Nov - Dec 2007 Trout Line Newsletter, Tualatin Valley Trout Unlimited

8/9/2019 Nov - Dec 2007 Trout Line Newsletter, Tualatin Valley Trout Unlimited

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THE TROUT LINETualat in Valley Chapter News

Nov ember / Decem ber 2007 Editor : Dav id Il l ig

Chapter Meeti ngs are held at the LUCKYLABRADOR on the second Wednesday ofeach mon th at 6:30 PM wit h a social get-together and th eformal meeting at 7:00 PM unless otherwise noted in t henewslett er or website. Lucky Labrador, Multnom ah Vill age,7675 SW Capitol Hw y . Port land , (503) 244-2537. Foodand Bev erages av ailable.

Board of Directors Meetings held on the fourth Wednesdayof t he month at a Directors home at 7pm.

Wednesday , November 14

The Fishing and Polit ics of t he Nort hCoast: David Moskowitz presents. When not working asTUs poin t man down in Salem w henever th e house is insession, David mi ght be fou nd chasing steelhead on acoastal river. Hes done a bit of bot h over the years sincegraduati ng fr om Nor thwestern School of Law at Lewis andClark Collegewhere he also was bestowed the law school'sEnvir onm ental Leadership Award . But m ostly hes work ingfor wild fish on t he behalf of conservation organizationssuch as th e Association of Nort hwest Steelheaders, OregonTrout , Nati ve Fish Society and Wild Salmon Cent er, to namea few. Hes also served as the ESA li sting specialist for t heNOAA Fisheri es, Salmon Recovery Coordinator for Metr o,board secretary of th e Oregon League of Conservation

Voters, and past tr easurer of the Wild Fish Poli tical Acti onCommit tee, board member of th e Nati ve Fish Society,Johnson Creek Watershed Council Advisory Commi tt ee, andthe list goes on. In short , salmon couldn t have a bett eradvocate. And hes also prett y handy wit h a camera. Heoff ers a keen perspective on t he ri vers and t he issues thatyou dont want to miss. Both f ishing and envir on.

Wednesday, December 12 TVTUHoli day Par ty Member Sli de Show .FREE PIZZA FREE PIZZA Th e hol id ays are a ti m e f orsharin g, and i n th is spir it we are buyi ng the pizza andasking all of you to come and share some of your

favor ite f ishing/ outin g photos wi th us. Well review thehigh li ghts of the past y ear, as w ell as share id eas anddiscuss plans for th e y ear to com e. To contr ibu te, pleasesend di gital im ages of you r p hotos a few days ahead ofshow tim e to Hank at hank h@im agina.com . How manyphot os should y ou bri ng? Shoot for 5 -10, and be ready toshare the stories behind your pictu res. Al so, if y ou haveslides or pr int s that need to be scanned, get th em to Hankwell in adv ance. Bri ng somebody new w ith y ou if y oucan.

President s ColumnHank Hosf ield

Sometim es I im agine t hat anyoneseeking to understand the innerwork ings of Trout Unlimit edprobably feels the way I do whil ehelplessly watching f at tr outgent ly rising to an unseen hatch that I wil l never match. Iis a mystery all i ts ownone that Im occasionally asked t oexplain for the benefit of new membersor sometimeseven for board m embers. And i t takes some explainin g,because our organization, structu re, hierarchy, whatever,isnt obvious. Fur thermore, no one ever really bothers toexplain it t o anyone. We dont t alk about it at meeti ngs,

you dont read about it in t he magazine much, I dont r ecaany previous mention of it in ou r n ewsletter, and theresreally no new member ori entation effor t at all. Dont askme why. Maybe it s the fact that m ost of us can live quit ehappily ignorant of it all. Just like you think you dont neany textbook to help you enj oy sex, you can be acti ve in Tand never h ave much o f a clue about what your e doing.And t hats probably wrong, and its our fault f or lettin g yodo it . We really do need to sit you down and have a talk.Weve put this off far too l ong. Theres stuff you shouldknow. Ill tr y to make it all as simple, fr iendly and easy tound erstand as I can.

When you j oin TU, you are assigned t o a local chapter. Yogot stuck i n our s because your z ip code placed you i n th eTualatin Valley Chapter dr awing area. You receive thisnewslett er because TU nati onal added your name to ou rmaili ng list. Youve automati cally become a member of ouchapter and you w ill remain so as long as you renew yourTU membership and li ve in our area, regardless of whetheor not you ever attend a meeting. The pur pose of thechapter is to do t he grassroots work of TU.

Whil e we in TVTU are somewhat autonom ous and f ree tochoose the activit ies we want to d o, we also take dir ecti on(theoretically) fr om our state council. Our Oregon StateCouncil is composed of of fi cers and repr esentatives fromevery active chapter i n Oregon. The Oregon Stat e Counci l also somewhat auton omous, but also t akes some direction

fr om TU Nation al, as well as from the Western RegionalOffi ce of TU, whose paid staff largely receives theirdir ection f rom national headquarters.

