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Written comments and suggestions on the proposal to improve water quality and fishery at Diamond Lake can be sent to James A. Caplan, Forest Supervisor, Umpqua National Forest, 2900 N.W. Stewart Parkway, Roseburg, OR 97470.
The draft environmental impact statement will be available in February 2004. For information, call Sherri Chambers at 496-3532 or e-mail schambers@fs.fed.us
The draft environmental impact statement will be available in February 2004. For information, call Sherri Chambers at 496-3532 or e-mail schambers@fs.fed.us
The tenacious tui chub population of Diamond Lake faces extermination through biochemical attack if a Forest Service proposal moves forward by 2004.
Umpqua National Forest staff, together with local representatives of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, are proposing to blanket Diamond Lake with the fish-killing agent rotenone.
The chemical treatment intended to kill tui chub will also kill other fish, amphibians and invertebrates in the lake.
The proposal, announced Friday, reverses an official retreat from the use of rotenone by ODFW and state representatives. Fears of expensive legal challenges by environmental groups have apparently decreased in the face of a growing water quality crisis for the North Umpqua River, biologists say.
Joe Eilers of JC Headwaters, a hydrology and environmental-analysis contractor, said the Forest Service proposal is the result of a "thorough and honest evaluation of the alternatives." Evidence that Diamond Lake is damaging water quality in North Umpqua waterways makes rotenone one reasonable alternative, he added.
"Everything is linked together," Eilers said. "You can't ignore what is occurring in Diamond Lake and hope things will take care of themselves because apparently they are not."
Studies of nitrogen levels in Lemolo Reservoir and the North Umpqua River show rising quantities of algae in North Umpqua tributaries can be blamed, in part, on Diamond Lake's problem with an estimated 25 to 30 million of the illegally introduced bait fish, he said.
Toxic algae blooms in the summer months of 2001 and 2002 have added to problems within the lake itself.
"Even though only 15 percent of the flow into Lemolo Lake is from Diamond Lake, 50 percent of the nitrogen is from Lake Creek and Diamond Lake," Eilers said. "We have a situation where that water is entering the wild and scenic section (of the North Umpqua River). The Forest Service has responsibility to maintain water quality in that system."
Under the proposal, the action could start in 2004 with repair of an earthen canal and construction of a head gate to control water levels. The canal could be used to bring down lake levels by eight feet to prevent rotenone from escaping into other North Umpqua streams and waterways.
Public education programs to help prevent a reintroduction of the tui chub and monitoring of lake conditions to warn of an early reintroduction would continue at least through 2006.
Sections of adjacent Silent Creek and Lake Creek will also be treated. Once the process begins in the month of September, it is set to continue through November to ensure the chemical has been fully neutralized by natural processes.
Francis Eatherington, forest monitor for the Roseburg-based conservation group Umpqua Watersheds, said she is disappointed that rotenone is the Forest Service's key proposed alternative because of its broad impact on the lake.
"It's hard to take a naturally fishless lake and try and manipulate it to produce everything we want and not compromise water quality," she said. "If we would back off the high fisheries goal, they could improve water quality without rotenone. The (environmental impact statement) has to look at that."
Eatherington added the state of Oregon has used unrealistically high goals for fisheries in Diamond Lake.
"Even in its heyday, Diamond Lake hasn't delivered 100,000-angler days," she added. "Rather than squeezing every dollar out of the lake, there needs to be a more realistic goal for the number of fish that Diamond Lake can support for anglers."
Dave Loomis, an ODFW district fish biologist and Umpqua watershed manager, said 100,000 angler trips and a catch of 270,000 trout were goals based on annual catches in the mid-1960s and '70s, before introduction of the tui chub.
"Those numbers were based on what we've actually seen at the lake," Loomis said. "We used those figures to develop our management goals."
Liberal catch limits in the year prior to any application of rotenone will be discussed publicly to find the best way to remove as many trout as possible before treatment, Loomis added.
"It could be a large or open daily limit, he said. "Anglers can catch a limit of five spring Chinook and rainbow trout now."
A commercial netting operation to collect some of the fish, in addition to recreational angling, is being considered. Thousands of dead fish to be killed in the treatment would be turned into fertilizer under the proposal. Future restocking of trout in Diamond Lake would occur under standards set through monitoring of water quality, officials report.
If a decision is made to apply rotenone, application is most likely in September of 2005 or 2006.
Initial public comment on the proposal will be accepted through May 30.
Jim Caplan, Umpqua National Forest supervisor, said his agency is a partner with county, state and federal agencies "to work on the problem together." He invited the public to provide ideas and help identify the best approach.
"I genuinely have not made up my mind at this point," he said. "After visiting with the public and experts like Joe (Eilers), we wanted to make sure the public knew we were giving full consideration to the alternative of using rotenone in the lake."
Caplan said current information indicates the use of rotenone is one of several alternatives, but one that is "likely to improve water quality and allow a new recreational fishery to be established."
Rotenone is a natural substance derived from several plant species. The agent works by inhibiting the function of enzymes that allow fish, amphibians and invertebrates to use oxygen. The agent kills these animals through asphyxiation.
Amphibians and invertebrates are expected to re-colonize the lake through the same processes which took place in 1954 -- the year when the lake was first treated with rotenone to improve fishing opportunities after a nearly identical infestation of tui chub.
