Last year, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians petitioned the Oregon State Marine Board to impose a motorized boat ban on the upper Siletz river in Lincoln County. The board is expected to issue a temporary rule at its meeting in early April, ahead of a series of public meetings.
The tribe’s petition would ban motorized boats upriver from Jack Morgan Park, which is about six miles north of the town of Siletz. They say a ban would help preserve salmonid spawning areas and prevent user conflicts.
At Jack Morgan on a recent Sunday, a local fisher told KLCC he uses a drift boat and oars to fish for salmon and steelhead trout. He puts in 13 miles upriver at Ojalla Park and fishes while he drifts with the current.
At Jack Morgan, he takes his boat out of the water and trailers it back up to where he puts it in the river again. Motorized boats have the ability to drive up river, and that’s why he supports the motor ban. But the issue is particularly contentious in the Siletz fishing community, so he did not want to be identified for fear of retaliation
“I think it's a good thing [the motor ban], because [of] the way the river is. [It] keeps the pollution out of the water,” he said. “Plus, if you use a motor down there, you can motor it back up, and you get in other people's way. That's what happens a lot. When you're going upstream, you’re messing up everybody else.”
Upriver at Ojalla Park, a different fisher also did not want to be identified for fear of retaliation. He said he launches his motorized drift boat at the park and fishes for salmon and steelhead with his family, and said he’s never had a conflict with anyone else on the river.
“Current regulation should stay in place,” he said emphatically. “Motors should be allowed exactly how it is now. I think this is a political user group issue. This has absolutely nothing to do with saving fish, water quality. This is the tribe trying to get their foot in to ban all non-tribal users, the public, from accessing a public resource, which is this river.”
Part of the problem is that the Siletz River is a premiere fishing destination, and guides who use motors contend they’ll be financially impacted by a motor ban.
The tribe counters that guides using oars will take their place.
Angela Sondenaa is natural resources director for the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and a tribal member. She emphasizes that the petition puts the resource ahead of temporal profit. She’s quick to restate the tribe’s objectives amid the hyperbole on social media.
“We are not anti-fishermen. We are not anti-guide,” she explained. “We're fisher people ourselves, so we appreciate the people that appreciate that activity and the joy and the subsistence that it brings to people. We want everyone to enjoy this river and its resources, but it has to be done in a respectful way, and it has to be done in a way that doesn't negatively impact other users.”
The tribe operates a hatchery and employs fish biologists to monitor, better understand and manage important river species. Sondenaa said the proposal to limit motorized boat traffic upriver of tidal influence is not indiscriminate or avaricious, but a matter of science.
“It's a matter of physics. You can look at these things. We've taken video in the water column of boat motors moving up through a riffle, and you can clearly see with your own eyes the effect it's had on those gravels. And those gravels are where our fish spawn,” Sondenaa said.
The Oregon Marine Board has never considered a petition from a sovereign tribal entity, which comes with a learning curve. In response to the petition, the Board empanelled a Rulemaking Advisory Committee to consider the petition and make a recommendation. The diverse group of stakeholders has met four times since last July.
During the advisory committee meetings, some members contended that salmonid numbers in the Siletz have rebounded in recent years, by contrast to other imperilled rivers.
That may be true, Sondenaa said, but she added that it’s a matter of perspective. Tribal members know a time of much greater abundance.
“Our worldview is very different,” she explained. “We have a very different relationship with the natural world. And so in our petition, we are centering on the river and the ecology of the river, not just the salmonids, but the lamprey, the other species, the people who depend on that river. And so that is our focus.”
The tribe argues that fishing closures on other rivers have put greater pressure on the Siletz and its fish stocks. Sondenaa said that in addition to over-fishing, a changing climate and deteriorating ocean conditions demand immediate and effective action.
“As that pressure increases, these fish are not going to be okay, and we don't think they're okay,” Sondenaa said. “This river should be producing a lot more fish, and it's not. And so this is one thing that we can control, that we can regulate, to better protect our fishery and our river.”
At the end of January, the Rulemaking Advisory Committee facilitator recommended the Marine Board take a “hybrid approach” in managing the Siletz, like they did on the Rogue River in southern Oregon, where motors are restricted depending on factors like river flow and the season.
The tribe’s petition would divide the river into two zones, one motorized, and one not. Sondena said the rules are culturally and scientifically reasonable, easily enforceable and unambiguous.
“We stand behind our petition and the request that was made very clearly in that petition, and if a compromise is to be considered, the foremost question I have is, does it adequately address the problems that we're trying to address with a motor ban?” she said. “If we're not safeguarding salmon redds at sensitive life stages, if we're not addressing the social conflicts that motorized use has created on our system, then a compromise is not a solution. It's just kicking the can down the road for future conflict and future resource issues.”
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission is expected to issue a temporary rule at its next quarterly meeting in early April. A series of public meetings will be held throughout the summer, and a final rule is expected in the fall.
