Electricity on tap at library

The speaker at the upcoming Friends of the Sisters Library Diane Jacobsen Speaker Series to be held in the Sisters Library community room on March 17, 1:30 p.m. will be PGE fish biologist, Don Ratliff.

Ratliff received his bachelor's degree in fisheries science from Oregon State University in 1970. Little did he know what was coming.

Originally hired as a hatchery biologist and PGE coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife-operated Round Butte Hatchery, his responsibilities over the years have evolved from hatchery evaluation to fish disease studies, to anadromous and resident fish (bull trout) life history research, to initiating the Project Wildlife program and wildlife habitat studies and protection, to supervising and/or administering major PGE-funded research projects. Somehow he still finds time to go fishing for recreation.

The past 10 years have presented tremendous challenges associated with federal and state relicensing processes and all the associated fisheries studies and mitigation measures at the Pelton Round Butte Project. The new FERC license issued in June of 2005, and the new intake and downstream fish-transfer facility for Round Butte Dam went online in December 2009. Spring chinook, steelhead, and sockeye smolts have been passed downstream starting in the spring of 2010.

In 2012, for the first time since the mid-1960s, adult salmon and steelhead are being passed upstream to spawn naturally in the middle Deschutes, Metolius, and Crooked rivers.

Come and hear Don tell us about what it was like for a fish biologist to work hand-in-hand with structural and hydraulic engineers that eventually came up with the amazing fish transfer facility, and all the other intricate details dealing with creating the mechanics of hydroelectricity and still keeping our rich fisheries alive.