Fish and Wildlife Commission sends ODFW budget to Governor, August 4

The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission Friday, August 1, approved a $357 million budget proposal for the Department of Fish and Wildlife for the 2015-17 biennium that includes a combination of program cuts, adjustments to licenses and fees, and proposals to shift some programs from license fees to state general funds.  With Commission approval, the proposed budget will be submitted to the Governor for his consideration. Final determination of the ODFW budget would come from the 2015 Oregon State Legislature. Changes to license fees, if approved, would take effect in 2016.  The Commission first considered the 2015-2017 agency budget in June. The budget adopted today includes some changes made in response to Commission and public comment, including:  •Restoration of four assistant district fish biologists in field offices; •Funding for increased hatchery production called for in the Coastal Multi-Species Conservation and Management Plan, and •Restoration of some positions in the Western Oregon Stream Restoration Program.  Other Commission business:  2014 Coastal Salmon Seasons/2015 Sport Fishing Regulations – The Commission set the 2014 coastal Chinook and coho salmon seasons, which are very similar to the 2013 seasons. For Chinook, there are more liberal seasonal bag limits on the Siletz and Yaquina rivers, and slightly more restrictive bags on the Chetco. Also on the Siletz, the Chinook angling deadline will shift further upriver in October. The Winchuck River will be closed to fishing in 2014 based on recent and projected Chinook returns.  For coho, bag limits and open fishing periods will be identical to the 2013 season, except for a reduced quota on the Umpqua River and minor date changes. In 2014 most coho fisheries will be conducted based on conservative bag limits and seasons; only three fisheries (Beaver Creek, Umpqua River and Floras River) will have harvest quotas.  The 2014 coastal fall salmon seasons are available on the ODFW web page.  The Commission also adopted the 2015 Sport Fishing Regulations that will take effect in January. Most of the changes for 2015 are housekeeping actions related to corrections, formatting changes and simplification.  Other regulation changes for 2015 include:  •Permanent extension of the spring Chinook season in Three Rivers to July 15 (NW Zone).  •More restrictive bag limits and gear restrictions on the Chetco and Winchuck rivers (SW Zone) to protect wild fall Chinook.  •An increase in the steelhead daily bag limit to four in the Santiam Basin (Willamette Zone).  •A permanent fall Chinook fishery on the lower Deschutes (Central Zone).  •Changing the smallmouth bass regulations on the John Day River (NE Zone), changing back to the zone regulations.  Changes to wildlife management areas – Finally, the Commission consolidated wildlife management area and public river access rules into one OAR Division 008 (from four different places in rule and regulation) and added some ODFW managed lands not called out in current regulations into the rules. Proposed changes to parking permit regulations were postponed.  The Fish and Wildlife Commission is the policy-making body for fish and wildlife issues in Oregon. It usually meets monthly. The next meeting is Sept. 5 in Joseph.