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56 °F Forecast | Road Cams Sunday, October 10, 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 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 October 7, 2004 Hutchins enshrined in Wild Salmon Hall of Fame By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune The audience sat mystified at the Northwest Wild Salmon Center banquet, wondering how Medford naturalist Jim Hutchins and five other people who work to enhance wild salmon possibly could out-shine each other to become only the second person enshrined in the new Wild Salmon Hall of Fame. There was Hutchins, who teaches salmon stewardship to 1,500 school kids in southwest Oregon. Up against him was a man who helped return salmon to a Washington stream, while another guy invented new salmon incubators and others set groundbreaking wild-fish policy. There was even an artist. The committee chosen to name the winner for salmon center was told to choose one. "There were 200 people in the audience thinking, how can they choose between these guys?" Hutchins says. It turns out, they didn’t. Advertisement All six nominees will join the center’s new Wild Salmon Hall of Fame, which the Washington-based center has devised as a way to honor people dedicated to helping preserve the Pacific Northwest’s runs of wild salmon. Hutchins, 68, is the only nominee from Oregon since the center started assembling its hall of fame last year. The award was announced at a Sept. 25 banquet in Washington. "It was really great to be around a bunch of people who really love fish," Hutchins says. Hutchins founded the nonprofit Oregon Stewardship Program 12 years ago as a way of teaching Illinois Valley High School students about the wild steelhead in the Illinois River. The program has since expanded into part of the science curriculums involving more than 1,500 students in 25 schools in five southwest Oregon counties. The program is supported by several donors, including Boise Corp., the federal Bureau of Land Management, the Oregon Hunters Association and the Avista Foundation. Hutchins also conducts spawning surveys in Bear Creek each fall. The finalists are from throughout Oregon and Washington, and they were those who surfaced from more than 300 government agencies, environmental groups and individuals solicited as nominations. The center is now planning the building of an actual Pacific Northwest Salmon Center along Hood Canal. The planned 44,000-square-foot facility will house museum and research facilities. Hutchins and the other hall of fame members will be honored with plaques in the entryway. The building is expected to be finished in 2007. Hunters who lined up to buy their hunting licenses and deer tags Friday suffered delays when the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s point-of- sale licensing system went down at 12:05 p.m. The agency blamed the system crash on a telecommunications outage. Coincidentally, however, the outage occurred at the same time as the first steam blast from Mount St. Helens. The system was back up after a brief delay. 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