Document text
Crusading for Trail Creek Jim Craven photo By Paul Fattig TRAIL � Any day now, Fred Fleetwood will grab a bucket and fish net and head for Trail Creek. With the dog days of August barking at his heels, he�ll step off his back porch and wade into pools where small fish � steelhead and coho salmon fingerlings � are holed up. "In a few days it will be bone dry except for a few of these pools," he said. "It�ll happen this month or September. When that happens, I�ll go out and get the fish." Using a battery-operated aerator, the former timber faller will transport the small fish four miles downstream to the Rogue River. It�s a late summer ritual for him. It�s also one that makes him angry. "People along this stream are sucking the water out," he said. "This water problem is killing the salmonids now. And no one is doing a damn thing about it." While there are those who would disagree with his conclusion that nothing is being done, all agree that Trail Creek is often left high and dry at the end of the summer. "It�s not an issue unique to Trail Creek," explained Mike Evenson, district fish biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. "It�s a problem that is widespread throughout the Rogue Basin," he added. "In fact, it may not be as bad in Trail Creek as some of the other streams. But we know that water withdrawals and low summer stream flows are limiting factors for fish production in Trail Creek." Many of the region�s smaller streams dry up naturally by summer�s end, he said. "Trail Creek is a stream that in three out of five years will go dry this time of year," observed Jackson County Watermaster Larry Menteer, an employee of the Oregon Department of Water Resources. "Right now, I have several streams � Evans Creek, Sams Creek, Neal Creek, Pleasant Creek, Salt Creek, Lost Creek, North Fork of Little Butte Creek � that are all lower than usual," he said. "It�s that time of year. "Last year, we had one of the largest mountain snowpacks in 50 or 60 years and Trail Creek still ran extremely low at the end of summer." Spurred by Fleetwood�s concerns in the past, employees from Menteer�s office have walked the length of Trail Creek, looking for illegal water users. One of the worst abuses they found was an elderly woman whose water intake pipe was larger than allowed by law, Menteer said, noting that problem was resolved. "The water use in Trail Creek is legitimate � they have a legal right to that water," he said. "Most users out there are very responsible." Fleetwood doesn�t disagree that the water is being taken legally. He knows that, under Oregon law, water rights are considered a property right and that amendments to the U.S. Constitution protect property rights."State law allows people to suck the water out of the creek," he said. "But there is really no way of regulating it. So nobody really knows what the hell is going on."By his own admission, Fleetwood is outspoken and irascible. He acknowledges he has drawn the ire of most of the residents in the drainage."We haven�t spoken for two or three years," he said of nearby residents. "They hate my guts."I have a very jaundiced view of humanity," he added later. "My personal opinion is that humanity is the scourge of the earth. People are only out for their personal self-interest and to hell with everything else."While not condoning Fleetwood�s in-your-face approach to solving the stream�s problem, Michael Hammond, a member of the Upper Rogue Watershed Association, said Fleetwood�s concerns are well- founded. The volunteer group�s goal is to improve the watershed through education and cooperation."I would prefer not to have his profile, but what he is doing is important," Hammond added. "It�s laudable what Fred is doing. He�s got the alarm bells going. That�s good."An Elk Creek Road resident whose ancestors logged the upper reaches of Trail Creek, Hammond, born in the Rogue Valley 52 years ago, agrees with Fleetwood that human activity � past and present � has and is harming the drainage."It�s also a short stream with a bedrock base � it�s got a lot going against it," he said, then added, "It�s going to take time to change the situation."That is one of the few points on which everyone agrees. The main stem, about 10 miles long, has 41 legal water right holders with the oldest dating back to the 1800s. There are several irrigation ditches which divert water from the stream, but most of the water withdrawn is for watering lawns and gardens. There is no irrigation district in the area.The stream is 97th on the state�s stream priority list created through a joint effort by the ODFW and the Oregon Department of Water Resources.The agencies considered such factors as water availability, habitat and the potential for humans to make a difference.One group