U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) announced on Thursday that legislation he authored in 2014 to improve water management and create jobs in central Oregon will soon be implemented.
Month: February 2016
State won’t relax bridge ban for Bend park district
The Bend Park & Recreation District’s push to build a bridge across the Deschutes River upstream from town was handed a setback when the Oregon Parks and Recreation Commission voted to deny a rule change requested by the district.
Bend Whitewater Park set to reopen Saturday
The Bend Whitewater Park will reopen Saturday, more than four months after it was shut to the public for repairs.
A tale of two droughts: 1977 & 2015
Let me paint a picture of the summer of 1977 in Sisters, Oregon. The population was less than 700 people, many of whom were farmers. A drought had devastated the snowpack in the Cascades,…
Water Rights: Conservation Efforts Questioned
Lawsuits filed by environmental groups against the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and multiple Central Oregon water districts, including the Central Oregon Irrigation District (COID), demand changes to the way the Deschutes River's water is managed.
Madras fears cutting irrigation will dry up community
Out in the fields of Jefferson County, more than 70 percent of America's carrot seed is grown, but it's inside the office where the books are kept that farmer Tom Kirsch worries that number could dip in the future.
Irrigation district adds fee for spotted frog litigation
The Tumalo Irrigation District has added an additional fee for patrons in anticipation of mounting legal costs associated with recently filed lawsuits over Oregon spotted frog habitat.
Lawsuits Threaten Central Oregon Communities
A preliminary injunction filed this week in federal court by two environmental groups seeks to disrupt the water supplies of thousands of families throughout Oregon’s Deschutes Basin, including families in the communities of Bend, Madras, Redmond and Tumalo.
Groups seek court order to change Deschutes River flows
A motion filed Tuesday by two environmental groups seeking a federal court order for immediate changes in Deschutes River management to protect the Oregon spotted frog has the potential to disrupt water supplies to thousands of Central Oregon farms, ranches and families, the region's irrigation districts said.