lakechelan – All Things Lake Chelan

Bull trout feasibility study shared with Lake Chelan Watershed group

by Richard Uhlhorn

As promised the US Geological Survey finally presented its feasibility study on the re-introduction of bull trout into the Lake Chelan watershed at the Lake Chelan Watershed Planning Unit meeting held on Wednesday, June 18.

Joe Benjamin, USGS representative, told the group that the feasibility study came out of a group participation. He described the process and said the group met once a month for one year but has not made a final decision on the re-introduction.

The group began the process with a demographic model for each of the 12 streams being considered. Environmental conditions were taken into consideration with wildfire and flooding being looked at having an impact.

The group considered adding 30 adults for each of five years adding fish to one stream at a time. “We were focused on adding 30 adults to the system,” said Benjamin. “Some streams don’t perform well.” They looked at Flick Creek, the upper Stehekin and Agnes Creek.

Benjamin stated that the group considers the lower Stehekin River and Bridge Creek better environmentally. “These fish are capable of moving around from Bridge Creek to Stehekin.”

Other considerations include egg survival and fish residing in Lake Chelan. “What could happen. They could make it to the lake, get big and come back and spawn.” The group is also considering a predator discount in Lake Chelan. Predator discount acknowledges that predators consume fish that might otherwise be harvested by humans for profit. This predation represents a “social cost” or lost economic opportunity for the fishery.

Joe Heinlen, a long time fishing guide on Lake Chelan, remarked that there is a healthy king salmon fishery on the lake and that these fish spawn in the Stehekin River. The introduction of bull trout could be devastating to king salmon populations.

Benjamin replied that the group hadn’t taken a look at the recreational opportunities. “We didn’t see an impact but will take a closer look at that.”

Mike Kaputa, Chelan County Natural Resources Director, stated that he would like to see a little context to this issue. “Bull trout are threatened, but reside in other local water systems, but are locally extinct.”

Kaputa mentioned Phil Archibald, who was a fishery biologist with the Entiat Ranger District who was curious about why bull trout disappeared in Lake Chelan. Bull trout was a native species in the Lake Chelan watershed before it disappeared in the late 40s or early 50s. Since that time, the fish has been considered extinct. In addition, the fish populations in the last 75 years has changed in Lake Chelan.

Chinook salmon have flourished in Lake Chelan in recent years. Joe Heinlen, fishing guide and ex-fishery technician with the Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife, says these salmon spawn in the lower Stehekin River and would become bull trout food if re-introduced.

Today, the lake sports an extremely healthy recreational fishery. Lake trout, chinook salmon, kokanee, cutthroat and bass are the primary fish in the system. Chinook and kokanee spawn in the Stehekin River.

According to local fishing guides, the re-introduction of bull trout to the tributaries of Lake Chelan would be the death of the healthy recreational fishery currently in place. “Bull trout are the wolf of fresh water,” stated Joe Heinlen, a fishing guide. “They will eat everything!”

“There is a simmering interest in this,” said Kaputa.

The lower Stehekin River is prime spawning ground for both chinook salmon and kokanee. If bull trout were re-introduced to the system, professional fishing guides claim that Lake Chelan and the Stehekin River’s recreational fishery would be damaged.

Benjamin said, “There is no current proposal to re-introduce bull trout. My question… Is there a question?”

The next step according to Benjamin are public meetings. “We are starting that process officially today. We will see how we want to proceed in the future.”

Bull trout:
Bull trout was a native species in the Lake Chelan watershed before it disappeared in the late 40s or early 50s. Since that time, the fish has been considered extinct. In addition, the fish populations in the last 75 years has changed in Lake Chelan.

“Bull trout and West Slope Cutthroat (native species) co-existed in Lake Chelan until the Bull trout disappeared,” said Heinlen. Heinlen added that since that time, Chinook salmon, Lake trout, Rainbow trout, Kokanee salmon, Small and Large Mouth Bass and other species have been planted in the lake.

