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OREGON WILDLIFE APRIL 1974 Volume 29 No 4 RON E SHAY Edito HAROLD C SMITH Staff Atist Oegon Wildlife is published monthly by the Oegon Wildlife Commission Ealie volumes of the publication wee entitled the Oegon State Game Commission Bulletin OREGON WILDLIFE COMMISSION MEMBERS FRANK A MOORE Chaiman Idleyld Pak DAN CALLAGHAN Vice Chaiman Salem MRS ALLEN BATEMAN Klamath Falls ALLAN L KELLY Potland JAMES W WHITTAKER Pilot Rock JOHN W McKEAN Diecto All coespondence should be sent to: OREGON WILDLIFE COMMISSION PO Box 3503 1634 SW Alde Steet Potland Oegon 97208 Pemission to epint is ganted; cedit would be appeciated Oegon Wildlife is ciculated fee of chage Please epot change of addess pomptly giving both new and old addesses and zip codes Second class postage paid at Potland Oegon The Cove Afte youve landed the fish do you eve look closely at how it is constucted? Fo details ead featue aticle Photo by Milt Guymon HUNTER EDUCATION PROGRAM Instuctos Appoved Month of Febuay 19 Total to date 3 354 Students Tained Month of Febuay 473 Total to date 206735 Fieams Hunting Casualties Repoted in 1974 Fatal 0 Nonfatal 0 WHO CARES? It would appea that a goodly potion of Oegons salmon and steelhead angles ae quite a bit moe concened about the fish they catch today than helping plan fo fish fo tomoow Each peson who angles fo eithe of these fish is equied to have a salmon steelhead license which also doubles as a catch ecod cad and is equied by law to etun it to the Commission The infomation contained on it is impotant to biologists tying to plan fo the futue of these fine spot fish The catch ecod cads not only give manages a pictue of the total spot catch fo the yea but make it possible to calculate the catch by steam and aea The next question might be "Who caes?" Evey angle who wants to have a chance of catching a fish in the futue should cae The ecods do seveal things Fist they give a quite good estimate as to the total catch fo the yea This is extemely impotant to know when it comes to negotiations with dam buildes commecial inteests and othes who want to distub fish habitat o take the fish diectly Secondly the catch ecods when boken down by steam may be an ealy waning if touble is bewing A dop in poduction by a steam may indicate the steam has poblems and steps need to be taken to modify its chaacteistics o to put a stop to some type of envionmental degadation that might be taking place Data fom the catch ecod cads can also give diection to the Commissions hatchey pogam by indicating whee plants have been successful o pehaps whee the inceased catch may indicate an acceleated pogam is desiable With all of this in mind it would seem that any angle who caes at all about the futue of his fishing would be eage to get these cads tuned in to the Wildlife Commission as soon as possible afte the fist of the yea But not so! Though the deadline fo submitting these cads is listed as Mach 1 the etun by that time this yea was a measly 15 to 20 pecent Put in eveyday tems a petty lousy showing! Its a petty sue thing that moe angles than that caught fish It might be a bit moe undestandable if it wee only the nonangles o even the noncatches who didnt send the cads in but appaently a quite lage goup of those who managed to succeed in havesting pat of the cop cant be botheed to clean out thei billfold Actually evey cad contains impotant infomation If you bought a salmon steelhead license but fo some eason didnt get to go fishing thats an impotant piece of infomation If you fished but weent successful thats impotant also and obviously if you fished and wee successful thats impotant to know Weve head some angles say that they dont send the cad in because then the numbe of fish they caught will be tallied and thei favoite steam will get too good a eputation Could be; howeve it could also eveal that thei steam dopped in total poduction and that it needs some help The lack of catch on a steam might be intepeted by some as indicating that the steam isnt poducing any fish so it might as well be dammed because the loss of fish wouldnt be significant o that thee is no inteest in the steam so stocking ates could be dopped At any ate not sending in the cad is a bit shotsighted o selfish as well as illegal Though its past the deadline the infomation on you last yeas salmon steelhead license is still impotant but its of no value unless you take a few minutes to send it in to the Wildlife Commission Do you eally cae? RES Page 2 APRIL 1974
