Neil Brandt

Extensive Use of Tire Mats in Winchester Dam Repairs Sparks Fears of Toxic-Driven Fish Kill

Aug. 21, 2023 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For information please contact: Jim McCarthy, WaterWatch of Oregon, (541) 941-9450, jim@waterwatch.org Extensive Use of Tire Mats Use in Winchester Dam Repairs Sparks Fears of Toxic-Driven Fish Kill A compound called 6PPD-q is highly toxic to salmon and steelhead, and can kill Coho salmon within hours. Winchester, OR – […]

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River Action Alert: Please help Oregon’s rivers by speaking up in support of ODFW’s Water Program!

Please help Oregon’s rivers by speaking up in support of ODFW’s Water Program! The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (ODFW) Water Quality and Quantity Program plays a vital role in protecting water in our state’s iconic rivers. Whether it’s reviewing new water right applications to ensure that they won’t harm our rivers, securing new

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Race to the Bottom: How Central Oregon Groundwater Sells to the Highest Bidders

By Emily Cureton Cook  |  July 19, 2022  |  Oregon Public Broadcasting In Oregon’s fastest-growing region, more residents are struggling to reach an affordable water supply. A developer’s quest to keep pumping tests what state officials are willing to do about it. Editor’s note: This is the third story in a series about how Oregon

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Race to the Bottom: How Big Business Took Over Oregon’s First Protected Aquifer

By Emily Cureton Cook  |  March 16, 2022  |  Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) In Malheur County’s Cow Valley, state regulators have ignored known issues with overpumping groundwater, leaving the region at risk of economic and ecological damage that will be difficult to reverse. The warnings were hard to miss on a forsaken stretch of Highway

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In Turnaround, Oregon Agencies Say They’re “Ready to Work Together” for Lake Abert Solution

By Rob Davis  |  Feb. 21, 2022  |  The Oregonian After ignoring its decline for years, state agencies have pledged to help Lake Abert, Oregon’s only saltwater lake and a vital stop on the Pacific Flyway, which has run dry twice in the last eight years. In a Feb. 16 letter to environmental groups, the

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“The State Must Do More” — Lawmakers Weigh How to Protect Dry Lake Abert

By Rob Davis |  Jan. 25, 2022   |  The Oregonian State lawmakers and environmental groups responded to an investigation by The Oregonian into the state’s failure to protect Lake Abert, Oregon’s only salt lake, by promising oversight hearings and calling for immediate action to restore the migratory bird stop that has run dry twice

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Oregon’s Lake Abert is “In Deep Trouble.” The State Shut Down Its Effort to Figure Out Why

By Rob Davis  |  Jan. 16, 2022  |  The Oregonian When Oregon’s only saltwater lake mysteriously dried up in 2014, turning a vibrant landscape teeming with migratory birds into a desiccated, abandoned salt pan, state environmental regulators mobilized. Lake Abert, a 64-square-mile lake in south central Oregon’s high desert, had gone almost completely dry for

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Administrative Hearing Underway Over Botched 2018 Winchester Dam Repair River Advocates Intervening to Protect North Umpqua Water Quality

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR HEARING CALL-IN INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Jim McCarthy, WaterWatch of Oregon, 541-941-9450, jim@waterwatch.org July 13th, 2021 Salem – Today, river advocates were again working to hold a polluter accountable for a botched October 2018 repair at Winchester Dam on the North Umpqua River. An Oregon administrative law judge has scheduled three days

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Jim McCarthy of WaterWatch Discusses the Klamath Basin on OPB’s Think Out Loud

By Elizabeth Castillo and David Miller  |  July 13, 2021  |  Oregon Public Broadcasting David Miller from Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Think Out Loud spoke with Jim McCarthy, Southern Oregon program director for WaterWatch, about our longstanding work to protect and restore waterfowl and wetlands in the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex, and took a

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Administrative Hearing Over Botched 2018 Winchester Dam Repair Begins July 13 River Advocates Intervening to Protect North Umpqua Water Quality

FOR HEARING CALL-IN INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Jim McCarthy, WaterWatch of Oregon, 541-708-0048, jim@waterwatch.org Administrative Hearing Over Botched 2018 Winchester Dam Repair Begins July 13 River Advocates Intervening to Protect North Umpqua Water Quality Salem – Next week, river advocates will again be working to hold a polluter accountable for a botched October 2018 repair at

Administrative Hearing Over Botched 2018 Winchester Dam Repair Begins July 13 River Advocates Intervening to Protect North Umpqua Water Quality Read More »

Cheese in the Desert: Why Mega-Dairies Are Piping Water Onto Oregon’s Shrub Steppe

By Dawn Stover  |  May 6, 2021  |  Columbia Insight Author Dawn Stover is an independent journalist based in White Salmon, Washington, and a contributing editor at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Cody Easterday is still waiting for the Oregon Department of Agriculture to approve his application, submitted in June 2019, for a Confined

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Fishermen, Conservationists Demand Action Against Outlaw Dam

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 30, 2021 CONTACT: Jim McCarthy, WaterWatch of Oregon, 541-708-0048, jim@waterwatch.org Fishermen, Conservationists Demand Action Against Outlaw Dam Known Safety Issues Still Unrepaired on High-Hazard Winchester Dam Seventeen Months After Owners Put on Notice River Advocates’ Letter Regarding Winchester Dam Safety: https://bit.ly/31wiPB2 Winchester Dam October 2019 State Safety inspection Letter: https://bit.ly/3g4tedU Roseburg

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Northwest Senators Urged to Reject Rep. Simpson’s Disastrous Plan for Endangered Salmon

For Immediate Release, March 16, 2021 Contact: Quinn Read, Center for Biological Diversity, (206) 979-3074, QRead@biologicaldiversity.org John DeVoe, WaterWatch of Oregon, john@waterwatch.org, (503) 295-4039 x 1 Kurt Beardslee, Wild Fish Conservancy, kurt@wildfishconservancy.org, (206) 310-9301 David A. Moskowitz, The Conservation Angler, david@theconservationangler.org, (971) 235-8953 Northwest Senators Urged to Reject Rep. Simpson’s Disastrous Plan for Endangered Salmon

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Recording of Summer Webinar Series #3: Dr. Peter Brewitt, author of “Same River Twice”

A recording of WaterWatch of Oregon’s Summer Webinar #3 on August 12th, 2020. Description: Not long ago, dam removal was perceived as an unrealistic and radical alternative in the river restoration and conservation movement. But within roughly the past two decades, hundreds of removals have happened, with many taking place here in the Pacific Northwest.

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Recording of Summer Webinar Series #2: Peter Marbach, author of “Healing the Big River”

A recording of WaterWatch of Oregon’s Summer Webinar #2 on August 5th, 2020. Description: In this webinar, photographer Peter Marbach shares images, stories, and excerpts from essays from his recent book, “Healing The Big River – Salmon Dreams and the Columbia River Treaty.” In the book, readers are guided on a journey back in time

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Recording of Summer Webinar Series #1: John Larison, author of “Whiskey When We’re Dry”

A recording of WaterWatch of Oregon’s Summer Webinar #1 on July 29th, 2020. Description: Join bestselling novelist and former Oregon fly-fishing guide John Larison for an interactive lecture on the creative power of water. John will guide you through a brief history of water’s effect on human creativity, from the salty origins of art on

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