UPDATE: A reader alerted me to the fact that I made a glaring error in this post. I used the abbreviation BLM (Bureau of Land Management) when I meant to use BoR (Bureau of Reclamation). Mea culpa. Sometimes I need an editor.

Yesterday I received a personal email from Advocates for the West stating that “on February 10, the Crook County Circuit Court rejected several ranchers’ attempt to invalidate a water right issued by the Oregon Water Resources Department (“OWRD”) to protect flows for fish and wildlife in the lower Crooked River.” This was in response to legal action by Advocates on behalf of WaterWatch. I’ll provide some background, but the bottom line is that flows that should have been protected for over a decade below the Wild & Scenic section will now be protected all the way to Lake Billy Chinook. I assume that Advocates and Waterwatch will publicize this soon, but here’s an early preview.

At the very end of 2014 the Crooked River Act was passed by congress. This is a complicated bill, and you can read more about it here. The bottom line is that the “fish water” that is supposed to be released from Prineville Reservoir was intended to be sent all the way to Lake Billy Chinook. There are 61 water diversions below the wild & scenic section, however, and to protect the water BLM needed to apply to OWRD for a water right. BLM dragged their feet on this for years despite repeated requests by WaterWatch.

The BLM finally requested a water right to protect the fish water from withdrawals but a group of agricultural interests well upstream from Prineville Reservoir protested. “The ranchers argued that OWRD lacked authority to issue the water right, but the Court disagreed. Although the Court sent the matter back to OWRD to address a procedural issue, it confirmed that the water right is substantively valid. The water right at issue in this case, which Advocates for the West and our partner intervened to defend, is essential to ensure that flows in the lower Crooked River — all the way from Bowman Dam to Lake Billy Chinook — are protected for fish and wildlife.”

This protest from landowners upstream of Prineville Reservoir never made any sense to me. How would a downstream water right negatively impact them? It looks like there are still some minor issues to work out, but finally, after 11 years, protecting the fish water may be imminent. This should be good news for resident trout as well as reintroduced anadromous fish.