Category: Water News

Water Issues Centered at Meeting of Data Center Advisory Committee

Friday’s virtual meeting of Oregon’s Data Center Advisory Committee focused on the impacts of data centers on water resources. The more Oregonians learn about data centers and their rapid growth, along with the ongoing impact of data centers on water, energy rates, communities, and our environment overall — the more Oregonians have become increasingly uncomfortable […]

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Take Action — Tell Senators Wyden and Merkley to Vote NO on HR 655

Contact Senators Wyden and Merkley to let them know you don’t support public land being stripped away from the Mt. Hood National Forest to supply water for data centers. Controversy continues to grow over Oregon Congressman Cliff Bentz’s bill HR 655, which would remove 150 acres of federal public land from the Mt. Hood National

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Coalition Letter to Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley Urges Opposition to HR 655

Senator Ron Wyden911 NE 11th Ave.Suite 630Portland, OR 97232 Senator Jeff Merkely121 SW Salmon St.Suite 1400Portland, OR 97204 February 18, 2026 Dear Senator Wyden and Senator Merkley, On behalf of our tens of thousands of members and supporters across Oregon, we write to object to the giveaway of public lands in the Mount Hood National

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Submit Written Testimony NOW to Help Stop a Bad Columbia River Water Bill

WaterWatch and our allies need your immediate help to prevent passage of HB 4006, a bill that would exempt Umatilla Basin irrigators that divert water from the Columbia River from key water laws that every other farmer in the state must adhere to. If passed, HB 4006 would fundamentally change water right management of Columbia

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Submit Testimony Now in Support of the 1.25% for Wildlife Bill at HB 4134

As Oregonians we know how beautiful our state is, and the diversity of habitats and wildlife we love are part of what makes Oregon such a special place to live. With Oregon’s short legislative session for 2026 getting underway today, the 1.25% for Wildlife bill is back before policymakers with bipartisan support as HB 4134.

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WaterWatch Hiring Development Director

Download a PDF of this job description here. Jan. 9, 2026 DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR WaterWatch of Oregon is seeking a Development Director to help develop and implement strategic fundraising for the organization to meet its annual budget and fund expansion set forth in WaterWatch’s Strategic Plan. WaterWatch is an environmental non‐profit organization founded in 1985 with

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Congratulations! Governor Kotek Signs 1.25% for Wildlife Bill Into Law!

You did it! The landmark 1.25% for Wildlife initiative is now law! Dedicated funding for Oregon fish, widlife, and habitat is secrued. The Latest Huge news as Governor Tina Kotek has signed the 1.25% for Wildlife bill into law, marking a huge win for Oregon’s fish, wildlife, and habitat — and putting a successful punctuation

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There’s Still Time to Support Oregon’s Rivers in 2025!

Dec. 31, 2025 In these final hours of 2025, the WaterWatch of Oregon team is taking stock of a challenging, but also busy and successful year for Oregon’s rivers and water — plus we celebrated our 40th anniversary with you throughout the year! As we look toward 2026 we’re reminded again of our collective commitment to

There’s Still Time to Support Oregon’s Rivers in 2025! Read More »

WaterWatch’s 2025 Accomplishments Report Out Now

As the print edition of our 2025 Accomplishments Report begins to arrive in mailboxes, a PDF of our report is online now. With the holiday season in full swing and the end of the year fast approaching, we’re thrilled to announce our 2025 Accomplishments Report will arrive shortly in mailboxes. While there’s no doubt 2025

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Act Now to Support New Instream Water Rights in Oregon’s Coastal River Basins

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) has filed applications to establish 44 new instream water rights in Oregon’s North Coast and Mid-Coast regions, and with the public comment period closing this Thursday, Dec. 18th, at 5 p.m. we need your help NOW to ensure legal protections are secured for these beloved coastal rivers and streams — from the Nehalem

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Support Our Work to Defend Instream Water Rights

As we prepare to go to court to help defend several challenges to ODFW instream water right applications in the Umpqua Basin, we need your help to support our efforts. Signed into Oregon state law in 1987, the landmark Instream Water Rights Act remains one of WaterWatch’s earliest successes and lasting accomplishments, and allows three

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Instream: Water Resources Commission Adopts Integrated Water Resources Strategy (IWRS) Update

In September, the Oregon Water Resources Commission adopted the 2025 update to the Integrated Water Resources Strategy (IWRS), Oregon’s blueprint for meeting instream and out-of-stream water needs into the future. In 2009 WaterWatch helped shape the law that sets the framework for the IWRS. Working closely with then-state Senator Jackie Dingfeler, WaterWatch convinced the Oregon

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Our 40th Anniversary — What an Event!

