CENTRAL POINT, Ore. – ODFW is hosting public meetings in Gold Beach and White City to discuss a comprehensive assessment and update of the 2007 Rogue River Spring Chinook Conservation Plan.

Gold Beach: Nov. 28 at Curry Public Library, 94341 3rd Street, Gold Beach from 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

White City: Dec. 3 at the Jackson County Auditorium, 200 Antelope Road, White City from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Enter through gate on Mosquito Lane off Table Rock Road.

Public comments will be taken at the meetings. Written comments about the draft comprehensive assessment and update can also be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on Dec. 16 to Daniel.J.Vandyke@state.or.us or Attn: Spring Chinook Review, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, 1495 E Gregory Road, Central Point, OR 97502.

The 2007 conservation plan, the first of its kind in Oregon, directs management of both hatchery and wild Rogue River spring Chinook. It sets conservation criteria and desired status goals for wild spring Chinook and defines the management strategies to reach desired status. This 2018 draft review is the first comprehensive assessment
(https://www.dfw.state.or.us/fish/CRP/docs/rogue_spring_chinook/Rogue_CHS_Comprehensive_Assessment_11-15-18.pdf) and summarizes progress toward attaining desired status.

Returns of Rogue spring Chinook are well above levels that trigger conservation concerns, despite challenging environmental conditions in recent years. The assessment documents an increase in abundance of the wild run since plan adoption, evidence that the early run component of the population is rebuilding, and compares Rogue returns to spring Chinook populations in neighboring rivers.

Extensive work has been done on a variety of management actions to produce more spring Chinook, and the assessment details projects that are planned for future years including gravel placement in the Rogue River below William Jess Dam and in Big Butte Creek, and several changes in the hatchery program intended to produce more hatchery fish for harvest. Fishery managers are also proposing to add back additional opportunity to harvest wild spring Chinook seasonally while the population is building towards desired status, based on specific abundance triggers.

Find the conservation plan, the draft comprehensive assessment and update, and other information at https://www.dfw.state.or.us/fish/CRP/rogue_spring_chinook_conservation_plan.asp.