program october 21 a story of ﬁre, past and future · club can resume its long-time cooperation...

A monthly newsletter serving the southern Willamette Valley OCTOBER 2019

PROGRAM OCTOBER 21

A story of fire, past and futureBy Scott Halpert FireisreturningtowildlandsofOregona2eralongabsence.Douglas-firforestsofthePacificNorthwestwestoftheCascadesMountains(“westside”)haveenormousecological,economic,andculturalsignificanceandfireacEvityintheseforestshasbeenincreasingdramaEcallyinthepastdecade,withimportantimplicaEonsforhumanhealthandproperty,fishandaquaEchabitatandwildlifehabitat.

In Our October program, James Johnston will explore the extent and environmental consequences of recent fires, and describe recent research that reconstructs fire occurrence in westside forests in the 500 years prior to Euro-American settlement. He will discuss the future of wildfire in Oregon, and public lands management that will help Oregonians live with fire.

James Johnston is a faculty research associate at OSU College of Forestry. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from

the University of Oregon and a masters and Ph.D. in forest science from OSU. His research interests include fire ecology, dendroecology, restoration forestry, environmental law and policy, and collaborative governance.

McKenzie Flyfishers 1

MONTHLYMEMBERSMEETINGPleasecheckyourcalendarandmakesurethatthemonthlymeetingoftheMcKenzieFlyFishersisthereinboldprint–Monday,Oct.21,atWillie’sRestaurant.400IndustrialWay,SpringEield.Drinksandtimetochatandmingleat6pm,dinnerat7,speakersat8.Allarewelcome.FindtheclubatmckenzieElyEishers.wordpress.comandonFacebook(limitedtomembers).

James Johnston

http://mckenzieflyfishers.wordpress.com

http://mckenzieflyfishers.wordpress.com



Prez sez By Jim Rhoten

Fall is in the air. The leaves are changing, the air is cooler, the geese are flying around. It’s a great time to be on a river or lake and catching some fish. Fall is also the time for McKenzie Flyfishers annual auction. The auction is a very important part of the club’s history and provides income to do the activities we enjoy. Money raised at the auction enables the club to do many additional things that wouldn’t be possible with dues alone.

Some of the activities and club expenses that the auction proceeds help support:

• Donation of money to organizations that are important, like Salmon Watch.

• Enables the club to pay part of the cost of the holiday dinner for members and guests.

• Covers additional expenses for food, rental of equipment and other costs that are needed to run the auction.

• Helps cover the costs of the club trips put on by our fishmasters.

• Pays for expenses at our July picnic. • Covers the cost of the speakers we have at

our monthly club meetings. • Pays the expenses of our annual Gold Lake

outing. • Pays for awards given out o our members. • Covers the cost for the drawings for two

guided fishing trips: one for members who pay dues on time, and the other at the auction as an incentive to help out.

• Pays storage rental for club camping gear, books and auction stuff.

These are just some of the club expenses that occur during the year. You can see why the auction is such an important part of what the club does.

The auction committee has been working hard organizing and planning. We are trying to make the auction more profitable, better

organized, and take less time on auction night. The donation committee has been hitting the streets soliciting donations from businesses and getting a lot of great donations. The organization and donation committee can’t do it all, we need help from members. Here is a list of jobs we need help with: • Contact a business and ask for a donation. Talk to Peggy first and make sure no one has already contacted them and get the necessary handouts. • A couple of members to help collect

donated items at our October meeting. • Drivers to pick up and deliver donations. • Help with setup on auction day. • Registration and greeting on auction night. • Table closers and bag room helpers. • Data entry on iPads.

• Checkout on iPads. • Take down and clean up. The plan is for volunteers to work for a set time so they can enjoy and partake in the auction. The more help we get, the easier and the faster the lines will be.

Everyone who buys a bid card gets a meal included. Attached to your bid card will be a ticket for a drawing at the end of the evening for a guided fishing trip. To earn additional tickets for the drawing, you can do the following:

• Two tickets for each fly box turned in to Clint.

• Three tickets for items used in silent auction.

• Five tickets for items used in oral auction. • Five tickets for members who put together a

trip or dinner party. • Ten tickets for winning bid in oral auction. We will have signup sheets at the October

meeting. If you have any questions about donations, please contact me, Greg Williams or Peggy Roga.

