ishWorks F Fall 2010 News from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (ODFW) Fish Restoration and Enhancement (R&E) and Salmon and Trout Enhancement Programs (STEP) Winchuck River screw trap project provides decades of data

or the past 21 years, fall Chinook salmon smolt outmigration data has been collected Ffrom a screw trap on the Winchuck River, in southwestern Oregon, just upstream from the river’s estuary. For the past 13 of those years, Salmon Trout Enhancement Program volunteers from the South Coast Fishermen have been an integral part of that data collection effort. The screw trap was purchased by the South Coast Fishermen and donated to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. In addition, a private landowner allows access through his property to set up and operate the trap each year. The survey runs from June through August, when the smolts are migrating downstream to the sea and, according to Lower Rogue STEP biologist John Weber, provides an important Volunteers from the South Coast Fishermen have been helping ODFW operate a screw trap for outmigrating fall Chinook salmon smolts on the Winchuck River ‘snapshot’ of how the river’s fall Chinook are for the past 13 years. ODFW Photo faring. There is no hatchery program for the Winchuck so all its fall Chinook In This Issue salmon are wild fish. The spawning run goes from early November through December and averages a few thousands fish each year. There is also a run Winchuck River of winter steelhead and a small coho run on the river. Because the screw trap project involves more than identifying fish and C. Shasta letting them go, volunteers receive weekly training sessions on safe trap Latest STAC and R&E Grants operation, fish identification and fish marking techniques. Volunteers work five days per week through the trapping season in two person teams. The Long Tom Cutts project is essentially a capture-recapture study. “It’s involved,” said Weber. “We’re making outmigration estimates that Fish Heroes requires clipping the fish, releasing them back upstream and then Mann Lake Restoration identifying the recaptured fish.” A statistical formula is then applied to come up with a total population estimate. This season South Coast Fishermen volunteers and ODFW biologists operated the trap for 62 days, capturing and marking 4,602 outmigrating fall Chinook smolts for a total of about 170 volunteer hours. The South Coast Fishermen have also been helping ODFW collect fall Chinook scale samples for the past 19 years. Latest STAC R&E helps fund fish parasite Mini-Grants study in upper Klamath basin