What a fantastic time we had on Nov. 1st! Thank you for being a part of it! Thank you to everyone — our attendees, our volunteers from Lewis and Clark College, the caterers at Elephant’s Deli, the audio-visual team at David Efaw Productions, the staff at Castaway Portland, photographer Nina Johnson, our Golden Ticket holders, and everyone who provided auction packages for

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Instream: The First Four Decades of WaterWatch of Oregon

By WaterWatch of Oregon Staff Oct. 30, 2025 Western water law is full of strange contradictions and paradoxical constructs. Water is extremely valuable, yet water itself is absolutely free. Water is valuable, yet we do not measure the majority of society’s use of water. When a pioneering group of Rogue River anglers came together in

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If You Love Fishing, You Won’t Want to Miss This Year’s Live or Silent Auctions

As we inch closer to WaterWatch of Oregon’s 40th Anniversary Celebration and Annual Auction on Saturday, Nov. 1st, at Castaway Portland, we can’t believe the volume of auction packages we still want to share with you ahead of doors opening. One thing we do know is if you love to fish, you’ll be right at

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Take Action! Help Stop a Bad Groundwater Deal for the Harney Basin!

A petition filed by Representative Mark Owens would undermine proposed rules to stabilize groundwater in the Harney Basin. The Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) is moving to designate the Harney Basin in the high desert of southeast Oregon a “critical groundwater area” to ensure more sustainable groundwater levels. Proposed rules developed over the course of a lengthy and exhaustive public

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Early Bird Pricing for Our 40th Anniversary Celebration Has Closed

Our discounted early bird ticket pricing for WaterWatch’s 40th Anniversary Celebration and Annual Auction has now closed. Don’t worry — you still have up to a day before our 40th Anniversary Event on Saturday, Nov. 1st, to purchase tickets at our regular rate of $150 per ticket. Purchase your tickets here. Plan now to join us Nov. 1st

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And the Winner of Our August Fishing Trip Raffle Is….

We hope you enjoyed your Labor Day holiday weekend with family and friends, and we’re thrilled to announce the winner of our guided fishing raffle with Nick Rowell of Anadromous Anglers are Steve and Debra L., a couple whose names were drawn earlier with the close of our August Matching Campaign. Steve and Debra will

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Rogue Dam Removals and This Saturday’s Rogue Spey Clave

WaterWatch will be on the Rogue this Saturday, Aug. 23rd, along with anglers, Spey casters, fly fishing guides, casting instructors, and exhibitors from across the Pacific Northwest at the inaugural Rogue Spey Clave. We hope you’ll join us at Griffin Park on the Rogue River and learn more about WaterWatch’s laser focus on ending the

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Oregon Supreme Court Protects Instream Water Rights

Aug. 13, 2025 In a win for WaterWatch of Oregon and instream water rights, the Oregon Supreme Court last week upheld most of a 2023 Court of Appeals decision that affirmed a 2019 Oregon Water Resources Commission decision to deny a permit to construct a 70-foot high dam and 384-acre reservoir on Drift Creek, an 11-mile tributary of the Pudding River in Marion

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Join WaterWatch at the Inaugural Rogue Spey Clave Aug. 23rd

Join WaterWatch of Oregon and a giant cast of anglers, Spey casters, fly fishing guides, casting instructors, and exhibitors from across the Pacific Northwest at the inaugural Rogue Spey Clave on Saturday, Aug. 23rd, at Griffin Park on the Rogue River. Organized by longtime Oregon fly fishing guides and Spey casting instructors Jon Hazlett and Dax Messett, the Rogue Spey Clave takes inspiration from events

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Advocating for Strong Rules to Sustain Groundwater, Habitat, and Species in the Harney Basin

Thank you to WaterWatch members, supporters, and friends for your responses in letting the Oregon Water Resources Department know you support the adoption of strong rules to sustain groundwater, habitat, and species in the Harney Basin over the last month. After an extensive, multi-year, multi-stakeholder process and in-depth scientific study, the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) issued

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Instream: Forty Years of Protecting and Restoring Oregon’s Lesser-Known Natural Treasures

By John DeVoe with Tommy Hough The Deschutes, Rogue, and Klamath rivers. The Willamette and the McKenzie. Much of WaterWatch’s work protects and restores cold water habitat on these iconic Oregon rivers. But that’s not all WaterWatch does. WaterWatch has a 40-year tradition of protecting and restoring smaller, more intimate and remote streams no less

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Instream: In Conversation with Karen Russell, a WaterWatch Original Watchdog

As part of WaterWatch’s 40th anniversary, we’re featuring articles in Instream and at WaterWatch.org that highlight our work and success over the last four decades, and profiling some of the people who played key roles in building WaterWatch’s legacy. By Tommy Hough WaterWatch staff, board, and alumni often offer unprompted credit to Karen Russell for

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Instream: Free the Rogue Milestones

By Jim McCarthy The Rogue River has historically supported the largest runs of wild salmon and steelhead in Oregon outside of the Columbia Basin. In turn, this abundance has supported commercial and recreational fishing jobs throughout our region, seafood production, and world class recreational opportunities. Unfortunately, Rogue Coho salmon are now listed as threatened under

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Instream: Fighting for Rivers During the 2025 Legislative Session

A recap of the 2025 long Oregon legislative session in Salem. By Kimberley Priestley, WaterWatch Senior Policy Advisor WaterWatch has been a dogged voice for rivers in the Oregon legislature for the past 40 years, and 2025 was no different as we tirelessly advocated for rivers in deliberations on over 120 water bills, a dozen