ANATOMY OF A FISH Its Pats and What They Do by LARRY BISBEE Biologist Wam wate Game Fish adipose dosal fin anal fin caudal fin o tail vental pectoal Have you eve watched a fisheman cleaning his days catch when suddenly he stops and stats poking aound with the point of his knife and exclaims "I wonde what that little gadget is?" Chances ae he is looking at some unfamilia pat of the fishs anatomy that has attacted his attention To some people the anatomy of a fish is inteesting To othes it is a slimy mess not to be eckoned with and fo many it is something which has to be taken cae of while giving little thought to anything othe than getting the job done The anatomy of a fish can be inteesting if one stops and consides ^vhat function each pat plays in sup poting the life of the citte and bette adapting him to his paticula OREGON WILDLIFE aquatic habitat In geneal the stuctue of most fishes is quite simila with some exceptions and a wide vaiety of vaiations In spite of the many vaiations in shape the gound plan of body oganization in fishes is bilateal symmety as fo the vetebates geneally To simplify mattes the anatomy of a fish will be discussed only as it applies to the feshwate species with which we ae moe familia and with an occasional efeence to othe species The ideal fom of a fish is topedo shaped o fusifom and is designed pimaily fo speed and quick apid movement in wate Of all the fishes in the wold the tuna comes closest to esembling the ideal fom Fom this genealized shape the foms of many fish depat modeately to completely and ange fom globe shaped to thead like in outline The majoity of ou feshwate species like tout and salmon closely esemble the ideal shape while bass cappie flounde and catfish epesent moe exteme vaiations Movement of fish is dependent pimaily upon the fins o appendages attached to the body Poweful sweeps of the caudal o tail fin popel the body fowad at lighting speed Dosal pelvic pectoal and anal fins ae used somewhat fo locomotion but seve pimaily as stabilizing and maneuveing ogans to aid the fish in diving climbing banking tuning and stopping in wate A fatty adipose fin located between the dosal Page 3
fin and the caudal fin of salmonids and vaious species of catfish has no significant use The fins of fish play an impotant ole in fisheies management Removal of one o moe fins has enabled fisheies manages to secue valuable knowledge on distibution life histoy and suvival Making by this means is common pactice in tout and salmon management today In some of ou so called wam wate fish such as bass catfish cappie and bluegill some of the soft ays in the fins have developed into one o moe stong shap spines which ae capable of inflicting painful wounds on an unsuspecting individual hence the common name "spiny ays" as applied to this goup of fish In the case of catfish and madtoms a special gland located at the base of the spine can inject a secetion into a spine wound which ceates a stinging paalyzing effect on man The stout pectoal spines of these fish ae oftentimes used as defensive weapons As in othe vetebates the skin of a fish is an envelope coveing the body and is the fist line of defense against disease It also affods potection fom and adjustment to envionmental factos that influence life though the sensoy eceptos found thee Located in the skin ae also special cells that give fish thei colo and make it possible fo them to camouflage themselves so well Embedded in the skin of most fish ae had bony scales which in aangement ae most often imbicated and thus ovelap like shingles on a oof with the fee magin diected towad the tail to minimize fiction with the wate When examined unde magnification fish scales pesent a definite patten of contoued lines which to a tained obseve can eveal the age and gowth ate of each individual fish Some fish like the catfish ae naked in a technical sense in that they have no scales Scatteed among the skin cells ae the mucus glands which secete the slimy coveing and the distinctive odo which ae most objectionable to many people Pesumably the mucus coveing lessens the dag on a fish as it swims though the wate and povides a potective coating ove the scales It also seves in a potective sense in that many a pized catch has The tuna (top) has the most efficient shape fo a fish but natue ceated a vaiety of specialized shapes with such extemes as the needle fish (middle) and the sunfish (bottom) Page 4 APRIL 1974
; /:tei Cy t ty M 7 U l 11 1 = ; v A " z ; o le k W Z? c~ii W " o t9 I s J J 46 f [a 1[ L W 4 2 0 I cn W W J a cn PYLORIC CAECA OREGON WILDLIFE Page 5