So, it all seems lik e a top-down organiz ational f low f romthe TU mothership in A rli ngton, VA to th e local chaptersacross the land, but in reality, in d ay-to-day operations, weat the chapter level are pretty much on our own to set ourown agenda, fund our existence, and carr y out t heimport ant conservation work .Clear as mud so f ar?
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North Americas Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds

Like every other chapter, TVTU is led by a board ofdir ector s, who are elected by chapt er members. The boardelects its own off icers. (In case you were wonderin g how Iever got t o be president.) The board i s responsibl e forrun ning the chapter, which largely entails conductingmont hly m eeti ngs, leadin g chapter event s such as outin gsand proj ects, directing communications thr ough thepubl ishing of th is newsletter and ot her media, and essent ialfund raising. Our board m eets monthl y to plan theseth ings. Some of our board members also serve on theOregon State Council . Most of the ten curr ent boardmembers have served for several years.

My own ascendancy start ed over a dozen years ago when Iwas first nominated and elected to the board after beingacti ve in t he chapter f or a couple years. My responsibil iti eson t he board steadily increased f rom program chairman t ovice-president, to chapter president . That seems like areasonable sort of pr ogression t o me. I have been aided allalong by a stellar group of f ellow board members.

I should pr obably put in an earnest plug here about h owrewardi ng it is for those who serve on the board, how thisextra in volvement enhanced ou r overall TU experience,

because thi s is certainl y tr ue. I also menti on it because Ibelieve that most of us are seeking m ore meanin gfulconnections in our lives and avenues to contribute toimpr ove our lit tle corner of the world.

My guess is that m ost of us woul dnt be TU members if wehadnt already bought of f on th e mission of coldwaterconservati on and advocacy of wild f ish. What Im tr ying toexplain here is how your membership i n TU is structur allyworking toward those objectives, to connect the dots a bit,and offer a lit tle added m eaning to your effor ts andassociation.

The annu al dues you pay to TU go almost enti rely tosupport th e national programs and staff. A small port ion ispaid to partially fund the Oregon State Council, which isinvolved in many different eff ort s, primarily in t he politicalarena in Salem, and i n cooperative eff ort s with myr iadother conservation organiz ationsthanks mostly to t hededicated effor ts of Oregon State Council pr esident, TomWolf (a TVTU member). This is where most of t he advocacyhappens. We even share a lobbyist who wor ks on ourbehalf . More legal and poli ti cal wranglin g is also handledby folk s in t he Western Regional Off ice. These combinedeffor ts make TU the most i nflu ential fish conservationgroup in the state.

The bulk of the heavy lift ing for field and in -str eamconservation work falls on local chapter volunteers.

Sometim es the pr ojects we work on are part of greater statecouncil effor ts like our ongoing work wit h th e DeschutesBasin Land Tru st near t he Metol ius, but mor e oft en they areour own chapter p roj ects closer t o home that weve chosenbecause theyre of greater in terest to our m embership. Themost personally satisfying chapter project I was involved inth is year was excavating r ock and gr avel d ams to open up ade-watered side channel where hund reds of j uvenile cohowere in peril. This is exactly the kind of work many of us

joined TU to do. This is the kind of pr oject t hat TU relieson local chapt ers to id entif y and hand le. We are th e visionand th e muscle.

The great irony of t his arrangement is that whilegrassroot s eff ort s like thi s remain t he backbone of TU,chapters get l itt le or no money from TU to sustainthemselves. We are expected to fun d our self. And w e do.Over the years weve held aucti on banquets and tr ied manother fun dr aising ideas wit h varying degrees of success.Reali zi ng t hat t he greatest tax on t he energies of ou rchapter (and similar non-profi t volunteer organizations) isthe ongoing fight to r aise money, last year we tr iedsometh ing new, a di rect appeal to our membership f or anannual $25 donation. It was our belief that our ti me wasbetter spent pursuing better objectives than merelysustaining our selves. In contr ast, a modest annual t ax-deducti ble donation seemed r elati vely painl ess. I believe wwere correct, because the donati ons came in, oft enaccompanied wit h not es of appreciation --even fr ommembers we never see, but who value what we do .

I, along wi th th e board , am askin g you again t o donate toTVTU th is year. Enclosed i s a donati on slip and a pre-addressed retu rn envelope. Unlik e the dues you pay to TU100%of your donation to TVTU will go to fund chapteroperating expenses and pay f or benefi ts your receive suchas monthl y guest speakers, the chapter newsletter, rent,

out ings, Web sit e, conservation proj ect wor k and more.Whether or not you are active in t he chapter, th e chaptercontinues to work toward your in terests in fu rt hering TUmission of conservation. Of course, the chapter off ers evemore than th is in terms of education, fun and f ellowship,even fishing, and we are continually striving to build abetter chapter. We exist for you . Because wit hout active,healt hy chapters, there really is no TU.

