SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM ❚ WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018 ❚ 3B
Are Willamette steelhead going extinct?
State biologists blame sea lions
for drop in steelhead numbers
Zach Urness Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Winter steelhead began returning to the Upper Wil-
lamette River this month, but according to state biolo-
gists, about 1 in 4 of them won't make it past Willam-
ette Falls.
That's because California sea lions have made the
endangered fish their favorite meal.
Sea lions have been blamed by state biologists for
consuming around 25 percent of the steelhead that re-
turn to the Upper Willamette, tipping the scales to-
ward extinction in rivers including the Santiam, Mol-
alla and Calapooia, all Willamette tributaries.
State officials have sought emergency permits to
euthanize sea lions at Willamette Falls, but the process
has been slow and won’t take place until 2019 at the
earliest.
Here are five things to know about where we stand
in terms of sea lions and steelhead.
Sea lions have been eating steelhead and other fish at Willamette Falls in ever-greater numbers.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ODFW
PUBLIC NOTICE
How bad are Upper Willamette
winter steelhead runs?
Why can’t state officials euthanize sea lions
right now, the way they do at Cascade Locks?
Pretty bad, to the point that experts are increasingly
worried the run could go extinct.
In a normal year — recent history — around 5,600
fish returned to the Upper Willamette. In the 1970s, the
average return was close to 16,000 fish per year.
Last year, that number dropped to 822. This year,
while it’s still very early, numbers don’t look much bet-
ter.
The sudden decline is due to multiple factors —
poor ocean conditions, recent drought and historical
habitat loss due to dams.
But biologists have keyed on the sea lion issue be-
cause it’s seen as the metaphorical straw that breaks
the camel’s back.
“We’re not discounting all the other issues,” said
Bruce McIntosh, deputy fish chief of inland fisheries
for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “But
it’s this very large impact that pushes them into the
extinction vortex.”
At Cascade Locks on the Columbia River officials
trapped and killed 54 sea lions in 2016.
But getting approval to take that type of action isn’t
easy.
Sea lions are protected under the federal Marine
Mammal Protection Act. That means getting approval
to euthanize typically takes years.
ODFW has completed the three-year step of docu-
menting the impact and submitted their application to
NOAA in October, but it takes a deep environmental
review to get approval, and McIntosh said the earliest
they’d get the permits is 2019.
This past summer, ODFW sought a special bypass
due to the "emergency situation," but that requires ac-
tion from Congress, which hasn’t gone anywhere,
McIntosh said.
Why are sea lions a problem?
The steelhead migrating upstream at Willamette
Falls are all herded into one place and make an easy
target for savvy sea lions looking for a meal.
Sea lions have been spotted in the Willamette and at
Willamette Falls since the early 2000s. The steady
growth in numbers started to raise alarm bells around
2011, McIntosh said.
By last year, the number of sea lions feasting on fish
reached around 40, and officials expect similar or
higher numbers this season.
What have officials done, short of killing them,
to stop sea lions eating endangered fish?
State officials have used a variety of “hazing” tech-
niques, that have included rubber bullets, chasing
them off and “sea-lion bombs.”
Last year, officials began trapping sea lions and
moving them.
“The joke with the trap-and-relocate strategy was
that they would end up beating the truck back to Wil-
lamette Falls,” McIntosh said. “All of these solutions
are temporary at best, and in reality, haven’t been
shown to have any real effect.”
This year, officials aren’t doing “any hazing of any
substance,” McIntosh said.
Are sea lions really the blame here?
ODFW is using the sea lion issue “as a distraction
from the real problems facing the fish,” said Sharon
Young, marine issues field director for Humane Soci-
ety of America, last June.
Young said the so-called four H’s — habitat destruc-
tion, hatcheries, harvest and hydropower — have all
had a much greater impact on salmon and steelhead
than sea lions.
“It’s easy to point the finger at sea lions,” Young
said. “But if you kill them, and it doesn’t actually do
much to change the trajectory of the stock because ev-
erything else is so bad, then you’ve just killed them for
no reason. And it’s not clear in this case that just killing
sea lions will fix the problem.”
Travis Williams, executive director of Willamette
Riverkeeper, made a similar point.
“While sea lions certainly have some impact at Wil-
lamette Falls, it is important that we don’t lose sight of
the things that have decimated populations of spring
chinook and winter steelhead in the Willamette Basin
over many decades: lack of fish passage at dams, de-
struction of habitat, and pollution,” Williams said.
“These major issues still need additional action today.”
Zach Urness has been an outdoors writer, photog-
rapher and videographer in Oregon for 10 years. He is
the author of the book “Hiking Southern Oregon” and
can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or
(503) 399-6801. Find him on Twitter at @ZachsORout-
doors.
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The project is proposing to construct a 16 inch water line within
an existing 20 foot City of Silverton right-of-way (ROW) and
measures 2,400 linear feet. The water line is located within the
Township 6S, Range 1W, and Section 35CA of the Marion County
Assessor’s Maps. The line will run from Lane Street at S Third
northeast to Rock Street.
The Pump Station project is located on the Silver Creek at the
end of Wesley Street within Township 6S, Range 1W, and Section
35CC. This includes the replacement of two vertical intake pumps
and a control panel at the existing intake facility.
Project information is available for review at:
City of Silverton
Public Works Department
306 S Water Street
Silverton, OR 97381
(503) 873-8679
If you have any information regarding potential impacts environ-
mental resources or historic properties associated with this pro-
posed project, please provide it in writing to:
U.S. Department of Commerce
Economic Development Administration
Attn: Regional Environmental Officer
915 Second Avenue, Room 1890
Seattle, WA 98174-1012
Comments received in the EDA Seattle Regional Office by 5:00
p.m. Pacific Time on February 24, 2018, will be considered. A
copy of NEPA/NHPA decisional document will be available upon
request at the above EDA Regional Office.
Silverton Appeal February 7, 2018
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The U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Ad-
ministration (EDA) is considering a request for Federal assis-
tance from the City of Silverton to construct a Water Line and
Pump Station in the City of Silverton, Marion County, Oregon.
Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and
the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), EDA is conduct-
ing an assessment of the potential of the proposed project to af-
fect the environment and/or historic properties.
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