“These fish constitute an important sport fishery,” said Heinlen. “An introduction of Bull trout could be devastating to sport fishing in the Valley,” he added. “Taking a chance of destroying a world class fishery is crazy.”

“They (bull trout) will eat a lot of kokanee,” said Heinlen. “They also don’t stay in one spot and that’s got me concerned.” Heinlen did say it would take up to 10 years to get them established.

City Council approves new contract with Chamber of Commerce

by Richard Uhlhorn

The Lake Chelan Chamber of Commerce has a new and revised contract that will be in effect until December, 2026. The contract was approved by four of the seven person council on Tuesday, April 8. Voting No, was councilman Brad Chitty; abstaining was Jon Higgins; and absent from the meeting was Terry Sanders.

Prior to voting on the motion to approve the new contract, councilmembers had a robust discussion concerning several aspects of the new contract.

“When this discussion started it was for a five-year extension and $700,000 per year,” said Chitty. “It is time to regroup. I propose to keep it at $700,000 for the next two years while we plan.”

**Councilman Brad Chitty was the lone councilmember to vote No on the current iteration of the Chamber contract.**

At issue was Point 5 a 2 extending for the period through December 31, 2026 where the city would agree to pay the Chamber 20% of the average total city lodging tax collections from the two prior calendar years.

City Administrator Wade Ferris asked about the 20% concept. “What does that 20% look like. Higgins replied that it was a considerable amount of money that would be added to the $700,000 on a yearly basis.

Chitty stated that it was his understanding that the committee would review the $700,000. “I think transparency is important,” he said. Shari Dietrich stated that she supports Chitty’s proposal to keep it at $700,000.

**Shari Dietrich agreed with Chitty but ended up voting for the new contract that will end December 2026.**

However, Tim Hollingsworth said things had gotten more expensive. “Twenty percent of 2024 is $400,000. We need the resources to provide for people who come here,” he said. “I would like consensus on the board that instead of a minimum of $700,000 we make it a maximum of $750,000 in the two-year contract. That is a modest increase.”

“I understand what you are saying,” said Farris. “There is a reason why we spent so much time to put this together.”

**Tim Hollingsworth suggested an amendment to the contract.**

Hollingsworth admitted that the council doesn’t know what the chamber is spending money on. “Right now we don’t know and are just second guessing.”

Mayor McCardle replied that the chamber has to report exactly what they are doing (in the new contract). She stated that the city needs to take a look at what is spent. However she said that for every dollar spent, the city gets back $2.5.

Hollingsworth added that it is lodging tax money. “We are not limited to how we spend it.” He then mentioned the Golf course and that the city needs to find a way to make an investment. “We did determine we could use lodging tax money for this.” Hollingsworth stated he would support the contract as it is.

He then suggested an amendment to the motion as follows: “I move to authorize the mayor to finalize and execute the LCCC Lodging Tax Fund Agreement subject to the following changes:

1.- Sec. 5 (c) Remove the words “not fall below” and replace with “not to exceed $750,000.

Final Agreement Change

5c. Minimum Funding Guarantee. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, the combined total reimbursement paid to the Chamber for Advertising and Promotion Services and Visitor Information Center Operations shall not exceed $750,000 in any Agreement Year during the term of this Agreement.

Chamber Reporting Requirements.

a. Annual Report: The Chamber shall submit a written annual budget and performance report to the City by January 15th of each calendar year for the upcoming year. The report shall include:

(1) Overall Performance Metrics: i. Lodging Tax collection growth, overall as well as Q1 and Q4; ii. Sales Tax growth, overall as well as Q1 and Q4.