Thank you in advance for your suppor t. Petri heil. Hank

TU Fishing Out ings 2007This y ears off ici al out ings are now over. However, donhesitate to put together one on your own and let us

kn ow. We can post it t o our email l ist. You mi ght w ant tbe sure y ou are on the email l ist by contacting PaigeWall ace at 503 -803-9466 fly fishgir l@hotm ail.com2008 outings wil l begin in the Spri ng

Draft salm on plan f or t he Columbia-Snak e Basin needs comm ents:Save Our Wild Salmon Coaliti on i s launching a nationw ideeffor t, beginni ng wit h a new websit e, to coll ect and d elivertens of thousands of comments in the for m of letters,photos, art, and video that call out for our decision-makerto...GIVE A D AM FOR SALMON A ND STEELHEADand resolve the Pacific Salmon crisis in the Snake and

Columbia Rivers. -Here's how you can help deliver t his hu gresponse fr om across the countr y-

GO TOhtt p:/ / ww w.giv eadamf orsalm on.org

Take Acti on - Sign ont o the Comm ent Dri v e Expl orPass on t he Websit e to everybody you can.
mailto:[email protected]://www.giveadamforsalmon.org/http://www.giveadamforsalmon.org/mailto:[email protected]


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Fly of t he Month: A Sim ple Beetl eMichael Gentr y

Those of u s who were at t he last TVTU chapter meetingwere treated to a real education by Jeff Morgan on t hefor gotten flies - the oddballs beyond the traditi onalcaddi s, stonefly and mayfly h atches that make up some, butfar f rom all, of a trou ts di et. (Soap box time WHERE

WERE YOU? These chapt er meetings, and the fishi ng andwork outin gs of the chapter, are both entert aining andeducati onal and a great pl ace to share comm on in terests. Istron gly encour age you t o come to a meeti ng or out ing youll fin d it well wor th t he time as a fisherman andconservationist.)

But back to the topi c at hand. I was remin ded at th emeetin g that terrestri als oft en m ake up a signifi cant foodsource for our fi nny fr iends. That is part icularly true ofbeetl es because of t heir abundance and wid e dispersion.Trout i n still water and in rivers often will t ake a terr estrialsince unlik e a hatch th e bug is usually around and oft enfalls into the water t hrough a wind gust, a bad f lightpattern or ot her reasons. So I scrapped t he patt ern I was

going to f eatu re and decided to pr esent a simple beetl epattern instead.

Thread: 8/ 0 unit hread (or your favorite),color to m atch body

Hook : ti emco 100BL, sizes 12-16Underbody: peacock herlBody: 2mm closed cell foam, black or

brownLegs: black or brown small rubber legsPost (if desir ed): 1 or 2mm foam, bright color

1. Tie in an underbody by winding peacock herl fromthe bend of the hook t o just short of t he eye.

2. Cut an oval body from the foam so that the body isa bit th inner than an egg and is just a tad longerthan the length of the hook.

3. Position the thread so it is a bit behind the front ofthe herl und erbody about of the way backtoward t he hook bend.

4. Position the beetle body so that the back is evenwith the back of the hook bend and t he front sticksa littl e bit forward of t he eye.

5. Pinching the body foam with f inger and thumb ofleft h and (assum ing you are a ri ght handed tier) atthe back of the beetle, fold it down over the hookfr om above and around t he underbody, and wrapthe body fairly t ightly (so it wil l not turn on thehook) at th at point with t hree tur ns of thread.

6. Take about three inches of rubberleg (to give youextr a length t o work with) and position on one sideof t he beetle body (I usually start wi th the sideaway fr om me but it does not matter) so that it ishoriz ontal and up against t he side of the beetlebody, with about half its length sticking out ineither dir ection fr om the tie point.

7. Loosely wrap two thread turns over the leg andslowly increase the thread pr essure to dr aw theru bberleg piece in against the body w here you havetied the body to the hook. The idea is to bring th elegs flayed out and the tie point taut t o the body,

so that the legs stick out and hold i n pl ace fairl yparallel to th e plane of the water. Once the th readis taut , you can m ove the ends of the legs up ordown to get the right position by pushing up ordown on t he ti e poin t. Repeat on th e oth er leg.

bottom top

8. If desired (I l ike it), take a small rectangle of some

really visible foam (I lik e yell ow or br ight gr een)and tie it i n on t op of t he beetle body by two wrapof th read.

9. To finish the fly, bend the head of the beetle upand back w ith your f ingers so that you can wrapthe thr ead un derneath t he head and on the litt lebit of und erbody ahead of t he tie point, and m akeone turn t hrough t he underbody to get t he threadin f ront of th e underbody and at t he back point ofthe eye, and ti e off by several h alf hi tches and cutPut a drop of h ead cement on th e th read.

