Proposals to improve eastern Washington fishing, habitat to be focus of public meetings in July

OLYMPIA - The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) will conduct a series of public meetings in July on plans to improve public fishing and habitat, and restore native trout to a northeastern Washington stream by treating more than two dozen lakes and one stream in eastern Washington with rotenone.

Rotenone is a naturally occurring substance derived from the roots of tropical plants that has been used by WDFW and other fish and wildlife agencies nationwide to rehabilitate lakes and streams for more than 60 years.

"The treatments we are proposing for this fall are designed to reduce numbers of undesirable fish such as carp and tench that compete with game fish and destroy aquatic vegetation," said Jon Anderson, a WDFW fish biologist. "Rotenone has been tested extensively and found to present no significant health risk to people, pets, livestock or non-targeted wildlife."

Public meetings on treatment plans for this fall are scheduled at the following places and times:

• Olympia, Monday, July 14, 7 p.m. at the Natural Resources Building, 1111 Washington St S.E., in Room 172

• Ephrata, Tuesday, July 15, 7 p.m. at the WDFW Northcentral Region Office, 1550 Alder St. N.W.
• Spokane Valley, Monday, July 28, 6:30 p.m. at the WDFW Eastern Region Office, 2315 N. Discovery Place
• Colville, Tuesday, July 29, 6:30 p.m. at the Agriculture Service Center, 232 Williams Lake Rd.

The waters proposed for treatment, along with the fish species targeted for removal, are:

• Fourth of July Lake in Adams and Lincoln counties to control fathead minnows.

• Ellen Lake in Ferry County to control largemouth bass and green sunfish.
• Worth and Powerline lakes in Franklin County to control yellow perch and carp.
• Canal, Heart, June, Windmill, North Windmill, North North Windmill, Pit and North Teal lakes in Grant County for pumpkinseed sunfish and carp.
• Desert, North Desert, Aztec, Dune, Lizard, Meadowlark, Harris, Sedge and Tern lakes and 16 Ponds in the Desert Wildlife Area in Grant County for bluegill and pumpkinseed sunfish and largemouth bass.
• Beda and Brookies lakes in Grant County for pumpkinseed sunfish.
• Big Buck Lake in Okanogan County for pumpkinseed sunfish.
• Starzman Lake in Okanogan County for largemouth bass.
• Cee-Cee-Ah Creek in Pend Oreille County to remove non-native trout as part of a restoration project to restore native westslope cutthroat trout.
• Frater Lake in Pend Oreille County to control pumpkinseed sunfish.
• Hatch, Little Hatch, Keogh, and Williams lakes in Stevens County for yellow perch.

Rotenone is approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a fish pesticide, and regulated locally through the Washington Departments of Ecology and Agriculture. Under WDFW's plan, after treatment in the fall and spring, fishing lakes will be re-stocked the following spring with the preferred species of fish, Anderson said.

In addition to input received at the public meetings, WDFW will also accept written comments received by Aug. 15. Written comments should be addressed to Jon Anderson, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, 600 Capitol Way N., Olympia, WA 98501-1091.

WDFW will also accept written comments in August through the department's State Environmental Protection Act (SEPA) process. The deadline for that comment period will be announced when the SEPA process is initiated in mid-July.

Final approval consideration of the proposals by the WDFW director is scheduled for late August.