How does the HCP affect the Deschutes? - Part 1
This is the first of three parts as we dive into U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s conservation plan for the Deschutes River Basin.
The Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) is an enforceable agreement between irrigation districts and federal agencies meant to reduce the harmful effects of irrigation, but the plan currently put forth is woefully inadequate to address the health of the River, the needs of our farmers and the welfare of fish and wildlife.
Since 1949, the Upper Deschutes River has been managed like an irrigation ditch. Each November, they turn off the river at Wickiup Dam to fill the reservoir for the next year’s irrigation season. Then each April, the gates are opened at the dam and water floods the river channel all the way to Bend where over 90% of the water gets diverted into irrigation canals. This management regime causes extreme fluctuations in the flows of the river from 20 cubic feet per second (cfs) in the winter to 1,800 cfs in the summer which, in turn, strips away wetland vegetation and erodes the streambanks. This severe erosion has enlarged the channel by 20% in just seventy years and created a devastating effect on fish and wildlife.
First, we lost the Bull Trout, then we drove down the populations of Redband Trout to perilous levels and now the Oregon Spotted Frog which used to range widely in our region, is threatened. The frogs need wetland vegetation and stable flows for breeding, egg incubation and rearing. The fish need pools and protection of woody debris and undercut banks. The widely fluctuating flows in the river today have disconnected the fish and frogs from their prime habitats.
Improved Flow Rate
What we asked for:
In our comments on the draft HCP, we asked the irrigators for the minimum flows needed to reestablish the fish and frog habitat their management practices had degraded. We recommended that they establish variable winter flow targets appropriate to the wide range of hydrologic conditions and to reduce the peak summer flows. Recent studies show that in at least half of the years, the upper basin generates enough water to release significant flow all winter long and still fill Wickiup Reservoir. In those years, more water should be made available to the river and in dry years the river can receive less.
Based on Oregon Spotted Frog habitat needs assessment by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, we proposed that summer flows should be gradually decreased to 1200 cfs and that variable winter flows should be established as follows:
Unfortunately, they proposed very little change for the next seven years.
The only winter flow increases we will see in the next seven years will come if Central Oregon Irrigation District (COID) pipes its canals and shares conserved water with North Unit Irrigation District (NUID). Under those circumstances, about 30 cfs would be added to the 100 cfs currently being released from Wickiup in the winter. COID has not secured financing for a second project, however, so this may be all we see in the next seven years.
In year 13, they plan to restore flows to only 400 cfs rather than the 600 cfs that is needed. They will institute a 1200 cfs flow cap which appears beneficial, but its efficacy is greatly diminished by a ten-day exclusion. Flood level flows well above 1200 cfs that cause the erosion can be released on ten separate days over the course of the irrigation season. These erosive high flows will likely undo any attempts to restore the channel and wetland vegetation.
At first blush, this appears to be an improvement, but closer examination reveals another story. Over the next few weeks, we’ll continue to share our analysis of the HCP and hopefully, shed some light on what it means for our farmers, fish and river.
Stay tuned.