The Oregon Water Resources Department has a web page on drought. It states, “The time period since the year 2000 is the driest on record for Oregon in the past 1,200 years. For context, the drought that caused the Dust Bowl of the 1930s lasted for less than a decade.” Pretty powerful statement. The page has some useful links if you have not already bookmarked them.

I have had a few conversations recently with anglers about the low water levels at East Lake who have speculated that the cause is increased flow out of East into Paulina. This speculation has also been voiced by some in various government agencies. While certainly possible, as far as I know, no study has been done and there is zero evidence of this. The most likely culprit is the 26 year long drought we have been experiencing. One or two decent years of snowfall is not going to provide enough water to counteract the long term trend of a warming planet.