From the slopes of Mount Bachelor to the edges of the Deschutes River, scores of volunteers are regularly joining organized cleanups each year to weed, replant or pick up trash.
BY GEORGE WUERTHNER
Most Central Oregon residents are aware that the Deschutes River is severely compromised. However, the public is not getting all the information needed to make intelligent choices about the Deschutes River.
BY YANCY LIND
The Basin Study Work Group is wrapping up its multiyear effort to look for ways to return water to the Upper Deschutes. Piping leaky irrigation canals has long been acknowledged as a key part of this effort, but the work group has also identified more cost effective, complementary and quicker to implement “on farm” solutions.
Wastewater contamination of the Deschutes aquifer has been debated and debated in the area around La Pine. It’s unlikely to be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction, but the city’s $25 million water and sewer project holds promise as a good solution for the neighborhoods involved.
Long-awaited snow finally arrived in Bend in February, but it was too late, and far too little, to keep this winter from being significantly drier than average.
Not enough and not soon enough. Those are the complaints that critics level against the irrigation districts in the Deschutes Basin and the work they are doing to improve flows in the Deschutes River.
A study is being done to determine just how best to conserve the river, and now organizations are coming together to protect it.
A three-year-long study of the Upper Deschutes is nearing completion. Here's what two local river advocates think so far
Making sure the Deschutes River can be a sustainable resource for the Central Oregon community is something that has become increasingly important for communities and the environment.
A 31-mile tributary in a remote part of Eastern Oregon could carry lessons about managing water in the Deschutes Basin.
For those keeping score on this year’s legislative session, check a win for hikers and bikers who want a bridge to easily access Forest Service trails near Bend.
The Deschutes River is such a beauty it can be easy to forget it has serious problems. A leading one is that water in the river basin is not in the right place at the right time for people, farming and wildlife.
And many anglers will flock to the falls again this spring, as the Lower Deschutes — from Sherars Falls downstream to the mouth at the Columbia River — will be open to spring chinook fishing from April 15 to June 30, according to French, a fisheries biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in The Dalles.
Stickleback could be ‘canary in a coal mine’ on pollutants
While much of the Columbia River basin states had above-average precipitation in January, Oregon and southern Idaho were “abnormally dry” for the month, and those conditions are expected to continue in Oregon through May, according to the NOAA Climate Prediction Center.
Portland General Electric biologists are continuing to transport salmon and steelhead adults trapped downstream of the Pelton Round Butte Complex of dams on the Deschutes River and transporting them up into Lake Billy Chinook in their efforts to reintroduce the fish to blocked areas in the upper Deschutes basin.
Bill to bar pedestrian span on Deschutes River clears its first committee
A bill allowing water transfers among Oregon storage reservoirs has been shelved during this short legislative session.
Farmers in Central Oregon could take a hit because of low snowpack levels in the Cascades.
Central Oregon shouldn’t slow down a minute on piping irrigation canals. Piping keeps more water in the Deschutes River.