10. Clip t he legs to length I use them a lit tle shorterthan t he body length.

There is no secret to f ishing the beetle. I usually work itaround the shor e of t he river, str eam or lake since the winor a fl ight pattern usually put s the hapless creatur e in thewater fairl y close to th e bank. As there isnt a narrowseason t o th e beetle lif e cycle as far as I know , I have triedthem fr om early spri ng to l ate fall, part icularly when notr aditi onal hatch seems to be going on or produ cing. Ifthere is a bit of wind, that seems to i ncrease the odds sincwind tradit ionally does put m ore terr estr ials in the water.This is a good patt ern t o have in you r arsenal.Michael

Editors Note: Jerry Lorang has volun teered to be the

Chapt ers next newslett er editor if I can successful ly k eephim int erested, motivated, and educated about how I havebeen slapping this thing together over the years duringthese last t wo issues of m ine. And I can keep hi mconvinced that YOU will conti nue supplying him with greamaterial l ike you have for all t hese years. Gosh I hope I caland thi s tr ophy fish. DNext New sletter Deadlin e: Decem ber 15. Send m aterial tDavid I l l ig: di ll [email protected]


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Fall Riv er Outi ng Rev iewBy A ndy A ndrews

Each year as I retu rn to the Fall River, Im handed a lit tl esurpr ise that I didn t expect. This year I met a young manwho gr eeted m e with , Hi, my name is .and t he guys atthe Clackamas Chapter said you could show me how tocatch f ish on the Fall River (Thanks guys; I have my ownissues catching f ish on th is river and now you send mesomeone who says hes been skunked every time he hasfi shed the Fall). I cant enable someone to catch fi sh. WhatI can do i s show t hem where to fi sh, when to f ish, and whatflies might work best at given times during the day; thatinf ormation i s sometimes not good enough for me to beable to catch fi sh on t he Fall River.

As soon aswe gearedup, I tookhim to aplace wherehe caughtseveral 10

12 inch fishand he wasoverjoyedwith hisafternoonofsuccessfulfishing.

The next day, I ramped things up a notch and took h im t o aplace where I knew a few bigger fi sh hung out. Af ter wefished the hole for a few mi nutes I told the young manwhat to watch for and what fl ies to u se when the larger fishstarted to r ise. This area was too small f or tw o fisherm enso I walked about 100 yards downstr eam. I left t he tr ail,

crawled over several l ogs and w aded ou t t hr ough a shallowswampy area to th e rivers edge. I was watchi ng the riverfl ow by when I heard a splash upstr eam and a loudYAHOOOO f rom th e area where I had left th e young man.If anyone woul d have been near wi th video camera theycould have sold 15 minutes of film to Americas FunniestVideo for a small for tun e. The fi lm wou ld have shown a 62year old f at man, attempti ng to r un t hrough a swamp,dodging ankle breaki ng holes and d ragging his oversized,wrin kly but t back over the logs he had just crossed. Andfinally, in full wading and f ishing gear, trying t o run u p th etr ail to where the young man was fighti ng his fish.

As I approached, to m y hor ror , I saw the man was about tolose his fish. I thi nk I yelled somethi ng like, Get that

goddamned r od ti p up cause youre playing him on th eleader and that wont h old i f he tur ns and r uns on you!The rod tip thi ng was something I had been gently tr ying towork the young man thr ough, but n ow was the time to get alit tl e tougher. The fi sh was stron g and heavy and wasbelieved to be 20 in ches by th e young man, but I suggestedthe fish would definitely not exceed the 17 inch range.Each t ime t he fish appr oached t he net I suggested that ifthe young man got th e fishs head up, the fish could nottu rn and r un on him. This advice seemed to fall on deafears and after t he fish m ade about t hree more runs and acouple of jumps, it gave up and came to th e net. Im not a

guide, nor have I ever coached anyone whi le they weretr ying to land a fish. I know t hat I have also made the sammistakes that I was tryin g to work this man th rough, so Iwas a litt le stun ned when we actually had t he fish (whichmeasured exactly 16 ) in the net. Pictu res were taken, thefish was revived and with a splash of its tail, it returnedquickly to deeper water.

This was th e largest f ish th is man had caught and hethanked me again and again. I was happy for h im bu tsaddened by the fact t hat somewhere, I had lost h is

enthusiasm anexcitementabout catchingfi sh. At my agif I had been aexcited as hewas about t hefish, I wouldhave eit her h ada heart attack,or lost controlof m y bladder,or both. To the

Clackamasgroup I wouldsay Thank Youfor giving meth at experience

just dont everdo i t again!

