THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29. I960
MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD. ORE.
The Rogue River Fisheries
Hcstcheiry Supplies
Stocks
of Fish do Bason
Cole lllvers
Butte Falls Fish
' Hatchery One of
Oldest in State
(Editor's note: This i lh.
ninth in a series of articles
on the Rogue river fishery
and its management. To
day's article covers the
place and use of hatcheries
in the Rogue system. The
Butte Falls hatchery and its
production is described. The
need for research and rear
ing ponds also is discussed.)
By COLE M. RIVERS
Fisheries Agent
State Game Commission
Built in 1916, the Butte
Falls hatchery is one of the
oldest butcheries operated by
the game com
mission. Lo
cated on the
Fish lake road
east of Butte
Falls, the
hatch e r y Is
operated to
supply stocks
of fish for the
Rogue river
basin. Per
iodic expansion and improve
ment arc necessary to keep up
with modern techniques and
to meet the ever-increasing
needs in the area.
The 1959 production at
Butte Falls included 131,000
legal-sized rain bow, 398,700
fingcrling rainbow, and 47,
800 yearling spring chinook.
Additional numbers of fish
raised at other state hatcheries
and brought into the Rogue
watershed for release were
35,000 yearling summer stcel
licad, 9,100 legal rainbow,
294.800 fingcrilng rain bow,
17,600 fingcrling eastern
brook, and 201,600 kokanee
salmon fry.
The total 1960 releases to
the Rogue basin was 1,131,600
fish, weighing 56,166 pounds.
Now Not True
At one time people were
Impressed by published num
bers of fish that were hatched
and released annually from
hatcheries. General public
opinion was that fish popula
tions and fishing were kept
at high levels by the release
of large numbers of finger
lings and fry. We know now
that this was not true.
Public opinion was domi
nated by this concept of large
numbers before fishery meth
ods and techniques were able
to prove which operation pro
duced fish and which ones
were useless. Most people
wore surprised to learn that
trout planted as fry or small
fingcrlings in streams pro
duced few fish that could be
harvested by the angler.
Yearling trout were found
to produce more fish at less
cost to the angler than finger
lings. Conversely, it has been
found that it is not necessary
to plant large trout in most
lakes.
Doing More Harm
' Studies on the Rogue river
showed that the large egg
takes of salmon and steelhead
were doing more harm to the
runs than good. With spring
Chinook salmon, the heaviest
egg-lakes resulted in a very
weak run of adults returning
to the egg-taking racks four
years inter.
All lnrge-scale salmon and
steelhead egg -takes on the
Rogue were drastically re
duced in 1947. The came
w
of the problems of disease,
diet, crowding, and costs will
be solved.
In the Rogue basin, negoti
ations have been completed
with the Medford Corporation
to develop their woods pond
on the Prospect - Butte Falls
road into one of these rear
ing ponds. This reservoir has
76 surface acres and can be
used to raise perhaps 200
thousand steelhead or spring
chinook each year.
Another site is being studied
for the development of a 36-surface-acre
reservoir in the
same area. We could probably
grow several times more sal
mon and steelhead success
fully with the combined ca
pacities of these two ponds
as a supplement to existing
production at the Butte Falls
hatchery.
One of Tools Used
With the continued increase
of fishermen, streams in the
Rogue basin cannot supply all
of the needs of the anglers.
There is not a shortage of
miles of streams but the quan
tity of wild fish that is pro
duced is limited. The hatchery
will continue to play an im
portant role to supply the dif
ference between wild produc
tion and the needs of the
angling public.
Trout fishing in lakes is
one of the tools to be used
to provide fish and fishing
to the ever-increasing num
bers of anglers. More angler
days and more trout can be
produced per surface acre of
a lake than many miles of
streams. Lakes are preferred
by many trout anglers. One
reason is that they can be en
joyed by the entire family.
