SATURDAY, JULY 3, 2021
THE OBSERVER — 1A
Outdoors
Rec
B
Saturday, July 3, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
ODFW
limits
fi shing
hours
in some
areas
Beat the heat
on a lake in the
Blue Mountains
Restriction
designed to
reduce stress on
fish when water
is warmest
EO Media Group
SALEM — The Oregon
Department of Fish and
Wildlife (ODFW) has
enacted emergency fi shing
regulations, as of July 1, to
protect salmon, steelhead,
trout and sturgeon that
are at risk due to severe
drought.
The regulations will be
in eff ect until Sept. 30, but
could be lifted earlier, or
extended later, depending
on conditions.
In some rivers and
streams, fi shing for salmon,
steelhead, sturgeon and
trout is not allowed from
2 p.m. until one hour before
sunrise. This “hoot owl”
regulation is designed to
protect fi sh from stress
when water temperatures
are warmest, according to a
press release from ODFW.
“There is a tough
summer and early fall
ahead for fi sh, and we want
to take steps to help them
survive,” said Shaun Cle-
ments, ODFW deputy
administrator for inland
fi sheries. “We appreciate
anglers following the reg-
ulations and being fl exible
with their plans to help fi sh
this year.”
In Northeastern Oregon,
rivers and tributaries that
have the hoot owl regula-
tion are:
• John Day River and all
tributaries.
• Umatilla River and all
tributaries (not including
reach within the Confeder-
ated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation, where
ODFW does not have
jurisdiction).
• Willow and Butter
creeks.
• McKay Reservoir,
McKay Creek and tribu-
taries (hoot owl applies to
steelhead only).
• Walla Walla River and
all tributaries.
For full details, see
the emergency regula-
tions for your angling
zone at https://myodfw.
com/recreation-report/
fi shing-report/
ODFW also urges
anglers to use these prac-
tices when fi shing in areas
where catch-and-release is
required:
• Use appropriate gear
and land fi sh quickly. The
longer the fi ght, the less
likely the fi sh will survive.
• Avoid removing the
fi sh from the water.
• If taking a photo,
cradle the fi sh at water
level and quickly take the
picture.
• Remove hooks quickly
and gently while keeping
the fi sh under water.
• Use long-nosed pliers
or hemostats to back out a
hook.
• If a fi sh is hooked
deeply, cut the line near the
hook.
• Revive fi sh (point them
into slow current or move
them back and forth until
gills are working).
• When possible, let
the fi sh swim out of your
hands.
Dennis Dauble/Contributed Photo
Picturesque Jubilee Lake can be fi shed by wading along the shoreline or from a nonmotorized vessel.
Indian Lake
DENNIS
DAUBLE
THE NATURAL WORLD
T
he history of the Blue
Mountains does not begin
with 10-foot-tall mast-
odons, wandering Indian tribes,
or the Oregon Trail. It is written
in ancient rocks. According to
the noted geologist Ellen Morris
Bishop, the Blue Mountains of
Northeastern Oregon began their
life as a volcanic archipelago 400
million years ago. Only during
the Ice Age did glaciers advance
to scour bedrock, erode valleys,
and sculpt tall mountain peaks.
Examples of such activity can be
found in the Lake Basin of the
Wallowa Mountains.
In contrast, the Blue Moun-
tains were not glaciated. Conse-
quently, they have few if any nat-
ural lakes. However, over the past
several decades, creative engi-
neering has led to a trio of scenic
high mountain lakes having high
recreational value. Each water
body is well worth a visit as
valley temperatures heat up.
You could do no worse than
start your summer trout experience
at Indian Lake (Lake Hiyuump-
tipin). Located near the crest of
the Blues at 4,200 feet elevation,
Indian Lake was created in the late
1960s by damming tiny Jennings
Creek. Three years ago, I camped
in the shelter of lodgepole pine
with military veterans who affi li-
ated with a recovery group called
Heroes on the Water. We camped
in the shelter of slender lodge-
pole pine, swapped tall tales, and
trolled fl ies from pontoon boats
and kayaks for rainbow trout up to
14 inches long.
Much of Indian Lake’s shore-
line is accessible by well-worn
trails. However, wading can be dif-
fi cult because a rim of submerged
aquatic vegetation lines much
of the bank. Hence, launching a
non-mechanized fl oating vessel to
fi sh from is an advantage.
Owned and operated by the
Confederated Tribes of the Uma-
tilla Indian Reservation, Indian
Lake is 34 miles southeast of Pend-
leton. Drinking water, 43 fee-based
campsites with fi re pits, tipi rentals,
and an RV disposal station are
available for public use. A reserva-
tion fi shing permit is required and
can be purchased at the lake during
the camping season (See ctuir.org).
Jubilee Lake
Jubilee Lake is the only game
in town for still water trout in the
Tollgate region of the Blues. This
20-acre jewel of a lake was cre-
ated in the late 1960s by dam-
ming meandering Mottet Creek.
Jubilee is primarily a put-and-take
fi shery for catchable-sized rainbow
trout; however, holdovers up to
16 inches are possible following a
mild winter. The fi rst stocking by
ODFW occurred in early June this
year with additional plants planned
over the summer for a total of
16,000 legal-sized and 300 tro-
phy-size trout (14 to 16 inches).
The lake’s picturesque shore-
line is lined with bulrush, willow,
and conifer, yet provides plenty
of access for bank anglers. Cast
from the gentle sloping shoreline
or troll the inlet arm and deep area
near the outfl ow where trout seek
cool water refuge in late summer.
