This summer Central Oregon LandWatch has posted a series of articles on water challenges in Central Oregon. These articles provide a reasonable overview of many local water issues and could be valuable to people who want to make an initial dive into “water world”. The final installment, “One Key Move Solves Many Water Challenges“, was recently released. You should take the time to read it but the quick summary is that many local water problems could be solved by reallocating unneeded water from Central Oregon Irrigation District to North Unit Irrigation District, the Upper and Middle Deschutes, and the Crooked River. Unfortunately, I found this final installment disappointing.

You’ve probably read about the Bonneville Power Administration’s decision last June to stop funding the Select Areas Fisheries Enhancement program. While some have condemned this decision as being detrimental to wild salmon populations, especially Oregon’s and Washington’s departments of fish and wildlife, various environmental groups have been supportive. Here’s an opinion piece from yesterday saying that this decision was long overdue. It comes down to the same argument between those who are in favor of hatchery fish for harvest versus those who want to recover wild stocks. Surprisingly, the BPA has now taken the position long championed by some conservation groups.

I’m sure you have read about recent cyber attacks on municipal water systems in the US. The Source published an article today stating that an attack also occurred on a system in Oregon but that Bend’s and Redmond’s systems are safe. Last week a reader asked me about cyber attacks on local dams. He was concerned about the gates being opened causing downstream flooding. I asked the Oregon Water Resources Department about the potential for this to happen on local dams upstream from Lake Billy Chinook and was told that flows from these dams are manually controlled and not connected to the internet. The same is true for Bend’s water system.

UPDATE (8/7/26): I received an email from a contact at Portland General Electric after I asked about the potential for cyber attacks on the Pelton Round Butte complex. “PGE is aware of the increased cyber security threats, we have teams that address both cyber and physical security, regular employee trainings, etc. There are also strict FERC and NERC requirements around cyber and physical security that we comply with. Unfortunately, I don’t have much in the way of public info to share on the topic.”

As expected, yesterday the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife announced the closure of the Deschutes River to steelhead and salmon fishing beginning August 15. Read the press release for the details. While steelhead are my favorite target species, and am disappointed that the returns are so poor the fishery must be closed, I welcome ODFW doing what they can to protect these fish. My only complaint is that they should close the river to all fishing.

“How salmon restoration also builds wildfire resilience” is the title of a recent article highlighting the intersection of riparian restoration and fire resistance. It primarily focuses on how the restored portions of Whychus Creek where not consumed by the 2025 Flat Fire near Sisters while surrounding and non-restored areas suffered significant burns. It has some compelling photos and is worth a quick read.

Yesterday, Oregon Public Broadcasting posted two articles on local irrigation practices and water law. You can read them here and here. I thought they were reasonable overviews of some of the issues I have written about for years. I wish that more had been written about some of the environmental impacts we are seeing from water waste, but that’s a minor complaint. Take the time to read both articles.

Yesterday the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife announced their preliminary forecast for Columbia River Basin salmon and steelhead seasons. They acknowledge that forecasts are difficult to make and often wrong, but they are planning for “poor” returns and the potential for a variety of restrictions. You can really dive in on ODFW’s Steelhead management in Columbia & Snake river basins web page if you’d like. Of particular interest to me is the Deschutes steelhead decision making framework. The bottom line is that ODFW is preparing for the possibility of partial closures and other limitations on steelhead fishing in the Deschutes River and another of my favorites, the John Day River. We’ll see what happens as actual steelhead returns begin soon.

This is going to be a longer than normal, somewhat rambling post about endangered newts, the Endangered Species Act, our attempts to manage nature, and artificial intelligence that I hope you will find as interesting to read as I did writing it.  My impetus was a story this morning on OPB about a lawsuit attempting to force the US Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Crater Lake Newt as an endangered species.

Today’s Source has a reasonable overview of Redmond’s water issues and plans. It’s worth the quick read.