(2) Traditional Marketing Performance Metrics, including but not limited to: i. PR impressions by target audience; ii. Social media engagement by platform iii. Website traffic (e.g., page views, unique visitors); iv. SEO key words and click-thru rates v. Social media engagement (e.g., followers, engagement).

b. Mid-Year Review: A mid-year discussion shall be held during the July Council Workshop of the current calendar year. The review shall include: (1) Review of year-to-date Lodging Tax collections and marketing performance as defined in section 4; (2) Adjustment to Q4 strategies if necessary.

c. Quarterly: during the April, July, October and January workshop, a Chamber representative will provide an update on marketing efforts to City Council.

d. Monthly Expenditure Reports: Payment shall be made following the receipt of a report from the Chamber showing the previous month’s expenditures. The report shall be submitted by the 5th business day of each month and include: (1) Date, vendor, check number, and purpose of each expense; Page 4 of 7 (2) Categorization of expense (e.g., Wages, Supplies & Materials, Marketing, Legal & Prof. Fees, Permits, Utilities, Insurance) (3) The City percentage of each expense. (4) Any other information reasonably requested of the Chamber by the City, provided that the Chamber is permitted adequate time to prepare the information requested.

Public input: John Olson, a past city council member told the council that the City of Chelan is falling behind in its infrastructure needs. He mentioned the burgeoning second home sales, the population, number of retirees and new developments like the Wiedner Apartment

**Citizen advocate John Olson reminded the council that the city is falling behind on infrastructure needs despite the growth.**

Tourism:
Tourism in Chelan and around the world has become a double edged sword. Tourism has surpassed agriculture as the Valley’s number one economic driver.

In 2020, lodging tax receipts hit $1,357,013 which is the year that COVID hit and began to shut down air travel and other vacation locations. The pandemic drove lodging tax receipts up to S2,602,445 and $2,019.330 in 2021 and2022 respectively. Since then, receipts have remained above the $2 million mark.

With the increase in lodging tax receipts (more heads on beds) some unintended consequences arose with overcrowding at Chelan and other Valley public parks. Most notable were major issues of overcrowding at Lakeside Park which resulted in residents forming “Friends of Lakeside’ coalition to bring the overcrowding issue to the City Council.

**Last summer, Lakeside Park overflowed with visitors.**

This overcrowding issue didn’t just materialize from out- of-town visitors. It also included weekend issues wherein local users of Lakeside would show up at the park early in the morning, set up tent camps for large family gatherings that included loud music, barbeques and potentially illegal consumption of alcohol.

The Friends of Lakeside and the City worked together to change the city’s park rules that will hopefully eliminate most of these issues. To help, new signage, new parking kiosks and $100,000 contract to a company to help enforce those rules.

**Don Morse Park also receives its quota of visitors on a hot summer day.**

In 2024 there were over five million visitors to North Central Washington. Over 10 million visitor days were recorded with July and August being the busiest months.

“International travel to the United States has plummeted in recent months following President Donald Trump’s return to office, with global tourists increasingly avoiding the country due to fears of detentions, deportations, political rhetoric, and heightened border scrutiny,” Travel and Tour World wrote in a March report.

The steepest drop off in travel to the US comes from Canada. Border crossings fell by 12% in February and 18% in March. Tourism industry losses could exceed $90 billion dollars this year.. If the above reports are true the 2025 tourism season should be calmer with the advent of the current federal administration’s trade wars that will keep Canadians and other international travelers from visiting the Lake Chelan Valley.

Manson creates a One Voice Coalition to address numerous issues

by Richard Uhlhorn

Manson’s One Voice Coalition held its first public meetings on March 20/21. The coalition is a combination of the following organizations:

Manson Community Council
Manson Chamber of Commerce
Manson’s Historic Main Street Association

**Manson Chamber of Commerce Director Timi Starkweather opened the One Voice Coalition meeting on March 20 at the Northshore Church.**

Chamber director Timi Starkweather began the meeting by saying, “We are here to shape the community for the next five, ten, 20 years.”

**Kim Ustanik heads up the new Main Street Association in Manson. Kim has been an active member of the Manson Chamber since its inception.**

Kim Ustanik is heading up the Historic Main Street Association. “It’s a place we are creating,” said Ustanik. The primary goal of the association is to preserve the historic nature of Manson.

