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Diary Entries:
Lee Spencer is a volunteer at the Big Bend Pool. He spends hours, days, weeks and months guarding the pool from poachers, watching fish behavior and contemplating nature and how humans affect the environment. These journal pages reflect Lee's thoughts on the fish, the river and how our efforts at protection could be improved.
Overview of the Program
Steamboat Creek is the main steelhead spawning tributary of the North Umpqua.
Fish that spawn in Steamboat account for 30 to 35 percent of the approximately
2,500 wild fish that have returned to the North Umpqua system in recent years.
Before the fall rains arrive that enable the fish to return to the upper reaches of the creek to spawn, the fish hold in large pools especially the Bend Creek pool, 11 miles up Steamboat Creek Road.
In the past, these fish have been extremely vulnerable to poachers. An act of vandalism on such a pool (like some hooligan throwing a stick of dynamite, which has happened in the past) could devastate the North Umpqua wild steelhead population.
Fortunately, the fish have a protector in Lee Spencer. Lee has been retained
as part of TNUF´s FishWatch Program. Lee lives in a trailer by the
river. When he´s not discouraging potential poachers, he´s educating
visitors on the lifecycle of steelhead, and the significance of anadramous
fish to the larger ecosystem.
During the summer months, Lee says he´s averaged 15 to 20 guests a day. Many are anglers up from the North Umpqua, though some are just curious passer byers. "Most visitors have a remarkable reaction to the fish," Spencer has observed. "The most common comment I hear is ‘Thank you for watching our fish.'”
Lee's connection to the North Umpqua goes back to 1972. “I took some time
off from college and hitchhiked along the river. I though it was the most
beautiful river I´d ever seen. I discovered fly fishing for steelhead
shortly thereafter.” After eventually taking a graduate degree in Anthropology
from the University of Oregon, and working a number of different jobs,
Lee began his fish watching vocation as a volunteer five years ago. Three years ago, it became a full-time endeavor, mid-May through December. "I´ve always had an interest in natural history,” Lee shared. “If you have a pre-disposition toward this sort of thing, the opportunity to be here is ideal. The things going on in the pool are far more complex than I ever expected.”
To help raise funds to pay Lee´s modest stipend, the North Umpqua Foundation has created a handsome poster of one of the holding pools on Steamboat Creek.
For information on how you can help preserve this wonderful river please email us or write to:
The North Umpqua Foundation
1224 Walnut St, PMB 310
Roseburg, Oregon 97470
Photography: © 1999-2009 Dan Callaghan
Content: © 1999-2009 The North Umpqua Foundation
