OIT to host lamprey meeting tonight

Tuesday April 26, 2005

Klamath Falls Herald and News


The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will hold a meeting tonight to review a draft conservation plan developed for the Miller Lake lamprey at the Oregon Institute of Technology.

The meeting will run from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Mount Thielsen Room at the College Union. Fish and Wildlife officials will present proposed changes fish management in Miller Lake and Miller Creek and gather public input related to these changes.

Long thought to be extinct after chemical treatments to target lamprey and tui chub were applied to Miller Lake in 1958, the Miller Lake lamprey is recognized today as a distinct species. They are the smallest predatory lamprey species in the world, achieving an average maximum length of about 15 centimeters.

Field investigation since 1992 has identified six local populations of Miller Lake lamprey in two small sub-drainages of the Klamath Basin.

The plan calls for conserving habitat, addressing non-native predator impacts and establishing links between local populations. It also proposes the removal of a man-made barrier, constructed in 1959 as part of the chemical treatment, to allow the lamprey populations to disperse.

A copy of the draft conservation plan is available on the ODFW Web site at

http://www.dfw.state.or.us/fish/lamprey_plan.pdf

Comments may be submitted in writing to: Roger Smith, Klamath Watershed District Fish Biologist, 1850 Miller Island Road West, Klamath Falls, OR 97603 or by fax to (541) 883-5521. Comments also may be submitted via e-mail to: roger.c.smith@state.or.us.

 

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