Tuesday, June 27, 2017
SALEM, Ore.—The
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is seeking public comment on a
request to forego fish screening at a new point of diversion on White
River, a tributary of the Deschutes River in Wasco County. Comments are
due by July 11, 2017.
The water user on White River applied for a
point of diversion transfer to their water right through the Oregon
Water Resources Department (OWRD application #T-10555) in 2008. This
transfer requested approval to relocate the point of diversion
downstream where water would be diverted through the use of a pump.
OWRD approved the Transfer Application in 2009
with a requirement that the applicant install and operate a fish screen
at the diversion. OWRD specified, “Prior to diverting water, the water
user shall install a fish screening and/or bypass device, as
appropriate, at the new point of diversion consistent with the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (ODFW) design and construction
standards.”
The applicant has applied to ODFW’s Fish Screening Task Force to be excused from compliance....
with the screening requirement.
White River originates on Mount Hood and flows
east to its confluence with the Deschutes River near Maupin, Ore. The
new point of diversion is located upstream of White River Falls, which
creates a natural barrier to upstream migration of fish such as salmon
and steelhead. However, the White River above the Falls is home to other
native migratory fish including mountain whitefish and a unique strain
of resident redband trout. Over 50 miles of fish habitat exist above
White River Falls.
The water user has requested to be excused from
compliance by the Fish Screening Task Force when it meets July 13, 2017
at the ODFW Enterprise District Office, 65495 Alder Slope Road,
Enterprise, Ore.
Members of the public can send written comments
to Alan Ritchey, Fish Screening and Passage Program Manager, 4034
Fairview Industrial Dr SE, Salem, OR, 97302, email Alan.D.Ritchey@state.or.us, or by calling (503) 947-6229. Comments need to be received by July 11, 2017