**MIke Kirk is currently the interim chairman of the Manson Community Council. The five person council is shy two members.**

Mike Kirk, Manson Community Council’s interim chairman added that the coalition is a unique chance to address Manson’s priorities.

The main purpose of this coalition is to bring the community together to:

Build systems that will support healthy growth in Manson
Provide places within the community that create tangible value
Support business that will broaden economic opportunities.
Tell stories that will attract meaningful investments.

**The first meeting was well attended by interested residents.**

The first meeting was well attended and the coalition’s consultant Dan Eernisser took up most of the time going over the coalition’s potential direction before turning it over to the public attending for their thoughts. (Note: people need to learn how to use a microphone).

**Dan Eernisser, Eernisser Consulting has been hired to help lead Manson through the issues facing the community.**

Eernisser asked that the attendees use the sticky note pads to write down their desires for the Manson community and paste them to a wall provided. This generated 10 pages of desires which are summarized below:

Roads:
Over the past several years, the Manson Community Council and residents have been discussing road conditions around Manson, in particular, Wapato Way through the downtown corridor. Speeding cars and commercial trucks during harvest are the biggest complaint by residents living on Wapato Way.

Those attending this meeting specifically stated that truck routes, road improvements and vehicle capacity on Hwy. 150 need to be addressed.

Priorities:
Community priorities include lighting, murals, gateway signage, preserving the historic district, adding more outdoor seating, developing pocket parks and looking towards the County and State for funding opportunities.

Parking:
Parking is a problem in both Manson and Chelan, particularly during the summer months. Attendees want parking availability increased in the downtown area for residents and tourists.

Non-Motorized Traffic:
Everyone was concerned about sidewalk safety. Bike trails and the Northshore Pathway was mentioned more than once.

The Northshore Pathway is being studied once again by the Chelan/Douglas Transportation Council. The pathway would offer an alternative way to travel between Manson and Chelan.

In addition, someone mentioned opening up the old flume line in the Manson Project as a way for residents and visitors to access the variety of wineries, cider houses and other amenities in the area. (Problem… orchardists are against this idea because of spray drift and other concerns.”

Water Taxi:
There is a lot of interest in the possibility of having a water taxi operating in the Wapato Basin. The Boat Company is rumored to be studying this option of travel.

In addition, residents would like to see a Manson stop for the Lady of the Lake or Express. Years ago, the Lady of the Lake stopped in Manson to pick up passengers on the way to Stehekin.

Residents would love to see a non-motorized kayak/paddleboard launch in Manson.

Other issues:
There were many ideas proposed at the meeting including:

Cultural history, i.e. apple history available for visitors to learn about Manson’s history.
More parks
Consistent participation from the County in Manson issues
Revamp of the Urban Growth Area
Incorporation
Development of healthy shoulder seasons.
Promote Echo Valley/Echo Ridge year round.
Develop an indoor swimming opportunity for residents

Tangible Values:
Farmers Market expansion and development of an indoor market for year round operation

Events:
Events drive business. Manson has several successful events that help merchants. Winterfest and the Lake Chelan Hydro-Fest are two of the annual events that take place.

**5-litre hydro planes race to the start/finish line for the start of their race at the annual Lake Chelan Hydrofest.**

Residents asked for more spaces for community events and the inclusion of Sports events that would draw outside teams to play in Manson tournaments

Ag-tourism:
Offer farm visits… With the apple industry in a steep decline, this will require some serious attention. Manson has a full-on farm offering many opportunities for visitors to learn about farming. Also Manson Growers offers tours of its production lines and its new business Cider Press offers cider pressing and locally produced foods.

**6,500 acres of apple, pear and cherry orchards, and grape vineyards make up the Manson Agricultural Project on the north shore of Lake Chelan.**

There was one note that stated that Manson has too many wineries and not enough food options.

