u/xenovacivus

There's a stretch of the Little Deschutes River in Oregon that's going dry because no water is being released from the Gilchrist mill pond dam. This section is roughly 7.5 miles long and stretches from the Gilchrist mill pond dam to Crescent Creek.

The section in the picture is entirely dry, but other sections still have (ever shrinking) pools of water with fish/crayfish/mussels and other river life.

As for why there's no release - This is an unprecedented event, and it seems there's no protocol to handle it. Here's what I've heard - There was an official ask earlier this year to remove no water from the mill pond. I'm not sure who this ask came from or what the exact wording was; I'll assume OWRD (please comment if you know). I also assume that request was regarding water removal for irrigation or fire prevention, not for continued flow downstream. Regardless, it seems the dam owners are concerned they might be in violation of that request if they release water from the dam. Additionally, I've heard from OWRD that the dam operator has no legal requirement to release water from the dam. But - OWRD also expects that anything that flows into the mill pond will flow out. That's definitely not the case; there is 14.1CFS coming in, and nothing coming out.

It's pretty obvious to me what the right thing to do here is - release enough water to at least keep the river on life support for the time being. If that outflow lowers the mill pond to the extent wildlife is dying there too (which is unlikely), then we can re-evalulate. Worst case, the dam is blocked again and the mill pond will refill to it's existing levels within a week or so.

The more attention this gets, the sooner we'll get a decision. Comment, upvote, share, call OWRD and other government agencies (I have), or sign the petition below - any of those will show your support.

Petition: https://c.org/2vrXpM9Fpc

Thanks.

(Edit: added more context and information)

There's a stretch of the Little Deschutes River in Oregon that's going dry because no water is being released from the Gilchrist mill pond dam. This section is roughly 7.5 miles long and stretches from the Gilchrist mill pond dam to Crescent Creek.

Some sections of the river are completely dry, but in others there are small pools where surviving fish, frogs, mussels, and crayfish are taking refuge.

As for why there's no release - This is an unprecedented event, and it seems there's no protocol to handle it. Here's what I've heard - There was an official ask earlier this year to remove no water from the mill pond. I'm not sure who this ask came from or what the exact wording was; I'll assume OWRD (please comment if you know). I also assume that request was regarding water removal for irrigation or fire prevention, not for continued flow downstream. Regardless, it seems the dam owners are concerned they might be in violation of that request if they release water from the dam. Additionally, I've heard from OWRD that the dam operator has no legal requirement to release water from the dam. But - OWRD also expects that anything that flows into the mill pond will flow out. That's definitely not the case; there is 14.1CFS coming in, and nothing coming out.

It's pretty obvious to me what the right thing to do here is - release enough water to at least keep the river on life support for the time being. If that outflow lowers the mill pond to the extent wildlife is dying there too (which is unlikely), then we can re-evalulate. Worst case, the dam is blocked again and the mill pond will refill to it's existing levels within a week or so.

The more attention this gets, the sooner we'll get a decision. Comment, upvote, share, call OWRD and other government agencies (I have), or sign the petition below - any of those will show your support.

Petition: https://c.org/2vrXpM9Fpc

Thanks.

For the first time in recent history, a 5 mile section of the Little Deschutes river is going dry. This is the result of human intervention: a dam in Gilchrist is withholding all river flow.

Fish, crayfish, mussels, beavers, and other wildlife which rely on the river are dying.

The river needs our help, and there are questions to answer.

Why is there no release from the dam? Is it because the owners of the Gilchrist Waterfront Resort have influence on the dam, and are trying to keep the reservoir full for tourism?

How much water would need to be released from the dam to keep the river alive?

Currently ~12CFS flows into the reservoir, but nothing flows out - how much loss is there to seepage into the ground, and how fast are the reservoir levels dropping? How will a river sustaining outflow affect this rate? How long will the reservoir hold enough water for firefighting resources? The solution is a balance, and with this information and enough advocacy, we can motivate the right balance.

People of Oregon, let's save a river!