Virtual Columbia River Treaty Presentation This Monday at 12 Noon

As WaterWatch recently detailed, along with fellow environmental organizations in a Columbia River Treaty Conservation Caucus press release, and as reported by the Associated Press and PBS, the U.S. and Canada have reached an agreement in principle on some items that were the subject of negotiations in the ongoing update to the Columbia River Treaty. Unfortunately, that update remains focused on utility revenue and flood control at the […]

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Huge California Dam Removal Project Ahead of Schedule — With Historic Return of Wildlife to Follow

By Kurtis Alexander  |  July 25, 2024  |  San Francisco Chronicle The dams, collectively known as the Klamath Hydroelectric Project, were built between 1911 and 1962 to provide electricity. The nation’s largest dam-removal project is moving along faster than planned, with the demolition work on the Klamath River near the California-Oregon border due to wrap

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U.S. Would Keep More Hydropower Under Agreement with Canada on Treaty Governing Columbia River

By Gene Johnson  |  July 11, 2024  |  Associated Press The U.S. and Canada said Thursday they have agreed to update a six-decade-old treaty that governs the use of one of North America’s largest rivers, the Columbia, with provisions that officials said would provide for effective flood control, irrigation, and hydropower generation and sharing between

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Disappointing Columbia River Treaty “Agreement in Principle” Prioritizes Hydropower, Flood Control Over Needs of Imperiled Salmon and River Health

July 11, 2024 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information, please contact:Bill Arthur, Sierra Club, billwarthur@gmail.comJoseph Bogaard, Save Our wild Salmon Coalition, joseph@wildsalmon.orgRev. A.C. Churchill, Earth Ministry / Washington Interfaith Power and Light, ac@earthministry.orgJohn DeVoe, WaterWatch of Oregon, john@waterwatch.org Columbia River Treaty “Agreement in Principle” Prioritizes Hydropower andFlood Control Over the Needs of Imperiled Salmon and

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Instream: Summertime River Hikes

July 3, 2024 By John DeVoe with Tommy Hough Wenaha River Tim Palmer’s Field Guide to Oregon Rivers calls the Wenaha “one of the Northwest’s wildest streams … with no roads, dams, development or diversions.” He should know. A few years ago, Tim and a couple of friends hiked up the Wenaha from the lower

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Third Dam Removal Completed in Nine Years in Rogue River’s Evans Creek Subbasin

June 26, 2024 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For information please contact:Jim McCarthy, WaterWatch of Oregon, (541) 941-9450, jim@waterwatch.orgBrian Barr, Rogue River Watershed Council, (541) 621-7226, bbarr@rogueriverwc.org Williams-Whalen Dam before and after removal images are available here: https://tinyurl.com/54dfjadxCredit photos to Rogue River Watershed Council/Crystal Nichols Third Dam Removal Completed in Nine Years in Rogue’s Evans Creek SubbasinCollaborative

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Written Remarks in Support of Revised Groundwater Allocation Rules

May 21, 2024 The public comment period has now closed on this initiative. If enacted, long-overdue updates to the state’s groundwater allocation rules will begin to rein in Oregon’s decades-long pattern of over-issuing pumping rights, and implement the guidelines of Oregon’s forward-looking, landmark 1955 Ground Water Act, including proposed changes to better account for impacts

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WaterWatch Supporters, Staff to Testify in Support of Groundwater Allocation Revisions at Final OWRD Groundwater Meeting in Salem

May 20, 2024 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For information please contact: Tommy Hough, WaterWatch of Oregon, tommy@waterwatch.org When Tuesday, May 21st – 5:30 to 9 p.m. (information session to begin at 5:30 p.m., public meeting to begin at 7 p.m.) Where North Mall Office Building 725 Summer St. NE Room 124 Salem, OR 97301 What The Oregon

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Oregon Water Partnership Supports Appointment of Ivan Gall as Director of Oregon Water Resources Department

May 10, 2024 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For information please contact: Tommy Hough, WaterWatch of Oregon, tommy@waterwatch.org Oregon Water Partnership Supports Appointment of Ivan Gall as Director of Oregon Water Resources Department Oregon Senate to begin confirmation process of 26-year agency veteran at the end of May. Salem, Oregon — The Oregon Water Partnership (OWP) supports

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Instream: At Long Last, Revised Groundwater Rules for Oregon

April 18, 2024 By Lisa Brown After an exhaustive and scientifically rigorous process, the Oregon Water Resources Department published proposed groundwater allocation rules reliant upon science and data to implement Oregon’s forward-looking 1955 Ground Water Act — and put Oregon on a more sustainable path to smart, sensible, environmentally-sound groundwater allocation. On March 1st, the

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Declining Aquifer Levels Raise Alarm Among Central Oregon Hydrologists and Officials

By Michael Kohn  |  April 13, 2024  |  Bend Bulletin Amid patches of snow and ponderosa pines, a half mile from Lava Island Falls in the Deschutes River, a pair of hydrologists with the Oregon Water Resources Department dropped a cable down an observation well to determine the depth of groundwater near Bend. The cable

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Comment on the State’s Integrated Water Resource Strategy (IWRS) Update

March 27, 2024 Note: We’re currently between Oregon Water Resources Department comment periods for the IWRS update. When the state resumes taking comments we’ll let you know — thanks! The Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) will soon resume collecting public comments on its ongoing update of the state’s Integrated Water Resources Strategy (IWRS). Originally adopted

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Oregon Water Partnership Recognizes Progress in 2024 Legislative Session

March 20, 2024 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Ahead of World Water Day, Oregon Water Partnership Recognizes Progress in 2024 Legislative Session Coalition applauds Legislature’s attention to important water issues during 32-day “short session.”  Salem, Oregon — The Oregon Water Partnership (OWP) applauds the Oregon Legislature’s attention to important water issues during the 32-day “short session,” including

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As Massive Klamath Dam Removal Project Nears Completion, Who Gets Once-Submerged Land?

By Kurtis Alexander  |  Feb. 22, 2024  |  San Francisco Chronicle The nation’s largest dam-removal project, the dismantling of four hydroelectric dams near the border of California and Oregon border, may be the end of one story — but it’s the beginning of another. The native Shasta people, who were exiled from the banks of the

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