Media and Press

By Kyle Odegard  |  March 2, 2026  |  Capital Press Oregon’s snowpack looked “terrible” roughly one month from when it should hit its peak, and that could contribute to drought and wildfires and cause irrigation problems, said Larry O’Neill, Oregon state climatologist. The state’s snow-water equivalent was 32 percent of the median from 1991 to […]

By Zac Ziegler  |  Feb. 23, 2026  |  KLCC Radio A privately-owned dam on the North Umpqua River near Roseburg must update its fish ladder by 2029. Members of the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission voted six-to-one on Friday to adopt an administrative law judge’s order ruling that the Winchester Dam has been in violation

By Tracy Loew  |  Feb. 14, 2026  |  Salem Statesman Journal Oregon legislators are considering a bill that would prohibit public bodies from spending resources to help sell or transfer federal public lands to private interests. “National public lands belong to all Americans, including all Oregonians,” said Fiona Noonan of Central Oregon LandWatch at a

By Mateusz Perkowski  |  Feb. 11, 2026  |  Capital Press Environmentalists oppose House Bill 4006 , which would allow irrigators who rely on three pipeline projects in Northeast Oregon to more flexibly manage the “color of water” drawn from the river. Several environmental groups claim a bill meant to simplify government oversight of irrigation from

By Mateusz Perkowski  |  Feb. 5, 2026  |  Capital Press Fewer restrictions would be imposed on voluntary groundwater pumping reductions under a bill meant to ease the economic impact on irrigators from new regulations in the Harney basin. Late last year, Oregon water regulators decided to regulate the basinowing them to halt groundwater withdrawals to

By Sam Hill  |  Jan. 25, 2026  |  SFGATE  Concerns about Big Tech have emerged in a proposal to transfer land from the Mount Hood National Forest. Along the scenic shores of one of the Columbia River, a water dispute is growing between environmentalists and a city where Google devours nearly a third of its

By Mateusz Perkowski  |  Dec. 15, 2025 |  Capital Press Rights holder wants to change use from irrigation to sand and gravel mining. An environmental group has failed to convince Oregon regulators to cancel a water right associated with a Josephine County property whose owners are seeking a controversial transfer. The owners of the 65-acre

By Alejandro Figueroa  |  Dec. 12, 2025 |  Oregon Public Broadcasting Farmers in Harney County have come to rely on an aquifer that has long been known to be in serious decline. Now, Oregon water regulators will make drastic changes to how much water they can draw from the ground, following more than two years

By Mateusz Perkowski  |  Dec. 12, 2025 |  Capital Press Critics of the state’s adopted plan say it doesn’t protect the region’s ag-based economy. A petition seeking alternative rules to stabilize groundwater levels in Oregon’s Harney basin has failed to persuade regulators, who instead adopted the strategy preferred by a state agency. Though the Oregon

By Mateusz Perkowski  |  Dec. 11, 2025 |  Capital Press Water board will take testimony, but says it has grounds to deny application. Oregon water regulators are proposing to again reject a new irrigation reservoir in the Willamette Valley, though they plan to hear additional arguments before making a final decision. The Oregon Water Resources

By Stephen Floyd  |  Nov. 28, 2025  |  Our Town Community News The Oregon Water Resources Commission (OWRC) is set to discuss next steps on whether or not to approve an irrigation dam on Drift Creek, outside Silverton, during its regular meeting in December. This follows an Aug. 7th Oregon Supreme Court decision undoing the

By Sean Patrick Cooper  |  Nov. 24, 2025  |  Rolling Stone Amazon has come to Oregon’s eastern farmland, worsening a water pollution problem that’s been linked to cancer and miscarriages. In the spring of 2022, Jim Doherty kept having the same conversation with folks at the only grocery store in Boardman, his eastern Eastern Oregon

By Alejandro Figueroa  |  Sept. 29, 2025  |  OPB A coalition of irrigators, tribes and local governments organized under state Rep. Mark Owens — a Republican from Harney County and a farmer — recently filed a petition asking the Oregon Water Resources Commission to consider a different set of rules that diverges from regulators own

By Kendra Chamberlain  |  Aug. 27, 2025  |  Columbia Insight A court decision has upheld existing instream water rights held by the state on Drift Creek, a tributary of the Pudding River. A decision by the Oregon Supreme Court is being lauded as a win for fish, but could throw a wrench into future water

By Mateusz Perkowski  |  Aug. 8, 2025  |  Capital Press Read WaterWatch of Oregon’s corresponding press release on the Oregon Supreme Court decision. An irrigation district must get another chance to persuade Oregon water regulators to approve a new Willamette Valley reservoir, according to a recent state Supreme Court ruling. The East Valley Water District’s

By Mateusz Perkowski  |  March 31, 2025 |  Capital Press Bipartian legislation meant to staunch groundwater depletion in Oregon’s Harney Basin by bolstering voluntary conservation measures is drawing opposition from across the political spectrum. Though House Bill 3800 received support from some farmers and community leaders at a recent hearing, the proposal was characterized as