Important Article About Our FIsheries!! - Conservationists Ask State to Study Impacts of McKenzie Hatcheries on Imperiled Wild Spring Chinook Salmon (press release)

This article and topic is something that is totally important to me; since I do a huge portion of my spring, summer, and fall guiding on the McKenzie River. I also had heard rumors of this lawsuit a while back from someone in a conversation; so I am posting this article for those interested. It is funny and a oxymoron  how the McKenzie River is managed, since you can fish with bait in the "general regulations season" from the third Saturday in April through October 31st (fly and lure all year round), and you can keep finclipped steelhead, finclipped trout, and finclipped salmon. The McKenzie is managed for all wild trout and salmon though, and you can kill a steelhead that has an adipose fin (since the head regional bio in the area somehow got that passed - thinking they are all ferule fish and deserve to die - Whatever happened to strays?). Basically the management is a total nightmare on the Mac, and there are also other vested interests that do business in the river valley stocking the living daylights out of the river with CRAPPY HATCHERY PLANTED TROUT. 

We have some studies going on in the river that are trying to protect the wild native trout, but those studies have only covered a few miles restored native trout habitat from a cease in stocking in that stretch. This has caused the natives in that certain stretch of the river to get heavy researching pressure; being caught and tagged with lots of fish handling. Why can't we simply use other river models to model the management after? It has been proven across the board that rivers with planted hatchery trout suffer, and rivers with wild fish only management strategies are typically healthy and thriving. Anyhow, enough ranting for me about the strange management of the McKenzie river for its fisheries. I want to inform you blog readers about this article that discusses how the Western Environmental Law Center, on behalf of the McKenzie Flyfishers, (on November 6th) sent a notice of intent to sue to the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife (ODFW) for operating two fish hatcheries on the McKenzie River that harm wild Chinook salmon without having studied the impacts of hatcheries and obtaining federal approval to operate them. (taken from the article's first line

 Click Link Below to read the article:

Conservationists Ask State to Study Impacts of McKenzie Hatcheries on Imperiled Wild Spring Chinook Salmon (press release)

Location: Eugene, OR

A Spawned out Spring Chinook Salmon after it has completed its spawning cycle