At the start of t his tr ip, the weather was a littl e blusteryand cool, but t he last thr ee days were golden. These dayswere cloud less and warm ed to 80 degrees with l it tl e to nowind. The last thr ee night s were cold being 20, 21 and 25degrees which caused the water jugs to f reeze solid. Abri ght, ful l moon greeted me on these night s and gave offenough light pollut ion t o pr event me from seeing most ofthe stars. Dur ing th ese nights, I had been watchin g a starlow in the southern hemisphere that was visible for only afew hour s each night . I finally set up m y scope, aligned iton this object and my suspicion was confirmed; it wasJupi ter and I could see fou r of i ts seven moons. Myknowledge of the solar system is very l imit ed but Jupit er ithe fif th planet f rom the sun and has a mass that i s 300times greater th an that of earth . At l east one (maybe two)of t he moons is too small for me to see with m y scopeand/ or several ot her moons were probably behind t heplanet. The planet and it s moons were an awesome sightthat I will not soon forget!

There were some great campf ir es, a barbeque wit h m ore

food than we shoul d eat, and a small celebration f orsomeones bir th day. An osprey hung out i n a tree abovecamp, elk tr acks in t he road each mornin g, and someonesighted a wild m ink which are known to inhabit t he area.All in all, Id say it was a prett y good tri p!

Andy


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Yak im a Riv er Fall Tr ipJerry Lorang

Beware when you grocery shop if you are hungry. Goodadvice! Af ter spending much of my post holidaydisposable incom e when I went t o the Portl and Fly fi shingShow last Febru ary, I came away wondering i f I shou ld havelistened to m y own advice. Am ong my pu rchases were twonew fly rods and a one day guided tr ip f rom t he YakimaRiver Fly Shop. The fly rods have been well t ested in the

last few months but I waited unti l t he end of September t otake the tri p on the Yak. It was a great decision made withlittle advance study.

The Yakima is a large tailwater r iver th at looks mor e like afr eestone river, at least at th is tim e of year. For most of t hesummer month s the river i s allowed to ru n very high foragri cult ur al ir ri gati on. In late August or earl y Septemberthe water l evel is brought down or fl ip-flopped. By theti me my brot her and I got t o Cle Elum the fl ow was 450-600cfs.

We got t here a day early to t ry our luck wi th n oprofessional assistance. Though we did not pick the easiest

access point (bushwacking requi red), we enj oyed somesuccess with small nym phs and d rys on t he river betweenThorp and Cle Elum off of Rt. 10.

The next day we set out fr om t he Ellensburg KOA i n adr ift boat with our gui de, Scott Wilson. His knowledge andenthusiasm were evident as we fl oated for t he next 8 h ourswit h a few stops at part icularl y att ractive back eddies,seams, etc. I fi shed a small nymp h (a size 16 beadheadCDC Pheasant tail or a siz e 16 beadhead Schroeder's Car ro tNymph), dropped from a larger nymph (a size 8 brownRubberleg Stonefly) changing patterns wi th the time of d ay,at Scotts dir ecti on. The ri g included a split shot about 18inches above the large nymph. My brother fished a smallnymph off of a large dry most of the tim e, testing Scottspersonal parachute crane fly for a whil e. All bu t one of th efi sh we caught t hat day were on the dr opper. I enj oyedgreater success because I had more of Scotts attention atmy brot hers insistence. I owe my brot her big time, now.

Most of our success came in t he undercut banks that wou ldhave not been accessible withou t t he drif tboat. Scottoffered the opini on t hat, the Yakim a might be a BlueRibbon stream in Washington but it doesn't compare toBlue Ribbon Waters in Mon tana or A laska. There aren't asmany fish and t hey aren't as big. I appr eciated his candorbecause of my li mit ed experience. The dr if tboat allowed usto cover a comparatively larger number of fish byconstantly moving.

Our gui de was aware early on t hat th is was my fir stdr ift boat experience. My brot her is a more experi enced andbetter fi sherm an (I hope he doesnt r ead th is). Scott wassoon givin g me very good instr ucti on and guid ance. Hispatience was tr uly t ested as I tr ied to learn m any thin gs in avery shor t ti me. To Scotts credit he retained hiscomposure for most of t he trip, except when I would miss astri ke because I was watchi ng the indi cator , not th e fly!!!Then his rebukes were gent le and on poin t.I had a real blast at a large back eddy where we stopped towade. High stickin g my nymph dropper thr ough the rif fleint o a foam seam in t he deep back eddy was a fir st for me.

I caught a couple of nice fish including one rainbow thatwas over 13 i nches, fat and f eisty.

In spit e ofScotts effor tsour onlyexperi ence wit hbig fish was inconversation.He pointed us tproductive wateand we caughtfish but hisassertions oflarge fish werenot met with

success. I suspect th at there are big ones but you cantprove it by t his tr ips catch. The fi sh we caught w ere notlarger than 13-14 inches, with many smaller than that.

At the end of our days float we relaxed and t ried toremember all that we di d over a large meal of r eal comf ortfood at a Cle Elum Caf. It was dif fi cult t o catalog it all. Itwas a great t rip for me for r easons different fr om my

brot her. I could never have learn ed so much in so short atime withou t Scott s assistance. My broth er could n ot havhad as good a day of f ishing wit hout Scotts att ention onme. Both of u s enjoyed the trip very much.