Most trout lakes in the
Rogue basin are in maximum
production. Howard Prairie
reservoir will support a large
part of the increase in angler
use that can be expected in
the next 10 years. Increased
use of the high Cascade lakes
between Crater and Fourmile
lakes will take care of anoth
er large segment of this in
crease. There are other anglers who
prefer stream fishing and who
gain little recreational value
lrom lake fishing. In the
future, probably more of our
streams will be' classified as
"key streams" which will be
used for stocking legal-sized
rainbow in large quantities to
satisfy the bulk of stream
fishermen. In the immediate
future, this program will not
necessarily require more fish
being raised in the hatchery
since other streams will be
eliminated from the list of
annual stocking to use the
trout more efficiently in key
streams.
It is not good economics 'o
plant legal-sized rainbow ,n
waters where small numbers
of the planted fish are caught.
Stocked fish that produce a
low percentage return to the
creel often cost as much as 32
or more each.
When those same fish are
placed in streams from which
a large percentage is taken,
the cost per fish is reduced
to as low as 20 cents. Only
those waters from which 35
per cent or more of the stock
ed fish can be taken by
anglers will be considered key
streams.
AT HATCHERY Salomn and steelhead fry at the Butte Falls fish hatchery,
are being fed in a series' of rearing ponds
commission decided to search
for ways to hatch, raise, and
release salmon and steelhead
that would successfully pro
duce returning adults at
reasonable costs. To raise
these delicate fish a full year
In the hatchery before release,
many problems had to be
solved. When disease prob
lems were corrected and im
proved facilities added, the
program was possible to start.
Different techniques were
developed for each species. At
Butte Falls. 50,000 spring
chinook were raised to year
ling size each year. Individual
groups were marked with fin
clips and released at various
times of the yC.r at different
locations in the basin. When
these fish came back to the
river as adults, they were
checked for the marks to de
termine when and where
they had been released. The
best pattern of rearing and
releasing was indicated and
practices which pro duced
poor returns were noted.
Study Continues
The study is continuing to
determine the degree of in
fluence of temperature silt
loads, high waters, and disease
losses before and after re
lease. Some of the patterns
of rearing and releasing show
encouraging results, and they
indicate that under certain
conditions, an expanded pro
gram may be economically
feasible.
To expand this program, re
search on a new concept of
salmon ind steelhead rnan-1
agenu hrough lhe( use of
rearing jnds or reservoirs
was initialed. For a number
of years now fishery biologists
throughout the state have
been seeking out, surveying,
appraising suitable sites for
rearing pond development.
This new approach offers
an additional technique to in
crease the numbers of fish
going to sea. Trout in lakes
or reservoirs often grow fast
er in natural habitat than
they can be grown in hatchery
ponds on force-fed diets.
Normally they are hardier
fish and more disease resis
tant. If salmon and steelhead
can be grown in wild environ
ment as successfully, many
Gov. Hatfield in
Effort To Retain
Tongue Point Base
Salem-IUPII-Gov. Mark Hal-I At present Tongue Point
field said Wednesday he has supports a portion of the
asked the Defense Depart
ment for a prcivously classi
fied Inventory on the Tongue
Point Naval Station at As
toria and wants the depart
ment to "review" plans for
cutting back the facility.
If this produces no results,
Hatfield said he will recom
mend that the Navy expand
Tongue Point for possible use
as a training site for missile,
submarines or Coast Guard
personnel.
He said he plans to invite
Oregon's congressional delega
tion into the effort and also
will notify the House Military
Affairs Committee.
Hatfield met for nearly two
hours here Wednesday with
four Portland men from Co
lumbia River marine indus
tries, representing about 25
corporations. The group has
protested the shutdown at
Tongue Point.
Closure Said Due
W. J. Troudt, chairman,
said the Navy begon curtail
ing operations at Tongue
Point two years ago and plans
to close it completely by Dec.
31, 1901.
Those accompanying him
were Lew Russell Jr., Arthur
Fai r and Walter Lursen.
Navy's reserve mothbnll fleet.
Troudt displayed a letter writ
ten Dec. 23 to Rep. Edith
Green, (D-Ore.), by Rep. Carl
Vinson, (D-Ga.), chairman of
the House Armed Services
Committee, in which Vinson
confirmed shifting of moth
balled vessels away from
Tongue Point.
