Archery hunters, don’t forget you must purchase your tag by Aug. 29 (before the season opens Aug. 30). Remember to check fire restrictions and closures before heading out.
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Recycling of summer steelhead from the Foster Dam trap continues at a steady pace. Summer steelhead counts at Willamette Falls have exceeded 14,000 fish as of last week. Spring chinook numbers remain very low and all streams above Willamette Falls, except for the Molalla River, are closed to the retention of any chinook.
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Willamette National Forest (WNF) offiicals invite you to review their progress in developing a strategy to implement the 2005 Travel Management Rule.
The following four actions are proposed:
1. Designate a system of roads and trails for motorized use;
2. Amend the Willamette National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan) to restrict motorized travel to the designated system of travel routes;
3. Provide for continued motorized access to dispersed camping opportunities in a manner that protects natural, social and cultural resources through the designation of motorized routes and dispersed camping “zones;”
4. Continue to provide safe opportunities for both street legal and non-street legal vehicles to access the Forest road system.
Additional goals for the travel management planning process include providing opportunities for OHV use while reducing or preventing adverse resource impacts caused by unmanaged OHV use; codifying existing road closures on roads currently managed as closed; and improving safety on those roads where both street legal and non-street legal vehicles share the travelway (motorized mixed use).
A detailed table showing the anticipated changes for motorized public access for different recreational activities is located on-line. Visit “Table of changes by type of activity,” located at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/willamette/manage/travel-mgmt/.
Questions and comments are encouraged. Contact your Ranger District office or the Interdisciplinary Team Leader, Ryan Brown, at [email protected].
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The United States Power Squadrons has made it easy to receive a Boating Certificate, necessary in many states, including Oregon. Course completion will also qualify most boaters for substantial discounts on their boating insurance—that more than pays for the course.
America’s Boating Course 3rd Edition, certified by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) and recognized by the U.S. Coast Guard, will be available for everyone on Oct. 31.
“The course has been extensively revised and rewritten to address new technological developments and meet updated state licensing requirements,” said Richard Kyle, National Education Officer of the United States Power Squadrons.
Participants will be able to take the course on the Internet, as a CD- based course, or in a classroom setting. All course takers will receive an extensive full color book and a self-study animated and narrated CD. The book and CD serves as easy to use reference after the course has been completed.
Completing boat insurance premiums may be reduced by as much as 10 percent. In fact, some insurers offer even greater discounts for those who also complete advanced courses offered by the United States Power Squadrons. Kyle urged everyone interested in saving money and being safe on the water to contact the United States Power Squadrons at (866) 262-8222. On line course registration for internet courses can be found at http://www.americasboatingcourse.com and classroom course registration can be found at http://www.usps.org for classroom locations.
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Sport boat anglers may not retain cabezon beginning Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008. Fishing for other bottomfish – such as most rockfish species, lingcod and greenling – remains open.
Seven species of bottomfish, including cabezon caught by anglers in Oregon waters are managed under harvest caps – three imposed by the federal government and four imposed by the state. Cabezon harvest in Oregon is managed under a state-imposed cap, with harvest limited in recent years by ODFW because health of the stock is uncertain.
Landing data for the sport fishery indicates that the 2008 ocean boat harvest cap of 15.8 metric tons for cabezon has been met.
“Cabezon have an excellent survival rate when released,” said Don Bodenmiller, project leader for marine recreational groundfish fisheries for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “Unlike rockfish, cabezon do not have air bladders and therefore do not suffer from barotrauma—expansion or rupture of the air bladder when the fish are brought up from deep waters—that can cause stress, injury and sometimes death in rockfish.”
Sport boat anglers may continue to harvest other legal species, but may not retain cabezon in the saltwater boat sport fishery. Shore anglers, including shore-based divers, may still keep cabezon.