The Caddis Fly | Jan. 12, 2025 | Oregon Fly Fishing Blog
Last spring the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) announced it applied for over 260 new instream water rights in the Willamette River system to protect instream flows for native fish and wildlife in the North Willamette, Mid-Willamette, and South Willamette basins.
The final batch of 98 instream water right applications in the South Willamette are being considered now — including segments of the McKenzie River, Middle Fork and Coast Fork Willamette, Mohawk River, South Fork McKenzie, Blue River, Salt Creek, Row River, North Fork Middle Fork Willamette River, and others. The public comment period closes this Thursday, Jan. 16th, by 5 p.m.
Instream Water Rights do not harm existing water rights, but do protect flows from new withdrawals going forward. Establishing protection for instream flows for fish is critical to maintaining healthy rivers in the face of climate change. There’s more at this ODFW StoryMap Overview document, and an ODFW Frequently Asked Questions page on instream water rights.
To express your support for ODFW’s full slate of 98 South Willamette instream applications, create a comment email with our pre-formatted form linked below. You can modify, change, or add remarks as you see fit for a more personal comment, or mention specific rivers or streams of interest to you and your family.
Take action today and support instream water rights in the South Willamette!