Here's the story from yesterday's 'The Columbian' (Vancouver, WA) regarding the posting of the lower Wind River.

Access Denied

Thursday, May 1, 2003
By ALLEN THOMAS, Columbian staff writer

HOME VALLEY -- For decades, anglers have driven down steep, narrow Indian Cabin Road to its end, the only good access to the excellent spring chinook fishing on the east shore of lower Wind River.

Two hundred sportsmen or more day after day after day during the peak of the season in May would park on the property of the St. Martin family, pay a small fee and walk upstream in pursuit of these prime fish.

"It's a fantastic fishery,'' said Pierre LeGrande of Washougal. "These spring chinook are good biters.''

But this year, the scene at the parking spot at the end of Indian Cabin Road is markedly different.

The driveway from the end of the county road to the parking spot is gated. There are a half-dozen signs with easy-to-understand messages such as "No Trespassing,'' "Entrance By Pass Only,'' "No Public Access,'' "No Parking Anytime.''

About 75 members, who paid $100 for the privilege, have keys to the gate. They can bring one friend fishing with them.

Everyone else is out of luck.

Ralph Krout of Battle Ground, a Camas native, said he started fishing the east side of the lower Wind with his father 45 years ago.

"It's unfair to punish the guys who have fished up there all their life, to shut out the lifelong fishermen out of that stretch of water,'' Krout said.

The St. Martin family has had enough of years of litter, vandalism, human waste, rotting fish carcasses and failure to pay the parking fee on their riverfront property, said Dan Gundersen, a family member.

"Essentially, it was creating a huge trespass situation,'' Gundersen said. "Instead of trying to prosecute, we thought we'd form a fishing club and make it legal that way.''

Most of the fishing occurs upstream of the St. Martin property. Ownership upstream is a mix of state and federal land plus private holdings.

"But this is the piece of property everyone needs to get through to get to where they want to go,'' said John Weinheimer of Carson, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist.

Tom Linde of Carson has written to the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area asking that all Forest Service land on the east side of the lower Wind be closed to public access.

The St. Martin family is making money selling access to public land, he said.

"The private land that is being leased has no real fishing opportunity on it but it does block the general public from a very large block of public land,'' Linde wrote. "This is basically creating an exclusive fishery on public lands for the benefit of a small group of people.''

The federal government should require a special use permit, he added.

Linde also is asking the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to close fishing on the east side of the river.

Mike Ferris of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area office in Hood River said the government is not going to close federal land to the public.

The shoreline below the high-water mark of the Wind River is state-owned and open to anglers who walk upstream from the county road right-of-way, Ferris said.

Scenic area officials are just beginning an assessment of the situation.

Purchasing an easement or the actual property might be an eventual option, Ferris added.

The approximately 75 fishing memberships are all that are available, Gundersen said.

"We're not trying to promote this in any way,'' he said. "Our intent is to protect that resource. We love that river. We're dedicated to seeing how we can help out that watershed.''

Access still is available on the west side of the Wind, he added.

Fishermen who are among the lucky 75 or so praise the limited access.

"There were carcasses in the rocks, defecation, guys breaking beer bottles; an extreme amount of it,'' said Fred Neal of Olympia, a club member.

Member Dan Grimani of Washougal said much the same.

"They'd leave garbage and fish guts all over,'' he said. "It was either shut it down all the way or charge. I can take my kids in here and feel safe now.''

But anglers who don't have access see the situation differently.

"It's just another place to shut out the bank anglers,'' said Krout, who has two brothers who are members.

"It's a prime salmon area where the state has developed a run of fish the sportsmen have to catch,'' he said. "We've spent a lifetime learning how to fish it.''

Gundersen said he doesn't know if the fishing club is permanent.

"It's a trial year,'' he said. "We'll see how it goes and get feedback from the fishermen.''

Anglers used the area for so long they might have thought there was a public easement, but that was never the case, Gundersen said,

"They've been going up there for so many years people thought they had a right,'' Gundersen said. "There was no right created legally.''

Weinheimer said he can understand both the plight of anglers gated away from a favorite fishing spot and the frustration of the St. Martin family.

"There's not a win on this one,'' he said.

So what type of easement exists?

Are they implying that even without a gate, the public does not have a right to cross their land?

