The Deschutes Basin's Last Great Problem
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WRITTEN BY DAVE SEMINARA The Deschutes Basin’s Last Great Problem The competing visions for a river, which has drawn people and sustained life for millennia, are as old as the West itself. O the last Saturday in January, a bright, “Te river is oversubscribed for irrigation purposes,” n sunny afair when the promise of spring he said. “Te Upper Deschutes was once one of the best felt near, the Fly Fisher’s Place in Sisters was full of places in the country for trout fshing, but now it’s not impatient anglers debating the merits of some of the even in the top 100.” shop’s 1,400 fies. But the light vibe turned serious Most in Central Oregon agree that this stretch of the when I asked Jef Perin, the shop’s owner, about his Upper Deschutes is sick, but there is no consensus on connection to the Upper Deschutes River. Seated at a how to treat it. Te conversation can be, in the words of table in the back room of his meandering store, Perin one conservationist, a “clash of cultures” as fsherman spoke about the river wistfully, as though retelling like Perin, boaters, conservationists, state and federal the story of a once great athlete who had fallen upon agencies, municipalities, farmers and ranchers grapple hard times. for solutions and defend their turf. Te debate will “I got hooked on the river the very frst day we moved play out in meeting rooms and courtrooms, thanks here, back in June 1980,” he said, his alert blue eyes to a lawsuit related to the Oregon spotted frog. It will shadowed by a stif-billed fshing cap. continue in government ofces, where ofcials will Perin, then in sixth grade, didn’t catch a single fsh rule on a regulatory process initiated by eight local that day. In fact, he fell into the river. But his older cousin irrigation districts and the city of Prineville. caught a slew of rainbow trout, enough to make a big Te competing visions for this river that has drawn impression and cement what would become a lifelong people to the region and sustained life for thousands passion for the river. Perin can recall days of remarkably of years are as old as the West itself. good fy-fshing on the Upper Deschutes as recently “Tere’s a reason why they say ‘whiskey is for as three years ago, just before a devastating fsh kill in drinking and water is for fghting,’ ” said Shon Rae, October 2013 that galvanized attention to a problematic communications manager for the Central Oregon A spring morning on the Middle Deschutes in, twenty-fve-mile stretch of the river between the Wickiup Irrigation District (COID), a quasi-municipal group that near Wychus Creek. Reservoir and Sunriver, where low streamfows have has 3,623 members, mostly small farmers and ranchers. photo Jon Tapper had a harmful impact on fsh and wildlife. 82 bendmagazine. com \ SPRING 2016 bendmagazine. com \ SPRING 2016 83 PRIORITY DATES WICKIUP/CRANE PRAIRIE WATER RIGHTS Three Sisters Irrigation District (TSID) Central Oregon 1900 Origins of the Last Great Problem in the Deschutes Basin Irrigation District (COID) Ochoco Irrigation District (OID) Lone Pine 1900 he Deschutes River runs north, covering some 250 miles, In 1894, Congress passed the Carey Act, which allowed private Irrigation District (LPID) Tumalo Irrigation District (TID) and has numerous tributaries and three sections: the Up- irrigation companies to erect irrigation systems and sell water to Arnold T 1905 Irrigation District (AID) Swalley NUID per Deschutes, which begins at Little Lava Lake and runs landowners in the arid Western states. A handful of irrigation districts Irrigation District (SID) North Unit down to Bend, the Middle Deschutes, which extends to Lake Billy were established in Central Oregon starting in 1904, and the state 1913 Irrigation District (NUID) Walker Basin Irrigation District (WBID) Chinook, and the Lower Deschutes, which fows up to the Columbia passed an agriculture-friendly water rights code in 1909 which River. Te Deschutes is a spring-fed river that has been called the encouraged farmers and ranchers to settle in the region, ofering N “Peculiar River” because of its remarkably consistent streamfow. free land in exchange for the cost of irrigation. By 1924, 28,500 acres Early inhabitants of the Deschutes of land in Central Oregon were irrigated, basin region included the Warm Springs, supporting a population of about 10,000 people CENTRAL HAYSTACK RESERVOIR Wascoes, Paiutes, Klamaths, Modocs, Nez in Deschutes County. AGRICULTURAL 5,600 AF Pearce and Walla Walla tribes. Europeans Te founding principal of the state water OREGONECONOMY code was and still is—frst in time, frst in OCHOCO began exploring Central Oregon as early as RESERVOIR ANNUAL LPID OID 1813. Tat