trying to make a difference is the Portland-based Oregon Water Trust. The non-profit organization works with agencies and property owners to purchase or lease water rights. The water it obtains remains in the stream for the fishery.In 1999, it gained access to seven cubic feet per second � 3,179 gallons a minute � in Rogue Basin streams."That�s primarily on small stream systems but those amounts have a big impact on small streams," said Andrew Purkey, the OWT�s executive director."Trail Creek has not been a priority stream," he said. "Fred wishes it was. But we can only focus on so many streams."Streamflow restoration is a gradual process," Purkey added. "It will take years to accomplish what we need to do. But our program is gaining more support around the state, particularly in Southern Oregon."Aloha Gagnon, who has owned property on the west fork of Trail Creek for 30 years, has leased her water right to the OWT. As a result, 112 gallons a minute � a quarter of a cubic foot per second � is not being diverted from the stream."It�s a great solution," she said, adding, "I want to get along with the neighbors. And I want to do what I can for the fish."She has the oldest water right on the west fork, one dating back to the 1800s."I�m no longer using water from the creek," she said of her four-acre parcel. "I use the well for watering now."Gagnon, who lived overseas for many years, figures local residents ought to do what they can to help the fishery."I�ve lived in desert country �I�m very, very conscious of water," she said. "When I first came here, the creek was running every summer. Now it goes down to a bare trickle."Fleetwood, 66, who has lived along the stream since 1977, began fighting for fish in 1985. Although the main stem ran dry in summers in the distant past, it now goes dry every summer, he said."I used to steal water," he said. "This property doesn�t have a water right. The guy I bought the property from had hoses going down to the stream."But then I started seeing what is going on. I just hate to see things suffer."Including fish, he noted.He breached a rock dam behind his home because, as he explained, it�s illegal to have an obstruction preventing the downstream migration of the juveniles. Trying to convince others along the stream to remove rock dams has caused hard feelings."It�s a sore point," he said.But he notes that, when the stream stops flowing, the water behind the dams may provide a refuge area for fish."The fish reside in the shaded pools during the hot part of the day," Fleetwood said. "The water in the open gets 80-plus degrees. Over in that shaded pool, either because it�s in the shade or because there is seepage from the bank, the water temperature during the day is in the lower 70s."This time of year, there is precious little water available, whether it�s shade or sun, he said.In addition to perishing when they become trapped in pockets of warm water, the young fish also fall prey to predators, he noted.Fleetwood acknowledges that some studies show that young steelhead are genetically programmed to head downstream before the water is gone."But the literature on coho say that coho that hatch in these small streams have to (do so) over winter," he said. "They hatch in the spring, then stay through the following winter."If the stream dries up, where the hell are they going to go? They got no place to go. They croak."Coho may migrate down the stream in early summer as streamflows decrease and water temperatures increase, Evenson said."We don�t know too much about coho," he said. "But some fish hunker down to try to get through this period. But if they get trapped in a shallow pool, they are going to be lost."The ODFW has acquired latter-day water rights to protect fish, but older rights have the first priority."As far as having a practical impact, they are probably pretty low at this point," Evenson said."What we do know is that it will take years and years to restore the streams to flows back to where they once were," Evenson said.Fleetwood agreed. "One of the things that needs to be changed is the legal institutional obstruction to recovery efforts," he said. "It has to be changed to recognize the aquatic life�s natural right to the water."He also thinks it will take a U.S. Supreme Court decision to resolve such issues as the potential conflict between the federal Endangered Species Act, which protect species like the threatened coho, and state law.Meanwhile, Fleetwood, who has the approval of the ODFW to transport the fish in his recovery effort, helped rescue 100 small fish last month. He expects to do more in the next few days."Are we doing any good? I don�t know," he said. "But maybe one of them will come back as an adult. It�s a start." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA