Action Alert - Keep the Salmonberry Wild and Remote

An important call to action from the Native Fish Society.

Dear Wild Fish Advocates,
 
In addition to the beautiful, rugged landscape of Oregon's Salmonberry River, it is home to some of the purest populations of wild, native salmonids in the Pacific Northwest, including summer and fall Chinook salmon, winter steelhead, both resident and anadromous cutthroat trout, and endangered Coho salmon. 

For over a hundred years, a railroad has operated in some capacity throughout the river's corridor; however, the canyon’s steep, remote location has proven difficult for railroad maintenance. Currently, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) is seeking comments for alternative recreational opportunities in a development plan for the Salmonberry River Corridor, the 86 mile stretch of railway that lies in the Northwest part of the state connecting the city of Banks to the rural Coast. 

• Oregon’s Salmonberry watershed provides essential habitat for endangered wild Coho salmon, as well as winter steelhead, summer and fall Chinook salmon, and resident and anadromous cutthroat trout.  
• The canyon’s steep valley walls, intrinsic landslide potential, and rugged terrain has proven to be economically prohibitive for railroad maintenance.
• This development plan must include the least-impactful recreational opportunity throughout the Salmonberry River stretch of the corridor to prevent future degradation to this watershed.

Please join us today in asking OPRD to support a primitive trail and minimize the risk of the ecological impacts to wild fish from increased development in the Salmonberry River and keep this canyon wild and remote!

Thank you!
Native Fish Society

TAKE ACTION NOW!

Take Action: Protect Threatened Salmon & Steelhead: Support Improved Low Flow Closures

An important message and call to action from the Native Fish Society.

Dear Wild Fish Advocates,

The native, ESA-listed salmon and steelhead of the drought-stricken Gualala River, in California, need your help. Thanks in large part to the pressure that we put on the California Department of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW) a year ago, the CDFW is finally taking action to fix the critically flawed low-flow closure system on the North Central-Coast of California.

Currently, the North Central-Coast Low-Flow Closure is triggered by a gauge on the Russian River, whose flows are highly regulated by dams. The last three years have each had extended droughts in the middle of the winter steelhead season. Each year, the coastal streams have dropped down to mere trickles, yet have remained open to fishing because dam releases keep the Russian up above the low-flow trigger. The ESA-listed fish are forced to congregate into a handful of shrinking holes below restricted passage areas, and then subject to increased angling pressure. It also makes poaching enforcement more difficult when the fish are most vulnerable.

CDFW is preparing regulatory changes to move the trigger for North Central-Coast streams to one or more gauges on rivers that are more representative of the region’s small, undammed coastal streams, like the Gualala. Key issues will be which gauge(s) and low-flow triggers to use, how often CDFW will update its closure status.

The brief comment period ends August 7, 2014, so now is the time to voice our support for an appropriate low-flow closure trigger to protect these ESA-listed winter steelhead and coho from increased angling pressure (and poaching) during the extreme low-water conditions that have become the norm in this part of the state.

Thank you!
Native Fish Society

CLICK TO TAKE ACTION

What if they held a protest and nobody came?

Photo: Horatio Nailknot

Like last week's protest of the Native Fish Society benefit banquet organized by the Three Rivers Sportmans Alliance.

That dollar I committed to NFS for every protester that showed I'll be able to cover by sweeping the change out my couch.

Take the Adipose Pledge

On April 11th, 2014, the Native Fish Society is holding it's annual gala under the big top at Montgomery Park in Portland, Oregon. 

The Three Rivers Sportsman's Alliance plans to protest the Native Fish Society event. Their board members have said this protest "is the single most important event of the year for Oregon sport fisherman."

Now you can show your support for NFS by taking the Adipose Pledge and donating a dollar for every protestor that shows up.

You can also sponsor a protestor via the NFS website.

At last count there are 30 people registered to attend the protest on the TRSA picket the NFS Facebook event page.

Picketing planned for Native Fish Society event

I'm donating a dollar to the Native Fish Society for every picketer that shows up. 

LINK (via: The Statesmen Journal)

How about a little math. 

Facebook likes

Native Fish Society - 1,888

Three Rivers Sportsman's Alliance 1,148

Give the Native Fish Society a like on Facebook and help drive the point home that even more of us care about wild fish. 

Coincidentally the NFS party is the same night as the IF4 screening in Seattle which is a fundraiser for the Wild Steelhead Coalition. It will be a big night to make a statement for wild fish. 

Action Alert: Oregon's Coastal Wild Fish In Jeopardy

A very important Action Alert from Native Fish Society.

Oregon’s coastal wild salmon, steelhead, and cutthroat trout need your help. These fish are an important part of the unique heritage of Oregon, but their future is at risk from a new ODFW Coastal Management Plan (CMP), which fails to adequately employ the best-available science to address habitat, harvest, and hatchery pressures facing these coastal salmonids.

There is still time to remedy this plan. ODFW is accepting public comments on the draft CMP until February 10, 2014.

Native Fish Society is asking all pf us who care about wild fish to send comments to ODFW prior to the dedline, and they've made it easy for you to do so through the link below to their Action Alert Page. It only takes a few seconds and it could have a huge impact on the future of Oregon's coastal wild fish.

TAKE ACTION - Send your comments today!