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News -
Conservation
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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, February 29 2012 18:36 |
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 By Dylan J. Darling / The Bulletin
Published: February 29. 2012 4:00AM PST
SISTERS — What started as a trickle grew quickly into a rush Tuesday morning as Whychus Creek flowed into its new course through Camp Polk Meadow Preserve.
“It's an amazing moment,” said Brad Chalfant, executive director of the Deschutes Land Trust. “There were times when I never thought we'd get to this point.”
The project to restore and reroute the creek required more than a decade of development and involved the cooperation of several groups and agencies, including the Deschutes Land Trust, the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council and the U.S. Forest Service. In all, about $2 million in state, federal and private grants was spent on the project, said Ryan Houston, executive director of the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council.
The idea for the restoration occurred in 1997, when the Deschutes Land Trust, with the help of Portland General Electric, started negotiations to buy the preserve.
“Today we finally turned the water on, and the creek is flowing through this meadow for the first time in 50 years,” Houston said.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, February 29 2012 19:04 |
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News -
Conservation
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Written by Gabe Parr
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Thursday, February 09 2012 07:18 |
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 By Duffie Taylor / The Bulletin
Published: February 09. 2012 4:00AM PST
CULVER — Reintroduced salmon and steelhead could be headed to spawning waters above the Pelton Round Butte dam complex as early as this year. But those that head into the Crooked River won't get far - yet, anyway - thanks to a small hydroelectric dam owned by the Deschutes Valley Water District.
The dam at Opal Springs stands between migrating fish and 108 miles of upstream habitat along the Crooked River. The water district, however, is spearheading a $7 million project designed to ease their passage.
To that end, the district seeks to amend its federal license to create a bypass system for the steelhead, chinook, bull trout and resident trout populations that could migrate up the river. The project would include installing a fish ladder, adding other features to route fish away from the facility's turbines, and raising the dam 6 feet.
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News -
Conservation
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Written by Michael Tripp
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Wednesday, January 25 2012 20:23 |
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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.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, January 25 2012 20:38 |
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News -
Conservation
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Written by Gabe Parr
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Thursday, January 19 2012 17:42 |
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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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Last Updated on Tuesday, February 28 2012 18:18 |
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