FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 22, 2025
For information, please contact:
Jim McCarthy WaterWatch of Oregon, 541-941-9450 jim@waterwatch.org
Big Win for North Umpqua River Salmon and Steelhead
Winchester Dam Owners Must Build New Fish Passage Facilities by 2028
Roseburg – The North Umpqua River’s native migratory fish could soon find it easier to move upstream and downstream past Winchester Dam, thanks to an administrative law judge’s decision issued last week. The ruling in the contested case came after dam owners Winchester Water Control District chose to fight, rather than to comply with a September 2024 Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) proposed order requiring demolition of the old and inadequate north side fish ladder and construction of new and improved fish passage facilities on the south end of the dam, nearer to the natural travel corridor for native migratory fish. Construction of legally compliant fish passage at the dam is expected to cost upwards of $70 million. WaterWatch, Steamboaters, the Pacific Coast Federal of Fishermen’s Associations, and Institute for Fisheries Resources intervened in this case alongside and in support of the state and North Umpqua native fish. The hearing in this case wrapped in July, with the intervening fishing and conservation groups represented by attorneys at Earthjustice and Crag Law Center.
The proposed order at issue requires completion of new fish passage facilities by 2028. The 130-year-old Winchester Dam – maintained to provide motorized flatwater boating exclusively for about 110 private landowners – currently impedes access to 160 miles of high quality habitat upstream. For this reason, the 450-foot wide, 17-foot tall dam is the second highest ranked privately-owned structure on ODFW’s Statewide Fish Passage Priority List, where it is noted for impeding passage for coho, spring Chinook, fall Chinook, summer steelhead, winter steelhead, cutthroat trout, and Pacific Lamprey. The dam’s inadequate fish passage is compounded by the overwhelming number of leaks through and under the crumbling wood, concrete, and steel structure.
The dam owners rejected a 2019 offer from fishing and conservation groups to contribute $10,000 in engineering services to improve fish ladder function, and a 2020 offer to raise the funds necessary to remove the decaying dam at little to no direct cost to the owners.
“For over 50 years the Steamboaters have led successful efforts to protect and restore the North Umpqua’s important cool water and spawning and rearing habitat for salmon and steelhead, and most of that habitat is above Winchester Dam.” said Jeff Dose, Steamboaters Board member. “The fact that every salmon and steelhead passing over this dam risks injury or death by exposed rebar, eroded concrete, or a pollution spill negates our work to protect fish habitat up stream. We applaud ODFW for taking this important step for the North Umpqua’s native fish in the face of misguided opposition from the dam owners.”“The North Umpqua River is vital to Oregon’s economy and quality of life but faces serious challenges due to dams, climate change, population growth, and other impacts,” said Jim McCarthy, Southern Oregon Program Director for WaterWatch. “Winchester Water Control District’s fish-killing, dangerous, and obsolete dam provides no flood control, hydropower, or water supply function except to back up the river for a private waterski lake. It’s long past time to end the needless harm this dam causes to invaluable natural resources.”
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For 40 years, WaterWatch of Oregon has been committed to a single, clear mission: To protect and restore flows in Oregon’s rivers and waterways to sustain the native fish, wildlife, and people that depend on them. WaterWatch of Oregon was the first organization in the West to seek structural reform of antiquated water laws to protect and restore our rivers, and facilitated passage of Oregon’s landmark Instream Water Rights Act in 1987.