DRA Supporter: Ryan Emory. How recent trips to the Deschutes led an Army veteran and fly fisherman to the Deschutes River Alliance

Ryan Emory grew up in Oregon rafting and fishing on the Deschutes River. His dad spent three days a week working as a dentist, spending the rest of his time fishing on Oregon’s rivers, including the Deschutes, and he took his sons with him.“My earliest memories are of being on a river, the Deschutes in particular,” said Ryan in a recent phone conversation. “The lore is that I was on a jet sled from Dutchman Flat (now known as Harpham Flat) at two weeks old.”Ryan left Oregon to serve with the 10th Mountain Division, 82nd MED Air Ambulance, and 46th Medical Task Force as a Combat Medic and Radiological Tech in Somalia.  Ryan was in Somalia and participated in the Battle of Mogadishu (made famous by the movie “Black Hawk Down”).  Ryan recalls thinking in the heat of the action, “If I make it home, I’m going to fly fish every day for the rest of my life.”Since serving in the military, he has lived in Denver for all but one year. He is a mentor for Project Healing Waters – an organization very dear to him. There he found a cadre of active duty soldiers transitioning to civilian life.He makes a point to get his family to Oregon for two weeks each year so that they can experience his childhood playground. The last two years Ryan and his family have made it back to the Deschutes as part of their annual trip to Oregon. What he experienced opened his eyes to the problems in the river, and led him to the Deschutes River Alliance.His first inkling of changes in the river occurred in the summer of 2018. “When we were fishing last year, I noticed that the fish were holding so far underneath the water,” he said. “For the fish to change their behavior and their eating habits that dramatically—it just tells me that the river itself was damaged some way, or something was going on.”This summer, he slipped and fell on algae on the river rocks, which led him to research what was going on. That’s when he found the DRA’s videos, and another lightbulb turned on. “It wasn’t until I got home and saw the videos that I remembered looking at the cliffs, and not seeing any swallow nests [on this trip].”Ryan’s observations - thick brown algae covering the rocks, a lack of insects and birds - are some of the same observations that led to the creation of the DRA.The DRA’s mission was what made Ryan want to become a supporter: making change happen on the river now.“It’s so important that we fix this now, so our kids can experience this later,” he said. “It’s imperative that we do it now. And we have the chance to do this now.”