escaped fom the gasp of a dismayed angle with one quick twist of its slippey body Sensoy ogans in fish ae petty much alike in most espects and seve pimaily in waning of dange and in detecting food Two openings found on eithe side of the snout ae the naes o nostils and epesent the ogans of smell extenally among fish All fish in geneal have specialized ogans of taste in the lining of the mouth lips phaynx and on the snout In addition some species including the catfish and stugeon have babels o whiskes as they ae sometimes called Babels ae weid extensions of the skin found aound the mouth which contain taste buds to aid these fish often found living in tubid wate in locating food oganisms Have you eve cept up to a good looking fishing hole only to catch a fleeting glimpse of you intended pey as it disappeaed fom sight and wondeed what happened? Chances ae some faint vibations wee telegaphed fom you feet though the gound and into the wate whee they wee picked up by the sense ogans of the fish and sounded the alam Located along the mid line on eithe side of the body ae single ows of tiny poes extending fom the head to the tail This is the lateal line system of sense ogans found only in fish and the aquatic stages of amphibians The sense ogans ae pat of the nevous system and ae used to pick up vibations much too low fo the human ea to detect Most fish see though a pai of lidless eyes that ae much like ou own though modified fo vision unde wate Most often the eyes ae lateal on the head with patially independent fields of vision and movement Vaiations ange fom the blind cave fish which have no eyes to the flounde and othe flatfishes that have both eyes on one side of the head Heaing and balance as in highe vetebates is centeed in the inne ea In all fish the oute and middle ea ae missing leaving the inne ea as a specialized pat of the lateal line sensoy system A "swim bladde" o "ai bladde" is chaacteistic of tue fishes and is found in the body cavity usually lying ove the othe ogans found thee The ai bladde func Page 6 tions as a esonato in sound peception as a sound poduce as an accessoy beathing ogan and in weight egulating A good example is the ai bladde found in catfish The skeleton of a fish is a complex combination of extenal and intenal featues having both soft and had pats Most easily ecognizable is the so called axial fim skeleton composed of the skull the vetebal column the ibs and the intemuscula bones which give a fish its geneal shape The pelvic and pectoal gidles povide fim suppot fo the paied fins The extenal skeleton is less easily ecognized as such by the novice and is composed of scales fin ays and connective tissue that toughens the skin and joins it to undelying muscula tissue bone and catilage Like most othe vetebates muscle tissue makes up a good pat of the body Tunk muscles ae the most abundant and ae attached to the fim skeleton They ae pimaily used in movement of the skeletal pats and in locomotion To the aveage peson these muscles ae the "salmon steaks o fillets" which ae highly pized as food Unlike most vetebate muscle aangement the muscle tissue in fish is laid down in a schematic patten and appeas as neat stacks of flakes when the skin is emoved They give a fish consideable stength fo its size Most fish ae dependent upon thei aquatic habitat fo the life giving oxygen which they must have to suvive Catfish ae an exception and have the ability to absob oxygen though thei skin as well as though thei gills and fo this eason they can suvive fo seveal days out of wate povided thei bodies ae kept cool and moist To most othe fishes the ciculatoy system consisting of the gills the heat and the blood vessels is thei sole means of suvival The gills ae the lungs to a fish Exchange of cetain gaseous waste poducts fo fesh oxygen occus in the many delicate gill filaments attached to the ea edge of the moe idged gill aches A set of gills ae found on eithe side of the head in and at the ea of the mouth cavity whee wate ciculation is eadily available A stiff bony gill cove potects these delicate ogans fom outside damage Attached to the gills by a shot atey is the heat found lying in the foepat of the body cavity just below the gullet The heat of couse pumps the blood though a tubula netwok of ateies veins and capillaies A small ogan associated with the manufactue and destuction of blood cells is the spleen usually found at the ea end of the stomach The gound plan of the digestive tact of vetebates was established among fishes The ogans associated with this system lie in a continuous seies beginning at the mouth and ending at the anal opening just anteio to the anal fin and occupy the geate pat of the body cavity The ogans lying in between these two openings ae the mouth cavity the phaynx the gullet the stomach the pyloic caeca and the small and lage intestines The one ogan which puzzles the most people and ceates the most sti is the pyloic caeca attached to the intestines and lying just behind the live The pyloic caeca is a cluste of small finge like pouches that look vey much like a gob of woms at fist glance The caeca when pesent in fish has a digestive and /o an absoptive function A lage maoon coloed ogan occupying the font pat of the body cavity is the live which plays an impotant ole in the digestive pocess and also acts as a stoage place fo fats and blood suga Anothe ogan closely associated with the live is the gall bladde which acts as a tempoay stoage place fo live secetions Othe ogans in the digestive tact need little explanation since most ae easily ecognized The kidneys as most people ecognize them in mammals ae bean shaped ogans attached to the back wall of the body cavity In fishes these paied ogans take on a diffeent shape and can be ecognized as the long dak eddish bown pulpy mass lying just below the backbone Kidneys ae ichly supplied with blood vessels and ae quite bloody when boken in the pocess of emoving when cleaning fish fo the table They function mainly in the elimination of metabolic wastes fom the body The divesity in feeding habits of fishes is somewhat eflected in the shape of the mouth and the stuctue of the teeth A wide vaiation in "Th mouth stuctue exists Howeve the APRIL 1974