Only nonmotorized watercraft,
including fl oat tubes, pontoon
boats and car-toppers, are allowed,
which lends to a quiet atmosphere.
Jubilee Lake is 12 miles north-
east of Tollgate. Forest Service
Road No. 64, off Highway 204
between Weston and Elgin, leads
you there. Adjacent to Jubilee is
the largest (53 camp sites) and most
popular fee-based campground
in the Umatilla National Forest.
Handicap access is located near the
day-use area and a graded perim-
eter trail circles the entire lake.
Olive Lake
Travel south down the spine of
the Blues and you fi nd 160-acre
Olive Lake at 6,200 feet eleva-
tion. A once-small natural lake
was deepened and enlarged by a
30-foot-high crib-and-rock dam
built in the early 1900s by the Fre-
mont Power Company to provide
hydroelectric power to the then
booming gold mining community.
Anglers have plenty of choices
when it comes to fi shing Olive
Lake. Approximately 3,800
rainbow trout were stocked by
ODFW in late June of which
1,050 are trophy-size. Natu-
ral-spawning populations of brook
trout are also present. Kokanee,
or landlocked sockeye salmon,
can be caught trolling or jigging.
See, Lake/Page B6
Reviving an ailing trail in the Elkhorns
The Trailhead
Stewardship Project is
making progress on the
Cunningham Cove trail
JAYSON
JACOBY
ON THE TRAIL
Snowbrush is the curse
of the Cunningham Cove
trail, and Victoria Mitts is
its blessing.
If not for Victoria’s dex-
terity with a pair of metal
pruners, I’d likely still be
fl oundering about among
the shrubby thickets, half-
crazed in my fruitless
search for the path, and
bleeding from dozens of
shallow scratches besides.
My hiking companions,
being considerably less
stubborn — and more wise
— would have long since
abandoned me to my inef-
fectual meandering.
Fortunately no such
confl ict marred my June 27
hike with my wife, Lisa,
and our kids, Olivia, 14,
and Max, 10.
Such would not have
been the case without Vic-
toria’s eff orts.
The Cunningham Cove
trail is her fi rst task as the
initial employee with the
Trailhead Stewardship
Project.
That partner-
ship between the Wal-
lowa-Whitman National
Forest and The Trailhead,
the Baker City bike, ski
and outdoors shop that
Anthony Lakes Moun-
tain Resort opened several
Victoria Mitts/Contributed Photo
Victoria Mitts/Contributed Photo
This is what the Cunningham Cove trail looked like before Victoria
Mitts pruned back the snowbrush.
The trail post-pruning is again obvious as it climbs through a forest
burned in the 1996 Sloans Ridge fi re.
years ago, aims to reverse
years of trail-maintenance
neglect that have left paths
such as Cunningham Cove
in deplorable shape.
Assuming you can actu-
ally fi nd the trails to brand
them as such. And in the
case of Cunningham Cove,
this is far from a certainty.
Victoria did fi nd the
trail.
But she had to look
pretty hard.
Cunningham Cove, a
roughly fi ve-mile trail that
climbs from the North Fork
John Day River at Peavy
Cabin to a junction with
the Elkhorn Crest National
Recreation Trail, has dete-
riorated to a disturbing
degree since I fi rst hiked it
in 1990.
The Sloans Ridge fi re in
1996 was a primary culprit.
The blaze burned the
mature forest of tam-
arack, lodgepole pine
and, along the streams,
Engelmann spruce.
ningham Cove trail runs.
Snowbrush is not an
altogether malevolent plant
— nothing like poison oak
or devil’s club.
Indeed, on the day of
our hike the snowbrush
was in full bloom, its clus-
ters of white blossoms
attractive and its fresh
scent pleasant.
But as with many
things — beer, processed
cheese and ABBA, to
name but three — beyond
a certain amount, snow-
brush’s attractive attri-
butes are overwhelmed by
the deleterious eff ects of
its sheer volume.
Snowbrush is basically
the chaparral of the Blue
Mountains.
A few clumps dangling
over the edge of the trail
are easily dodged.
But when the stuff
grows thick on both sides,
overhanging and meeting
in the middle, the only
way to get through is to
Relatively few big trees
survived the fl ames —
enough, though, to provide
the seeds for the young
forest that’s thriving now.
As is typical in the
few decades following a
severe fi re, lodgepoles,
which sometimes have
serotinous cones (sealed
by resin) that release their
seeds only when exposed
to fl ames, dominate.
Well, at least lodge-
poles dominate among
conifers.
But even their ubiquity
is challenged by snow-
brush, one of the ceon-
athus shrubs, that also has
seeds with a protective
layer that generally germi-
nate only after some sort
of disturbance.
And fi re is nothing if
not a disturbance.
In the aftermath of the
Sloans Ridge fi re, snow-
brush has formed dense,
almost unbroken, mats on
the slopes where the Cun-
wallow.
This is unpleasant,
because snowbrush,
although it lacks the
spines of, say, hawthorn,
is a stout shrub, and if you
have to plunge through
any signifi cant stretch, the
limbs will infl ict copious
scratches.
Enter Victoria and her
pruners.
I had talked with Peter
Johnson, Anthony Lakes
general manager, a couple
days before our hike.
He told me Victoria had
started working on the
Cunningham Cove trail
and was making good
progress.
As we started the climb
— around 8 a.m., in def-
erence to the heat fore-
cast later in the day —
we hadn’t gone a quarter
mile before we saw,
and much appreciated,
her handiwork.
See, Trail/Page B2