MG 09-48 Kokanee Karnival Researchers from Oregon State “It appears there is not a high Youth Education University are investigating a parasite contribution from the Program Video, Central microscopic parasite in the upper tributaries,” said Hurst, “but there Oregon Flyfishers, $867 Klamath basin called Ceratomyxa are two areas of high parasite MG 09-49 Rain Water shasta that can be fatal to salmon density in the main river.” These Supplementation & and trout. The study, funded in part two ‘hot spots’ include the lower Water Quality, by an $80,700 grant from the R&E river where it flows into Upper Warrenton High Program, is looking at the Klamath Lake and in the upper Fisheries, Inc., $1,500 distribution and abundance of the river above Spring Creek. MG 09-50 Salmonberry River Macroinvertebrate parasite in the Williamson River To complicate matters, there are Study, Native Fish and its tributaries. Information at least three different strains of the Society, $2,000 gained from the study will help parasite that affect different species MG 09-51 Canyonville ODFW fisheries managers learn of salmonids. Type 1 primarily Acclimation Site, how to deal with endemic pathogens affects Chinook salmon and is found Umpqua Fishermen if salmon and steelhead are in the lower Klamath basin below Association, $1,113 eventually restored to the upper the dams, but not above. Type 2 MG 09-52 Fish Carcass Toss for Klamath River basin. affects coho salmon and is found in Stream Nutrient Supplement, Ceratomyxa shasta is found in the lower and upper river system, Clackamas River Basin some waters of the Pacific but only causes mortality in the Council, $2,000 Northwest and has two life cycle lower river. Type 0 infects redband stages. First, it infects a small trout and steelhead and is also aquatic worm the size of an eyelash, found below and above the dams. Calendar called a polychaete worm. The Researchers have long known the parasite multiplies in the worm and parasite was present in the upper Dec. 3 R&E projects to OR F&W Commission for is released as spores into the water. basin but do not know if it has approval, Portland In the next stage, salmon and always been there or has spread steelhead are infected when they further upstream. Why the type 2 Dec. 10 STAC Mini-Grant come into contact with these spores. strain found in the lower river kills Applications Due When the fish die, more spores are coho salmon but the same strain in Dec. 17 R&E grant released back into the water, the upper river does not is also an applications due beginning the cycle anew. For the unknown, although Dr. Jerri parasite to survive and reproduce, Bartholomew of the OSU Jan. 7-8 STAC Meeting Coos Bay both the polychaete worm and Department of Microbiology, who is salmonids must be present. leading the research project, thinks Feb. 4 R&E Board Meeting Fish infected with Ceratomyxa that current laboratory studies Salem shasta suffer from hemorrhaging might eventually yield more clues. Feb. 25 STAC Mini-Grant and damage to internal organs, In addition, although disease free Applications Due often resulting in death. when they are stocked in the The parasite has long been known Williamson River, hatchery rainbow March 25 STAC Meeting Tillamook to inhabit the lower Klamath River trout may later be infected with the below the four hydroelectric dams — type 2 strain and become hosts for April 28-30 R&E Board Meeting Irongate, Copco 1, Copco 2 and J.C. the parasite. Troutdale Boyle — and has been implicated in Plans to remove the four dams on a number of salmon die-offs. The the lower Klamath River beginning Oregon FishWorks will soon last survey for Ceratomyxa shasta in in 2020 are in progress. If that go to electronic distribution the Williamson River was in 1988, comes to fruition, then efforts will only. Watch future issues when large numbers of fish were be made to restore salmon and infected. steelhead runs in the upper basin. It for more details. Beginning in 2008, OSU graduate will be important for fisheries student Charlene Hurst is spending managers to know what kinds of STeP on the Web the summer months collecting water pathogens the fish may encounter www.dfw.state.or.us/STeP samples and looking for polychaete as they re-colonize their former worms to determine their presence range to develop appropriate r&e Program on the Web and density in the Williamson and management and restoration www.dfw.state.or.us/fish/re its tributaries. strategies. Long Tom Watershed Council to Recent R&E Grants Enhancement study coastal cutthroat trout No. 09-196 Loren’s Pond Enhancement Project Beginning this fall the Long Tom Watershed Council will begin a research Phase I, $23,825 project to unravel the mysteries of lower Long Tom River cutthroat trout and No. 09-227 Long Tom River their life history. The R&E Program has provided a grant of nearly $30,000 Cutthroat Trout to help fund the project. Migration Study, Although cutthroat trout make $29,945 up the primary recreational No. 09-235 Clatsop County fishery on the lower river, a great Fisheries and Sandy deal about them is not well known, Coho Fish Food, including many aspects of their life $20,000 history such as genetic diversity, Restoration seasonal migration patterns and No. 09-225 Chetco River Chinook the proportion of the Willamette Salmon Coded Wire Tag River cutthroats that spawn in the Study, $13,125 Long Tom River system. 09-226 Irrigon Hatchery 8-inch The study calls for capturing Fish Pump, $23,500 1,000 cutthroats by electrofishing, seine nets, hoop traps, and hook The lower Long Tom River cutthroat trout 09-228 Mann Lake Treatment to and line. The captured fish will be study will help increase the knowledge base of Remove Invasive Goldfish, this culturally important trout species. fitted with Passive Integrated $80,042 Transponder (PIT) tags and their movements tracked from fixed stations on 09-231 Siletz Falls Trap Structure the lower river and its three main tributaries — Bear, Furguson, and and Cable Upgrade, $7,300 Rattlesnake creeks. Antennas at the stations will be able to determine which 09-232 South Coast Fall Chinook direction the fish are heading as they pass by. The project will also look at Spawning Surveys,$15,368 whether the fish are encountering any passage difficulties. The fish in the Long Tom River system are fluvial coastal cutthroat trout, 09-233 Tenmile Lakes Coho Creel meaning they live in larger rivers but move into smaller tributaries to Survey, $19,135 spawn. Coastal cutthroat trout are found in a 100-mile band along the 09-234 Big Creek Hatchery Valve Pacific Coast from the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska to the Eel River in Replacement, $4,500 . There are three other species of cutthroat trout from which the coastal cutthroats have been evolutionarily separated for about one million years — westslope cutthroat trout, Yellowstone cutthroat trout, and Lahontan cutthroat trout. STEP Volunteers Field The research project is expected to be completed by next summer. & Stream Heroes of Conservation finalists