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Join WaterWatch on Aug. 2nd for a Daylong Blueberry Benefit Event in Hillsboro

It may be the middle of summer, but no matter the season or time of year blueberries are always a welcome treat. And you and your family are invited to join us this Saturday, Aug. 2nd, for a special blueberry picking benefit for WaterWatch at Muir Blueberry Farm in Hillsboro as Muir Farm donates all

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WaterWatch of Oregon’s 40th Anniversary Celebration and Annual Auction

After months of preparation — atop a highly challenging year advocating for our world-class rivers — WaterWatch of Oregon’s 40th Anniversary Celebration and Annual Auction arrives at Castaway Portland this Saturday evening, Nov. 1st. We’re looking forward to catching up with you along with WaterWatch’s diverse community of anglers, birders, boaters, conservationists, and river fanatics to

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Join WaterWatch at Oakshire’s Portland Beer Hall July 15th

If you’re in the Portland area today — Tuesday, July 15th — stop by and join us at the Oakshire Brewing Portland location for a daylong Oakshire Inspires event benefitting WaterWatch of Oregon! WaterWatch staff and board members will be on-site at the Portland Beer Hall from 4 to 7 p.m. at 5013 NE 42nd

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Take Action Now to Support HB 2977 for Oregon’s Fish and Wildlife

As you’ve seen in our recent action alerts, the legislative session in Salem is about to end for the year, and a number of important environmental bills are still jockeying for votes. One bill that would make major improvements to Oregon’s fish and wildlife conservation funding is close to passing, but we need your help to give

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Keep Oregon’s Rivers Flowing with a Gift from a Donor-Advised Fund (DAF)

Across Oregon, compromised streamflows and fish passage barriers are threatening native salmon and steelhead, birds, amphibians, and wildlife — as well as disrupting the ecosystems and communities that depend on healthy rivers. That’s why, for over 40 years, WaterWatch has worked to protect and restore natural streamflows and groundwater to ensure our rivers have enough water

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We Need Your Support for Oregon Senate Bill 1153 NOW

Clean water, strong rivers, and healthy fish and wildlife are part of Oregon’s identity, yet many of our state’s outdated water laws are at odds with those values. Right now we have a chance to protect the public benefits our rivers provide by tightening a dangerous loophole that currently allows the Oregon Water Resources Department

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Please Weigh in NOW Against Three Bad Rules Bills

Please speak up NOW to help us stop three bad rules bills targeting state rulemakings, agency discretion, and executive functions. The three bills — HB 3569, HB 2692, and HB 2454 — follow the ongoing federal trend of blurring the lines between the three branches of government, and gives the regulated industry a leg up

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Take Action to Save the Endangered Species Act

The White House is threatening the integrity of the federal Endangered Species Act by proposing to remove the regulatory definition of “harm.” As part of its ongoing campaign attacking long-standing U.S. environmental laws and policies, the White House is threatening a critical underpinning of the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) by proposing to remove the regulatory definition of “harm,” which is

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Critical Support Needed for Rivers This Earth Day

At no other moment since the first Earth Day 55 years ago has our nation’s conservation legacy been so threatened. Earth Day is a special day for everyone who loves and appreciates life on our planet as we celebrate habitat, species, vast landscapes, clean air, and the water that renews and recharges our rivers, streams,

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Instream: Bridge Creek Ranch Diversion Update

By Brian Posewitz WaterWatch recently completed a contested case hearing seeking to prevent a water right transfer from exacerbating low streamflows in Bridge Creek, a tributary to the John Day River with important habitat for threatened steelhead. Bridge Creek Ranch, an affiliate of Papé Machinery that owns and operates Painted Hills Reservoir, wants to move

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Instream: Chinook Spawn in Former Pomeroy Dam Reservoir Site

By Jim McCarthy This past fall, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists found fall chinook salmon spawning in a stretch of the Illinois River previously submerged under the Pomeroy Dam reservoir pool. This development came just a few months after WaterWatch removed the 10-foot high, 270-foot wide concrete structure from this Rogue Basin tributary,

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Instream: Safeguarding Streamflows in Water Right Transfers

By Kimberley Priestley An unintended regulatory loophole in Oregon’s water transfer laws allow old water rights to serve new uses, move to new diversion points, or change the place of use without any environmental review, effectively nullifying Oregon’s ability to protect instream values on hundreds of streams across the state. Currently, transfer applicants only need

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Instream: Life Lessons from Author and Angler Steve Duda

By Jesse Robbins Last summer, Seattle-based author, angler, musician, and conservationist Steve Duda and I visited bookstores and readers in Beaverton and Bend — and even made an appearance on KOIN-TV’s AM Extra morning program in Portland — to share and help promote Steve’s book River Songs: Moments of Wild Wonder in Fly Fishing and discuss fly

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Instream: WaterWatch Back in Trial to Protect Grave Creek

By Lisa Brown WaterWatch went to trial in March regarding a water right for a proposed large-scale open pit mine along Grave Creek in Sunny Valley. A popular put-in for boaters, Grave Creek is an important stream for salmon, steelhead, and lamprey that flows into the Rogue River at the upper end of its Wild

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