Working for the Native Restoration Fund of Vulcan Power Company, Mark Yinger of Mark Yinger Associates, along with Laura Strauss of Northwest Land & Water, recently a rigorous assessment of the hydrological impacts of destination resorts with particular emphasis placed on the proposed Thornburgh development. The report is entitled, "A Case Study: Thornburgh Resort Water Resources Impact Evaluation (Upper Deschutes Basin, Oregon)"

Due the report's large size, we've broken it up into several files including an executive summary, the body of the report, tables, figures (broken out by different sections) and finally appendices. All are attached to the bottom of this post.

Most basically, this work details the manner in which groundwater draw from destination resorts can impact ecological resources and also nearby wells. Yinger and Strauss demonstrate significant impacts by the proposed Thornburgh development to the middle Deschutes River and Lower Whychus Creek with strong implications for listed critical Bull trout, core populations of Redband trout, and the numerous unique plant communities that live within the impacted stretches of river.

Their work also raises questions about the cumulative impact of numerous resorts in the area, the ineffectiveness of the basin's mitigation program in addressing the problems resorts create for aquatic ecologies, and the potential for resorts to erode past and ongoing efforts to return our rivers and streams to health and bring back populations of native fish. With tens if not hundreds of millions planned/already spent on the region, and so much attention focused on the problem, it's a wonder that the tremendous water use of destination resorts has managed to escape serious scrutiny for as long as it has.

The industry and others have claimed that the issue is already covered. Clearly, as Yinger and Strauss have detailed, that's far from the case.