Meetings scheduled on planned rotenone treatments of Eastern Washington waters

OLYMPIA – State fishery managers will host three public meetings in late May to discuss plans to treat five lakes and two streams in Eastern Washington with rotenone, a naturally occurring pesticide commonly used to remove undesirable and illegally stocked fish species from lakes and streams.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is proposing to treat Burke, Beda, Katy, and East and West Sage lakes in Grant County.

“These lakes will be treated with the goal of restoring their popular trout fisheries by removing illegally introduced goldfish, yellow perch, pumpkinseed, and largemouth bass,” said Steve Caromile, WDFW warmwater fish program manager. “These fish compete with stocked trout fry for food and some prey upon them, rendering stocking efforts ineffective.”

WDFW is also proposing to treat a 4-mile section of Flume Creek and a 1.2-mile section of Highline Creek in Pend Oreille County to remove non-native eastern brook trout and restore native westslope cutthroat trout populations, Caromile said.

WDFW has scheduled public meetings to discuss the planned lake and stream treatments as follows:

• Olympia: 6 to 7 p.m., Tuesday, May 21, in Room 172 of the Natural Resources Building, 1111 Washington St. SE.
• Metaline Falls: 6:30 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, May 22, in the Cutter Theatre, 302 Park St.
• Ephrata: 6 to 7:30 p.m., Thursday, May 23, in the WDFW Region 2 office, 1550 Alder St. NW.

In addition to input received at the public meetings, WDFW will also consider written comments received no later than June 3, 2019. The public can comment on WDFW’s State Environmental Policy Act website or send comments directly to: Stephen Caromile, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, P.O. Box 43200, Olympia, WA 98504-3200.

A decision on whether to proceed with the planned treatments will be made by WDFW Director Kelly Susewind in late June.

Rotenone is an organic substance derived from the roots of tropical plants, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved for use as a fish pesticide. It has been used by WDFW in lake and stream rehabilitations for more than 70 years, and is commonly used by other fish and wildlife management agencies nationwide.