Trout Unlimited is national organization with more than 150,000 volunteers in 400 chapters nationwide. This dedicated grassroots army is matched by a respected professional staff of lawyers, policy experts and scientists in 30 offices throughout the country. Trout Unlimited remains at the forefront of fisheries restoration work at the local, state and national levels.
The Deschutes Chapter of Trout Unlimited currently has over 400 members dedicated to working with all organizations in the area to improve the upper Deschutes watershed.
By Mark Morical / The Bulletin Published: January 26. 2012 4:00AM PST
2012 Fly Fishing Film Tour
What: A traveling spectacle that serves as a stage for some of the best fly-fishing filmmakers in the country, an avenue for supporting conservation groups, and an expo for local retailers and outfitters. This year’s tour will make stops in 125 cities across the United States and Canada Where: Bend’s Tower Theatre, 835 N.W. Wall St. When: Wednesday, Feb. 1; show starts at 7 p.m.; doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets: $13 at Bend’s Fly and Field Outfitters or at www.towertheatre.org Website: www.thef3t.com
Central Oregon is widely renowned as a fly-fishing hot spot. It could soon become known as a fly-fishing FILM hot spot as well.
The 125-stop Fly Fishing Film Tour — billed as F3T for short — is returning to Bend for the seventh consecutive year on Wednesday, Feb. 1, at the Tower Theatre.
But that’s not the only local connection.
Of the 11 films being shown on the tour, three are by filmmakers who either live in Central Oregon or grew up here. Those films include “Clearly B.C., Part One: Fall Bullies,” by Todd Moen, of Sisters; “Doc of the Drakes,” by Bryan Huskey, who grew up in Bend and now lives in Idaho; and “The Arctic,” by R.A. Beattie, who moved to Bend last year.
The tour showcases some of the most prolific fly-fishing filmmakers in the country and provides anglers a chance to support local conservation groups. Most tour stops feature a party atmosphere with audience giveaways and valuable coupons.
“Our goal in doing this is to share our passion and support the sport we love,” says F3T producer Chris Keig.
Keig says the tour this year will donate more than $30,000 to filmmakers and give away more than $350,000 in prizes to spectators who attend the shows.
In June of 2011 the Deschutes Chapter of Trout Unlimited posted a position statement on City of Bend’s Surface Water Improvement Project. The position statement called for reevaluation of the SWIP, with emphasis on proper economic valuation of instream flows, and continued efforts by all parties to restore cold water flows to promote improved aquatic habitat in the Middle Deschutes.
Subsequently on multiple occasions, city staff and councilors have acknowledged the goal as laudable, but expressed their opinion that this goal would be better and more cheaply met by working with Tumalo Irrigation District, rather than turning to city water, for restoration of instream flows.
This subject was recently reviewed with the Deschutes River Conservancy. The Tumalo Irrigation District Tumalo Feed Canal piping project was initially proposed in 2007.
The total project will conserve 11.8 cfs of Tumalo Creek water (4,306 acre-feet) and 2,732 acre-feet of stored water from Crescent Creek. At the time that TID initially proposed the project in 2007, they estimated that the project would cost around $17 million. This figure has likely gone up, but DRC does not have an updated estimate of the total project cost. TID is proposing that the public pay for the entire project. If they are successful in raising public funding for the entire amount, then 100% of the conserved water will be protected instream. If TID pays for a portion of the project with their own funds, then a commensurate share of the water will go to TID to help firm up their water supply.
The DRC has partnered with TID to complete two phases of the project, which have resulted in a combined 3 cfs of protected flow in Tumalo Creek. Based on past projects and the 3 cfs from the first two phases of the Tumalo Feed project, there is now 9 cfs of permanently protected base flow of sufficient seniority to be present in the creek during the summer months. If and when the district can finance and implement the remaining portion of the project, base flows will increase by another 8.8 cfs, bringing total protected flows up to 17.8 cfs.
OPAL SPRINGS FISH PASSAGE UPDATE Agreement Reached on Opal Springs Dam Fish Passage.
Agreement would open more than 100 miles of fish habitat on Crooked River.
The Deschutes Valley Water District (DVWD), owner and operator of Opal Springs Dam, has recently reached a Settlement Agreement with the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Trout Unlimited concerning fish passage at the Opal Springs Hydroelectric Project. This agreement establishes a path forward for the voluntary installation and operation of a fish ladder by the project operator.
About the Project: Opal Springs Dam is located on the Crooked River, a tributary to the Deschutes River, near Bend, Oregon. The dam is located at river mile 7, just upstream from the confluence of the Crooked River and the Deschutes River, which meet at Lake Billy Chinook.
The Opal Springs diversion and impoundment was originally constructed in the 1920 for purposes of providing mechanical lifting power to deliver Opal Springs water to the District’s service area. In 1982 the District received a 50 year license from FERC to expand the project and increase hydropower production. Fish passage was not required as a part of this 1982 FERC license. The license expires in 2032.
Need for Fish Passage: The Opal Springs Dam currently serves as a complete barrier to upstream migration, blocking access by migrating fish to the entire lower Crooked River subbasin. Providing passage around the dam at Opal Springs will provide access to approximately 108 miles of upstream habitat.
Until recently, this barrier impacted extant populations of native redband and migratory bull trout, as anadromous fish have been unable to migrate beyond Portland General Electric’s (PGE) Pelton Round Butte Dam complex lower on the Deschutes system. However, as a part the recent relicensing of the Pelton Project, PGE is undertaking a reintroduction program to restore populations of salmon and steelhead to the system above their project.
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