Sometim es when you go gr ocery shopp ing and you arehungry you m anage to buy someth ing you r eally want edbut didn t put on the list. It worked for me thi s tim e.

Jerry

Our V iew : One Pow er f ul Voice CanReshape the Salmon Debate.

Repr int ed editor ial fr om t he Sund ay IdahoStatesman Sept . 23.

Salmon r ecovery is as much a polit ical battl e as it is ascienti fi c str uggle.The politi cs are more highly charged thaever perhaps to the benefit of t he fish.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., wrote a letter waxing nostalgicabout l ost salmon ru ns in t he northern reaches of his stat

and demandin g the federal govern ment br ing t hem bac"This may be the last chance we have to r eturn salmon tothe ri vers and streams of Nevada."The two most powerf ul word s appeared on the masthead Reid's Aug. 27 l etter. Majority leader.

When th e U.S. Senate's major it y leader speaks, federalbur eaucrats li sten. Idahoans ought t o pay att ention as welThis can affect our power bills and salmon run s in ourstate, too. Harry Reid has somethi ng at stake, and so doyou.

Salmon and steelhead have been nonexistent in Nevada fodecades. Idaho Power's Hells Canyon h ydroelectr ic comp lecompleted in the 1950s and 1960s, has blocked offspawning habitat. With the three dams up for relicensing,Reid wants the Federal Energy Regulatory


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Commission t o requi re "a meanin gful fi sh passage system"around t he dams.

Reid's volley in the salmon debate i s a surpr ise, said Rep.Mike Sim pson, but th e Idaho Republ ican doesn't cri ti cizeReid for advocati ng for salmon in h is hom e state. Nor dowe. Af ter all , we have argued for years for salmonrestorati on in Id aho. The questi on centers on whatconstitutes "meaningful" recovery efforts, and their cost.

Idaho Power has suggested fish passage might be soexpensive that i t woul d for ce the util ity t o walk away fromthe dams which pr ovide 70 percent of t he utilit y's hydrocapacity, and have provided Idaho Power consumers someof t he cheapest electr icit y in the nation. Spokesman Denni sLopez would n't elaborate much last week, but aft er a 15-year r elicensing pr ocess yield ing a 37,000-page appl ication,the uti lit y believes it has add ressed Reid's concern s.

Salmon advocates question the cost. No one iscontemplating t eari ng out th e Hells Canyon d ams, orinstall ing expensive fish ladders, said Bill Sedivy, execut ivedir ector of Id aho Rivers Unit ed. Instead, th ey're int erestedin low-cost experiments to try t o transport fi sh around the

dams.

Idaho Rivers United is intrigued by an idea from the stateof Oregon to r eintr oduce salmon to Pine Creek just belowOxbow dam. Young f ish would be moved by tr uck aroundHells Canyon dam. Retu rn ing adul ts woul d be collected atHells Canyon and pu t back in tr ucks for release in PineCreek. The annual costs, according to state estimates, are$5 mill ion to $6 mill ion.

No one knows whether t hese experi ments would br ing backsalmon that have been absent for decades. But when placedagainst th e proj ected pr ofi ts at the Hells Canyon complex

estimated, by FERC, at $283.9 million per year it'sreasonable to t ry , Sedivy says. We agree. If th eseexperi ments wor k i n Oregon or Nevada, the science couldbe appl ied to br ing salmon back to Id aho waters such asth e Boise and Payett e rivers.

Ideally, Reid also will inf luence the debate about br eachingthe four lower Snake River dams. These dams, in t he heartof salmon waters, remain a cent ral part of t he problem. Thedams and the 140 mil es of slackwater t hey create stand as a major obstacle to f ish r ecovery u pstr eam. Thatgoes for wi ld chi nook and sockeye salmon in Cent ral Idaho,or experimental runs shipped around Hells Canyon. If themost powerf ul m ember of the Senate lends urgency to thebreachin g debate, then more power to hi m.

Reid's letter underscores the need f or candid, regionalnegotiations about salmon r ecovery. It's a reminder t hat t hediscussion wi ll reverberate at the national level. Said Sen.Mike Crapo, R-Idaho: "He has the abilit y to add anoth erelement to t he debate, and he's done so." An i nf luenti alvoice, on t he side of the fi sh, has the potenti al to r eshapethe debate.

"Our View " is the edit ori al position of th e Idaho Statesman,e-mail [email protected] .

View ing Natu re: Par t OneBy Andy Andrews

Im not an expert on bir ds, or on other wild life. But as Ihavent seen an art icle in t he newslett er on t his subject, Ithought Id tr y to give enough basic infor mation tosomeone who might be interested in bird watching orviewing nature to feel comfortable about getting started.Remember that I may talk about observing little brownbirds, but Im r eally talking about viewing all of natur e.

