Central Oregon Lakes Locked In Snow, Ice

By Joseph Friedrichs, 4-21-08

	Caption: Little Lava Lake in June.

With the opening of trout season in most Central Oregon lakes and reservoirs less than a week away, many anglers and businesses owners are getting edgy due to heavy snowfall and iced waters that could prevent fishing access.

If extensive plowing does not occur on sections of the Cascade-Lakes Highway, some high-country bodies of water won’t be accessible for fishing until July, the Bend Bulletin reports. However, the U.S. Forest Service, the Deschutes County Road Department and some Cascade lakes resort owners are divining up costs to plow access areas. And although it makes sense to plow some of the roads for fishing access, many of Central Oregon’s mountain lakes are still frozen, so spending vast amounts of money to make them accessible doesn’t.

Owners at Diamond Lake Resort south of Bend are reporting three feet of ice and snow on the lake. Instead of renting out rooms, most people coming to fish are likely to rent ice augers, which Rick Rockholt, the marketing manager at fishing guide at the resort, said are available.

“We’ll have ice augers available at the store and inner tubes for people to sit on, but we’re not going to go out and drill the holes for anyone,” Rockholt told Bill Monroe, a freelance writer for the Oregonian.

The best play for the Forest Service and Deschutes County would be to let nature run its course and allow the snow to melt when it will melt. A $3.1 million loss in timber revenue has severely limited the road department’s budget. It’s understandable that resort owners are anxious to have fishermen and other guests begin flowing to the mountains, but on heavy snowfall years such as the one just past (or has it?), they must understand there’s only so much money to go around, and plowing snow off roads should not be the state and county’s highest priorities.