2011 STEP Conference - Save the Dates! STEP volunteers Gordon and Terri Southwick, of Garibaldi, are ODFW is inviting educators, students, anglers, and scientists to gather at finalists for Field and Stream Twin Rocks Friends Camp & Conference Center in Rockaway Beach, March magazine’s Conservation Heros of 26-27 for the 2011 Salmon and Trout Enhancement Program (STEP) the Year Award. Conference. The Southwick’s operate a Organizers have chosen the theme “Teach Today – Fish Tomorrow” for hatchbox on a tributary of the the biennial conference that highlights STEP programs and volunteer Miami River on Oregon’s north opportunities from around the state. The conference is a forum to exchange coast. Incubating about 100,000 ideas for integrating education into all aspects of STEP. eggs each year, they recently reached the 1 million mark. The For more information see the STEP Conference Web Page at: fish they raise are released into the mainstem Miami River. http://www.dfw.state.or.us/STEP/step-conference.asp The Southwicks and 6 other finalists were honored at a banquet or contact: in Washington, D.C. in October and presented with a $5,000 prize in Debbi Farrell at 503-947-6211, [email protected], or recognition for their contribution to Kevin Herkamp at 503-947-6232, [email protected] conservation. ST E P and R&E Programs Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife 3406 Cherry Ave., N.E. Salem, OR 97303-4924

Oregon FishWorks STeP Contacts Fall 2010, Volume 14, Number 4 Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife STEP Coordinator Lower Rogue STEP Kevin Herkamp, Salem John Weber, Gold Beach 3406 Cherry Ave., N.E. (503) 947-6232 (541) 247-7605 Salem, OR 97303-4924 [email protected] [email protected] 503-947-6000 R&E/STEP Program Assistant Upper Rogue STEP Fax 503-947-6202 Debbi Farrell, Salem Chuck Fustish, Central Point (503) 947-6211 (541) 826-8774 www.dfw.state.or.us Deoborah.L. [email protected] [email protected] STEP Biologists Roy Elicker, Director Lower Willamette STEP North Coast STEP Jeff Fulop, Clackamas Kevin Herkamp, STEP Coordinator and Ron Rehn, Tillamook (971) 673-6034 Interim R&E Program Coordinator (503) 842-2741 [email protected] [email protected] Debbi Farrell, R&E/STEP Assistant Mid Willamette STEP Jim Yuskavitch, Editing and Design Mid Coast STEP Karen Hans, Corvallis Christine Clapp, Newport (541) 757-4186 x251 (541) 265-8306 x253 [email protected] Restoration and Enhancement Board [email protected] Gary Soderstrom, Chair ...... Gillnet Fishing Upper Willamette STEP Umpqua STEP Jeff Ziller, Springfield Lonnie Johnson ...... Sport Fishing Greg Huchko, Roseburg (541) 726-3515 x26 (541) 440-3353 [email protected] Robert Bumstead ...... Sport Fishing [email protected] Dixie Boley ...... Seafood Processing Tenmile, Coos, and Coquille STEP Erik Moberly, Springfield William Lovelace ...... Public-At-Large Gary Vonderohe, Charleston (541) 726-3515, x28 [email protected] Terry Learned ...... Troll Fishing (541) 888-5515 [email protected] Jack Glass ...... Sport Fishing Eastern Oregon STEP Tom Rumreich,Charleston Jennifer Luke, Bend STEP Advisory Committee (541) 888-5515 (541) 388-6363 [email protected] [email protected] Michael Brochu, Chair ...... Umpqua Dave Dunahay ...... Eastern Oregon Gary Enoch ...... Upper Rogue Lin Howell ...... Lower Willamette : ON N TI Patrick Gefre ...... North Coast-Tillamook IO VA The Fish Restoration and S ER William Hastie...... Mid-Willamette S NS Enhancement Program provides I CO Richard Heap ...... Lower Rogue M RY funding for fish restoration and HE Sammie Mosley...... Eastern Oregon IS ~ F enhancement projects throughout Armand Pena ...... Tenmile, Coos, Coquille Oregon, while the Salmon and Trout Tom Petersen ...... Mid Coast Norman Ritchie ...... Lower Willamette Enhancement Program harnesses the dedication Leslie Wade...... Upper Willamette and enthusiasm of volunteers to rehabilitate and enhance Oregon’s fisheries.

