US. POSTAGE
BULK RATE
PERMIT NO. 2
IN THIS
ISSUE
Indian W eek
Logging
K ids C orner
R odeo
S p ily a y T ym oo
Coyote News
WARM SPRINGS. OREGON 97761
VOL. 3 NO. 9
Macy Promoted To
Operations Manager
Bob Macy becam e O pera
tions Manager at Warm Springs
Forest Products Industries as of
Monday, May 1. He stepped into
the new position a fte r having
been Administrative Assistant
at the m ill for the p ast five
years.
His promotion was announc
ed during the presentation of the
W SFPI Annual R eport a t the
General Council Meeting held at
the Agency Longhouse Monday
evening, April 24. The announce
m ent was m ade by the new
WSFPI General Manager, Ralph
Demoisy.
In announcing the. prom o
tion, DeMoisy said th at Macy
has a good background for this
new position. “ He has a lot of
budgeting and planning experi
ence and,” said DeMoisy, “he’s
ready.”
In his new capacity as Oper
ations M anager, Macy will be
responsible for the sawmill oper
ation, the energy plant, tru c k
ing, the planer operation, the log
yard, and loading dock o p era
tions.
As O perations M anager,
Macy is now part of a manage
ment committee which also con
sists of the G eneral M anager,
Logging M anager, C ontroller,
Lumber Sales Manager, and the
Plywood-Veneer and Mainten
ance-Purchasing
superintend
ents. I
According to DeMoisy and
P ersh Andrews, who re tire d
April 30, “ there has been good
response to Bobby becoming
Operations Manager.”
BOB MACY — NEW WSFPI OPERATIONS MANAGER
In addition to his other du
ties, Macy will be very much
involved with the M aster De
velopment Study being conduct
ed for the mill.
A forestry graduate, Macy
has been with the Warm Springs
Forest Products Industries since
May 1972.
MAY 5, 1978
Tribes Seek Planning . . .
Recreation On The
Metolius Faces
Uncertain Future
tal upsets” were cited as efforts
of uncontrolled recreational use
of the lake.
The Tribes are not alone in
their attempt to spark communi
cation among recreational user
groups in Oregon. As T ribal
Wildlife biologist Terry Luther
pointed out a fte r the hearing,
increased leisure tim e m eans
heavier use and more competi
tion a t re c re atio n a l sites. The
controversy raging over power
boats on the Deschutes River is
just one other instance of com
peting users.
“ It’s good to start looking at
it before it gets out of han d ,”
said Luther, noting that it’s only
a m atter of time before restric
tions will become necessary.
Behind the T rib e s’ recom
mended speed limit are contin
planning.
ual complaints from small boat
A long history of concern
about the use df waters border fishermen who are disturbed by
ing the reservation led up to the the noise and w aves of la rg e r
T ribal Council’s request for a boats. Luther said at the hearing
that the Tribes feel an obligation
hearing.
In a M arch le tte r to Stpte to protect those to whom they
M arine Board directo r B rad extend the privilege to fish.
Those fis h e rm e n were
M orris the Council suggested
lowering speed limits and there noticeably absent (or quiet) at
by eliminate skiing on the Meto the hearing. L uther suspected
lius Arm, half of which lies on that the psychology of “he who
the reservation. “Soil erosion, stands to lose som ething”
disturbance of fish habitat and
wildlife, and other environmen CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Hopes for mutual recreation
al planning on the Metolius Arm
of Lake Billy Chinook were
temporarily dashed at thé State
Marine Board hearing April 24
when discussion gave way to
emotion; boaters, water skiers
and property owners joined in a
loud “no” to restrictions recom
m ended by the W arm Springs
Tribal Council.
About 200 people crammed
the Madras City Council Cham
bers to listen or re g iste r their
opposition to the proposal, but a
dialogue never developed.
Members of the Council said
afterward that they would take
the opportunity at the upcoming
Marine Board hearings on May
31-June 1 to further “educate”
us< rs and recom m end joint
Spring Chinook Season Closed Indefinitely
The peak of the spring chi-
nook salm on run in the upper
Columbia appears to have pass
ed, said Oregon Department oi
Fish and Wildlife biologist Ber
nie Bohn this week. He added
th at he was “ not o p tim istic”
about the opening of the river to
commercial fishing this year.
Because of the dismal out
look for the spring run, Colum
bia River Compact officials de
cided April 24 to close the river
indefinitely to commercial fish
ing by both Indians and non-
Indians. Re-evaluation of the
data this week left little hope for
a spring fishery.