Have a great fall and go catch something, — Jim ([email protected])

The auction committee is trying to make the auction more profitable, better organized, and take less time on auction night.

mailto:[email protected]




Lawsuit Against ODFW and Corps of Engineers ConcludedBy Bob Bumstead

Six years ago, the McKenzie Flyfishers, in cooperation with other organizations, sued ODFW and the Army Corps of Engineers to reduce the genetic influence of hatchery-raised salmon on wild spring Chinook salmon in the McKenzie River, and to supply downstream fish passage at Cougar Dam. On June 24 Judge Thomas Coffin concluded the lawsuit.

Since the filing of the lawsuit, the plight of McKenzie wild spring Chinook salmon has improved. The suit asked that the number of hatchery plants in the river be reduced and that hatchery genetic management plans be approved by state and federal agencies. Those plans are designed to help ensure that hatchery fish genetics will have less intrusion into the wild fish gene pool. Under the influence of the lawsuit, both of those actions have come to pass as well as the Corps funding downstream fish passage at Cougar Dam.

Though the percentage of hatchery fish spawning with wild fish is still a problem, things are looking up for wild spring Chinook. This year a decades-long record number of wild fish have passed over Leaburg Dam. Both EWEB, the owner of dam, and the National Marine Fisheries Service have approved establishing a collection facility at the dam that could intercept any hatchery salmon and prevent them from

progressing into the upper river. This will greatly limit the genetic introgression of hatchery fish on the wild population. Also, the McKenzie Watershed Council’s massive restructuring of the South Fork of the McKenzie River has provided much superior salmon spawning and rearing habitat. Finally, the Corps of Engineers is holding hearings about their plans to provide downstream passage for Chinook smolts and bull trout at Cougar Reservoir.

A major benefit of the successful conclusion of the lawsuit is that the club can resume its long-time cooperation with the local ODFW staff. Our past cooperation with ODF&W has yielded great results. We were a vital piece of the committee back in 1988 that revamped the management plan for the McKenzie that banned keeping of wild fish and

established half of the river as a wild fish sanctuary. We

provided the volunteers to trap and remove invasive brook trout from Gold Lake in an attempt to increase the numbers and condition of its famous rainbows. We initiated and helped staff the trout study on the McKenzie from Hendricks Wayside to Bellinger landing that demonstrated the beneficial effects of removing hatchery trout from that stretch and provided useful information on wild trout movement. Of course, while we were suing ODFW, all of those cooperative efforts ceased.

We are pleased that now that the suit has concluded, local District Biologist Jeff Ziller and his staff will be able to present a program at our March meeting highlighting their educational efforts. This presentation should kick-off the start of a new era of productive cooperation with ODFW.

Leaburg Dam (ODFW photo)



Bala Brings the Kalama Cup back to McKenzie FlyfishersBy Dick Barnhart

Over the weekend of Sept. 28-29, members of MFF engaged members of Evergreen Fly Fishing Club of Everett, Wash. in our annual competition to catch the largest steelhead, and thus bring home the Kalama Cup. This competition has been held annually since 1966. (Our founding member Bill Nelson was an early member of the Evergreens.)

This year our club was represented by Arlen Thomason, Ted Taylor, Paul Moore, Bala Palani, and yours truly. The Evergreen club was represented by two fishermen, Gary Medema and Ted Lewis. We all arrived at the Susan Creek Campground on Friday afternoon. That afternoon, the weather was quite pleasant, and several of us went out and wet our lines, but no steelhead contacts were made. The weather gods had something else in mind for the rest of the weekend. It started raining Friday night and persisted all Saturday.

On Saturday morning, I paired up with Bala Palani and spent the day fishing with him. Both of us were Spey fishing. We started just above Steamboat Inn and began working our way downstream by parking on turnouts above runs I had placed on my GPS two years ago. At a spot about two miles below the inn, I heard Bala shout and saw that he had a fish on. By the time I got up to him, he had maneuvered his bright wild steelhead hen into a small side pool in the bedrock. He took the fish on a size 6 wet fly resembling an October Caddis using a sinking tip. Pictures were taken and the fish was released in

fine condition. This was the only fish of the day for the MFF team. Meanwhile, Ted of Evergreen landed a steelhead at the campground run using a skating fly.

Neither Bala nor Ted Lewis had a measuring device at the time they caught their fish; therefore, Ted, Gary, Bala and I met on Sunday morning and agreed to measure the width of four fingers of both Bala and Ken, and use the photos of them holding their fish to determine how many

hand widths each fish was in length. We calculated that Ken’s fish was 29 inches and Bala’s was 29.5 inches. The Evergreen team conceded the victory to Bala and turned over the coveted Kalama Cup, which they had been holding since 2016. Here some additional

notes about the weekend: Both Bala and I skated flies on Friday

afternoon, but, due to the rain and depth of the runs we fished Saturday we changed to wet flies and sink tips.

The Evergreen club came prepared to barbecue a meal at the campground on Saturday evening, but due to the rain and wet conditions, plans were changed, and we all went to the Narrows Tavern. The Evergreens graciously paid the tab.

While at the tavern, we talked to a fisheries biologist who works on the North Umpqua for PGE. He confirmed that, for the third straight year, the summer steelhead run has been very poor. However, the winter runs have been strong.

Lastly, while fishing with Bala, I came to appreciate that he is an excellent Spey fisherman in both his casting skills and his overall fishing technique. He fished hard and earned the fish he caught. Congratulations Bala!



L

Memorable Gold Lake outing, contest, fish fry

Gold Lake was gorgeous the weekend of Sept. 13-15 and we saw dozens of club members and their families show up, particularly on that Saturday for the contest and fish fry.

The traditional competition to catch the three longest brook trout was won for the second year in a row by the intrepid float-tuber John Ranstad (see photo top right). His three fish totaled 35-7/8 inches, followed by Bob Bumstead at 35-3/8, Tim Knerr at 34-7/8 and Steve Ward at 34-1/8 inches. John also had the largest fish of the top contenders at 13-7/8 inches.

Enough fish were caught to feed everybody at the potluck, and have fish leftover to take home.

We were happy to see lots of kids at the outing, and they happily ran around as a pack, exploring this beautiful campground, trails and lakeside with its abundant wildlife.

Thanks to the board members who organized this annual event, and fed us Saturday evening and Sunday morning. — TJT



The Vault is our Darth secretBy Al Eckerdt

A long time ago on a planet very far away, a club existed that is now called McKenzie Flyfishers. The club has been around for a long time and it worked hard to create procedures, job descriptions and spreadsheets to document everything it did. All of these important documents were stored on someone’s computer (possibly Fortress Vader’s very own). But alas, all the documentation merely vanished one year and after searching all over the galaxy, it became apparent that the club needed to start over and re-create everything again.

A shining princess saw how desperate things had become and she took it upon herself to store all documents on her own computer. Our own superhero is Liz Yocom, better known as Busylizzy, who carefully loaded what existed on to her hard drive and there it stayed for several years. Then our princess realized that she was the only one who had the “keys” to her computer and what would happen if she was captured by some evil force (Darth?). What would the club do then (after attempting to rescue her of course) about all this work that had been re-done?

So Liz decided to create a virtual Vault that is impervious to attacks from anything. She then loaded documents that existed into The Vault for safe keeping (The Vault is in Google free storage with all the firewalls that Google has to offer). She then informed the MFF president and board

that The Vault existed but a lot more stuff had to be put onto it.

The president at the time (Al Eckerdt) chaired a committee to document all of our procedures, have all committee chairs write down what they do (job descriptions) and locate all spreadsheets that needed to be protected.

Everyone pitched in and documented every job the club currently has functioning, plus archived really exciting things like Tax Codes, Logos, Award, Bylaws, Newsletter archives and a whole lot more. All of this information is now securely stored in The Vault, where it is password

protected. Below is a screen shot of what the Vault looks like. So, if someone decided they need to know what any committee chair does and

how they do it, the instructions are there. Also those hard-to-find things, like what do our officers do or how do run the holiday party or what does the librarian do, or anything else, it can easily be referenced.

The rules to use The Vault are simple. Liz has the “keys” and manages authorizations for access. So, if you need something, please contact Liz. The content and ongoing maintenance of information in The Vault is managed by Al Eckerdt (vault administrator). If anyone has questions about how it works, please contact me or Liz, but please let us know if you see any Storm Troopers about!



Volunteering for Casting for RecoveryGail Campbell participated at the Northern Oregon Casting for Recovery retreat held at a

Metolius resort on Sept. 29. Casting for Recovery assists breast cancer sufferers and survivors regain a sense of independence and control over their lives through learning how to fly fish. A group of 14 experienced fly fishers assembled to help conference participants with their on-the-water outing.

Remember the first time you fly fished and felt overwhelmed by all the things you had to remember? That was generally the situation at this outing, but almost all participants caught fish. The go-to flies were either a Prince Nymph or Balanced Leech. A participant who was pretty taxed by her chemotherapy and radiation nonetheless caught fish hand-over-fist with the latter fly, to everyone’s delight.

All fish went back in the water, and at the end, each participant was awarded with her very own fly rod and reel, thanks to the donation of same by a mighty fine supporter of the program. If you’re interested in participating at future Casting for Recovery retreats, talk with Gail about it.

New Euro-nymphing videoThe club recently added a new

DVD to its growing collection: Modern Nymphing: European Inspired Techniques. In this DVD, Devin Olsen and Lance Egan share the European-inspired nymphing techniques that have helped them to be successful in the world championships as well as in competitions at home. Gilbert Rowley at Capture Adventure Media has produced a video that is not only instructional but exciting and entertaining to watch.

Specific topics covered include: the pros and cons of European vs. suspension/strike indicator nymphing, European nymphing gear and rigging, casts for European nymphing, the execution: fishing and detecting strikes upstream, up and across, and down and across, and 14 confidence flies from Devin and Lance.

The film was shot on six public rivers in Utah, Idaho, and Oregon.

We also have the follow-up DVD, Modern Nymphing - Elevated. Check them out and get in on the fun that Arlen and other club members are having. As I've sorted through our books, I’ve found many current and past member’s names inscribed in the covers indicating how the library has grown over the years. Most recently, John Dillard generously donated numerous fly-fishing books to our amazing library. Thanks John!

If you want to look through the various titles, check out the member’s-only tab on the MFF website. You can send me an email or give me a call and I’ll bring any books you want to check out to the meeting. If you want to donate books or DVDs, bring them to a meeting or give me a call or email.

— Carolyn Mason



2019Board&Committees President:JimRhoten

Presidentelect:GregWilliamsSecretary:DaveThomasTreasurer:MarkCampbell

At-largeboard:BobHowell,MonteMatthews,TomFauria,PeggyRoga Auction:GregWilliams(head),

PeggyRoga(donations),JimRhoten,SteveHackett

Website:LizYocomMembership:DickBarnhart(head),SteveHackett(host),PeggyRoga

(host)

Newsletter:TedTaylorOutings:ClintBrumitt Library:CarolynMason

Holidayparty:TomFauria Annualpicnic:JeffDeVore

Conservation:ArlenThomasonEducation:TimKnerr,ClintBrumitt

FFIrep.:TerryWillisPrograms:ScottHalpert(head),Bill

Laing,DanRobinhold,MikeStarr,MikeBrinkley

Our club’s Life Members • Jim Boyd • Bob Bumstead • Jim Dougher

• Skip Hosfield • Bill Laing • Hal Legard • Glen Love • Frank Moore • Peter Patricelli

• Bob Rasmussen • Mike Starr • Dave Thomas

INVITATION TO JOIN You do not have to be an expert fly fisher to join the McKenzie Flyfishers. Our monthly meetings are an excellent opportunity to meet other area anglers, to have the best of regional experts on subjects dear to the hearts of fly fishers — and our outings and classes are wonderful ways to hone skills and lead local waters first-hand. Interested? Just curious? Contact Dick Barnhart, (541) 501-1774.

Have stories and photos for the newsletter? Email Ted Taylor at [email protected]

Salmon Watch training coming up Oct. 24The September Salmon Watch trips have been completed, followed by the annual

Salmon Celebration Sept. 28 with more than 100 people attending. November Salmon Watch trips are coming and more training sessions are set for 3 and 5 pm Thursday, Oct. 24, at the River House Community Center, 301 N. Adams St. in Eugene. Upcoming trip schedule can be found at the Salmon Watch website, see www.mckenziewc.org.

http://www.mckenziewc.org


http://www.mckenziewc.org


program october 21 a story of ﬁre, past and future · club can resume its long-time cooperation...

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