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Tribal ecologist urges Marine Board to restrict motors above Jack Morgan Park over salmon concerns
Summary
Dr. Angela Sandana, natural-resources director for the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, told the Oregon State Marine Board its rulemaking on the Siletz River should ban motorized boats above Jack Morgan Park, citing videotaped disturbances to spawning salmon, shoreline erosion and safety risks for nonmotorized users.
Dr. Angela Sandana, a certified senior ecologist and natural-resources director for the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, urged the Oregon State Marine Board on Oct. 30 to restrict all motorized boat use on the Siletz River above Jack Morgan Park while the board completes its rulemaking process. "The sled boat view actually demonstrates several of the key concerns — excessive speeds, wakes and impacts to shorelines — and the noise, vibration and turbulence that could impact fish, their eggs and spawning gravels," Sandana said.
Sandana told the board she and tribal staff videotaped motorized boats powering upstream through shallow riffles where tribal staff had documented spawning salmon three weeks earlier, and argued that decreasing flows and increasing pressure from users make the area particularly vulnerable. "Because the health and sustainability of the Siletz River and its fishery is vitally important to the Siletz scribe, our membership and the survival of our cultural lifeways, the time to get ahead of this increasing pressure is now," she said.
Board staff outlined the rulemaking timeline in the meeting. Alan Hansen, the board’s policy and environmental manager, said the board will complete formal tribal consultation Dec. 15 and then present draft rule options to a rule-advisory committee and to the board in January. Hansen said staff expects to present a range of options — including a do-nothing option, a full motor ban and several mid‑ground alternatives — and will aim for an initial draft to the board in April and final approval, if the process advances, by October 2026.
Hansen emphasized that draft rules will follow tribal consultation and RAC input: "Once the board has that tribal consultation, we'll start developing rules... my goal is to present some rule options to the rule advisory committee and get a pulse of what the RAC would like to see," he said. The board did not take an immediate formal vote on the Siletz petition at the Oct. 30 meeting; the matter remains in rule development and public consultation.
The Siletz petition (submitted early 2025) requesting a motor ban above Jack Morgan Park is part of an ongoing advisory and consultation process. Public hearings and further board deliberations are expected as staff drafts rule language and collects comment.