Yesterday was opening day on the Warm Springs to Trout Creek section of the Deschutes, so today I did a solo float in my pontoon to say hi. What a beautiful, productive day. Caught about 20 fish (I lost count) and had many more grabs. No sign of stoneflies yet but they should be appearing before long. We are so fortunate to have such a great river to enjoy. Get down there before the crowds!

I don’t post many fish photos, but could not resist this one. Yesterday I took a friend bull trout fishing on Lake Billy Chinook and he landed this monster on a 6wt fly rod. 27.5″ and about 13 pounds. We caught many, but this was the biggest I have seen taken on a fly rod in a while.

As you know, the State of Oregon operates on a two year budget cycle (a “biennium”) and the long process for establishing the 2027-2029 budget is beginning. For anglers, the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife’s budget should be of interest. On April 7 ODFW had an initial public budget meeting which you can watch here. I encourage you to watch the recording but I’ll provide my observations below.

The executive director of the Deschutes Trails Coalition was interviewed this morning on KPOV’s The Point show. She spoke about a variety of projects they are working on including the installation of a new, permanent dock at Paulina Lake via a grant from Visit Bend. Unfortunately, there was no information about this on the DTC website (or any of their other projects slated for this summer that she mentioned) but this could be great news. No more waiting for a least one temporary dock to be installed when the Forest Service gets around to it.

I received some criticism of my recent post stating that we need a binding guarantee from Central Oregon Irrigation District and North Unit Irrigation District that they will return conserved water to the Deschutes River in exchange for the $356M of mostly taxpayer money they want to spend to pipe the Pilot Butte Canal. “Trump would never suspend the Deschutes Basin Habitat Conservation Plan.” Well, it just happened in the Gulf of Mexico. Clearly, oil drilling is a high priority for the current administration, but this is just the latest attack on the Endangered Species Act which is the foundation of the DBHCP.

This is a blog about water and fish, but every now and then I post something off topic that I am interested in. In one of my previous lives I was a professional investment manager for a major Wall Street firm while based in Bend. In that capacity I became a fan of Jeremy Grantham, one of the most influential investors who you have probably never heard of. Widely derided as a “permabear”, someone who is always focused on potential market corrections, I have found him to be more like Warren Buffett, someone who does not jump on investing bandwagons and waits for opportunities when they arise. It is a philosophy that works for patient investors, like myself. It misses most of the upside when markets are irrationally exuberant as well as most of the downside when the correction inevitably comes. Slow, steady returns over time.

I recently spoke with a local environmental leader to chat about the recently ended Oregon legislative session and express my continuing disappointment with our elected representatives. This activist was tactful but confirmed my view stating that we have no elected environmental champions, at least effective ones. Sure, there are occasional good bills passed, like the recent increase in lodging taxes to benefit the environment (if the governor signs the bill), but we are applying band aids to a gaping wound. As I have written for years, most recently here, the fundamental issue with our local water crisis is the allocation of water rights over 100 years ago, an issue that no one is willing to address. Why is that?

Jason Grant of the Deschutes Land Trust gave an online presentation last week titled “Caring for Our Rivers and Streams” that is worth watching. I have known Jason, the DLT’s Restoration Specialist, for many years. He is experienced, knowledgeable, and has taught me a lot. The presentation covers the stream restoration that DLT is doing which is impactful for all Central Oregon anglers.

I have mixed feelings about the Native Fish Society. While they claim to be directed by the best available science, that has not always been the case, particularly when it comes to the Deschutes River. Regardless, I completely agree with their core position that we need to increase the abundance of wild salmonids and the best way to do that is to focus on suitable habitat for wild fish and to reduce the production of hatchery fish. A recent post on the NFS website outlines the amazing success of this approach with coho salmon in Oregon. The post is worth reading and be sure to watch the 30 minute presentation given last November to members of the Oregon senate. It’s compelling, although some senators on the panel seemed to be less than fully engaged. Locally, we have seen the success of this approach in the Metolius River where trout stocking ended in 1996.

