Pine Meadow Ranch is a 200-acre farm located along Whychus Creek immediately upstream from the City of Sisters with surface water rights dating back to the late 1800s.  Since the 1800s, the Ranch obtained its irrigation water using a dam located on Whychus Creek approximately one mile upstream from the Ranch on federal land managed by the Deschutes National Forest.

The diversion dam was re-located and re-constructed at various times over the last century but, since the 1990s, consisted of a six-foot-high concrete dam that was a complete barrier to fish migration and included an unscreened diversion. The dam blocked access to approximately 13 miles of upstream spawning habitat.

Work on the project in 2014 included relocating the irrigation diversion and installing a new pump and fish screen, constructing log habitat structures in the soon to be activated historic floodplain channels and removing the dam opening up access to 13 miles of upstream spawning habitat.  Click here to watch a video of the removal.  The last phase of the project will be completed in summer and fall of 2015 with berm removals, habitat structure construction, filling of old incised channels and re-activating historic channels across the floodplain.  Riparian re-vegetation efforts will also occur in the fall of 2015 and 2016.

The UDWC produced a short film with Wahoo Films entitled “A Dam Problem” which highlights the investment in time and relationship building needed to complete a successful dam removal and floodplain restoration project.  This film was recently chosen as an Official Selection of the 2016 Wild & Scenic Film Festival taking place in Nevada City, CA in January of 2016.

Upon final project completion, this project will have:

• Removed the existing irrigation diversion dam that is a complete barrier to fish migration, opening migratory access to 13 miles of upstream habitat;
• Eliminated the existing unscreened diversion by moving the diversion downstream and installing a pump and fish screen;
• Improved fish habitat for redband trout, steelhead trout and Chinook salmon by implementing a 170-acre floodplain restoration project along approximately 1.25 miles of Whychus Creek in the vicinity of the dam;
• Restored late season instream flows by restoring one cubic foot per second (cfs) of senior water right permanently instream.

Project Partners and Funders include:

Bonneville Environmental Foundation
Deschutes National Forest
Deschutes River Conservancy
Laird Norton Family Foundation
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
National Forest Foundation
The Nature Conservancy
Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board
Patagonia
Pelton Round Butte Fund
Pine Meadow Ranch
Reser Family Foundation
USFWS Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program