From ALL of the things I've heard, it's sounding more and more like money. If money is the issue at hand.....

Gundersen ----->

Matt

Can 'ya blame the landowners??? I have never been down there during springer season but have seen the pictures...

It is widely known that salmon bring out the worst of people and the worst in them!

The springer fishery on the Wind in recent years has degraded the once mighty Wind to nothing but a meat fishery in the spring and a biological wasteland for the rest of the year.

When I was younger, I always dreamed of fishing for the fabeled early returning wild summer steelhead of the Wind after reading the works of Bradner, Raymond and McMillian!

Those fish are now gone. Their numbers have declined just as the number of spring chinook plants have skyrocketed!

Plus the pictures of the river that I have seen through the years are nothing like those I have seen recently that were taken in the past couple years.

Gone is the lightly fished river that was well taken care of and free of garbage. Now the canyon is filled with garbage, garbage and garbage and we have nobody to blame but ourselves!

I propose we close the Carson National Fish Hatchery and allow the Wind and its wild summer steelhead to try to return to their former greatness.

Sparkey

Good post but one sentence bothers me

"and we have nobody to blame but ourselves"

That's BS, I am tired of stuff getting shut down because of OTHER people's ignorance. I am not one of the "Ourselves", it was them not me!!!

Another area shut down before I even got to experience it.

I have been to the Salmon meat holes and seen the guys crushing beer cans on their head and then discarding the cans in the bushes. These are not the guys I associate with and I do not believe this represents the majority of this board. So when you say ourselves, if you mean us as human beings then you are correct. If you mean us as fishers, I am not part of that crowd.

Lead,

You personally are not to blame. But we, the sport fishing populace, are. It's sad, but the lack of a rapidly developing ethic of courtesy among fisherman is destined to kill many of our opportunities. I'm not old,but I can see many instances of this, already. Will our kids be able to fish?

The Herd strikes agin!

I have fished the Wind for years and have put in my time there cleaning up as well. When I approached the Landowner about selling me a permit for access she denied me even though she new I was the one who had organized the cleanups on her property. They sold 100 of these permits. If you do your homework there is a way in there. I fished it last week and did well.
Peace Superfly

One way to get in there is to find Shipherd Falls Road and then walk down the WDFW easment road leading to a facility they apparently have for servicing the fish ladder.

A word of caution: The trails are very steep in places and some stretches require ropes. Being on the river is also not that safe because you might get smashed by a rock loosened by someone above you.

Other than that it is fine!!!!

Took time out from the zoo at drano last year to fish this awesome river!!!! Loved every second of it! When I dropped my Three bucks I was Impressed with the fact that any one would let some out of towner on to their property for such a great opportunity(sp?)!!!!
What a beatiful river!!!!! Wow! Pools and riffles, and sweet tailouts oh did I say POOLS!!!! OH YEAH DID I SAY TRASH AND GARBAGE, AND GUTS AND BEER BOTTLES,AND T.P., And LINE, AND HOOKS, and rude fisherman!!!!!!! I so wish That I could have a peaceful fishing excursion at this extrordinary river but ........... I dont blame the property owners for their decision!!! What a mess!!!!
I'M TO BLAME I REMEMBER THINKING THAT GARBAGE BAG THAT WAS RIPPED AND SPILLED ALL OVER THE ROAD WAS DISGUSTING AND THAT I SHOULD GET OUT AND CLEAN IT UP!!!!!
Guess what I didnt!!!! so know i dont have any room to complain. Bye the way I didnt catch any fish on that trip, but ..... man that is a fishey lookin river!!!!!! Well my two cents may be worth only one but hey had to voice my opinion!!!! All you old timers who walked by the trash and thought that you should pick it up...... and didnt....... dont bitc...errrrr...complain, at least you had the chance to fish that gem of a river!

Pick it up and pack it out!!!!

I fail to understand how someone charging 100 bucks a head for a limited number of memberships, be it 75 or 100, makes this deal about money. Look at the value of the property and you can tell these folks don't need the cash, a rather small sum at that. It comes down to people respect something they have to pay for. They also tend to not respect something that is free. I don't blame the family in the least bit. There are plenty of public lands and watersheds that are hindered by private access. From what I have seen and read, and I have never been to this river, this is a big first step in improving the area for years to come by reducing the impact from total fricking losers that can't pick up after themselves.