Failed to execute CGI : Win32 Error Code = 3
Sisters resident Steve Blake braved snow and bone-chilling water last week to
rescue some 150 fish left high and dry in an irrigation diversion canal.
The fish rescue operation is an annual tradition for Blake. As soon as the
Squaw Creek Irrigation District closes the gates that divert water from the
creek into the canal that runs to Cloverdale, Blake dons waders and grabs a net
to catch the fish left stranded in the swiftly diminishing waters of the
canal.
Blake returns the netted fish to Squaw Creek, below the diversion.
"No one takes responsibility, state or federal, to clear out the irrigation
canals," Blake said. "It's strictly a volunteer effort."
Blake, an avid fisherman and restorer of cane fly rods, acknowledged that
his motives are "somewhat selfish." But, he believes, someone has to take
responsibility for the fish left to die in the ditches every October.
"To me, it's just a total disregard for the fish to serve people with water,"
Blake said.
During the spring and summer irrigation season, Blake said, fish swim into the
canal from Squaw Creek and travel as far as the irrigation district's
distribution pond behind the KOA campground. Blake said the fish can't make it
back into Squaw Creek, and when the water to the canal is shut off, they have
nowhere to go.
Blake took on the chore of rescuing fish after a large fish kill in Squaw Creek
in 1991. Some years he has taken just 70 fish out of the canal; one year he
rescued 500. It all depends on how fast the water goes down and the weather
conditions.
This year Blake started work on Thursday, October 17. He pulled out 63 fish
that day and 70 the following day, but the early snowfall Friday night reduced
Saturday's haul to 17.
"I think the cold wiped out quite a few of them," Blake said.
The biggest live fish he found was about 9-1/2 inches; most were last year's
spawn and came in at one to two inches.
The relative plenitude of fish living in the creek and the diversion is a
good sign for Blake.
"The stream, for being the sterile stream it's thought to be, produces a lot of
fish," he said. "This could be a hell of a resource for fishermen. If we had
water in this year round we'd have a fishery."
