An evening with Dr. Chris Peery - Army Corps of Engineers - Fisheries

 

This evening President Dave Stemmer called our meeting to order at 7:05, and welcomed everyone for their attendance.

We had 24 members and guest in attendance.

Secretary Dale McKain gave a brief recount of our January 17^th meeting, and mentioned that from the club’s formation most accounts of meetings and activities could be found at the club’s blog site - this site.
http://wallawallaflyfishers.blogspot.com/

This evening Treasurer Doug Coe was out of town this night, so Pres. Dave gave the treasury report that the club had $1629 in our bank account.

The March 23 Walla Walla 4-H Super Saturday activities were not discussed, but will be
addressed at our March 12^th meeting. Tom Craig is Chairman for this activity.

It was again mentioned that the club might need to look for a different meeting location, due to the room size and overhead heat vent/air conditioning noise and the coming and going restroom traffic noise of the current meeting room; this will be address at our next meeting. We may just ask to be moved to the smaller quieter meeting room here at Chiquillas Mexican House.

Dave then introduced our speaker for this evening’s program – Dr. Chris Peery with the Walla Walla Division of the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE). 

Dr. Peery’s gave a slide show presentation that was full of details, a lot of details… concerning our Columbia Basin Fisheries, and the overall water and fishery resources of the Columbia River and tributaries. He also pointed out that even though ACE worked to implement much of what is happening in our Columbia River Basin, happenings and the works thereof are very much implemented and impacted by Tribal Agreements, the US Congress, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries. Walla Walla Division of ACE were the guys with their feet on the ground – and in the waterways.

As mentioned there was a lot of detailed information that Dr. Peery gave us, and much can be found at this NOAA website --

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/search?oq=Columbia+River+Basin

Dr. Peery also discussed how interwoven the 4 -Native American- Treaty Tribes (Warm Springs, Umatilla, Yakima, and Nez Perce tribes) were connected with the fishery works of the Columbia River Basin.

Most of his presentation was dealing with the 7 species of salmon runs of the Columbia River Basin and Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act, which states that federal agencies must consult with NOAA Fisheries when any action the agency carries out, funds, or authorizes may affect either a species listed as threatened or endangered under the Act, or any critical habitat designated for it.

Dr. Peery pointed out that even though the Walla Walla ACE implemented the functions of all the other agencies, it was the US Congress that had to give a head nod, for anything to actually happen in a timely manner.

After Dr. Peery’s presentation he had a Q & A session with the entire group, and held on after the meeting to discuss some individual’s questions. It was a very informative evening concerning our very local fisheries and habitats.
Thank you Dr. Peery.

After the program presentation we had the raffle drawings for the fly boxes - one is a ticket sale and the other is a door prize. Natalie won the ticket sale box and Mike won the door prize. 

Our meeting was adjourned at 8:30, with our next meeting to be held 7:00 pm March 12^th.

Respectfully submitted,
Dale McKain
Secretary 

Tight lines and good fishing

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