For as long as the Selective Water Withdrawal tower has been in operation I have written posts detailing upstream and downstream fish passage. Those posts have documented that efforts to reintroduce anadromous fish into the Upper Deschutes Basin have not met the goals established by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the operation of the Pelton Round Butte hydroelectric project, co-owned by Portland General Electric and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. On multiple occasions I have gone as far as to say that the reintroduction effort has been a failure thus far.

My personal position is that this is terrible but there is no credible science showing that the operation of the SWW has had an adverse impact on Lower Deschutes fisheries. Further, the FERC license requires the continued operation of the SWW, and some reintroduction progress, however slowly, is occuring. Recently a post was made on the Native Fish Society’s blog introducing their new Lower Deschutes River Steward which I found unhelpful. It was critical of the reintroduction effort but did not provide any thoughts about how things could be improved.

Thankfully, the NFS post did correctly point out that the primary issue facing Deschutes anadromous fish is global warming. We have recently seen somewhat cooler ocean conditions and returns over the past couple of years have been good compared to years when the heat dome and “the blob” caused returns to plummet. The current steelhead season, while still having months to go, has already seen a record return of fish to the Pelton Trap for transport into the Upper Deschutes Basin. The best available science, however, predicts ocean conditions will continue to deteriorate for anadromous fish.

Unfortunately, the post then states that the reintroduction program has been “worse than disappointing”, which is true, and states the need “to look for other solutions”. OK, what are those solutions? I’d love to hear them. The statement is made that CTWS should be a key element in determining these “other solutions”. Well, CTWS is one of the co-owners of PRB and is a strong supporter of the current operation. I have never heard anything from CTWS stating that something needs to be changed, quite the opposite in fact. They are economic beneficiaries of the project and the Pelton Trap provides them excess broodstock for tribal consumption. In fact, CTWS is one of many Oregon tribes who want to expand hatchery production.

So, what’s NFS’ idea for improvement? I really would love to hear it. The only action I know of that would make a real difference would be to tear down the dams. We have recently seen many examples of this working. Unfortunately, it will not happen anytime soon. Unlike other dams in the US that have been removed, PRB remains an economically viable facility and the tribes want it to continue operation indefinitely.

BTW, NFS should know that attempts to collaboratively find solutions to perceived issues on the Lower D have been tried and failed. NFS was part of the Deschutes Basin Stakeholder Working Group organized by PGE in 2022 which included environmental groups, government agencies, fishing guides, etc., and yours truly. A real attempt was made to find consensus on defining problems and outlining a path to exploring solutions. Unfortunately, the loudest critics of the SWW did not want to constructively participate and in the end nothing came of it.