Accomplishments
Jack Morgan Park Boat Ramp
Ilahee Park Cleaning Station
Ilahee Park Cleaning Station
Summer 2022
- Widened Morgan Park boat ramp
- Cleaned mud and silt accumulations from the ramp.
- Cleared problematic boulders along the edges of the ramp.
- Re-graveled the parking lot.
This work improves ramp access and reduces hazards associated with trucks and trailers getting stuck on the ramp or going off the edge.
Ilahee Park Cleaning Station
Ilahee Park Cleaning Station
Ilahee Park Cleaning Station
Winter 2024
Installed new covered stainless steel fish cleaning station at Hee Hee Illahee Park.
Water hook-up is coming soon. No more fish cleaning on your tailgate, park bench or the ground. A big thank you to the City of Siletz and Mayor Willie Worman for partnering with us on this project!
We hope to add these fishing cleaning stations to many other ramps along the Siletz including Old Mill site (lower town), Morgan Park, Strome Park, and Itcwhit Park
Palmer Creek Acclimation Ponds
Palmer Creek Acclimation Ponds
Palmer Creek Acclimation Ponds
Summer/Fall 2019
Upgrades were needed at this location where Broodstock winter steelhead are housed before their release into the Siletz river each spring. This project will reduce smolt mortality by providing deeper ponds and fixing cracks that allowed smolts to spill out of the ponds into the fields. It also provides hatchery fish trucks much needed access to the site.
Several improvements were made to the Palmer Creek Acclimation Ponds.
- Ponds dug out and cleaned up.
- Repaired cracks in the concrete
- Graded and regraveled the road and turn around!
Thank you to Dahl’s Sanitation for the gravel donation, and Table Mountain Forestry for excavation work.
ODFW Lawsuit
Palmer Creek Acclimation Ponds
Palmer Creek Acclimation Ponds
Winter 2024
Over the last 20 years we have watched as ODFW increasingly restricted our fishing opportunities across Oregon. When ODFW decided to severely restrict our fisheries despite strong run predictions, SAA fought back by filing a lawsuit to stop ODFW taking away our fishing rights. Our lawsuit showed ODFW we would no longer sit by as ODFW planted fewer fish and closed more areas to fishing. For 18 months we fought ODFW in court, raising funds dedicated to this effort while continuing the great work we are doing on the Siletz.
We wanted ODFW to follow the guidelines within their CMP–guidelines that didn’t allow for these new restrictions. The court ruled that ODFW didn’t need to follow their guidelines (CMP). While not the outcome we’d hoped for, this ruling opens up an opportunity to readdress several CMP issues. On the Siletz we can once again petition for more winter steelhead smolts, previously denied by ODFW who told us the CMP didn’t allow for more smolts. We are going to push ODFW to get the Siletz winter steelhead smolts increased from 50k to 150k smolts. SAA will continue to fight for more fishing opportunities for all user groups. Exciting stuff is coming! Just you watch.
Current Projects
Old Mill Park and Boat Ramp
Old Mill Park and Boat Ramp
SAA is currently working with Oregon State Marine Board and City of Siletz to rebuild the Old Mill boat ramp, improve the park amenities, and
increase access for all. The plan includes:
- Improved, safer parking
- New boat ramp
- Build new restrooms,
- New picnic areas
- Fish cleaning station
This project is ongoing and will take several years from plan to completion.
Moonshine Park Boat Ramp
Old Mill Park and Boat Ramp
SAA is working with Oregon State Marine Board and Lincoln County Parks for future
upgrades to Moonshine Park. The plan includes:
- Replacing the washed out boat ramp with a new ramp in a safer location upriver. This would provide easier river access and more parking.
- Improvement to the gravel area.
- Additional camp sites.
Adding Additional Winter Steelhead Smolts
SAA is currently working with Mayor Willie Worman and the town of Siletz to provide more steelhead fishing opportunities by asking ODFW to add 30,000 more winter steelhead smolts that are acclimated around the town of Siletz. This would create easier fishing access to anglers of all experience and abilities.