/ The divesity of feeding habits of fish is somewhat eflected in the shape of the mouth Tout bass stugeon and suckes show a small potion of the vaiety species with which we ae concened have eithe teminal o infeio mouths Pedato species such as the bass o pike geneally have lage teminal mouths bodeed by stong toothed jaws In bass and catfish pads of numeous shot fine pointed teeth lie just inside the lips and ae adapted fo gasping and holding Insect feedes geneally have smalle mouths and less well developed teeth Some species like the squawfish have bony aches equipped with long pointed teeth located on eithe side of the phaynx These ae the phayngeal teeth which though muscula action wok in opposition to each othe as food is being swallowed The teeth seve in a holding o a teaing capacity Phayngeal teeth in othe fishes of the minnow family may be moe flattened fo ginding puposes Some fish like the common cap OREGON WILDLIFE and coase scaled sucke have infeio mouths with little o no body stuctue o teeth pesent The mouth is designed pimaily fo a sucking action and indicates these fish ae scavenges which feed mostly on vegetation o othe debis The epoductive pocess in ou well known feshwate fishes is known as bisexual epoduction in which spem and eggs develop in sepaate individuals In immatue fish the epoductive ogans ae oftentimes difficult to locate Upon eaching matuity howeve thee is no question In tout and salmon the eggs develop in lage skeins which cowd the body cavity at matuity Pio to spawning the tissue holding the egg clustes togethe uptues and eleases the egg masses in the body cavity Muscula action foces the eggs out though the ovaduct The epoductive ogans of the spiny ay fishes ae simila; howeve in the females the egg sac does not uptue and is located at the ea end of the body cavity Eggs of these species ae geneally much smalle in size; consequently one female fish may poduce as many as seveal million eggs Although a numbe of species of fish in the wold ae live beaing all the moe common feshwate species with which we ae familia ae egg beaes The anatomy of a fish is much moe detailed and complicated than the geneal discussion pesented hee My pupose has been to acquaint one with the moe common pats of the anatomy and some of the functions each plays in suppoting the life of a fish Hopefully it will make ones next encounte with the "slimy citte" a little moe inteesting Page 7
74 Tout Stocking Stoy With a few exceptions the Wildlife Commissions pogam fo eleasing legal sized tout duing the fishing season will be the same as it was in 1973 Jim Giggs chief of fish libeations says thee ae slightly moe than 26 million of these fish appoaching elease size in Commission hatcheies "Thee will be some modifications" Giggs said "lagely bought on by the gasoline shotage Fuel fo the tucks used to cay fish will be in much shote supply and what fuel we can get is much moe costly We had no way of anticipating this when the budgets wee appoved" he added "so now we simply have to live with it" Last yea libeation tucks coveed 350000 miles caying fish to lakes and steams thoughout the state This yea the mileage will be educed Last yea whee some steams wee stocked on a weekly basis they may be stocked evey othe week this yea In the case of the smalle moe distant o seldom fished steams they may not be stocked at all The ability of the fisheman to get to the angling will also be taken into consideation and libeation effots may be geaed a little moe closely to population centes Some of the fish that have in past yeas been put in steams may be eleased instead into ponds lakes and esevois whee they will be available to angles ove a longe peiod of time Biologists have found that the lagest angle catch of legal sized ainbows stocked in steams takes place duing the fist week Vey few planted tout ae taken in steams afte thee weeks The Commission is conducting a eseach poject now to lean what happens to these fish In the meantime the etun of hatchey fish to angles is much highe when they ae planted in standing wate bodies and they ae caught ove a longe peiod of time Fo the second yea in a ow thee will be no book tout fingelings to stock in Oegons high lakes The same vius disease that caused the Commission to destoy its book tout stocks at Fall Rive Hatchey last summe has killed the book tout