In 2012, Oregon Wildlife Foundation (OWF) supported fish, wildlife, habitat and public access projects with just over $90,000 in grant assistance. The following is a summary of those awards.
Lytle Lake Dock Replacement - $10,000 to help the Rockaway Lions Club replace a badly deteriorated public fishing dock on Lake Lytle. Lake Lytle is on the north side of Rockaway Beach in Tillamook County.
Tahkenitch Lake Fish Monitoring - $3,000 to Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife (ODFW) to purchase an underwater video camera, lighting system, and motion-sensitive digital video recorder to monitor adult coho salmon migrating into Tahkenitch Lake through the fish ladder located at the dam on the lake's outlet. It is anticipated that this system will give managers nearly exact numbers of adult and juvenile coho entering and leaving the lake.
Kids Fishing Derby - OWF granted $1,250 to fund the McMinnville Jaycees biannual Kids Fishing Derby held at Metzger Lake in McMinnville on April 14 and 15. Click here to learn more about the McMinnville Jaycees
Pervasive Invasives Exhibit - $5,000 to the High Desert Museum to support a two-part year-long exhibit to educate the public about invasive species and ways to prevent the spread of these non-native plants and animals.
Angler Education Trailers - $9,933 to ODFW to equip the Department's Angler Education trailers with teaching modules and fishing equipment. In 2011 the Department's program trailers reached just over 5,000 people by providing support to 40 Family Fishing events.
Trout Creek Acclimation Pond - $5,000 to the Willamette Falls Chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association for construction of an acclimation pond for spring Chinook on Trout Creek; a Molalla River tributary. Acclimation will improve the homing of spring Chinook smolts before their release into Trout Creek. This will provide better angler opportunity and decrease unintended straying outside the Molalla River basin.
Imnaha Lewis's Woodpecker Survey - $4,583 to Wallowa Resources for their effort to assess the population status of Lewis's woodpeckers in the central Imnaha River Canyon. Funds will be used to provide natural resources work experience and career training for two high school students in summer 2012 and 2013. A Wallowa Resources wildlife biologist and two students will conduct visual surveys for Lewis's woodpeckers to determine the number of nesting pairs and compare that with historic surveys from 1979 and 1980.
Reintroduction of Rocky Mountain goats - $5,000 to ODFW in support of their efforts to reintroduce Rocky Mountain goats to Oregon's Cascade Mountains. Funds will be used to purchase and place GPS collars on some of the released goats to track their movement from the release site and identify the habitat they utilize. The main goal of the project is to reestablish Rocky Mountain goats in their native habitats in the central Oregon Cascade Mountains.
Sprague River Riparian Restoration - $4,800 to the Klamath Lake Land Trust in support of riparian restoration on the Sprague River near Beatty Oregon. This is part of the Trust's "Sprague and Sycan Wild and Scenic Rivers Campaign"
Supporting Native Fish - $5,000 to ODFW for their effort to augment spawning gravel in Winter Arm Creek; an Eel Lake tributary. Historically, Winter Arm Creek supported robust runs of native fish including coho, winter run steelhead, coastal cutthroat trout, and sculpins. Recently, increased numbers of coho have been observed entering Winter Arm Creek from Eel Lake. To take advantage of Eel Lake's rearing habitat the Department is installing 150 yards of spawning gravel at multiple locations in Winter Arm Creek.
Double-crested Cormorant Diet Study - $5,000 to support an ODFW study of the double crested cormorant's diet in the Tillamook Bay estuary. Double-crested cormorants forage on out-migrating juvenile salmonids. The information collected will establish baseline information on the cormorant's diet in a small coastal estuary in support of the management of a much larger double-crested cormorant colony in the Columbia River estuary.
Trumpeter Swan Restoration - $5,000 to the Trumpeter Swan Society to help restore a healthy breeding population of trumpeter swans to eastern and central Oregon through the release of 10-15 swans each year at the Summer Lake Wildlife Management Area. Trumpeter swans, native to Oregon, were reduced to near extinction and eliminated from 90% of their historic range by the 1930s. Malheur National Wildlife Refuge has supported a small flock of trumpeter swans since 1938 but because that population never learned to winter beyond the bounds of the Refuge, they've been restricted by Harney County's severe winters and, because of invasive carp, increasingly limited food supplies.
Controlling Invasive Carp - $5,000 to Malheur Wildlife Associates as a challenge match to raise the funding needed to help establish fish sorting facilities along the Blitzen River on the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge at Sodhouse and Busse Dams. The fish ladders at these locations will be equipped with hoists and fish sorting stations to cull invasive carp from native fish species.
Improving Public Access - $5,000 to ODFW to improve the boat launch and amenities at the Besson day use area on the upper Deschutes River near Bend. This project seeks to shift use from an unauthorized and dangerous launch site further upstream at Harper's Bridge to Besson; an underutilized U.S. Forest Service facility only a short distance away.
SE Oregon kit fox Survey - $3,346 to the Oregon Wildlife Institute to support a survey for kit fox in SE Oregon. The kit fox is state-listed as an Oregon strategy and threatened species. A trail camera reconnaissance survey in Malheur County last spring provided the first conclusive evidence, in more than 20 years, that kit foxes still occur in SE Oregon. The Oregon Conservation Strategy identified an updated status assessment of kit fox as an important conservation need and that is the goal of this project.
Enhancement of Rhoades Pond - $2,630 to the Nestucca Anglers for improvements and repairs to Rhoades Pond. Originally constructed as an earthen trout pond in 1976, Rhoades Pond is a former ODFW rearing facility currently operated by the Nestucca Anglers to raise Chinook smolts for release into the Nestucca Basin. Upgraded in 1999 for its current purpose, the original construction is worn and failing.
Creating Memories for Disabled Children - $5,000 to support the purchase of a wheel chair equipped van and other equipment to help disabled youth in NE Oregon participate in outdoor recreational activities.