While not in Central Oregon, the John Day River is close enough for a long day trip or easy overnighter and has been a focus of mine for many years. I learned to Spey cast on the John Day and have had some excellent steelhead days on this undammed river draining a huge watershed. Of course, the John Day is suffering like so many other rivers in Oregon, primarily due to irrigation withdrawals and other impacts from by agriculture, timber, and development.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is starting a far overdue assessment of temperature standards for the John Day. Better extremely late than never, I guess. It will take decades to see progress but at least they are starting something. I have tried to participate in these sort of things as a member of the public in the past but no longer have the patience for the politics and bureaucracy. (Note that the rulemaking advisory committee does not have a single member from an NGO representing fish or the environment.) If you want to follow along, however, here is the ODEQ webpage on the effort which includes information on how to watch meetings and here is a lot more information on TMDLs.

On rare occasions I post about something other than fish or water. I have a MSCS, like to maintain a current understanding of technology, and lately been spending an inordinate amount of time diving as deep as I can into the economic and investing aspects of AI. Recently, Paul Kedrosky has emerged as a compelling advocate of the AI bubble position, at least over the near term. This morning I asked Gemini “what are the errors in paul kedrosky’s analysis of an AI bubble” and was surprised by how quickly a detailed response was provided. LLMs clearly have limitations and uncertainties, especially from an economics and investor perspective, but they have become huge time savers for the sort of research and thinking I do. An LLM is not intelligent and could not have formulated Kedrosky’s argument but its ability to quickly provide an outline of a counterargument based on available sources in an obscure area was impressive. I still don’t understand how an AI company makes money by giving away access to these tools but they sure are useful.

Readers of this blog may recall that I am a member of the Deschutes Basin Water Collaborative which is nearing the end of a multiyear attempt to create a plan to address a wide range of water issues based on the state’s placed-based water planning process. It’s been a long, tedious process and, unsurprisingly, the outcome is going to be disappointing, but there have been informative conversations and presentations. One such presentation was given a few days ago and has been posted. “Water Quality Program Work in the Deschutes Basin” was a presentation by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality which covered their monitoring of “impoundments” (lakes and reservoirs) in the Deschutes River system from the headwaters to Lake Billy Chinook. I found it interesting and frustrating. The recording is of the entire DBWC meeting, the ODEQ presentation starts at 44 minutes and 50 seconds and lasts an hour and five minutes.

I try to avoid posting too much fish porn, but it’s been a while. We saw a beautiful sunrise before having a good day swinging flies for steelhead on the Lower Deschutes yesterday. I hooked into three fish. The middle sized one is in the photo below, it was somewhere over 32″ based on it’s length compared to my wingspan. Perhaps as much as 36″. I hope you are getting out there.

I spent the last two days camped in the Ochocos helping local ODFW biologists sample a remote river about two hours from Bend. This is the second trip I’ve done this year doing this in different areas. I previously had not spent any time exploring the Ochocos. Access is limited and pretty rough in spots. It’s not a premier fishing destination but it is beautiful and it is great to see that trout can survive at some level in small, heavily degraded rivers and streams. Cows, water diversions, and drought have certainly made an impact on what were once better aquatic environments.

I am a lifetime member of the Association of NW Steelheaders. I have been reconsidering my association with them as they have been sucked into the Deschutes River Alliance camp and actively spreading disinformation from the tin foil hat crowd but they continue to advocate for Snake River Dam removal, something that all steelhead and salmon anglers should care about. Here is a recent post from them on HR 2073, legislation introduced into the US House of Representatives that would prohibit the use of federal funds to allow or study the breach or alteration of the lower Snake River Dams. The post also includes a link for you to register your opposition to this bill.

Approximately 30 years ago the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife started tracking fish populations in various small creeks in the Ochoco National Forest. Some creeks and much of the North Fork Crooked River were already too degraded to hold redband trout, but some creeks still had robust populations. Every three years the survey is repeated and population trends are tracked. The primary purpose of the survey is to inform forest managers as they consider timber sales and changes in various forest management practices. Not too long ago this data was one of the reasons the proposal for expanding off highway vehicle access in the forest was strongly opposed. The survey is done by ODFW and US Forest Service personnel with the help of volunteers. For the past three days I was one of those volunteers, camping in the mountains, and visiting a number of creeks I had never seen before.