fy this yea at Wizad Falls Giggs says ainbow tout fingelings will be aeially stocked in place of book tout in those lakes that ae suitable just as was done last summe This should help educe the impact of the book tout losses but some lakes that ae stocked only with book tout will go without planting fo the second yea in a ow Book tout ae used fo stocking the high alpine lakes because they ae bette adapted fo living in the cold alpine wates Fall Rive Hatchey nea Bend is one of the best suited in the state fo aising book tout It has both cold wate which keeps the fish fom gowing too apidly fo aeial stocking in the sping and a neaby aistip This was whee the states entie stocks wee held last yea Afte the IPN poblem the hatchey was dained disinfected and is now suppoting an expeimental population of fish until it is detemined fo sue that the hatchey is fee of disease In the meantime Wizad Falls Hatchey west of Sistes was being used as a substitute fo eaing book tout Although infectious panceatic necosis (IPN) was not discoveed in the bood tout fom which the book tout eggs wee taken last fall the newly developing fy developed the disease and began dying a few weeks ago Pathologists believe the 1974 FISH ALLOCATIONS disease was no doubt pesent at a vey low level in some of the bood fish Fish pathologists ae still looking fo the souce of the IPN Last fall 1000 East Lake female fish wee examined fo the vius but none was found Thee ae still suspicions howeve that East Lake may be the souce Bown tout eggs also taken at East Lake last fall poduced fy which also succumbed ecently to IPN at Klamath Hatchey The hatchey ponds and equipment ae being disinfected and fish cultuists will be looking fo a disease fee egg souce fo futue book and bown tout opeations Although some wild fish appaently have IPN wild populations ae in no paticula dange fom the vius Fish can appaently habo the disease in the wild with elatively minimal losses Howeve the poblem eally becomes devastating in the atificial confines of the hatchey whee epidemics can sweep though a fish population like wildfie Angles need not woy about eating fish that may have IPN The disease is absolutely hamless to humans and has no effect on the eating qualities of fish that have it In fact angles wont have any way of knowing if a fish they have caught habos IPN o not This is difficult to detemine even by laboatoy methods 1973 1974 Winte steelhead smolts 1575000 1625000 Summe steelhead smolts 1344000 1290000 Coho smolts 200000 Sping chinook smolts 542000 1258000 Fall chinook smolts 25000 65000 Sping chinook fingelings 420000 440000 Coho fingelings 500000 Califonia ainbow fingelings 116000 Atlantic salmon fingelings 3500 Summe steelhead fingelings 100000 Pitt Rive ainbow fingelings 50000 Lahontan cutthoat fingelings 55000 Coastal cutthoat fingelings 168000 Inland cutthoat fingelings 72000 Kokanee fingelings 465000 Fall ainbow fingelings 7055000 Sping ainbow fingelings 453000 Rainbow yealings 2340000 Cutthoat yealings 318000 Atlantic salmon yealings 5000 1 Page 8 APRIL 1974
This and That The pefect book has been published by the Honolulu Zoo The 20 page volume "Snakes of Hawaii " is said to be "completely devoid of zoological gammatical and typogaphical eos" Small wonde! All the pages ae completely blank Thee ae no snakes in Hawaii Consevation News Bidwatches and othe uses of wildlife ae beginning to seek ways to shae the costs of managing wildlife Cal W Calson a noted bide in the Washington D Compiled by KEN DURBIN C aea ecently suggested that all wildlife enthusiasts should help fund wildlife consevation Calson said "To speak and act effectively bides may have to do what huntes and angles have done fo some yeas pay a substantial pat of the cost of potecting the natual esouces they cheish Pehaps the Pittman Robetson tax should be extended to opticals and to biding guides and to watepoof clothing Pehaps a special type of Golden Eagle pass is needed one which would be in effect a bidwatching license" A 10 pecent manufactues excise tax has been collected by the fedeal govenment on spoting ams and ammunition since 1937 and on cetain items of fishing tackle since 1950 The money is distibuted among the states fo fish and wildlife estoation puposes Calson said that the idea may be evolutionay o even evolting to some bidwatches "But" he said "until we stop being feeloades and pay moe of ou own way ou wods will continue to get slight consideation whee the had decisions affecting ou envionment ae made" Wildlife Management Institute /1 OREGON WILDLIFE Tell you golfing fiend that thee ae moe pistol and ifle anges in the United States than thee ae golf couses and he might call you a lia If he had the time to count them hed find the anges outnumbe the couses and golfes ae outnumbeed by shootes thee to one In a new way of looking at the value of natual aeas a monetay assessment of $83000 an ace has been placed