Next Meeting:
The next meeting of the group will meet on Thursday evening, June 5 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and then again on Friday morning, June 6 from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.

**Join the RESTORE THE BEACH Event this Saturday at 9:30 to 11:30.**
**For more information go to http://www.Keepitbluelakechelan.org**

Water rights – water quality -boat inspections – discussed at Lake Chelan Watershed Unit meeting

**Lake Chelan stretches 55 miles from Chelan to Stehekin.**

by Richard Uhlhorn

**The Lake Chelan Watershed Meeting was held on December 11 at the Chelan Fire Department. The next meeting will be held on March 17.**

Water Rights:
Years ago, Chelan PUD granted the Lake Chelan Valley 60,000 acre feet of water from Lake Chelan to use for development and agriculture. Today, the Valley has used most of those acre feet and only 5,373 acre feet remain before there is no more water available for water right applicants.

Department of Ecology’s Andrea Reyes explained at the Lake Chelan Watershed Planning Unit’s December 11 meeting that the water rights coordinated cost reimbursement application process was moving forward. “Once the remaining water is used, there will be no more water left,” she said.

RH2 Engineering is currently processing nine applications which will be done by the end of the year. “We will be through with Batch No. 4 by April,” said Reyes. “We will review if we get additional water or not.”

Doug England asked how the water right requests are being evaluated and how the needs far into the future.

Anthony Dunn – Ecology, said they were looking four years down the road. “You have to be able to show a need within a particular period of time.”

Mike Kaputa – County Resources, said there are only 15 applications remaining. Dunn replied that if Batch 5 uses up the water, there is nothing left to process. “There are no reserves to allocate from.”

If Ecology actually grants a 2005 request from the City of Chelan for 3,800 acre feet of water for future development needs, only 1,173.62 acre feet would remain. Both the Lake Chelan Reclamation District and Chelan County have requests for 2,040 acre feet and 1,000 acre feet.

The 2015 request from the Reclamation District would break the reserve remaining to (875.33) acre feet leaving no reserve to allocate from unless more water could be found or the PUD granting more acre feet to boost the reserves. Those applications below the Reclamation District’s request would not be able to process their water right applications.

**Phil Long and his new assistant at the Lake Chelan Research Institute updated the attendees on data collection and analysis.**

Water Quality:
Phil Long, director of the Lake Chelan Research Institute, reported that the Institute has made some incredible progress in the last several months. “We gone over several years of data,” said Long.

The Institute has hired Anna Galipeau, an environmental scientist from Montana State University in Bozeman. She has been working on data collected since 2018 with funding from the City of Chelan and Chelan County. “She’s been analyzing what has been going on which is helping us immensely” said Long.

Long reported that the Institute is also analyzing the impacts of the 25 Mile Creek fire; updating the State of the Lake report.

Funding for these studies have come from private donations, the US Forest Service, Chelan County and the PUD.

**Advertisement for funding the Lake Chelan Research Institute’s ongoing research efforts.**

He reiterated the importance of doing research work and shared data put together by Galipeau on phosphorous loading, chlorophyl and dissolved oxygen. Long provided an overview of water clarity data taken from three different sites on the lake from 1990 to 2020. Water visibility ranges from 12 meters to 18 meters depending on the year and time taken with a Secchi disk.

The Institute uses a multi-parameter probe to instantaneously take measurements at different depths in the water column. Long told the Unit that the Institute will be making this data available to anyone who wants to see it.

AIS report:
Steve Lasky, Chelan County resource specialist, reported on the 2024 mobile voluntary watercraft inspection program on the lake. These inspections are conducted on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the various boat launch sites around the lake from May through October.

**AIS Resource Specialist with Chelan County Natural Resources.**

This year, 2,830 inspections were conducted with inspections at Old Mill Bay reaching 638 vessels in July and another 143 in August. The inspectors inspected 204 vessels at Riverwalk Park Launch and another 382 at Lakeside Marina in August.

“This year the highest impact was at Old Mill Bay,” said Lasky.

