ave. EW — N — Return Years & Youth to Your Face Infi ni® RF Microneedling delivers unparalleled technology deep into your skin to stimulate collagen and elastin. Just a single treatment dramati- AFTER BEFORE cally reduces lines, h il simultaneously i l l tightening i h i skin ki — especially i ll l lower wrinkles, and acne scars, while fac fa ce a and nd n neck ecck — wi with th m inim in im downtime. Additional anesthesia is available. face minimal — FREE Consultations — 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Mon-Fri. or by appt. 541-588-6503 • 354 W. Adams Ave. Jessica Slaughter, Advanced Practice Nurse, & Staff photo by conrad Weiler high Lake Aquatic Alliance Foundation monitoring buoy anchored in Suttle Lake. partners involved on under- As an example of some of standing aquatic conditions the conditions of the lake that within the lake. Water tem- must be understood for future perature; conductivity; pH; salmon dependence: In 2003 chlorophyll (algae); dis- the kokanee—a land-locked solved oxygen; and visible cousin of the sockeye— light (measuring sunlight at measured about 18 inches the surface and at the five- as adults, but in 2016 adults foot depth, which will pro- were found to be only five vide information as to the to six inches long. The buoy visibility of fry and phyto- will help provide vital infor- plankton seen by these ani- mation as to why this is hap- mals as a food source) are all pening, and (hopefully) help monitored. correct it. OPENING AUGUST 5 for a smokin’ good time! Why? It’s the experience. It feels special. 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