The Substation fire raging across Wasco and Sherman counties has torched both sides of the lower Deschutes River down to the water's edge.

The Deschutes River State Recreation Area campground and Heritage Landing at the river's mouth were spared, but little else along both east and west banks, upriver more than 20 miles.

The devastation is nearly complete. The fire skipped over a few spots, but as the river reopened to boating Friday afternoon, the Deschutes' legendary grandeur was a charred memory.

Following is what we know from Rod French, district fish biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife after a Friday survey, and Brad Staples, a fishing and tour guide who was on the river Wednesday and Thursday during the fire:

-- All 8,500 acres of the state-managed recreation area were involved.

-- At least 75 percent of riverside trees and vegetation were burned and will probably die. In most places, only a two-to-three foot strip of grass remains. "You won't have to spey cast anymore in many places," French said.

-- The last surviving boxcar on the east bank burned down.

-- All of the historic buildings at the Harris Canyon Ranch and the water tower are gone (only the commemorative plaque remains).

-- Composting outhouses at Harris Canyon and Kloan are destroyed. Concrete toilets survived.

-- Most campsites are burned.

-- Donors' commemorative metal markers seem to have survived the flames, but may be charred.

-- The road along the lower river's east bank remains passable.

-- The river was reopened for boating at 4:30 Friday afternoon, from the former closure at Buckhollow downriver to the mouth.

"It's pretty darned black, a lot more than I expected," French said. "It was a very, very hot fire."

...And unstoppable, agreed Staples, a Deschutes guide who piloted his boat through the flames.

"The intensity was amazing," he said. "I've seen fires up here in the past and there has been nothing like this. There could have been 500 guys and all the air power and it would not have been controlled."

The flames also singed the start of summer fishing and floating seasons for guides, anglers and river recreationists seeking the Deschutes' storybook summer steelhead fishing and whitewater rafting.

As the smoke clears, Staples and French said visitors will find dirt and dust

Campsites along the lower Deschutes River will be barren, dirty and dusty this summer.

swirling in the canyon's seasonal winds across the deceptive blue-green water.

"Camping will be a challenge," Staples said. "Those with asthma and breathing problems should take precautions."

French said the fire will have little effect on fish or fishing, however.

Riverside grass, critical spring habitat for fall chinook fry, survived the fire and while the alders provided rest and roost for insect hatches, branches remain and bugs don't depend upon foliage for hatching.

Early steelhead fishing has been better this year than last, Staples said. Numbers over Bonneville and The Dalles dams are still below 10-year-averages, but well above the 2017 figures for the same period.

Jeremy Thompson, the department's district wildlife biologist, said wildlife largely escapes wildfire.

Bighorn sheep and deer are actually drawn to burns by protein-rich regrowth. Chukar and other birds will have flown away from the flames and there are "always going to be areas for them where the fire skips over," he said.

While agency officials resist placing restrictions on access to the lower river, Thompson said "We'll probably have to double down on enforcement" and public education of litter and hygiene - including packing out human waste and trash.

Biologists also are already mulling ways to control invasive cheat grass, among the first vegetation to reappear after a fire. Herbicide spray and aerial re-seeding of the burn with bunchgrasses and other native plants this fall will help.

Tim Greseth, executive director of the Oregon Wildlife Foundation, a non-profit group formed in the 1980s to purchase the recreation area, said the organization has nearly $100,000 set aside for lower Deschutes management and can use it to seed grants and donations.

"We stand ready to help," he said.

Staples, who sits on the foundation's board of directors, echoed the pledge.

"Remember, in 1983 (the foundation) purchased the lower 17 miles of the Deschutes River for the public to use and enjoy. It was created dollar-by-social-security-dollar from Oregonians across the board," he said. "We can do that again."