"When they used rotenone 50 years ago it didn't last," Eatherington said. "Who knows how many times we can do this before there is a significant negative impact? We need a sustainable solution over the long term."
* You can reach reporter Jeff Willis at 957-4218 or by e-mail at jwillis@newsreview.info.
Umpqua National Forest staff, together with local representatives of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, are proposing to blanket Diamond Lake with the fish-killing agent rotenone.
The chemical treatment intended to kill tui chub will also kill other fish, amphibians and invertebrates in the lake.
The proposal, announced Friday, reverses an official retreat from the use of rotenone by ODFW and state representatives. Fears of expensive legal challenges by environmental groups have apparently decreased in the face of a growing water quality crisis for the North Umpqua River, biologists say.
Joe Eilers of JC Headwaters, a hydrology and environmental-analysis contractor, said the Forest Service proposal is the result of a "thorough and honest evaluation of the alternatives." Evidence that Diamond Lake is damaging water quality in North Umpqua waterways makes rotenone one reasonable alternative, he added.
"Everything is linked together," Eilers said. "You can't ignore what is occurring in Diamond Lake and hope things will take care of themselves because apparently they are not."
Studies of nitrogen levels in Lemolo Reservoir and the North Umpqua River show rising quantities of algae in North Umpqua tributaries can be blamed, in part, on Diamond Lake's problem with an estimated 25 to 30 million of the illegally introduced bait fish, he said.
Toxic algae blooms in the summer months of 2001 and 2002 have added to problems within the lake itself.
"Even though only 15 percent of the flow into Lemolo Lake is from Diamond Lake, 50 percent of the nitrogen is from Lake Creek and Diamond Lake," Eilers said. "We have a situation where that water is entering the wild and scenic section (of the North Umpqua River). The Forest Service has responsibility to maintain water quality in that system."
Under the proposal, the action could start in 2004 with repair of an earthen canal and construction of a head gate to control water levels. The canal could be used to bring down lake levels by eight feet to prevent rotenone from escaping into other North Umpqua streams and waterways.
Public education programs to help prevent a reintroduction of the tui chub and monitoring of lake conditions to warn of an early reintroduction would continue at least through 2006.
Sections of adjacent Silent Creek and Lake Creek will also be treated. Once the process begins in the month of September, it is set to continue through November to ensure the chemical has been fully neutralized by natural processes.
Francis Eatherington, forest monitor for the Roseburg-based conservation group Umpqua Watersheds, said she is disappointed that rotenone is the Forest Service's key proposed alternative because of its broad impact on the lake.
"It's hard to take a naturally fishless lake and try and manipulate it to produce everything we want and not compromise water quality," she said. "If we would back off the high fisheries goal, they could improve water quality without rotenone. The (environmental impact statement) has to look at that."
Eatherington added the state of Oregon has used unrealistically high goals for fisheries in Diamond Lake.
"Even in its heyday, Diamond Lake hasn't delivered 100,000-angler days," she added. "Rather than squeezing every dollar out of the lake, there needs to be a more realistic goal for the number of fish that Diamond Lake can support for anglers."
Dave Loomis, an ODFW district fish biologist and Umpqua watershed manager, said 100,000 angler trips and a catch of 270,000 trout were goals based on annual catches in the mid-1960s and '70s, before introduction of the tui chub.
"Those numbers were based on what we've actually seen at the lake," Loomis said. "We used those figures to develop our management goals."
Liberal catch limits in the year prior to any application of rotenone will be discussed publicly to find the best way to remove as many trout as possible before treatment, Loomis added.
"It could be a large or open daily limit, he said. "Anglers can catch a limit of five spring Chinook and rainbow trout now."
A commercial netting operation to collect some of the fish, in addition to recreational angling, is being considered. Thousands of dead fish to be killed in the treatment would be turned into fertilizer under the proposal. Future restocking of trout in Diamond Lake would occur under standards set through monitoring of water quality, officials report.
If a decision is made to apply rotenone, application is most likely in September of 2005 or 2006.
Initial public comment on the proposal will be accepted through May 30.
Jim Caplan, Umpqua National Forest supervisor, said his agency is a partner with county, state and federal agencies "to work on the problem together." He invited the public to provide ideas and help identify the best approach.
"I genuinely have not made up my mind at this point," he said. "After visiting with the public and experts like Joe (Eilers), we wanted to make sure the public knew we were giving full consideration to the alternative of using rotenone in the lake."
Caplan said current information indicates the use of rotenone is one of several alternatives, but one that is "likely to improve water quality and allow a new recreational fishery to be established."
Rotenone is a natural substance derived from several plant species. The agent works by inhibiting the function of enzymes that allow fish, amphibians and invertebrates to use oxygen. The agent kills these animals through asphyxiation.
Amphibians and invertebrates are expected to re-colonize the lake through the same processes which took place in 1954 -- the year when the lake was first treated with rotenone to improve fishing opportunities after a nearly identical infestation of tui chub.
"When they used rotenone 50 years ago it didn't last," Eatherington said. "Who knows how many times we can do this before there is a significant negative impact? We need a sustainable solution over the long term."
* You can reach reporter Jeff Willis at 957-4218 or by e-mail at jwillis@newsreview.info.
