FISHING -- Plans to improve the boat launching area at Heller Bar on the Snake River are taking shape this month with revisions that should placate angler concerns about interference with a good shoreline fishing area.

Fishermen were alarmed in September when they saw Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife surveyors scoping out the possibility of putting a new ramp upstream from the existing ramp and downstream from the mouth of the Grande Ronde River in a stretch that's ideal for wade angling.

The $325,000 project, first proposed in 2012, would add a second boat ramp as well as upgrading the entire area, said Bob Dice, Blue Mountains Wildlife Area Complex manager in Clarkston.

"We looked at launch sites upstream and from an engineering perspective it would have been difficult to place a new ramp up there considering water depth, current flow and the risk of the thing being buried with sediment from the Grande Ronde River," he said.

Dice also factored in comments from bank fishermen who were not fond of the upstream ramp site option.

"The best location for a successful installation is next to the existing ramp on the downstream side," he said this week. "We didn't want to disturb or alter the upstream side where boats and rafts pull up to the beach."

Tentative plans call for repairing the upstream side of the existing ramp to allow vehicles to pull onto the ramp from the beach.  "That will allow one-way travel for vehicles loading rafts or supplies for power boats," he said. "As it is now, if they pull down there, they have to turn around to get off the beach, which causes some issues.

"We will be required to install an ADA parking spot near the top of the ramp for a vehicle with a trailer and one for a vehicle only.  We felt there would be sufficient room to do this and there is a couple of things we can do to improve the paved area at the top of the ramps for better vehicle flow.

"The rest of the access site will get a new gravel surface, new signs, a new informational kiosk and potentially some new fire rings at areas where folks traditionally camp."

Agency engineers say construction likely will begin in early 2017 after required permits are secured.