In the Media

This is likely to be the summer that shows just how valuable it is to pipe irrigation water in these parts. With the water content of the Cascades snowpack running at less than 60 percent of normal, irrigation districts could be hard pressed to supply all the water local irrigators need.

For an apex predator that can grow up to 20 pounds or more, range over hundreds of miles and has been called the river wolf, the bull trout has had a tough time of it.

Irrigation districts say it conserves water and money, but as century-old waterways are enclosed in pipe, some landowners are doing all they can to prevent it. This, in turn, doesn't sit too well with their farming neighbors.

Because of low precipitation in the Klamath Basin, Gov. Ted Kulongoski has declared a state of drought emergency in six Oregon counties, including Deschutes, and the federal government has agreed to allow some leniency to irrigators in the Klamath basin, but water officials here say the area won’t suffer as much as Klamath, at least not this summer

Low flows in the Deschutes River have exposed mud in Mirror Pond and boulders across from McKay Park, but water officials say the river level should be back up by the weekend. Still, the relatively dry winter and thin snowpack could lead to a difficult summer for fish, farmers and others dependent on water flows.

The fish and water intake tower at Round Butte Dam is designed so that fish following water currents toward the Pacific Ocean will be drawn into an underwater structure, sorted and marked. Crews will then drive them around the Round Butte, Pelton and Reregulating dams for release into the Lower Deschutes. … get sorted by size so the smaller ones don’t get eaten …

Bill Valentine watched from the bank, his Spey rod strung, line taut as a bowstring. Matthew Mendes, our 20-year-old guide, pointed me to the next run, 10 steps farther.

Anglers are eagerly awaiting what is projected to be the largest run of spring chinook salmon to enter the Columbia River since the construction of Bonneville Dam in the 1930s.

The dam that created Mirror Pond is also a big factor in the sediment buildup issue. The dam slows the movement of water and the sediment in it, which causes some of it to settle along the edges of the pond and build up over time. Experts also suggest that the sediment load in the Deschutes River, which is carried into Mirror Pond, is particularly high because of the rate at which water is released from Wickiup Reservoir.