The Trump administration recently announced a significant weakening of the Endangered Species Act which should be of concern to all who care about the Deschutes River.  The change will be challenged in court but if it stands much of the work over the past decade to restore flows in the upper river could be in jeopardy.  While some tout the benefits of “collaborative” solutions to our local water issues, the truth is that improvements in the Deschutes have been driven by government mandates.

On July 10 the US Department of the Interior finalized a rule redefining the “harm” provision in the ESA effective on September 16 this year.  For 50 years harm has been defined to include actions that not only directly kill endangered species but also reduce their odds for survival, most commonly by removing or degrading habitat.  Examples include cutting down forests or reducing flows in rivers where endangered species live. 

The current administration has taken other steps to weaken the ESA such as using the Endangered Species Committee (the “God Squad”) to grant the oil industry a full exemption from the ESA in the Gulf of Mexico.  The administration has also declined to list new species that are clearly threatened such as Olympic Peninsula steelhead.

Local residents are aware of the dramatic seasonal changes in the Deschutes River above Lake Billy Chinook.  In summer the Upper Deschutes above and into Bend is full of water, well above historical flows, as irrigation water is released from Crane Prairie and Wickiup reservoirs.  In the winter, the river drops dramatically, well below historical flows, as the reservoirs are refilled for the next irrigation season.  Rights to the water in the Deschutes River are fully appropriated and water flowing out of Wickiup Reservoir was frequently reduced to a trickle in the winter, all of which was from seepage through the earthen dam.

These dramatic unnatural fluctuations reduced and degraded habitat for fish, wildlife, and amphibians such as the Oregon Spotted Frog which was listed as a threatened species under the ESA in 2014.  After years of effort, the US Fish and Wildlife Service approved the Deschutes Basin Habitat Conservation Plan submitted by local irrigation districts and the City of Prineville which, among other things, requires flows out of Wickiup to be gradually increased through 2033.  This was required under the “harm” provision of the ESA which has now been redefined to mean directly kill.

The ESA is not the only government mandate that has benefited the Deschutes River.  In 2002 the State of Oregon implemented the Deschutes Groundwater Mitigation Program requiring that any new groundwater pumping not impact flows in the Middle Deschutes below Bend.  This act has helped to some extent.  Previously, irrigation diversions would cause the river immediately below Bend to go dry in the summer.  Summer flows now exist but remain a tiny fraction of historical levels.  The mitigation program will ensure that they at least remain at current levels.  Note that the HCP does not apply to this section of the river.

Without these government mandates the Deschutes River from Crane Prairie Reservoir to Lake Billy Chinook would have continued to be little more than an irrigation ditch as it was for 100+ years.  That period saw the elimination of native species like bull trout, a dramatic reduction in native redband trout, and impacts to wildlife and amphibians.  

While some tout the benefits of collaborative solutions to restoring the health of the Deschutes River, the truth is that collaborative efforts have been primarily beneficial in finding solutions to fulfilling government mandates.  Only these mandates have brought irrigation districts and others to the table to find ways to implement them. 

A key mandate is now set to be eliminated later this year.  This change will be challenged in court, but if it stands, the future of the Deschutes River will once again be uncertain. Will local irrigation districts continue forward with their plans to pipe their irrigation canals? Will piping become even more dependent on taxpayer funding? Will they ignore the previously determined timeline? Will they splinter off into seperate directions? Only time will tell how the irrigation districts respond.