Stanley Petrowski talks ecosystems on the South Umpqua River

Conservation Today

Stanley Petrowski, founder of the South Umpqua Rural Community Project talks with us today. Stan gives us a history of the fish abundance in the South Umpqua River, and the alarming low numbers this year. Both Coho and spring chinook seem to be on the brink of extension in the south Umpqua, following summer steelhead that are already extent. Restoration activities include putting large wood in streams, because Oregon law required large wood to be removed from steams to protect bridges and other infrastructure. Thus, all the fish habitat created by large wood was removed, and now needs to be replaced. Beavers can help put wood in streams, but beavers were almost extirpated in Oregon and also need some restoration help. There is a 2019 Beaver Conference in Canyonville. See link below for that. Stan also talks about logging practices damaging to fish, herbicide use damaging to all wildlife, and which fire-management practices are good and which are not. For more information, see: http://surcp.org/ South Umpqua Rural Community Partnership and http://stateofthebeaver.org/ 2019 Beaver Conference, Canyonville Oregon.