Rock Creek Siletz Tribal Hatchery
SAA is in support of the work the Siletz tribe has been doing to increase broodstock winter steelhead for the Siletz. The tribe's participation in the broodstock program has produced an extra 5000 winter steelhead smolts with plans to ramp up production over time. The SAA will continue to meet with the tribe to see how it can continue to support this program.
Adding Additional Winter Steelhead Smolts
Letter from Senator Dick Anderson to ODFW in support for building of acclimation pond facility at Illahee Park in town of Siletz to house an additional winter steelhead 70,000 smolts
Adding Additional Winter Steelhead Smolts
To Whom It May Concern:
We are contacting you to voice our support for the Siletz Angler’s Association’s more than reasonable request to install a lower Siletz acclimation pond at Illahee Park in the town of Siletz. This acclimation site would be very similar to the highly successful Hughey Creek facility on the Wilson River.
This site would be used to acclimate 70,000 smolts which would be released from this site after being acclimated for two weeks. The city of Siletz has purchased the property across the street from the park to be used for overflow parking and has offered to let them use this site (and provide power). Acclimating these fish at this site will provide better public access to returning adults under a wider variety of river flows. The purpose of winter steelhead hatchery programs is to provide harvest opportunities for anglers. One of the management goals for this program is to maximize the harvest of returning adult hatchery steelhead. To accomplish this goal, the fishery should occur throughout the winter providing the greatest opportunity for anglers. It would also spread out the fishery within the basin to provide a positive angling experience with increased chances of catching fish to keep.
Additionally, the site will be used for holding angler-caught wild broodstock fish. This would provide an easy drop-off location for volunteers and save staff time for ODFW when transporting fish back to the hatchery. It also will be less likely to suffer vandalism than the current system. Housing angler-caught wild steelhead will result in a higher survival rate, and staff will only be required to gather fish from one location twice a week instead of daily from multiple locations.
The Siletz tribe who would add 15,000 smolts to the 15,000 they are already stocking for a total of 30,000 smolts from Rock Creek. The Siletz tribe would get to keep all fish that return to the Rock Creek site.
Currently 50,000 smolts are being released at Palmer Creek, the highest accessible portion of the river much of which is only fishable by boat and only by the most experienced boaters during a very limited range of river flows. It would be our intention that this release would continue.
There are currently three wild broodstock hatchery programs in the Lincoln City to Tillamook portion of the coast. The Wilson, Nestucca and Siletz. The Siletz is the largest watershed of these three rivers and yet both the Wilson and Nestucca receive annual plants of 150,000 to 160,000 smolts while the Siletz is only allowed 50,000. Until recent years they often didn’t meet that inadequate goal and in fact failed again this year. The above requests would result in 150,000 winter steelhead smolts in line with production in the smaller rivers.
I represented Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) Oregon and North Coast Salmon and Steelhead Enhancement Fund (NCSSEF) in meetings several years ago, along with several representatives from the Siletz Angler’s Association. We were told to basically give it time and see if things would improve. They have not!
I was also involved in developing the Coastal Multi Species Plan and recall there were many tools detailed in the Reporting, Re-Assessment, and Adaptive Management clause that are not being used.
This sentence details how adaptive management should occur:
“If review of the annually collected information appears to show that progress is not being madetowards desired status goals, including optimizing harvest opportunities, or some populations are declining towards their critical Coastal Multi-Species Conservation and Management Plan abundance levels, ODFW will consider if additional, or alternative, actions need to be implemented to change the trajectory.”
In closing, I would like to point out that harvest opportunities are far from being optimized; in fact, compared to similar programs on smaller rivers the number of smolts planted on the Siletz is inadequate. I would also like to point out that these smaller rivers with similar programs have been very successful. Private funding for the Siletz acclimation tank has been secured, and the program has the support of local government officials, and the Siletz Tribe. Finally, the adaptive management clause of the CMP would allow this increase. Volunteers from both the town of Siletz and the angling community are volunteering to participate, ensuring it is a success.
On behalf of CCA Oregon, North Coast Salmon and Steelhead Enhancement Fund (NCSSEFF), and Siletz Anglers I ask that the request be approved. It is a win for all and like other Broodstock programs is largely privately funded.
Respectfully,
Jack Smith
President, CCA Oregon
Letter from CCA President Jack Smith requesting more winter steelhead smolts and an acclimation pond