I received the monthly call notes last week but have been fishing a lot, so I’m a little a little late on this post. (BTW, I returned yesterday from three days on the Lower Deschutes and the top water action was very good. Get on it!) As you know, we are facing serious drought conditions. All local irrigation districts are providing reduced flows to their patrons. Ochoco Irrigation District (the primary water rights holder in Prineville Reservoir), is delivering a third less than normal. The reservoir did not fill over the winter and inflows are a trickle at only 10 cfs while outflows are at 255 cfs.

The good news is that there is a commitment to meeting the requirement of flows at 80 cfs at the CAPO gauge at the City of Prineville during OID’s irrigation season. This will provide some water for resident and anadromous fish down to Lake Billy Chinook. The US Fish & Wildlife Service has a plan to use “uncontracted storage” (aka “fish water”) to keep flows out of Prineville Reservoir at 50 cfs during the winter. 50 cfs is below the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife’s recommended minimum flow of 80 cfs, but it’s something.

The potential problem is that there could be a gap between when OID ends irrigation season and the beginning of winter storage season. OID targets October 15 for the end of irrigation season, but it can end sooner if they run out of water. Winter storage season begins November 1. I hope we don’t have a repeat of 2022 when flows were drastically reduced between the end of irrigation season and the beginning of winter storage season which resulted in significant fish population declines.