on the mashlands of the South Atlantic and Gulf Coasts D Eugene Odum head of the Institute of Ecology at the Univesity of Geogia made the economic analysis along with D James G Gosselink and D R M Pope of the Maine Science Depatment of Louisiana State Univesity "Some economists dont like the monetay estimate of the mashes; they aent used to putting money value on the fee wok of natue But if we keep economics sepaate fom ecology in the futue wee doomed" Tidal mashes ae lands which ae paticulaly vulneable to capicious development because the eal values of the mashes ae not ecognized But the mashlands haness in thei tidal flow a powehouse of economic development and pesevation "The tidal action in the mashes is like tactos woking land" said Odum "The tides fetilize and continually cultivate the land just as tactos diven by expensive fuel cultivate fam land" The ecologists study was based on the by poducts of the mashes such as commecial fisheies thei potential fo aquacultual development fo shellfish thei waste assimilation wok and thei total life suppot value South Caolina Wildlife Kenya and the Ivoy Coast have banned elephant hunting and a thid Afican nation Tanzania has halted all hunting and captuing of wild animals Thei govenments say elephant heds ae in dange of being wiped out Because of the shaky wold monetay situation people ae hoading items such as ivoy Wealthy Euopeans and Asians being ousted fom Kenya have been tying to salvage some of thei wealth by conveting it into ivoy and shipping it out of the county The black maket pice fo ivoy went fom $143 a kilo to $2143 and tusks fom a single elephant can bing $3000 South Caolina Wildlife Enginees at Gemanys Posche ca factoy have designed a family sedan they say can last 20 yeas Aftewad the ca could be ecycled o in some cases econditioned at special plants Aim: to educe the wasteful scapping of 15000000 cas a yea aound the wold Cost: about 30 pecent moe than an existing mass poduced sedan Coloado Outdoos DOGS CURBED Hunting dog ownes ae eminded by the Wildlife Commission that beginning Apil 1 and extending though July it is illegal to un o tain dogs on land o wate that is poductive wildlife nesting habitat This egulation is in no way intended to discouage the use of well tained dogs duing the hunting seasons as the Commission well ecognizes the valuable ole these animals play in peventing needless cippling losses of game bids and watefowl Howeve to potect nesting bids and thei young dogs ae esticted fom nesting and eaing habitat duing the peiod of the summe when wildlife is most vulneable to distubance by man and his pets At othe times of the yea the Commission endeavos to encouage taining and competitive field tials of hunting dogs by accommodating them on many of its game management aeas Except duing this fou month peiod huntes ae esticted in taining dogs only by laws which pohibit tespass on pivate lands They may be tained at any time of yea in nonpoductive habitat Page 9
EQ INDEX ON DOWNHILL SLIDE Ove the past five yeas US public inteest in the envionment has seemed to soa Catchwods such as "ecology" and "consevation" took on new meanings and became akin to those othe Ameican saced cows apple pie and mothehood Duing that peiod Congess committed fa moe money than eve befoe to clean up ou ai and wate a host of antipollution laws wee passed and an entiely new fedeal agency was even ceated to deal with them Communities and cities acoss the county have also taken steps to deal with thei own pollution poblems In fact has thee eally been an upswing in envionmental inteest and if so what has been its effect? What diffeence if any has it made in the quality of Ameican life? Has "mothehood gone out of the envionment" as some authoities have epoted? The Fifth Envionmental Quality Index thooughly examines the cuent status of the Ameican envionment in the Febuay Mach issue of NATIONAL WILDLIFE Magazine Published annually since 1969 by the National Wildlife Fedeation the EQ Index statistically and gaphically assesses whee we have been what we ae doing now and whee we ae headed in ou envionmental battle In putting ou cuent envionmental status into pespective the Index povides a concise analysis of a vaiety of envionmental data fom vaious govenment souces including the Envionmental Potection Agency Oveall the pictue shown by the Index is not bight with the total US envionment standing at 53 on a 100 point scale one point lowe than in 1973 "In too many lage cities the ai is still not fit to beathe" states the intoduction to the 1974 Index "and in too many pats of the county even the dinking wate is contaminated But pehaps most disconceting of all envionmentalism itself has become an inceasingly beleagueed movement" As indicative of the total US envionment seven key indicatos ae featued in the EQ Index: ai wate mineals wildlife living space Page 10 timbe and soil "All EQ indicatos except