Committee Chair Mary Wahl (left) and Commissioner Becky Hatfield-Hyde (right) at February 20, 2026 meeting.
On Friday, February 20, 2026, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) commission met in Springfield. In a six to one vote, they approved, without modification, ODFW’s draft final order for the Winchester Water Control District (WWCD) to “install department-approved fish passage at Winchester Dam.”
Robert Spelbrink of Siletz, Oregon was the only ODFW Commissioner to vote no.
To comply with this order, WWCD has until 2030 to install a new, $70 million code-compliant, state-of-the-art fish ladder.
Since the commission wasn’t reviewing any new evidence, no public testimony was heard.
On September 17, 2024, ODFW sent WWCD, owners of the 136-year-old condemned Winchester Dam on the North Umpqua River, a Notice of Noncompliance pertaining to August 2023 “repairs” of the dam. These repairs resulted in an unprecedented fish kill of more than 550,000 Pacific lamprey and a $27.6 million lawsuit brought against WWCD and its contractors by ODFW and the Oregon Department of Justice.
The Notice informed WWCD that “ODFW has concluded that you, the Winchester Water Control District failed to comply with the requirements of ORS 509.585 (4) and OAR 635-412-0020 (3), prior to conducting work in August and September 2023 on the Winchester Dam, the constituted ‘construction,’ as defined in OAR 635-412-0005 (10) (b) (ii), therefore, ODFW requires that you install fish passage at Winchester dam, consistent with applicable standards, and in the timeline established in this proposed order.”
As WWCD so often does, rather than comply with the state agency’s order, Ryan Beckley, President of the WWCD Board of Directors, and owner of Terra Firma Foundation Repair, opted to sue ODFW.
But rather than give the repair contract to an experienced dam repair company, Ryan Beckley awarded the job to his own Terra Firma Foundation Repair and served as the lead contractor on the job.
But in December 2025, Administrative Law Judge Bradley J. Schmidt upheld ODFW’s Notice of Noncompliance, ordering WWCD to build the fish ladder as per the Notice’s timeline.
During the February 20, 2026, ODFW Commissioner’s meeting, Greg Apke, ODFW Fish Screening and Passage Program Manager, explained to the commissioners, “Winchester Dam is on the state’s high priority fish passage barrier list… The fish ladder exists along the north bank of the river at the dam,” which is, in fact the wrong side of the river because the main flow is 400’ feet away, by the southern bank.
But the existing fish ladder, Apke explained, “Does not meet current state fish passage design standards.” He recounted how the derelict dam was drained by Ryan Beckley for “repairs” in August 2023.
OAR 635-412-0005 requires that dam owners consult with ODFW before undertaking construction or repairs. According to Shaun Clements, ODFW Director of Inland Fisheries, this is “to determine whether that proposed work would be a ‘trigger’ under Oregon’s fish passage … one such ‘trigger’ is defined as major repairs that impact 30% by volume at the time, or 30% of the barrier of the top upstream or downstream faces of the dam.”
At the February 20, 2026, meeting, ODFW Fish Screening and Passage Program Manager, told the commissioners that ODFW staff “visited the construction site” at the dewatered Winchester Dam, on August 25, 2023. During the site visit, “staff observed construction activities. The replacement of sheeting along the upstream side of the timber crib section of the dam.”
But this sheeting was found to have covered considerably more than the crucial 30% specified in OAR 635-412-0005. And it was not approved in Ryan Beckley’s permit.
Apke explained, “Staff then determined that this work done at the dam in August and September of 2023 met the definition of construction under the applicable rule as to constitute a fish passage trigger.”
The antiquated, substandard, wrong-side-of-the-river fish ladder has long been considered the worst man-made obstacle to fish at a private dam in Oregon.
Condemned in 1976, the 450-foot Winchester Dam, provides no hydroelectricity, no irrigation, and no flood control. Its sole function is as a mile-and-a-half long private waterski lake used exclusively by the WWCD, an association of privileged homeowners who live around the dam, and at the exclusion of the public.
The deadbeat Winchester Dam remains the most dangerous in illegal dam in Oregon.
Ryan Beckley wrote to a local newspaper, “ODFW’s ‘ruling’ was expected and is basically the beginning of the process. Except to say that the WWCD completely disagrees with the position of ODFW, and intends to appeal to an actual court, we really have no comment.”
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