According to the fish man
agement plan agreed to by four
tribes and the states of Oregon
and Washington, at least 120,000
fish must escape above the Bon
neville Dam and 30,000 into
Idaho or there can be no fishery.
As of Thursday, 113,162 chinook
had passed Bonneville and the
daily count is down from a high
of over 4,000 to under 3,000.
The Compact’s decision fol
lowed a b e tte r than averag e
winter season for Indian fisher
men but the loss of the prized
spring chinook will be acutely
felt by those netters who suffer
ed financial hardship when the
1977 fall season was closed be
fore the Indians’ 40 per cent of
the harvest was reached
Fishermen from the Warm
Springs, Yakima, Umatilla and
Nez P erce trib es lost an e sti
m ated $1 m illion la st fall and
could face a loss of $400,000 this
spring. The closure will also
prove to be a substantial loss for
non-Indians who w ere looking
forw ard to 60 percent of the
spring h a rv e st and a possible
income of over a million dollars.
The riv e r is still open to
Indian subsistence and ceremon
ial fishing, although th ere is
some question about the large
numbers of steelhead that have
been caught “incidentally” since
February by Indian fishermen.
Steelhead are not a target fish
ery for Indians according to the
plan.
Last year’s spring commer
cial catch was the first in two
y ears. In 1974 non-Indian fish
ermen had only a one-day sea
son and the fishery was com
pletely closed to both Indians
and non-Indians in 1975 and 1976.
Such poor runs w ere preceded
by the “biggest run in history,”
according to Bohn — 275,000 fish
in 1972. That year also marked
the largest catch since 1958.
Bohn pinned this year’s poor
salmon run on the small return upper river and tributaries.
of four year-olds, which usually
Bohn did not blam e ocean
m ake up 60-70 percent of the trollers for the low numbers of
run. He also noted th a t last returning salm on because, he
year’s “jack” (three year-old) said, they are not interested in
return was poor.
fish that small.
A special team has been as
Daily counts at Bonneville
signed by the D epartm ent of and The Dalles are being moni
Fish and Wildlife to look into the tored closely with an eye to
life history of this particular age meeting escapement goals. Bi
group. “ Sonfething m ust have ologists are concerned that there
happened two y ears ago when m ight actually be fewer fish
the fish went to the sea,” specu than have been counted at Bon
lated Bohn, since there seemed neville, since at the second dam
to be enough spaw ning in the there has been a markedly lower
count (a difference of 53,000 fish
earlier in the week). Mortality
and travel into tributaries can
account for a loss of 30,000 at
The Dalles Dam, said Bohn, but
officials are wondering if “fall
APRIL HI LOW PREC.
back ” m ight explain the r e
April 22 55 33
m ainder of the loss. During
April 23 60 26
tim es of high flow, fish can be
April 24 67 40
swept back through ladders at
April 25 64 50 .13
Bonneville and be counted a-
April 26 54 50 .79
gain, thus giving an inaccurate
total.
April 27 62 46 .02
Compact agencies and tribes
April 28 61 40
are anxiously following the pro
April 29 66 33
gress of adult salm on into the
April 30 62 44
Snake R iver System in Idaho
w here 50 percen t of the spring
May 1
66 46
run o riginates. And while the
May 2
67 36
Lower Snake Compensation Plan
May 3
56 39
awaits funds to implement fish
resto ratio n pro g ram s for the
WEATHER
four-dam a re a , other fishery
enhancem ent p ro jects aim at
saving escapements.
The soon-to-be-opened Warm
Springs National Fish Hatchery
will be one of sev eral upper
riv er h a tc h e rie s th at will be
contributing to the salmon popu
lation In the Columbia R iver
basin.
The four treaty tribes joined
with the state of Washington and
Oregon early in 1976 to protect
the Columbia River fishery and
allocate harvest among the vari
ous user groups. Although the
Compact has been well support
ed by the Warm Springs, Uma
tilla and Nez Perce, the Yakima
general council voted last fall to
withdraw from the group.
R ecent decisions on the
spring season have been greeted
by threats of court action from
members of the Yakima Nation
whp say that they weren’t repre
sented when the allocation plan
was negotiated.
Warm Springs Tribal coun
cil Chairman and Natural Res
ources D irector Gene G reene,
who sits on the Harvest Advisor-
y Com m ittee of the Com pact,
said he supported the closure of
the fishery “Based on the biolog
ical data presented.”