ai in fact ae down (fom pevious yeas)" accoding to the epot While the EQ measuements ae not exact the Index emphasizes they do epesent the best collective judgments of a National Wildlife Fedeation eseach team Besides poviding empiical documentation the EQ Index gives case examples of each of the indicatos Fo instance in the summay analysis of the status of US wildlife the Index epots that "Each yea in the US ove one million aces of habitat is eithe buied unde buildings and pavements o downed by esevois But in addition to obbing wildlife of vital living space ou industialized society kills outight as well Fo example moe than 150000 bids die annually in oil field sumps alone One ecent visit to a single oil sump evealed 187 victims 90 songbids 87 ducks one owl one eget five geese and thee heons Lagely because of habitat loss the Inteio Depatments endangeed species list has gone up fom 101 to 109 this last yea" A lack of public concen is epotedly not the pincipal poblem The Index quotes the latest annual epot of the Council on Envionmental Quality (CEQ) as stating "The nation has voted ovewhelmingly fo a cleane envionment" Instead the pincipal diagnosis of the poblem is a lack of funding Only about 1 pecent of the new Administation poposed $3044 billion budget is designated fo envionment and natual esouce pogams Accoding to the CEQ a total of $274 billion should be spent within the next decade by industy citizens and govenment in ode to meet fedeal pollution abatement standads by 1981 That includes not only ai and wate clean up but solid waste noise adiation and land eclamation as well While the $274 billion would only epesent 21/2 pecent of the nations goss national poduct any lowe level of spending wans the CEQ will "esult in even geate penalties in tems of health eceation o aesthetics" "At the pesent low level of spending" accoding to the Index "it will be impossible to each the CEQ goals" "The fact is" the NWF publication notes "that by cleaning up ai and wate pollution in the long un the nation will actually save money" As an example the Index obseves that by 1977 almost $2 billion in ai pollution damage will be saved if the pope contols ae put to use now If 1977 seems a long way off the annual epot points out "Conside the damage ai pollution alone is causing ight now: $16 billion pe yea o about $80 fo each Ameican in tems of damage to vegetation mateials popety and health" "In shot the clean up campaign has moved at little moe than a snails pace since it began back in 1955 with passage of the oiginal ai pollution contol legislation" The fifth EQ Index also documents changes in the degee of pollution fom the five majo ai pollutants and compaative clean up tack ecods of cities in diffeent egions of the county ove the past five yeas including an illustation of how the city of Chicago monitos its ai and wate pollution In an Index follow up the vetean envionmental specialist fo NEWSWEEK Magazine James Bishop examines the bizae and baffling "Politics of Pollution" "Despite some significant pogess on the clean up font" Bishop wites "the nations political and copoate leades though not necessaily the people themselves ae showing signs of pulling back fom the oot challenge pesented five yeas ago alteing the nations values of unlimited economic gowth and acknowledging that the pice of Ameicas pogess has been pohibitively high" Even though envionmental consideations ae now a basic pat of govenment decision making Bishop explains an inceasing tendency to cast envionmentalists into the scapegoat ole shows an "obliviousness to the fact that depletion of natual esouces sloppy mining pactices inefficient distibution wee some of the tigges of envionmental awaeness in the fist place" APRIL 1974
Envionmental Events The Oegon Wildlife Commission met with Wate Resouces Boad and epesentatives of the Envionmental Quality Commission to eview wate quality and steam flow quantity poblems In addition to administative coopeation potential wate law modifications wee eviewed The Oegon Coastal Consevation and Development Commissions wildlife policies ae to be developed by May 1 by a esouces specialty team A team of enginees and biologists is studying sping chinook salmon passage poblems at Willamette Falls In the yeas of high ive flows adult salmon ae delayed and ae being injued in thei attempts to ascend the falls Coopeatively with the Bueau of Reclamation the Wildlife Commission staff has developed a plan to offset Scoggins Resevoi impacts on big game of the aea Seveal tacts ae to be developed fo additional foage poduction to eplace that which will be flooded and to educe el agicultual depedations on adjacent fams The continuing effots to develop an inteagency DDT monitoing pogam wee essentially completed by the time the Envionmental Potection Agency announced its decision to pemit the chemicals use fo tussock moth contol Wildlife data wee povided to the