Deschutes River Model Watershed

“This plan offers an alternative to traditional restoration strategies. We propose to implement a full slate of coordinated restoration actions that will systematically address the range of limiting ecological conditions in priority stream reaches. We also propose a long-term approach to watershed restoration and monitoring, and to develop new funding paradigms to support this approach.”

Joint statement of the Crooked River Watershed Council, Upper Deschutes Watershed Council, Deschutes Basin Land Trust and the Deschutes River Conservancy

The Deschutes River originates in the Cascade Mountains of central Oregon and flows north to the Columbia River, dropping over 4,500 feet in roughly 250 miles, through a high desert area that includes alpine forests and sagebrush steppe. Prior to 1966, salmon and steelhead migrated from the Columbia River up into the Crooked River, Metolius River and Whychus Creek watersheds. These runs included the Suttle Lake sockeye salmon, one of only two historic sockeye runs in Oregon.

Opening fish passage to 226 miles of historic salmon and steelhead streams and restoring key habitat is the centerpiece of the 2005 operating license for the Pelton Round Butte hydropower complex, which aims to reintroduce salmon and steelhead to the upper Deschutes Basin beginning in 2007.

At the same time, the Crooked River Watershed Council, the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council, the Deschutes Basin Land Trust and the Deschutes River Conservancy have formed a river restoration partnership based on shared ecological goals for three of the highest priority watersheds for salmon and steelhead in the Deschutes basin. Strategies for restoration include land conservation, habitat improvement, removal of migration barriers, increased streamflow, and monitoring. These efforts are expected to enhance riparian wildlife, increase macro-invertebrate richness and diversity, and bolster native populations of bull trout and red-band trout. Importantly, the project will establish a model for accountable, scientific, and effective watershed restoration that can be applied elsewhere across the Pacific Northwest.

Project Timeline

• 2006 BEF signed an agreement with the Crooked River Watershed Council (CRWC) and the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council (UDWC) to undertake a 10-year watershed restoration and monitoring partnership to restore water quality, stream habitat, and native fish in three priority Deschutes basin watersheds: Wychus Creek, Lake Creek, and the lower Crooked River. With this agreement, BEF commits to provide technical support, funding for monitoring and evaluation, and the services of an independent scientific review team for the full 10-year duration of the partnership.