year a pair of fur traders carved “The Upper right—meaning the irrigation companies AGRICULTURAL VALUE 44,247 AF with the most seniority have frst dibs on DESCHUTES AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES their initials and the date on a large stone DESCHUTES Deschutes was water rights. Te eight irrigation districts in TOTAL on the banks of the Deschutes River, south $25M TSID of present day Bend. Central Oregon have “priority dates” ranging $ once one of the JEFFERSON In 1877, John Todd purchased a ranching from 1899 to 1916, which dictate when and if 99M $74M claim along the Deschutes River he named best places in the they get their water. the Farewell Bend Ranch. When travelers A series of dams were built along the river lef the ranch and headed north, knowing country for trout starting in 1910, along with six reservoirs, TID SID COID it was the last bend in the river along their fishing, but now including Crane Prairie (1940) and Wickiup route, they would say, “Farewell Bend.” (1949) on the Upper Deschutes. Te Bureau PRINEVILLE Te nickname stuck but the post ofce of Reclamation (BOR), a government agency it’s not even in the CRANE PRAIRIE RESERVOIR RESERVOIR 148,640 AF shortened the town’s ofcial name to Bend, tasked with managing and protecting water 55,300 AF since another community along the Snake top 100.” resources, assigned the irrigation districts to AID manage these reservoirs, which are used to River had already laid claim to the name COID 26,000 AF store water during the winter and release it to Farewell Bend. AID 13,500 AF One of the frst government reports on district members during the irrigation season, LPID 10,500 AF the water resources of Central Oregon, April 15 through October 15. Upper Deschutes written by Israel Cook Russell, an early geologist and geographer, Conservationists argue that BOR and the Oregon Water Resources WICKIUP RESERVOIR was published in 1905 and marveled about the river’s “conspicuously Department (OWRD) have allowed the irrigation districts to 200,000 AF clear” waters. oversubscribe the river, hoarding water in the reservoirs in the winter and fooding the river during the summer irrigation season. Te upper It is a swif fowing stream … a delight to stretch of the Peculiar River that historically fowed at a remarkably the beholder on account of its beautiful colors, consistent at 700 to 800 cubic feet per second (cfs) year-round, is slowed NUID 200,000 AF refreshing coolness, and the frequently picturesque to a trickle, sometimes down to 20 cfs in the winter between Wickiup … impressive scenery of its canyon walls, as well and Sunriver, and can roar to the tune of 2,000 cfs in the summer. as a blessing to the arid region to which it brings Te Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) has set the its food of water for irrigation and other purposes. instream water right at 300 cfs, but that is essentially just a target—one WID It is also an attraction to the angler and its waters CRESCENT LAKE that hasn’t been met in recent winters largely due to demand from the RESERVOIR are abundantly stocked with trout. irrigation districts. (Climate change and a growing population in the 86,900 AF In the frst decades of the 20th century, Bend evolved into a prosperous region also play an important role.) mill town along the banks of the river. Te Shevlin-Hixon and Brooks- “It’s clear that fsh and wildlife would beneft from a more natural HOW Scanlon companies opened mills on opposite sides of the river in 1916. river fow,” says Ryan Houston, executive director of the Upper US Bureau of Reclamation, Pacific Northwest Region Tey built a dam between them for log ponds, and the river was an Deschutes Watershed Council, a Bend-based nonproft that takes a Major Storage Reservoirs in the Deschutes River Basin indispensible conduit for transporting timber to market. collaborative approach to trying to restore the Upper Deschutes. “But AF Acre Foot: An acre foot is the volume of one acre of surface area to a depth of one foot, approximately 325,853 gallons. Sources: Oregon State University Extension, 2011 MUCH? Upper Deschutes River Background Paper, 2012, Deschutes River Conservancy 84 bendmagazine. com \ WINTER 2016 bendmagazine. com \ SPRING 2016 bendmagazine. com \ SPRING 2016 85 how do we get there? Te devil is in the details.” never had a chance.” “If the river had been flowing at 250 cfs, it never would have happened, but at 20 cfs, The Fishermen The Environmentalists ancy Lind’s ofce is perched on a bluf above the mem- aul Dewey came to Oregon in 1977, armed with a law de- those fish never had a chance.” Yorable bend in the river where the Upper Deschutes Pgree from the University of Virginia, afer reading a “go morphs into the Middle Deschutes.