Poison
successful at Diamond Lake
AP photo/The Oregonian, Steven Nehl
Jessie and Maxine Cuellar of Woodburn stop by Diamond Lake Friday to see the tui
chub that are washing ashore, a day after the lake was treated with rotenone to
kill the invasive fish that had taken over the lake.
DIAMOND
LAKE (AP) — As millions of dead invasive tui chub floated on its surface,
state fish biologist Dave Loomis declared
It capped a 13-year fight against the chub, which ran out the trout and changed the lake from its pristine former self to an environmental horror.
The chubs were illegally introduced in the late 1980s by fishermen who used them as live bait.
They multiplied unchecked, nearly wiped out the trout and shattered the lake ecosystem to the point that insects and zooplankton disappeared from the food chain and were replaced by toxic algae blooms that even restricted swimming, ruining an economy based on recreation.
The $5.6 million project was five years in the planning.
Loomis and others now are planning to jump-start the trout fishery and keep invasive species away.
Stocking trout
Plans are to stock predatory trout as early as next spring to ward off other invaders that find a way to this High Cascades lake. The lake had no fish until the state stocked it with trout in 1910.
Loomis wants at least two boatand trailer-washing stations that could keep zebra mussels or other nonnative marauders from piggybacking into the lake on boats.
‘‘This
is a major event,’’ said Dave Swenson, a science teacher in nearby
Safe for swimming
By Friday the water was already safe for swimming and drinking, at least for wildlife.
Loomis calculated that, based on Friday morning’s rotenone levels, a songbird would have to drink 40 gallons of treated water in 24 hours to feel any impact.
The chub had a rougher time of it.
Thousands and thousands of the small fish lapped against docks, buoys, breakwaters and rocks. For every 15,000 chubs, Loomis said, he saw one dead trout. A commercial fisherman was to skim the dead fish beginning Saturday and haul them to landfills or to farms for fertilizer.
‘‘I’m
here to look at dead fish,’’ said Swenson, who will bring 100 seventh- and
eighth-graders to the
An early snow knocked down the stench of rotting fish while birds feasted.
The lake was similarly treated in 1954.
War against invaders
Oregon Fish and Wildlife Director Virgil Moore said he believes the war against invasive species can’t be won.
‘‘We
have all sorts of threats to our ecosystems from invasive species,’’
‘‘It’s
probably not the last time we’ll have to do it,’’
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