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Mark Freeman's Commentary Deadline nears for scenic rafting permits By Mark Freeman Rafters and anglers have just five more days to apply for the annual lottery during which permits for boating the Wild and Scenic section of the Rogue River get allocated for this coming summer. Applications for the permit lottery must reach Tioga Resources Inc. of Roseburg by Jan. 31 to qualify for the random drawing in which boaters vie for permits to float the stretch from Grave Creek to Foster Bar on specific days. Individual permits are good for one specific day of launching between May 15 and Oct. 15, when no more than 125 people can enter the section by boat each day. For permit applications and instructions, call Tioga Resources at (541) 672-4168 or access the firm's Web site: www.umpcoos.com/rogue . Tioga Resources specializes in computers and government-resource contracting. It has handled the non-commercial permit lottery for the BLM for the past seven years. Each application costs $5. Applications will be accepted by telephone, fax, mail and through the Internet. The drawing will take place in February; successful applicants will be notified by mail around March 1, the BLM said. While the lottery remains the most common way permits are doled out to river-users each summer, more floaters are finding alternative ways to get their permits. Of the 6,605 party permits applied for last year, 866 were awarded through the lottery. Unclaimed or non-allocated permits are awarded to rafters on a walk-in basis at the BLM's Rand Visitors Center near Galice. Last year, 13,952 people floated the Wild and Scenic section during the regulated period, which represents 371 more than �99 but down about 500 from the mid-1990s. Of those, 7,760 floated in private parties, while the remaining 6,192 traveled with commercial guides, according to Robyn Siebold, the BLM�s river permit coordinator. Commercial guides, who operate under different regulations, and the people who hire them are not affected by the lottery. The Wild and Scenic Rogue remains mostly an intrastate attraction, with 72 percent of designated rafting-party leaders having Oregon addresses. An information box accompanying the Jan. 18 Outdoor Journal contained an incorrect telephone number for Oregonians to call for information and registration for dates when Jackson County marine deputies will conduct proctored exams for Oregon�s new boater-education program. For information, telephone Linda Glanville at 826-6670. The tests will be held at the county�s Search and Rescue Headquarters, 620 Antelope Road, White City. Tentative dates are: Feb. 17, Feb. 22, March 8, March 10, April 16, April 21, May 12, May 21 and June 9. To pass, boaters must get a 70 percent score on the 75-question test. Two hours are set aside for the tests. They will be given from 7 to 9 p.m. weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturdays. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's yearly survey of the redband trout population in sections of the lower Deschutes River has been suspended this year by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Fearing possible problems with wild Deschutes steelhead, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, the federal agency prohibited the ODFW from using "electrofishing" techniques on the river. "There is a mortality rate associated with electrofishing, and the National Marine Fisheries Service is taking a very conservative approach," said Steve Pribyl, an ODFW fisheries biologist based in The Dalles. In past years, the ODFW floated sections of the river in February, sending an electric current through the water and netting the stunned fish, which were then tagged. Biologists then electrofished the same section of the river and noted how many tagged fish they caught. They were then able to estimate how many redbands were in that section of the river. However, Pribyl said, electrofishing carries the greatest risk for bigger fish, like steelhead, which receive more of a jolt. "The effect is directly proportional to the fish's length," he said. Pribyl said the ODFW might pursue getting special permission to start electrofishing again sometime in the future but that management policies wouldn't be affected. (Staff writer Mark Freeman covers the outdoors for the Mail Tribune. Call him at 776-4470, or e-mail him at: [email protected] ) Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.