Home > "Captain helps fund fisheries"

"I love doing it," says Mullong. "I find it challenging. And it gives me the unique opportunity to see these different things. There's so many different things going on out there. So many people are stuck in their own little box."

Typical applicants for R&E grants include educational institutions, fishing organizations, government agencies, conservation districts and watershed councils.

While serving on the R&E Board, Mullong has helped to provide grants that have improved the Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery on the Metolius River. He has also had a hand in grants to help fund the Kokanee Karnival youth education program, the Prineville Reservoir revegetation pilot study, and a study for optimal fisheries management at Crane Prairie Reservoir.

The R&E Board also provided grants that funded part of the new Oregon Hatchery Research Center in Alsea, near the central coast.

The board is authorized to dole out as much as $4 million during a two-year span. The program is funded from a surcharge on all sport fishing licenses and commercial salmon permit and poundage fees.

Board members meet four times per year at various locations around the state.

"We get swamped," Mullong says. "We've had over 40 proposals at a meeting. It takes hours to research and go through. You've got to do your homework.

"It's difficult. You want all of (the projects) to be funded, but you have to turn some people away. I'm like, 'If we've got it, let's spend it.' But some are more conservative."

Mullong moved to Central Oregon in 1980 after spending 16 years in the San Francisco Bay Area as a private music teacher. His nickname there was "Captain Marble," because he gave people marbles instead of business cards - he says they would remember him better that way.

"When I moved here, I needed a new handle," says Mullong, who sports a long, white beard. "It became Captain Caddis."

Mullong began volunteering for the ODFW's Salmon Trout Enhancement Program (STEP) in 1984, and he served on its advisory board from 1992 to 2000.

"I really enjoyed it," he says. "You meet new people and see the big picture of what's happening in the state."

In 2001, Mullong applied for and was first appointed to the R&E Board.

While most R&E-funded projects are in Western Oregon, Mullong says that since he's been on the board he has helped to fund more projects on the east side of the state. Because he represents the public, Mullong says he is particularly concerned with angler and boat access, and with ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance.

"I'm really concerned with public access," says Mullong, who is also a member of the Central Oregon Flyfishers. "I like to have fishing available for the young, elderly and disabled. And I try to represent the average Joe Blow who takes his family camping once or twice a year."

The R&E Board next meets on Feb. 24 in Springfield. All R&E meetings are open to the public.

"It's a fun thing to do, and you do feel good about doing it," Mullong says of his service on the board. "It's nice when projects are successful. We like getting them off the ground. If we ever got more money, we would sure spend it."

Mark Morical can be reached at 541-383-0318 or at mmorical@bendbulletin.com.

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Published daily in Bend, Oregon, by Western Communications, Inc. Copyright 2006.