Vinson told Mrs. Green that
the action is part of an "over
all reduction" in the total
number of ships in the Navy
reserve fleet. He concluded
that this is being done
throughout the nation, and
the Tongue Point case "does
not appear to be discrimina
tory." 'Fourth Rate' Base
Troudt disagreed. He said
California has 26 naval facili
ties and Washington state
eight, "All first class," while
Oregon has "one . . . little
fourth rate establishment
Tongue Point, and now they
want to lake Hint away."
Larscn said Tongue Point
seems small by comparison
but it is "very important" to
Oregon's economy.
Troudt said for every $17
the federal government takes
from Oregon in tax money it
returns $2. In California the
Retired Columbia
River Pilot Dies
Portland 4UPI1 Capt. Wilbur
W. Babbidge, retired Colum
bia river pilot who worked
on the river for 62 years, died
Tuesday a the age of 90.
He was a member of the
Columbia River Pilots Asso
ciation for 32 years until his
retirement in 1949,
During his towboat days at
Astoria, Captain Babbidge
was present at the rescue of
the crew of the sailing ship
Petor Iredale which stranded
on Clatsop Beach in 1906.
Funeral services are sched
uled for Saturday.
WHY CHANGE?
Swainswlck, Eng.-IUPII- Mrs.
Harriette Fletcher angrily
went ahead with birthday
plans today although a check
of records showed she was
born Dec. 28. "I've always
celebrated on the 29th and 1
see no reason to change now,"
she said. Mrs. Fletcher is 100.
ratio is $17 with a $34 re
turn, he said. '
All four criticized Oregon's
congressional delegation for
not cooperating in the fight
for Tongue Point.
Hatfield said he was "dis
appointed that our delegation
has not been more effective"
in getting defense money for
Oregon and he pledged "full
cooperation" in working for
til is.
KEY STREAM SECTION The North Fork Rogue river key-stream section of the Rogue basin for trout manage
near Union Creek, shown above, is being used as a typical mcnt.
AND-
1961
m'"f US (UR w
i v TTsr am Gordon
T-p- Ralph
I f I - , ! I (Ba
I , i Potatoes
We Expectiriij
(OUR WIVES ARE, THAT IS)
Schell
Plankenhorn
DeVos
Matlack
bies)
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Yes-we're expecting a lot of new arrivals out
here . . . right away . . . and, while we're so
happy we're offering you these really fine
food bargains starting with
Gerber's Strained
Baby Food
11 , 51100
We'll Be OPEN SUNDAY
Yellow Onions
Grapefruit Texas Pink
Grapes Juicy Emperors
APPLE SALE
4 29
Hams
Hormel's Ready-To-Eat
SHANK HALF
Bull Half ... 63c lb.
Sliced Bacon Swift's Premium
T-Bone Steaks
. ,b.59
Swift's Premium
Chuck and' Cross Cut
Newtowns,
Spitzenberg,
Golden Delicious
10 for 79'
2 b, 25
- v i
Center Cut
lb69
lb. 69;
End Cut lb. T if
Uni mnl BRAUNSCHWEIGER. COOKED Q
nOrMiei SALAMI, BOLOGNA-M-oz. Chubs ea. 47
Boneless Beef Roast
Pork Chops
Pork Chops
TURKEYS
Valcrest fresh frozen
Toms. Take one home for
the Freezer. lb.
39
BAYER ASPIRIN
15c size .... 11c 25c size 19c
39c size .... 29c 69c size .... 49c
$1.59 size $1.09
You May Need It Sunday Morning
Hunt
Jello Assorted Flavors
Cider Vinegar H
Coffee Folgers-Drip and Reg.
Oysters Finer Food-8-oi. Tiny
Tuna Concord V4 Size Chunk
We're Also Expecting a New Store Soon!
4 for 29
gallon 59
ib. 65'
3 for 1.00
4 for 1.00
Cider Golden Valley
Spinach Sur.fine 303
Clam Chowder 303 Saltesea 4 for 1.00
gallon
7 for 1.00
20 Ball Point Pens for:...
Ceramic Cigaret Lighters TQ CO -
Giant Ceramic Ash Trays twn fevi
Wing Cook Screws French Type VvJl IvJJ
Pinking Shears
Binoculars YOUR CHOICE .
Sale Prices Good Thru Sunday Night
SUPER MARKET
West Main at Ross Lane
NO SALES TO DEALERS