30-year plan to save fish, frogs, in Deschutes Basin has made gains but challenges remain
By Michael Kohn - Bend Bulletin
On the last day of 2020, eight irrigation districts in Central Oregon and the city of Prineville entered into a landmark agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Their accord, the Deschutes Basin Habitat Conservation Plan, spelled out in hundreds of pages of text how the applicants would collaborate to conserve irrigation water by piping their canals. The saved water is intended to be returned to the Deschutes River to improve habitat for wildlife.
By agreeing to the plan, the irrigation districts were issued so-called incidental take permits, which allowed them to operate and divert water without the threat of lawsuits.
The catch is that the irrigation districts must adhere to a strict timeline to raise the releases from Wickiup Dam into the Deschutes River.
The first requirement comes at the end of 2028 when the flow must be 300 cubic feet of water per second in winter — triple the amount released this past winter. Then by the end of 2033, the releases must increase to 400 cfs, with provisions up to 500 cfs.
Three-and-a-half years into the agreement, the irrigation districts have made progress on piping their networks of leaky canals. But some environmentalists are concerned that the water conservation projects aren’t moving fast enough to meet the plan’s goals. Delays could imperil already threatened fish and wildlife.
Why a conservation plan?
In the late 1940s, the North Unit Irrigation District built Wickiup Dam high in the Deschutes National Forest to block the flow of the Deschutes River and store water for summertime irrigation.
Fierce local debate over the project was described in the Bend Bulletin. Some boasted of its economic benefits. Others warned of its ecological risks. Many were aware that altering the river would imperil wildlife, but agricultural needs prevailed.
Fast-forward to the 1990s and biologists at that time recognized the impact of the dam, saying the changes in the flow of water had widened the river channel by eroding its banks. The seasonal fluctuations also cut off water to Oregon spotted frog habitat.
The habitat loss caused by the dam, plus an influx of invasive species, caused Oregon spotted frog populations to plummet. Further research across the region prompted scientists to list the spotted frog as threatened and in need of protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Listing of the frog triggered protections to prevent its further decline. Federal wildlife officials noted several species of fish — bull trout, steelhead, and salmon — that were also impacted by the irrigation districts.
A U.S. Fish and Wildlife-approved conservation plan became a way for the districts to continue to legally operate even as the negative environmental impacts of their operations continued. It took 12 years for the districts and their partners to hammer out a plan that federal authorities could accept.
Jim Bond, program director for the Deschutes River Conservancy, a Bend-based nonprofit, said the plan is unique because of the collaborative effort needed to finally get it over the finish line.
“Many different water managers, the tribes, stakeholders, and agencies worked together to find solutions they could agree to and believe they can achieve,” said Bond. “Because it was developed collaboratively and is being implemented collectively, it really is a group effort.”
Current challenges
The challenge for the districts, and the farmers that operate in them, is not only modernizing to meet future targets for river levels, but also surviving during the initial increases.
After the frog was listed a decade ago, federal authorities required the flow of water out of the Deschutes to increase to 100 cfs in winter, up from the 25 cfs that had been let out for decades. Suddenly, water that had been saved for use in the summer was flowing down the river in the middle of winter.
Just the increase to 100 cfs, coupled with a record-breaking drought in recent years, has caused water shortages in most districts.
To meet these challenges, irrigation districts have been ramping up efforts to conserve water. The districts are encouraging patrons to modernize their irrigation systems and convert from flood irrigation to drip systems or efficient sprinklers.
But piping their canals is low-hanging fruit. The canal bottoms are highly porous due to Central Oregon’s volcanic geology — they leak around 30-50% of the water that goes into them. Once a pipe replaces a canal, the savings are instant.
Piping is expensive, but local districts have had success in tapping into taxpayer-funded federal programs to put pipes in the ground. A Central Oregon Irrigation District project conserving 30 cfs was completed in 2022 and another one in Arnold District saving 32.5 cfs is in progress, slated for completion in 2026.
A controversial plan
The habitat conservation plan is not without controversy. Both farmers and conservation groups have found fault in its details.
In 2021, in the midst of a crippling drought, a North Unit Irrigation District farmer hired a lawyer to seek legal options to tweak the conservation plan so more water can be saved for agriculture. No litigation ensued.
Then in early 2023 the Center for Biological Diversity, a Tuscon, Arizona-based nonprofit, threatened legal action against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife for Endangered Species Act violations related to the plan.
Noah Greenwald, the nonprofit’s endangered species director, said the plan simply does not have enough teeth to protect the threatened frog because there is no requirement for winter flows to reach pre-dam levels, which were 500 to 600 cubic feet per second.
“A drawdown study found that below roughly 500 cfs, the places where frog populations remain are dewatered, forcing frogs into the main channel where they are picked off by predators,” said Greenwald.
A lawsuit was avoided when U.S. Fish and Wildlife said it would restore riverbank habitat, Greenwald said. The center said details of the restoration efforts are expected by the of this year.
Beyond pipelines
Piping alone isn’t a silver bullet for the health of the Deschutes River, said Jeremy Austin, wild lands and water program director for Central Oregon LandWatch, a Bend-based nonprofit. He has urged irrigation districts to step up their efforts to conserve water through on-farm water conservation.
“To meet the HCP requirements and address water shortfalls in the basin, districts will need to support market-based incentives in a manner commensurate with piping projects. That is currently not happening,” he said.
Nonprofits such as the Deschutes River Conservancy are trying to partner with farmers and ranchers to switch to more water-conscious ways of using water. Water banks are also in the works to help landowners shift unwanted water to districts that are short of water, but these are still in their infancy.
Another question on the mind of some observers is what happens after the 30-year agreement comes to an end.
Kimberley Priestly, a senior policy analyst with WaterWatch of Oregon, said she is impressed with the “creative solutions” devised to share water between farmers and wildlife, but the fate of the Deschutes River in the second half of this century remains uncertain.
“The fatal flaw there is that flows being released for the frog have yet to be permanently protected instream,” said Priestly. “That is a critical step needed to ensure that the spigot does not get turned off at the 30-year end point.”
The habitat conservation plan guiding water use policy in the Deschutes River for a generation is by no means perfect and many questions remain about whether or not it will yield positive results for the species it’s designed to protect. But nearly four years into the experiment, after being challenged by various groups, it still stands. Results may still be
years away, but those involved so far appear committed to meeting its objectives.
Bond from the Deschutes River Conservancy speaks for those bullish on success.
“We do have a good path forward. There are a lot of projects that have already been completed and more on the way,” he said. “There are a lot of very committed, smart and hard-working groups taking this on, and that gives me a lot of confidence.”
