Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Urgent Groundwater Reforms Needed for a Sustainable Water Future

By WaterWatch Staff  |  April 5, 2022  |  Instream WaterWatch works across Oregon in administrative, collaborative, legislative and legal forums to advocate for reforms needed to secure sustainable groundwater management. WaterWatch has identified five critical and urgent reforms needed to put Oregon on a course to manage groundwater sustainably: 1  —  Stop issuing permits without

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“The State Must Do More” — Lawmakers Weigh How to Protect Dry Lake Abert

By Rob Davis |  Jan. 25, 2022   |  The Oregonian State lawmakers and environmental groups responded to an investigation by The Oregonian into the state’s failure to protect Lake Abert, Oregon’s only salt lake, by promising oversight hearings and calling for immediate action to restore the migratory bird stop that has run dry twice

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Oregon’s Lake Abert is “In Deep Trouble.” The State Shut Down Its Effort to Figure Out Why

By Rob Davis  |  Jan. 16, 2022  |  The Oregonian When Oregon’s only saltwater lake mysteriously dried up in 2014, turning a vibrant landscape teeming with migratory birds into a desiccated, abandoned salt pan, state environmental regulators mobilized. Lake Abert, a 64-square-mile lake in south central Oregon’s high desert, had gone almost completely dry for

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Three Priority Dam Removals Completed in Rogue’s Applegate Subbasin

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 13, 2021 Contacts: Jim McCarthy, WaterWatch of Oregon, (541) 941-9450 Brian Barr, Rogue River Watershed Council, (541) 621-7226 Harboldt Dam before and after removal images here: https://tinyurl.com/eaz9kswe Credit photos to Crystal Nichols, Rogue River Watershed Council Three Priority Dam Removals Completed in Rogue’s Applegate Subbasin Collaborative project benefits salmon and steelhead while meeting private

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Draining Oregon: State Pours Million Into Fifteenmile Creek but Fails to Help Steelhead for Lack of Water

By Kelly House  |  Aug. 26, 2016  |  The Oregonian: Draining Oregon Government agencies have spent more than $2.8 million in taxpayer money on this tiny Columbia River tributary since 2004. Workers have planted shade willows on the banks, lined its rocky bottom with logpile hiding places, and fenced off cattle from the sensitive habitat.

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Removal of Obsolete Dams Benefits Rivers, the Public, and Landowners

By Jim McCarthy and Tonya Graham  |  Sept. 6, 2015  |  Medford Mail-Tribune In recent years, the growing number of successful removals of obsolete dams on North America’s salmon-bearing streams has become a celebrated symbol of progress, and represents a fundamental change in our relationship with rivers. The communities of the Rogue River Basin have

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