Multnomah County Planning Commission fo its compehensive land use study of Sauvie Island West Hills aea and to Clackamas County Planning Commission in the evaluation of a esidential eceation development at Zigzag The Oegon Wildlife Commission staff is coopeating with the Tillamook County Commission Tillamook Bay Task Foce Pot of Bay City othe state and fedeal agencies and inteested citizens to esolve questions about a Gaibaldi whaf location Coopeation has been given to the Bueau of Land Management in its Oute Continental Shelf studies off the Oegon coast The Wildlife Commissions concen is fo potection of the maine and coastal envionments if gas oil o mineal developments become feasible HEARINGS TO BE HELD On June 1 the Wildlife Commission will hold a public heaing to conside the 1974 big game seasons othe than antelope The heaing will be held at the Westen Foesty Cente auditoium in the Zoo OMSI aea just west of downtown Potland Stating time fo the heaing will be 10 am On Apil 17 at the Commission meeting being held at the Potland office of the Commission the staff will pesent a peliminay eview of the big game situation to the Commission Also at this meeting at 10 am the Commission will conduct a public heaing to conside establishing a ule chaging a use fee on Oak Island fo individuals who do not possess a hunting o fishing license Funds fo the puchase of the island have come fom the hunte and angle fees but much of the use has been developed by othe types of eceationists Two othe ule changes will be consideed at the Apil 17 heaing One would amend the ule on scientific collecting pemits to eliminate the $2 fee and the othe would change the ule authoizing the use of atificial lights in hunting to include pedatoy animals At both the June 1 big game heaing and the Apil 17 heaing membes of the public will have an oppotunity to expess thei views In Januay opening dates wee established: geneal dee season Octobe 5 Roosevelt elk season Novembe 16 and Rocky Mountain elk season Octobe 26 ANTELOPE SEASONS The Oegon Wildlife Commission appoved staff ecommendations fo a five day geneal antelope season in 1974 and a split achey antelope season at Gebe Resevoi poviding twice the eceational oppotunity The geneal ifle season will be simila to last yea opening on August 17 and extending though August 21 The numbe of tags authoized fo each of the antelope hunting units will be the same as last yea with one exception Because of low fawn suvival in the Paulina Wagontie Unit the Commission will issue 100 tags instead of the 125 offeed last yea In all 1590 tags will be issued to applicants selected in a public dawing Last yea 1615 tags wee issued with 53 pecent of the huntes successful in tagging a buck antelope The Commission authoized what amounts to two sepaate achey seasons on the Gebe Resevoi aea with 65 tags authoized fo each season Dates wee set fo August 10 though 18 and August 24 though 31 Last yea a single nine day season was held with 65 tags issued and aches wee successful in taking thee buck antelope The Commission felt the eceational oppotunity could be inceased with a split season and at the same time a high quality hunting expeience could be peseved by limiting the numbe of huntes to 65 fo each season Aeial antelope suveys nealy completed by field biologists duing the past seveal weeks eveal population levels about the same as last yea when almost 10000 animals wee obseved in southeasten Oegon A pinted synopsis of antelope hunting egulations is available at license agencies and special tag application cads ae also available on which antelope huntes can apply fo the unit of thei choice Gebe Resevoi achey applicants should indicate a pefeence fo the fist o second season Apil 30 is deadline fo submission of applications OREGON WILDLIFE Page 11
Ti o 11 ^ Yi (7 4 I?111 il y L tii i k Y ift ":40 y: ^e GOVERNOR RECEIVES TOP AWARD FROM NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION Goveno Tom McCall has been selected "Consevationist of the Yea" by the nations lagest consevation oganization the National Wildlife Fedeation The Goveno eceived the awad Mach 30 in Denve Coloado duing the 38th annual meeting of the Fedeation In announcing the awad to McCall the Fedeation said ON I 4 21414 0RE0ON WILDLIFE i ;";; 1 i yÿ : y i ; i4k 1eiT C ip >: z < w of t o c E t!i a p s i s j " 11 a o y " fq a A Tom f itt O : $ yl \ J :: p t 40 R : he was chosen "fo his stong leadeship and foesight in a numbe of statewide consevation pogams which have made Oegon an envionmental bellwethe of the nation" The Fedeations othe majo awad this yea went to Congessman Mois Udall of Aizona who was named "Legislato of the Yea" Robet Stack film pesonality and National Wildlife Fedeation Boad membe was maste of ceemonies fo the awads banquet Photo by Dan Callaghan c tik! 1" i s# yti "tt 1t a o a < o aa 1+ f COMMISSION 1634 S W ALDER STREET P O BOX 3503 PORTLAND OREGON 97208