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. Rappel crews may be
utilized for large fire support, all hazard
incident operations and resource man-
agement activities.
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