Last Month's Meeting Highlights

- As a consequence of the second muddy flow in as many months on Beaver

Creek (the first caused by BLM unblocking a clogged culvert, and the second

caused when the same culvert, newly replaced, washed out), BLM will be

sampling the creek this month for cutthroat trout. Results will be shared

with the council.

- Stan Gregory was our guest speaker. Stan's talk is available on video

tape through the council coordinator. Before he began he invited council

members to participate in the Oak Creek Action Team meetings which happen

the third Wednesday of every month through November. The next meeting is

scheduled for September 15th at 7:00PM. at the Corvallis Public Library.

Using multiple sampling methods, Stan sampled for fish at multiple

locations from Eugene to Portland. Samples were taken from different

channel types (straight vs. braided). Stan noted that the proportion of

exotic fish species to native species became progressively higher for

samples taken more downstream. At the confluence of the Marys River 17

species of native fish and 7 exotic species were found. Specimens caught

further downstream (closer to Portland) had more lesions, tumors, and other

abnormalities. Around Portland, greater than 70% of the fish had such

abnormalities. At the mouth of the Marys River approximately 35% of the

fish had such abnormalities. Examining maps from 1850, 1895, and 1932, and

comparing with 1995 remote sensing data, Stan was able to study the changes

in the river channel over time. North of Salem there historically was a

single channel and the channel status has not changed much in the last 100

years. Most of the changes have occurred upstream of Albany, where 100

years ago a complex network of braided channels existed. These have

gradually simplified to mostly a single channel. Most of the riparian

forests along the Willamette River were lost in the Portland area, with a

70% loss. 40% loss of riparian forests were observed in the upper section

of the study. Stan described some film footage produced by the Isaac Walton

League in the 1930s, which documented that fish died within minutes when

placed in Willamette River water. Stan noted that in those days the river

had extraordinarily low pH levels, low Oxygen levels, and high

concentrations of raw sewage. The river actually is much improved from

those days, though more subtle problems still exist.

- Steering Committee Report.

The steering committee recommended Orin Nusbaum as a steering committee

rep. for small agriculture. Orrin was voted in by the council by consensus.

- Coordinator's Report

As of July 1 we are fully funded by OWEB, and we've obtained additional

funds. The US fish and wildlife service will provide $500 for outreach and

education.The national Fish and Wildlife Foundation will likely award

$2300 to the each of the 2 watershed councils who work with the Siuslaw

national Forest. This grant would also be for outreach and education.

- Additional Agenda Items:

Rob Williams, has volunteered to put together a database for the council,

also presented the council with a memorandum discussing database privacy

and 2 stages to the database project. He proposes to write a grant to fund

to a more detailed database project. He expects that funding should be

around $2,000. He proposes eventually to add the database to the council

website in the form of a clickable map of the watershed tied to a database

query engine. Rob sought council approval for this project, which he

received by consensus of a quorum of the membership present.