Over the past three months I have been exclusively fishing rivers in Oregon and Idaho. Today I got my lake boat out and headed to Paulina for the first time this year with one of my sons. As usual, it was beautiful, with very clear water, and plenty of willing fish. We landed more than our fair share, nothing huge, but lots of fun before the wind chased us off in the early afternoon. I am very concerned, however, by the incredible schools of tui chubs we encountered. They were everywhere in really big numbers. For many years, ODFW has been netting the chubs in East and Paulina lakes. Budget cuts have forced them to stop netting at Paulina and have a reduced program at East. It will be a real tragedy if funds are not found to resume netting at Paulina. The schools we saw were composed of small fish, but they will grow and reproduce quickly.

One of the many hats I wear is to arrange monthly presentations for Central Oregon Flyfishers. As you would expect, these are mostly talks on fly fishing but a few every year are on environmental issues. Next Wednesday, July 16, we will hear from the Wild Salmon Center. WSC takes a different approach than other environmental groups working to protect fish. Founded in 1992 and run since 1998 by Oregon native and fly fishing fanatic Guido Rahr, WSC works to protect “strongholds,” places still supporting wild anadromous salmonids. There’s a book titled “Stronghold” about Guido that I really enjoyed reading. The staff and board of directors at WSC are truly impressive. It should be a good talk and anyone can attend this meeting which is held at the Bend Elk’s Club and starts at 6 pm.

My wife and I returned yesterday from a 100 mile, six day float down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho. This river flows through the Frank Church – River of No Return Wilderness. We had some tough weather for four days but we were prepared and it was beautiful. It was great to be disconnected from normal life for a while.

Of course, we returned to concerning news on so many fronts, too typical these days, but I wanted to comment on the decision to end protections for 58 million acres of national forests by allowing road construction and logging, including in the Frank Church Wilderness. (This is an executive order and seperate from the bill being considered in the US Senate to sell public lands.) This order will have massive impact on many wilderness areas and this pristine river. The water was so clean and clear. Sediment runoff into the river from road construction and logging will be a disaster. If you want more on the trip, keep reading.

If you follow this blog you’ve probably been reading about the Trump administration’s recent decision to pull out of an agreement to restore salmon and steelhead populations in the Columbia Basin. Here’s a good overview from OPB. Needless to say, this is terrible news for anadromous fish. I have nothing to add to this except to direct you to a YouTube video of last Friday’s ODFW commission meeting where it was discussed starting at 2:34:49. (Yes, I do watch these things.) The frustration on the part of ODFW staff and the commission was on full display. Along those same lines, a discussion starting at 1:22:33 by the commissioners about the legislature overriding their decisions was telling. We live in a political world and ODFW has little political power.

This morning another member of Central Oregon Flyfishers and I met with a couple of the remaining staff at the Bend US Forest Service office to ask about extending the boat ramps at East Lake. They are aware of the problem and are trying to address it but a solution is at least three years out, likely longer. They are as frustrated as anyone but have many obstacles. Staff cuts have been huge. They have to consult with tribal authorities to get permission to dig anything for cultural reasons. They need a NEPA analysis. Etc. They may have a solution that is being piloted outside of Central Oregon but it will be a couple of years before they can make a determination that it will work. The good news is that they are aware that toilets at local lakes closed far too early last year and will keep at least one toilet per lake open to the end of the season if snow levels allow.

Yesterday I took one of my sons fishing on the McKenzie. It was cool and wet, and the river was a little high, but we landed a few nice rainbows, a couple of big whitefish, and many smaller fish. It’s not the Deschutes, but it is awfully nice to fish from a boat. An easy day trip to satisfy your need for trout before the Deschutes opens.