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Tainted Water Mail Tribune / Drew Fleming Sam Webb, left, and Zak Webb from Oak Harbor, Wash., attempt to catch a fish in a tub next to Diamond Lake. The two boys were forced to fish out of the tub because the water in Diamond Lake is very unhealthy. Chub-triggered algae bloom makes water at Diamond Lake Resort unsafe By Mark Freeman Diamond Lake Resort guests now swim in a beach-side, above-ground pool while kids cast bait into an old cattle trough filled with large hatchery-raised rainbow trout. And no one ventures too close to the tainted open water that used to make Diamond Lake the state's top trout lake. This is the new low point inflicted upon Diamond Lake by the mouths of the invading tui chubs, which have transformed this once-popular south Cascade fishing spot into one not only unsafe for rainbow trout but also for humans and pets. The Forest Service on Friday closed access to the lake because the chub-triggered algae bloom has produced toxins harmful to pets and potentially dangerous to humans. The closure transports the 9-year-old chub dilemma from a fishing issue to a public health one. No one has been harmed or sickened by the water so far, but the toxins caused by the chub-altered ecosystem of Diamond Lake worry the Forest Service enough to close the lake to all human and pet contact until the water gets a clean bill of health. "If we knew about this and didn't take steps to protect the public and God forbid something happened, it wouldn't be good," says Umpqua National Forest spokeswoman Liz Stevenson-Shaw in Roseburg. "People wouldn't understand." But people do understand what stay-away health order means, and this taints the lake's once pristine image almost as badly as the toxins taint the water. And like Firestone tires or British beef, it's harder to shake the shroud of public perception than it is the flaw that brought on the rap itself. "It's not just that it's closed, because this lake will be fine and be open again, possibly as early as the Labor Day weekend," says Steve Koch, president and general manager of the Diamond Lake Resort. "It's the haunting that will continue after this, and it will take a long time to un-spin this." But Koch hopes this latest blow might be strong enough to generate new inertia for the recently dead attempts by state and federal managers to chemically purge the lake of all the fish - including the millions of chubs - and start Diamond Lake anew. Proposals to use the chemical rotenone to cleanse the lake and then restock it ran afoul of such tough laws as the federal Clean Water Act and the Northwest Forest Plan. So much so, that the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife officially pulled the plug on the rotenone option in June. But Koch believes that this current closure ratchets the issue up a few notches. It's no longer about making Diamond Lake trout fishing better fishing through chemicals. It's about making Diamond Lake just plain safe. "This might get us over the hump," Koch says. "It might bring enough pressure and sensitivity to having the toxin here that we can rotenone the lake and make it healthy again." The lake's abundant insect hatches and absence of native fish once made the trout stocked in Diamond Lake grow large and fast. With catching 20-inchers considered more rule than exception, the lake as recently as the late 1980s was Oregon's most-fished trout lake. Then one unknown sport-fisherman ruined it for everyone by bringing tiny tui chub over from the Klamath Basin to use as bait. The trash fish blossomed, and now there are an estimated 32 million chubs - or about 1.1 million chubs per acre. The chubs have decimated the lake's insects and cheapened the water quality. And it's only going to get worse. But few expected it to get this bad. Most of the chub are less than an inch long, and those are the ones that feed on the lake's microscopic zooplankton. Less zooplankton tips the scale in favor of a bloom of algae at the lake. This includes the blue-green algae called anabaena, which releases the toxin anatoxin-a into the water. Health officials not only recommend people stay free of contact with the water, but also keep pets away. They can lick high doses of the anatoxin-a from their fur. Lapping dogs aside, the algae will start killing trout soon as well. The lack of oxygen will suffocate the stocked trout. "They're not poisoned, they're not dying from the toxin," Stevenson-Shaw says. "But there will be a pretty significant fish-kill." As cool weather moves in, the algae bloom will subside on its own. Since Friday's closure, the water quality seems to be improving. Koch hopes the lake will get a passing water-quality grade by Labor Day, while Stevenson-Shaw believes that's a "best-case scenario." In fact, health officials are still mulling over what constitutes good enough water-quality to allow people back on the water, Stevenson-Shaw says. Back at the resort, Koch is giving loyal employees their first August vacations in years. He's set up the swimming pool, and the cattle trough with trout in it - little offerings to keep Diamond Lake's faithful from turning their back on the resort. And Koch is telling everyone who will listen that they need to write their congressman and ask to get Diamond Lake the exemptions necessary to chemically treat the lake - for public health's sake. "Yes, this is all bad, but it's become bad enough that I think we're starting to get some attention," Koch says. "This is, it could be our silver lining. "So far, we've been just a ripple," he says. "Maybe we can turn this into a wave." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.