To subscribe or unsubscribe to Oregon FishWorks, call r&e/STeP at (503) 947-6211 The FishWorks Shop Fall 2010 Mann Lake Restoration

ocated in far southeastern Oregon beneath the eastern base of Steens Mountain, Mann Lake has long been known to anglers as a premier Lahontan cutthroat trout fishery, where 12-inch-fish were common and 20- Linchers always a possibility. Managed as an artificial fly and lure only fishery, it attracted anglers from throughout the state and beyond to camp along its shore, fish for its famous trout, and sometimes battle its legendary winds. But in 2001, an ominous sign appeared. A goldfish was found in the lake. Goldfish are a prolific, invasive species and by 2010 they had infested Mann Lake, substantially lowered its water quality and significantly reduced its cutthroat trout fishery. Only a major restoration effort could fix it. Mann Lake, a Jewel in the Desert Mann Lake is located about 65 miles southeast of Burns on the east side of the Fields-Denio Road in sagebrush country managed by the Bureau of Land Management. A naturally formed lake, it averages about 275 acres and six feet deep at full pool. Its deepest portion is about 14 feet. Nutrient rich, plankton and macrophytes grow prolifically. Under normal conditions, visibility underwater is about three feet. Fed by intermittent streams from the east face of Steens Mountain, the lake has no natural outlet, so it loses its water from evaporation in the summer and fall. From the late 1950s to the early 1960s, cutthroat trout from Nevada and Washington were stocked in the lake. Later from Oak Springs Hatchery in Oregon were Mann Lake is one of Oregon’s most famous cutthroat trout fisheries added to the mix. From the late 1990s to the and is managed for trophy-size fish. ODFW Photo present, Mann Lake is stocked with Lahontan cutthroat trout from Omak, Washington that originated from Marlette Lake, Nevada and contain some rainbow trout genes. Mann Lake is managed as a trophy trout fishery and is very popular with anglers who provide a significant economic benefit to the local economy. Invasion of the Goldfish In 2001, a local angler caught a goldfish in the lake and brought it into the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife office in Hines. ODFW surveyed the lake and found more goldfish along with two other invasive species — bluntnose minnow and fathead minnow. A survey in 2010 found significant numbers of goldfish and very few trout. A native of eastern Asia and China, goldfish were brought to America as an ornamental and aquarium fish. When they escape or are illegally introduced into the wild, they can cause significant problems for native aquatic species and habitats. In the case of Mann Lake, the goldfish competed with the cutthroat trout, and because they feed on aquatic vegetation at the bottom of the lake, roil up the water causing significant turbidity, which negatively affects water quality. Water visibility in Mann Lake went from the normal three feet to about 3/8 inch due to the impacts of goldfish. An Educational Series Presented by the R&E and STEP Programs Because of this decline in water quality, proliferation of goldfish and decline in Lahontan cutthroat trout numbers, angling activity at the lake dropped dramatically. The source of the goldfish infestation is unknown. Restoring the Fishery In the summer of 2010, a $41,947 grant from the Fish Restoration and Enhancement Program was made available to help restore the Lahontan cutthroat trout fishery to Mann Lake by treating it with rotenone. Prior to treatment, ODFW and about 30 volunteers including anglers from eastern and western Oregon, and members of the Burns Paiute tribe gathered at the lake to do some pre-removal sampling including assessing the macroinvertebrate population, improving a barrier between the lake and a connected pond, electrofishing Mann Creek and netting fish in the lake. They found virtually no vegetation or aquatic insects on the lake bottom and some invasive minnows in the creek. The volunteers netted 172 goldfish and seven Rotenone treatment of the lake in October 2010 removed about 197,000 trout from the lake — a ratio of about 25 non-native goldfish. ODFW Photo goldfish per one trout. The stomachs of several goldfish and trout were examined. All their stomachs were empty, but the female goldfish were carrying eggs. The Salmon Trout Advisory Committee provided $2,000 to feed the volunteers and for some camping and cooking gear. On September 13, 14, and 15, 2010, ODFW staff applied rotenone to the lake and removed about 197,000 goldfish. Unfortunately, a post-treatment survey discovered two goldfish. While the initial treatment removed the juvenile fish, some larger adult fish appeared to have survived. A second treatment is scheduled for November 2010. Once the treatment is completed, the lake will be stocked with six-to-eight-inch Lahontan cutthroat trout fingerlings to get the fishery jump-started. The pre- treatment survey found lots of macroinvertebrates in the vegetation along the lakeshore, which are expected to Volunteers helped ODFW with pre-treatment survey work. ODFW provide a good initial food source for the new population.

For additional information on the R&E Prgram and STEP contact Program Coordinator Kevin Herkamp, (503) 947-6232.