As already mentioned, my qualifications in the fi eld ofbirdin g are min im al. Years ago, I needed another scienceclass to fin ish th e requi rements for my degree andOrnit hology (study of birds) seemed to be a safe class. Ialready knew what duck s, seagulls and Robins looked lik ealong wit h a few other bir ds that I saw in th e back yard ; sohow many more litt le brown bir ds could th ere be? In thefi rst ten - min ut es of t he class, I was already overwhelmedwith a 4 page handout of bir d names on fr ont and back,two colum ns on each side. We were assur ed that a testwould be given showing slides of birds and we would haveto ID t hem by both t heir common and scientif ic names(corr ect spelling r equired for cr edit). We were inf orm ed th

most of t he birds on t he list were year around r esidents inand around Port land, and all the birds on the list could beseen at some time dur ing the year in Oregon. At t his poinI was tr ying t o remember m y advisors name and h is off icehours so that I could get t he hell out of thi s madmansclass. I felt that t he instructor was not only crazy, but hisreal int ent was to nail my but t t o his wall as an example ostupi d. The class included a number of one day field t ripto t he coast and Cascades and a t hree or f our day tr ip t othe KBBT (Klamath Basin Bird ing Trail). In br ief, I enj oyedthe class enough to sur vive and compl ete the requi rementfor my degree.

I stil l have panic attacks and need oxygen if someone showme a slid e of a bird and asks me for it s name, but I wi lladmit that m y lif e has been forever enri ched by t hat oneclass I att ended so many years ago, taught by a madm an.Today, I enjoy watching the birds and squirrels that visitmy bird feeders in the fr ont of the house and a birdcondo h ouse in the back, which i s currently occupied byred fox squir rels. I keep my bird reference book handy,because if I f orget where I laid my car k eys, Ill neverremember the names of all t he birds that visit t he feederdur ing th e year.

Basically, the items needed for viewing bir ds are on t heshort list. Binoculars are one of two most im port ant itemsyou will want to acqui re. They come in a vari ety of viewinpowers, siz es, and pr ices and may easily be your most

expensive piece of bir din g equipment . Bios as they areknown i n th e bird ing world, generally come inmagnification p owers of 6, 8 and 10. All the magnifi cationpower means is that an obj ect wi ll appear 6, 8, or 10 timescloser t han it wil l with the naked eye. I know th at to thoswho are not famili ar with bios, they may thin k t hat thedif ference between 6 and 8s would not be signif icant. Buif you have one chance to see a rare bir d (or any anim al)and you are using 6-power bi os, you wil l fi nd t hat you canphysically kick yourself in the butt for not having 8-powebios available. 6-power bios generally do not have thepower that most people


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enjoy for bir din g. 8-power is the most common power usedfor bi rd ing. 10s have great magnifi cati on but you need tobe able to hold them very steady to gain t he benefit s of theextra power. The reason being, as the power of biosincrease, any amount of vibration induced by the user willalso be increased maki ng the details of t he image dif fi cultto see. I have known people who have used t he top of t heircar to steady their 10-power bios, but t he vibration fr omthe engine made the details of an object di ff icul t t o see.Also, a rule of t humb i s that th e greater th e power of t hebios, the smaller the viewing area th at you wil l see. Theviewing area of bi os, also known as Field-of-View, in m yopinion i s not crit ical t o know but it is sometimes displayedon t he bios as (exampl e on my 8 - power), 346 X 1000. Thismeans that I see 324 feet of area from 1000 yards away.My 10-power bi os are mark ed 288 ft . at 1000 yards.

A second n um ber you w ill d efini tely see associated wi thbios is related t o the size of the objective lens. The largerthe objective lens, the more li ght that can be gathered, andthat will r esult in a sharper, clearer image. You might seebios advert ised as 8 X 35, with 8 being the power ofmagnifi cati on and 35 as the size of t he objective lens inmil lim eters. Compact designed bios wil l fit i nt o a coat

pocket and weight j ust a few ounces. The main d rawbackwit h compacts is the small size of their obj ective lens. Thesmaller lens on a compact cannot gather as much l ight inthe early mor nin g and l ate evenin g hours as bios wit hlarger lenses. Therefore objects may appear dark and notas sharp as wit h fu ll siz e binoculars. My compacts are 7 X25, or have 25 MM lenses. My full size 10s are mark ed10X 50, having 50 MM lenses; th e di ff erence is huge. Mostseri ous birders use full -sized bios as the larger l enses givethem bett er viewing in low light conditions. I own a pair ofcompacts and use them as much as any of my ot her bios

just because they are convenient t o carry; however I alsounderstand their li mit ations.

