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62 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, August 5, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Prime Times Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend July 30, 2004 New Tui chub solution Latest treatment plan would use two forms of rotenone to clean up Diamond Lake By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune Forest Service officials are preparing a stepped-up and more expensive plan for using fish-killing chemicals to rid Diamond Lake of its unwanted tui chubs in an effort to ensure complete success. Umpqua National Forest officials today will unveil the newest, and likely the new preferred alternative, which calls for using a mix of powdered and liquid rotenone to better penetrate the lake’s watery nooks and crannies. At least one expert says the change could result in the death of all 30 million chubs in the lake, where the unwanted fish have harmed water quality and sport-fishing. "There’s no reason to believe that couldn’t be an outcome," said Brian Finlayson, a rotenone expert with the California Department of Fish and Game in Sacramento. "Especially if they treat the tributaries as they treat the lake," Finlayson said Thursday. "Then, the fish have nowhere to go." Advertisement Umpqua forest and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists had worried that some tiny chubs could hide in thick shallow-water weed beds where powdered rotenone might not reach. They could then re-emerge after the rotenone dissipates and repopulate the lake. But liquid rotenone has solvents and emulsifiers that make it spread better in water, Finlayson said. The new plan calls for using the liquid rotenone in water up to 20 feet deep, then using the powdered rotenone in open water where it is more effective, said Dave Loomis, an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist who is part of a multi-agency working group attacking the lake’s dilemmas. "We really want to get all the chubs," Loomis said. "We heard that loud and clear from the public. The agencies already planned to use liquid rotenone in Silent and Short creeks, two tributaries to which chubs have access. Sherri Walters, who is heading the project for the Umpqua Forest said this alternative was developed after "internal and external comments" about the effectiveness of chemical treatment proposed in a draft environmental study on the impacts of dealing with the lake’s chub-related problems. It will be called "Alternative 5" and likely will be chosen as the preferred alternative when the final results of the environmental study are published some time this summer, Chambers said. If adopted and unchallenged in court, treatment could take place no earlier than 2006, Chambers said. The Umpqua Forest will hold a public meeting Aug. 10 in Roseburg to discuss the alternative. The Forest Service study estimated the cost of using just powder form of rotenone in the lake at about $500,000, Loomis said. The new alternative estimates the use of $350,000 worth of powdered rotenone and about $500,000 for liquid rotenone in the lake, he said. The cost for liquid treatment of the two tributaries would be about $22,000, he said. The group plans to seek the extra money from the same state, federal and private entities targeted through future fund-raising, Chambers said. The new treatment option drew cheers at Diamond Lake Resort, which has limped along financially since the chub outbreak. "I think it’s an excellent idea," said Rick Rockholt, the resort’s marketing manager. It’s imperative we get every chub, no matter what the cost." Illegally introduced in the early 1990s, the small, plankton-eating chubs now number in the millions and have altered the ecosystem of the popular trout-fishing lake in the High Cascades. The degradation has reached a point where fingerling trout cannot survive and toxic algae blooms close the lake to recreation at times in the summer. The ODFW now spends more than $100,000 a year stocking the lake with enough big trout to keep anglers’ interest while it works on a long-term solution with the Forest Service and other agencies. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] WHAT: Public meeting to discuss a new option for poisoning Diamond Lake to rid it of a damaging tui chub infestation. WHEN: 6-8:30 p.m., Aug. 10. WHERE: Douglas County Library, Roseburg. 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