Long suggested putting cameras at the launch sites to count how many vessels are entering the lake versus the number of vessels being inspected. This year 3,753 boats were recorded launching or coming out of the lake.

In other business:
Four hundred acres of Milfoil is growing in Lake Chelan. Asked if diver assisted test to remove milfoil was checked for regrowth, Long replied that there was regrowth. The diver assisted program is extremely expensive and is probably not the solution to removal of milfoil

Stormwater update: Travis Denham, Public Works engineer, reported that the city is preparing a stormwater management plan that includes outfalls, storage basins in the city. The study should be completed in May or June, 2025.

**City Engineer Travis Denham (left) gave a report on the city’s stormwater management plan that is being developed.**

Fishery Forum was not ready to report, but Mike Kaputa asked that they report on the forum at the next meeting in March. The draft report on bull trout re-introduction to the Lake Chelan tributaries

Lake Chelan Research Institute funding:
Funding comes through a variety of sources, but the Institute also encourages private donations to help further its research and hopefully keeping Lake Chelan clean.

For more information on funding, go to Lake Chelan Research Institute – Clear into the future

LAKESIDE SURF TO HOST FIRST EVER OPEN COMPETITION IN JUNE

Battle of the Butte

by Richard Uhlhorn

Lakeside Surf is hoping to become a Global River Surfing headquarters by adding a major new surfing event to augment its Fall Continental Surf Cup that pits the best European river surfers against the best river surfers the United States can challenge them with.

The Battle of the Butte will take place on June 28 and 29 and has been designed to challenge any surfer with the competitive spirit.

**Competition between Europe and the U.S. was fierce at last year’s Continental Surf Cup.**

There will be four different divisions with categories for both male and female surfers. Surfers in the Open Division can compete against their peers for that special place on the podium with the biggest prize being awarded an invitation to Team USA for the 2024 Continental Surf Cup.

“Our main goal is to promote the sport of river surfing while offering an exciting competition for both surfers and spectators alike,” said Manager Jared Eygabroad. “This event was created to generate some fun competition between surfers of all ages and skill levels.”

The two-day event will begin on Friday evening from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. for the Best Trick Trophy and the Super Groms (10 to 13 year olds) battle for a podium finish.

**Performing tricks on the way can be tricky.**

Saturday’s competition will feature the Groms (14 to 17), Prime (18 to 44), Masters (45+), followed by the Open division who will try to advance to the evening finals and potentially a spot on the podium.

The event will challenge the surfers skill levels and give them a chance to experience the thrill of competition. This event is less a winner take all and more of everyone wins while having fun on the water.

Spots for each division is limited, so surfers interested in competing should jump onto the $50 registration which will guarantee each participant a shared 90-minute warm-up session and at least one competitive heat and an event T-shirt.

Surfers can only only sign up for one age division, but can add to the fun by also registering for the $30 Best Trick competition. They will be guaranteed a shared 60 minute warm-up and at least one competitive heat.

For more details and information (including judging & scoring criteria) please visit: lakesidesurf.com/battle-of-the-butte lakesidesurf.com/battle-of-the-butte

**Last year’s Continental Surf Competition drew may hundreds of spectators to watch river surfers compete for the glory of winning. Lakeside Surf is always free to spectators.**

Spectators are always free at Lakeside Surf from the upper Slidewater parking lot where they can enjoy the competition, breathtaking views, some of the best fish tacos in Chelan and Two Can Jenny’s Surf Bar.

**Lakeside Surf offers spectators spectacular view of Lake Chelan especially when the sun dips below the horizon.**

**The sunsets from Lakeside Surf are stunning.**

Media and sponsorship opportunities for the Battle of the Butte are still being secured. Interested parties should reach out to tournament host Lakeside Surf at sierra@lakesidesurf.com.

For more information about the Battle of the Butte, Lakeside Surf, the Continental Surf Cup or sponsorship opportunities, please email jared@lakesidesurf.com