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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (June 6, 2018)
News Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, June 6, 2018 Sea lions continue to eat endangered fish Bill in Congress supported by Northwest lawmakers By George Plaven EO Media Group All the time, money and sacrifice to improve salmon and steelhead passage in the Wi l l a m e t t e River won’t mean a thing unless wildlife managers can get rid of sea lions feasting on the fish at Shaun Wi l l a m e t t e Clements Falls. That was the message Tuesday from Shaun Clem- ents, senior policy adviser for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, who met at the falls with Liz Ham- ilton, executive director of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association, and Su- zanne Kunse, district director for U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Oregon. The group watched as several sea lions patrolled the waterfalls and nearby fish ladders. Clements said there could be as many as 50-60 sea lions in the area on any given day in April or early May, and the animals are re- sponsible for eating roughly 20 percent of this year’s al- ready paltry winter steelhead run. As of May 22, ODFW has counted just 2,086 winter EO Media Group photos/George Plaven A sea lion searches for salmon and steelhead at Willamette Falls. steelhead at Willamette Falls. That’s less than half of the 10-year average and 22 per- cent of the 50-year average. ODFW applied in October 2017 to kill sea lions from Willamette Falls under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, though Clements said he does not expect a decision from the National Marine Fisheries Service until the end of the year. The depart- ment also tried relocating 10 California sea lions to a beach south of Newport, Or- egon, earlier this year, only to see the animals return in just six days. Meanwhile, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is proposing to build a water temperature control tower and floating fish screen at Detroit Dam farther up the Willamette Basin to aid salm- on and steelhead survival, a project that could cost up to $250 million and leave farm- Sea lions continue to prey on salmon and steelhead at Willamette Falls, prompting a bill by Democratic Rep. Kurt Schrader to lethally remove sea lions where they are causing the most problems. ers without water in the reser- voir for up to two years. But Clements said it would be a wasted invest- ment if not enough fish can even make it past the falls. “Certainly for winter steelhead, if we don’t deal with (sea lions), whatever we do in the upper basin isn’t go- ing to help,” Clements said. “If you’re managing other sectors, you have to manage sea lions as well.” Schrader is co-sponsoring legislation to provide greater flexibility for managing sea lions in the future. The En- dangered Salmon and Fisher- ies Predation Prevention Act would extend the authority for killing sea lions that prey on endangered salmon and steelhead to states and tribes. The bill has support from a bipartisan group of North- west lawmakers, including Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse of Wash- ington, and Rep. Don Young of Alaska, all Republicans. Clements said the Marine Mammal Protection Act — which was signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1972 — is too restrictive the way it is currently written, and forces wildlife managers to wait too long before they can apply for a lethal take permit to protect fish. “By that point, you’re already having a really bad impact,” he said. “We want to stop the habituation here.” Hamilton, with the North- west Sportfishing Industry Association, said she re- members fishing on the Wil- lamette River and it would be a shock to see a single sea lion. The problem, Hamilton said, has really sprung over the last 10 years. It is espe- cially problematic in plac- es like Willamette Falls, she said, where fish are es- sentially bottled up trying to maneuver upstream to spawn. “Think about what the ba- sin has done for these steel- head,” Hamilton said. “Af- ter 10 years of pretty heavy pounding from the sea lions, it’s all gone down the barrel.” If ODFW can have the tools to deal with sea lions more proactively, and not when steelhead runs are at the brink of extinction, she said they will have been suc- cessful. A9 Comments sought on grazing project Blue Mountain Eagle The Blue Mountain Rang- er District of the Malheur National Forest is soliciting scoping comments regarding an environmental analysis to re-authorize grazing on five grazing allotments through the Roundtop Complex Graz- ing Allotments Project. The planning area includes the Beech Creek, Herberger, John Day, McCullough and Round- top allotments. The document can be ac- cessed on the Forest Service website at: https://www.fs.us- da.gov/project/?project=54067. The 30-day scoping period begins today, June 6, with pub- lication of the legal notice in the Blue Mountain Eagle. Only those submitting specific writ- ten comments during a desig- nated opportunity to comment will have standing to object to the project. Written comments con- cerning the project may be submitted by email, com- ments-pacificnorthwest-mal- heur-bluemountain@fs.fed.us; fax, 541-575-3319; or hand or mail delivery, Blue Mountain Ranger District, c/o Hannah Smith, 431 Patterson Bridge Road / P.O. Box 909, John Day, OR 97845. For further questions, con- tact Hannah Smith, NEPA planner, at 541-575-3031 or by email, hannahksmith@ fs.fed.us. Rappellers drop into John Day for national training Blue Mountain Eagle Rappellers from the 12 rappel bases located across the nation descended on John Day for the National Rappeller Re- certification Academy in May. More than 65 rappellers attended this year’s acade- my, along with trainers, helicopter pilots and support personnel. The week included training and recertification exercises on the rappel simulator tower, mock-up sce- narios on the ground and live helicopter rappels in sloped and timbered areas. The academy has several objectives, including the assurance that all veter- an rappellers receive the highest quality training experience possible. The central- ization and standardization of academy makes this possible, ensuring all partici- pants meet the same high standard. To de- velop and promote an attitude of safety is also on the mind of all program managers, and is an integral part of the academy and agency philosophy. The U.S. Forest Service National He- licopter Rappel Program’s primary mis- sion is initial attack. 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