Feb. 10, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, please contact:
Jim McCarthy, WaterWatch of Oregon, jim@waterwatch.org
Groups’ Petition for Party Status:
https://shorturl.at/xf5eZ
Exhibit A of Petition:
https://shorturl.at/ITXd7
Exhibit B of Petition:
https://shorturl.at/lBVyO
Exhibit C of Petition:
https://shorturl.at/dYf6i
Fishermen, Conservationists Seek Intervention in Winchester Dam Case
Salmon, steelhead, and livelihoods at stake in case over dam’s outdated passage facilities.
Winchester, Oregon — Last week, Steamboaters, WaterWatch of Oregon, and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermens’ Associations (PCFFA) formally asked Oregon’s Office of Administrative Hearings for permission to participate in a state fish passage enforcement proceeding which may ultimately determine the fate of the 135-year-old Winchester Dam, a privately owned former hydropower structure near Roseburg commonly known as the biggest fish killer on the North Umpqua River. The groups seek to intervene in support of native fish runs and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), and against dam owner Winchester Water Control District’s legal challenge to an ODFW order requiring installation of new and improved upstream and downstream fish passage facilities at the dam in compliance with state law. The groups are jointly represented by public interest environmental law firms Earthjustice and Crag Law Center, as well as the Law Office of Karl G. Anuta.
This filing is the latest development in the years-long, high-profile back-and-forth between a statewide coalition of fishing, conservation, and whitewater groups and the dam District over the dam’s poor management and ongoing harm to the North Umpqua’s invaluable natural resources. The District’s governing board previously rejected a 2019 offer from the same groups and larger allied coalition to contribute $10,000 in engineering services to improve the dam’s fish ladder function, and then a subsequent 2020 offer to raise the funds necessary to remove the decaying dam at little to no direct cost to the District. The groups’ formal offer to remove the obsolete dam at little to no direct cost to the District still stands.
In late 2020, the same three allied groups filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon alleging that the dam — maintained exclusively to provide motorized flatwater boating for about 120 private landowners — causes damage to struggling salmon runs while impeding access to 160 miles of high quality habitat. This federal case, scheduled to go to trial on April 21st, deals specifically with the delay, injury, or killing of protected Southern Oregon Coast coho salmon by the dam’s outdated and poorly maintained fish ladder, by the District’s repeated unpermitted dam repair activities, and by the overwhelming number of leaks through the crumbling wood, concrete, and steel structure. The issues in this federal case overlap substantially with the issues in the state case which the allied groups now seek to join.
Construction costs for new fish passage facilities at the aged dam are expected to approach $100 million. The most recent comparable fish passage upgrade in the North Umpqua subbasin, at PacifiCorp’s Soda Springs Dam, cost upwards of $70 million. In contrast, dam removal experts WaterWatch of Oregon estimate Winchester Dam removal would cost between $3 million and $6 million using readily available state, federal, and private funds.
The 450-foot wide, 17-foot tall Winchester Dam is the highest ranked privately-owned structure on ODFW’s 2019 Statewide Fish Passage Priority List, where it is noted for impeding passage for spring Chinook, fall Chinook, summer steelhead, winter steelhead, cutthroat trout, and Pacific lamprey, as well as coho. The previous highest ranked privately-owned structure on this statewide list, Pomeroy Dam on the Illinois River near Cave Junction, was removed by WaterWatch in 2024 through an agreement reached with the landowner.
“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 Joe Ferguson, Steamboaters Board Secretary. “The fact that every salmon and steelhead passing over this dam risks injury or death by exposed metal, eroded concrete, or a pollution spill negates our work to protect fish habitat up stream.”
“From our perspective, this isn’t just about protecting salmon from an irresponsible dam owner,” said Glen Spain, Northwest Regional Director for PCFFA. “This is about protecting coastal fishing communities where thousands of good paying jobs, millions of pounds of annual seafood production, and a treasured way of life depends on healthy salmon runs.”
“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 remove this dam and end the needless harm it causes to invaluable natural resources.”
Winchester Dam staff photo with fish ladder in foreground by Jim McCarthy, photographed Jan. 13, 2025.