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Habitat grant to benefit Coos County By MARK FREEMAN A Medford-based program that teaches outdoor education has received a $9,750 state grant to teach pond and creek habitat studies to students in the Coquille and Myrtle Point areas of Coos County. Jim Hutchins' Rural Outdoor Education Project was awarded the state Access and Habitat Program grant Friday from the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission. It was one of 11 grants authorized Friday by the commission during its regular monthly meeting in Portland. The project will focus on studies students can do on a 200-acre parcel of private land in the Coquille River Valley. Students from neighboring schools will conduct plant and wildlife surveys, install wood-duck nesting boxes, build riparian fencing around a stream and do other sorts of projects benefitting both fish and wildlife habitat. The landowner will also allow public hunting access on a by-permission basis. GRANTS PASS _ A husband-wife team of outdoor writing and photography will be in town Wednesday to conduct a presentation on fly fishing for steelhead. Mike and Christine Fong, of San Francisco, will be the featured speakers at the June meeting of the Grants Pass-based Southern Oregon Fly Fishers. The meeting is at the Riverside Inn, on Sixth Street along the Rogue River in Grants Pass. The meeting's social hour and fly-tying presentations begin at 6 p.m. The Fongs' presentation will follow the 7:30 p.m. dinner. The Fongs are a writer-photographer team whose work has been published in most national outdoor magazines. They can be seen regularly on ESPN's "Charles West's Back Country" television show. Mike Fong is a contributing editor to Fly Fisherman magazine and a former editor of The Fly Fisher, the magazine of the Federation of Fly Fishers. Christine Fong is the photographer of the team, and many of her photos are available for sale through San Francisco's Orvis Store. Their program will focus on the four seasons of fly fishing for steelhead. Spring fishing will focus on the Situk River in Alaska, while summer fishing will be on the Dean River in British Columbia. Fall steelheading will be on the upper Rogue River, and the winter steelhead fishing segment will be about methods for catching fish on flies from some of the smaller Northern California streams. Fifty-eight anglers caught 20 spring chinook salmon, including one 20-pounder, during the annual Rogue Fishery Enhancement Derby held Saturday along the upper Rogue River. The derby is the annual fund-raiser for the Rogue River Guides Association, which uses the proceeds to benefit the Rogue's fish and its fishermen by funding programs that improve runs and help fish habitat. Winners in this year's derby were Sam and Pete Mills, who boated three fish weighing a total of 48 pounds, 9 ounces. Sam Mills also won the big-fish contest with a 20-pound, 1-ounce spring chinook. The Millses were fishing with guide Bob Atkins. Tim Wray and Ken Mellow, fishing with guide Jack Jermain, took second place with two chinook that collectively weighed 25 pounds, 9 ounces. Third place went to Rick Larson and Ed Olson, who caught two fish that together weighed 22 pounds, 3 ounces. They fished with guide Dave Andreatta. For the second consecutive year, Jim Pruett won the smallest fish contest by catching a 5 pound, 13-ounce springer. He was fishing with guide Marc Grieve. After the derby, 140 people ate a salmon dinner and took part in the auction and raffle of 60 items. The meal was co-sponsored by Western Beverage Co. of Medford. Outdoor Journal main page Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA