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50 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, November 25, 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 Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley 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 November 19, 2004 Diamond Lake tui chub may face toxic fate By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune Chemically treating Diamond Lake to rid it of millions of tui chubs is the best choice to restore the lake’s water quality and trout fishery, a U.S. Forest Service study has concluded. The Umpqua National Forest on Thursday formally finished its environmental studies on the chub issues in the eastern Douglas County lake, said Sherri Chambers, leader of a multi-agency team. The studies conclude the use of rotenone to kill off the chubs before restocking the lake remains the best alternative for reversing poor water quality and reviving sagging angling interest. The decision mirrors the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s preference for drawing the lake down and repeating the chemical treatment done there in 1954 to kill off a similar chub infestation. However, the current proposal calls for stocking far fewer fish in the lake than were stocked in the 1950s, a move ODFW officials consider a conservative plan. Advertisement "We’ve looked at it and evaluated it and we still feel the draw-down and rotenone is by far, from the state’s point of view, the preferred alternative," said Steve Denney, the ODFW’s southwest regional manager in Roseburg. "Yes, it is a major step," Denney said. "It’s not one we take on lightly, but it’s the one, I think, that is right for Diamond Lake." Frances Eatherington of the environmental group Umpqua Watersheds railed against the Forest Service conclusion Thursday, saying it is motivated by the ODFW’s interest in selling fishing licenses. "Everybody wants clean water and good fisheries, but that’s not what’s going on here," Eatherington said. "But this is greed." Eatherington said alternative means, such as nets and traps, should first be tried to trim the chub numbers down "instead of periodically flushing it, like a toilet, by poisoning it." The final environmental impact statement may be sent for printing as soon as today and likely available to the public Nov. 29, Chambers said. The final decision, however, is not official until a so-called Record of Decision is signed by Umpqua Forest Supervisor Jim Caplan. Caplan could have signed the decision and submitted it with the final study. But Caplan chose to hold a two-week "dialogue period" for people to voice any "lingering concerns" about the study and decision before he makes the final call in mid-December, Chambers said. 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. The state’s current Diamond Lake management plan calls for drawing 100,000 angling trips each year to the lake. Eatherington said she considers that excessive, and the agency could use annual mechanical withdrawals if it set much lower expectations for visiting anglers. "The state of Oregon should let up on Diamond Lake," she said. "Have a lower level of fisheries there, and not one where everybody catches huge rainbow trout." Denney said his agency anticipates initially stocking 50,000 to 75,000 rainbow trout the first year after treatment — far fewer than the 500,000 stocked in 1955 after the initial rotenone treatment. Denney said it is more appropriate to treat the lake and then determine how many fish should be stocked and what level of fishery the new-look Diamond Lake would support. "We don’t know what the capacity of the lake is," Denney said. "It doesn’t seem prudent to make these judgment calls now." Eatherington said it was too early to determine whether her group would appeal Caplan’s final decision. If not challenged in the courts, the earliest rotenone treatment would occur in 2006, Chambers said. The Forest Service and the ODFW also first would have to raise the estimated $3.5 million needed for the project, Chambers said. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities