The Grants Pass man was pinned underwater on an Illinois River trip

A Grants Pass doctor drowned in the remote Illinois River on Friday after he was pinned in his kayak underwater during his annual river trip with friends, authorities said.

Erich Fleischman, 50, was a naturopathic doctor and experienced kayaker who had navigated the Colorado River and Siberia’s Katun River in his hard-shell kayak, according to the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office.

Fleischman had negotiated the Illinois’ challenging rapids for more than 15 years, sheriff’s deputies said. But in Friday’s accident, he became lodged against a boulder underwater in what sheriff’s deputies called a small rapid.

Kayakers in his party told police they were able to pull Fleischman from his hard-shell kayak and take him to shore, but he died about 90 minutes later, sheriff’s Deputy Jason Schmidt said in a press release.

One of his fellow rafters then floated downstream to alert authorities, deputies said. Fleischman’s body was removed by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter.

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Friends remained shocked Monday by the loss of Fleischman, who was an avid kayaker and a man with a big heart, said Tami Brazille, Fleischman’s only employee in his Grants Pass practice.

"It’s a tragedy," Brazille said. "It’s an awful, awful thing."

The 35-mile river stretch is protected under the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in the Siskiyou National Forest. It cuts through the Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area’s steep terrain before dumping into the Rogue River near Agness.

Access to the river’s rugged and remote corridor is extremely limited, with stretches traversed only over the water. That makes helicopter rescues generally necessary.

This was the first rafting or kayaking fatality on that stretch of river since 1998, when two men died on the same day and several others had to be rescued by the Coast Guard.

The deaths that day were of a 63-year-old Aloha man and a 37-year-old Portland man, who were in separate rafting parties. The deaths occurred when heavy rains and melting snow made the river too high and turbulent after they launched.

At the time, Siskiyou National Forest officials said those were the only recorded rafting deaths on that stretch of the Illinois in at least two decades.

In those deaths, the river’s flows had spiked to 10,000 cubic feet per second — a level three times higher than what even most expert Illinois rafters consider the high end for safe passage. It crested at 17,600 cfs during rescue operations the next day.

In Fleischman’s case, the U.S. Geological Service river gauge measured the river’s flows at about 1,500 cfs. That is a level considered ideal for spring trips through the river stretch with a Class 5 rating, or one with extremely complex and violent rapids. Class 6, the highest, is considered a life-risk.

Further information about Fleischman’s death was unavailable Monday. Attempts to reach police and other members of the rafting party were unsuccessful.

Fleischman was raised in Idaho. He moved to Southern Oregon and had practiced naturopathic medicine in Grants Pass for the past two decades, said Brazille.

Naturopathic medicine is the use of herbs and diet to treat medical problems.

Fleischman also was an avid downhill skier and golfer, she said. He lived on 21 acres in the Applegate Valley, which included a small vineyard where he grew grapes to make wine that he often gave to patients as gifts, she said.

He is survived by his wife, Nancy, who is a real estate appraiser, as well as 16-year-old son Nathan, 13-year-old daughter Ariana and 10-year-old daughter Alison, Brazille said.

Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail mfreeman@mailtribune.com