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.
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.
A pair of environmental groups is asking a federal judge to immediately order changes to how the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and irrigation districts manage water out of three Central Oregon reservoirs, saying current operations harm the federally protected Oregon spotted frog.
"In Oregon, rivers and streams belong to the public, but no law stops private water users from completely draining a stream. It is often perfectly legal to take the last drops from a river, and our state agencies do little to correct, or even document the problem," according to WaterWatch's Rivers Without Water, Oregon's Unnatural Disaster publication.
Albeit a dry January in Central Oregon, with less precipitation so far this month, December was one of the wettest in terms of rain in western Oregon and snowfall in the rest of the state.
If you want to get in on the debate over the future of the Pilot Butte Canal, now is your chance. We urge you to tell the National Park Service to not list the property on the National Register of Historic Places.
A lawsuit over the effect of water reservoirs on the threatened Oregon spotted frog could result in irrigation disruptions for more than 4,600 farmers.
An environmental group plans to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over delaying protections for the foothill yellow-legged frog.
To say that water is the lifeblood of Central Oregon is an
understatement. So it's understandable that any threat—real or perceived—to people's ability to use water in the ways they are accustomed to meets with resistance.
A conservation group has filed suit against the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, alleging the operation of the Wickiup and Crane Prairie dams is damaging the habitat of the Oregon spotted frog.
Oregon’s going to need to use the water it has better in the future. A state report predicts state water demand is going to go up by at least 10 percent by 2050. That makes conserving water for agricultural uses even more important. It means more canal piping and more conservation practices on farms.
The Crooked River is a special place to John Anderson — as it is to many fly anglers from Central Oregon and across the Northwest.
One of my favorite rivers is very broken. Once considered a blue-ribbon trout river, the Upper Deschutes from Wickiup Reservoir down to Bend is now abused. The river is treated like an irrigation ditch.
It is not just drought causing the reappearance of the Mirror Pond mud flats this week in downtown Bend.
The Deschutes County Planning Commission approved a permit and site plan Monday for the Riley Ranch Nature Reserve northwest of Bend city limits.
As several of Central Oregon’s irrigation districts have learned in the last few years, ownership of irrigation delivery systems is a matter of contention. So much so that resolving the issue may be something only Congress can do.
Irrigation canals draw and distribute water on Central Oregon land with a complicated history of ownership that started more than a century ago.
BEND, OR, Oct. 19, 2015 -- On Friday, Oct. 16, the Three Sisters Irrigation District and Energy Trust of Oregon held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Watson Hydroelectric Facility, capping a decade of its investments in efficient irrigation.
There’s no denying canals and this canal are part of the region’s history. But a designation in the National Register of Historic Places — supported by some property owners along the canal — could limit or exclude the possibility that the stretch of canal could ever be piped to conserve water.
LAVA ISLAND FALLS — Low flows along the Deschutes River upstream of Bend have again stranded fish and prompted a rescue.