So much for t he easy stuf f. Alr eady you are wonderin g whypay $400 (you can f ind bios at $1600) for ful l size Nikonswhen I see j ust as well th ough t he $35 compacts? Thereare two schools of th ought on how t o spend your money.First, if you are just getti ng starting in bird ing, buy aninexpensive brand, compact or fu ll siz e unit (8 X 35), to tr yout both bir ding and bios. If you dont lik e what you aredoin g, youre only out $35. The second side of th isargument is to simply buy t he best you can afford; whywaste your money on somethi ng cheap? Personally, Iwould rather spend $35, instead of $400 to discover I reallyhave no int erest in lit tl e brown bi rd s. Yes, Nikon makes abetter product for more money than an inexpensive, offbrand prod uct, but you will n ot r ealize the difference inqualit y when fir st gett ing started. Whats the real

di ff erence between going cheap and paying a lot ? Ive seenbios bounced off car d oors, canoes, and stepped on. Thelenses in cheap bios will be thrown out of adju stment bysuch tr eatm ent and can become wort hless; more expensivebios will have a far greater sur vival rate.

Im j ust skimm ing the surf ace of basic binoculartechnology. If you are spendi ng a ton of cash on bios, youneed t o ask about the twi ligh t f actor , resoluti on, eye relief,and coat ed lenses, etc.

When you f ir st use bios, focusing can be a pain i n t he butt !Hopefull y the di rections r eceived w ith your bi os will

describe how the focusing process work s. If youve lostthe dir ections (youve thr own t hem out wi th t he packing) never received any dir ections (Oh, sur e! Ive never heardthat one before!), Ill t ry t o talk you thr ough it here.

1) First, when you place the eye pieces to your eye,you need to get one hole to look through. If youare seeing t wo holes, or doubl e images, move thetubes that you are holding onto up or down unt ilyou are viewing through one hole.

2) There is a small wheel in the center of the biosthat rot ates for focus. Close the ri ght eye and usethe wheel to adjust the focus for t he left eye only

3) With t hat done, close the left eye and with t he righeye open, adj ust th e focus by tu rn ing th e right eyepiece. You should n ow be looking th rough onehole that is in f ocus. There are reference poin ts othe right eye piece and if you maint ain th e corr ectreference poin t f or f ocus, all you need t o do tofocus for a diff erent di stance is to move the cent ewheel and not adju st each eye piece indivi duall y.P.S. Ive never been happy w it h aut o focus biosand I wouldnt own a pair.

Im not going int o spotting scopes at t his tim e other t han

say th at you need t o plan on buying a very good (expensivtr ipod wit h the scope. Wit hout t he tr ipod , youve wastedyou money on the scope. Scopes have a lot more powerthan bios, they have a much l arger objective lens and arevery sensitive to movement; therefore they require a tripoBut scopes are far m ore effici ent th en bios when it comes viewing wil dlif e, the planets, and getti ng you i nto trou blewith your neighbors for viewing t hings you are notsupposed to see.

That bri ngs us to reference books on bir ds, whi ch is thesecond it em on your short list. I suggest Roger ToryPetersons Western Birds, available in most book stores anthe Audubon Society of Port land stor e on Corn ell Road($19.95, soft cover). Of course you may find l ots of bookson bir ds and ot her animals that m ay be ju st as good as thone Ive suggested. Remember, Im j ust t ryi ng to give youstart ing point on viewing wildli fe so take some tim e andlook aroun d at reference books. And dont for get to checkPowells for u sed books on wi ldl ife.

The second part of th is seri es wil l deal wi th a f eworganiz ations th at view wildl ife and local areas where youcan go on your own to view mother - nature at wor k.Feel fr ee to send me questions and thought s. And y

Web site designer/ editor needed! If you know how tocreate Web sites in ht m l or Flash, we need your help. Our curr entWeb site at t vtr outunl im ited.com needs new love and attenti on.We need to u pdate the sit e to offer m ore function ality and m ake

easier and m ore reward ing to use. We need someone who cantake over, and/ or m aybe teach our board how to do t his stuff forourselves. Is th is you? If not , m aybe you can refer us to someonelse wit h th e expertise were seeki ng. Thi s is an urgent n eed. Ifyou want to help, please contact Hank Hosfield athankh@im agina.com , or by phone at 503-228-6553


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Tualat in Valley Tr out Unlim itedNovember / December 2007 Beet le View ing Natur e Tips/ Tools

Off icers and BoardPresident: Hank Hosfi eld

228-6553 hank h@im agina.comVice President Rober t L. Bernard503-239-8507 bearb ernard @y ahoo.com

Comm uni cations Paige Wall ace503-803-9466 fl yf ishgirl@hotm ail.com

Tr easurer Erl e Norm an 293-6006caddis2000@hotm ail.com

Mem bership ChairBoard of Directors:Eri c Thom pson 297-0718

anglingeri c@m sn.comDick Rohrb augh

rb augh@lclar k .edu 636-3877David I l l i g Newsletter editor296 9050 di ll [email protected] ex Bark um e - 642-7024

alexbark um [email protected] Andrews Out ings

Glen.And r ews@nustarenergy .com 969 2246Jerry Heppell gheppell5@v eriz on.net 639-9408Michael Gentr y MichaelGentr y [email protected]

636-0061
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Documents

Nov - Dec 2007 Trout Line Newsletter, Tualatin Valley Trout Unlimited