THE FATE OF NORTH UMPQUA SUMMER STEELHEAD: The Problem and the Solution
In 2021, 347 summer steelhead crossed the Winchester Dam to head up to their ancestral spawning streams in the upper reaches of the North Umpqua River. When settlers first arrived, a man could catch a wagon load with a net in one morning. Even when accurate counts began in 1948, after decades of habitat loss [...]
BIOCHAR COMES TO MARTHA’S VINEYARD!
Ken Carloni
We had just completed a 12-acre biochar project at the Yew Creek Land Alliance property west of Riddle in the fall of 2020 when a young journalist from the Capital Press (Oregon’s newspaper for farmers, loggers and ranchers) came to visit to report on our work. Maggie Craig had heard [...]
UW joins with other Conservation Groups to question Danger Tree removal on the Umpqua National Forest
Last month Umpqua Watersheds filed a complaint against the US Forest Service challenging their decision to indiscriminately remove trees along 65 miles of public roads comprising nearly 2600 acres of the Umpqua National Forest.
On Aug 18, 2021, the Forest Service issued a final decision on its proposed Archie Creek Fire Roadside Danger Tree Project [...]
Restoration Update Fall 2021
PROTECTING HOMES AND NATIVE FORESTS FROM WILDFIRE:
Challenges and Opportunities
Since the early 2000s, wildfires have been getting larger, faster moving, and more destructive to homes, infrastructure, and forestlands. This is partly due to climate change and partly due to the legacy of the wholesale conversion of native forests to highly flammable tree [...]
Summer 2021 RESTORATION REPORT
Ken Carloni, Restoration Chair
In my Restoration Report in our Virtual Banquet video, I outlined a number of ongoing restoration projects Umpqua Watersheds is working on with coalitions of like-minded organizations. Here, I’d like to fill in some of the details on two important initiatives involving salmon and steelhead runs on the North Umpqua River:
[...]Umpqua Watersheds joins lawsuit to Protect Salmon
Environmental Groups Threaten To Sue To Protect Chinook Salmon Published April 22, 2021 at 10:31 AM PDT LISTEN • https://www.ijpr.org/show/the-jefferson-exchange/2021-04-22/fri-8-am-environmental-groups-threaten-to-sue-to-protect-chinook-salmon Riccardo Rossi, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15140983 /
It can be hard to keep track of all the various species and runs of fish that do and do not have federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.
From the Statesman Journal, Salem, Oregon
There are many reasons why people may wish to salvage trees after wildfires like those that occurred in the western Cascades last September, including getting [...]
Protecting Oregon Coast Spring Chinook
Native Fish Society, along with our co-petitioners at the Center for Biological Diversity and Umpqua Watersheds, have filed a notice of our intent to sue the National Marine Fisheries Service to force the agency to decide whether Oregon coast Spring-run Chinook Salmon [...]
Conservation and Restoration Update
UNLSH is off and running … Janice Reid & Cindy Haws
Umpqua Natural Leadership Science Hub (UNLSH) is a non-profit organization started by former UW Executive Director, Cindy Haws. UNLSH’s mission is to provide hands-on science learning and leadership opportunities to students and communities in Douglas County, Oregon.
Due to data gaps in life [...]
Letters to legislature needed
Dear fellow Beaver Allies & Advocates,
I am reaching out with a request for action in support of HB 2843, the legislative proposal to close recreational and commercial trapping on federally-managed public lands. We have arrived at our first critical hurdle that must be crossed if HB 2843, and Oregon’s streams [...]
