Becky McRae, president of the North Umpqua Foundation
Becky McRae, president of the North Umpqua Foundation addressed the Senate Interim Committee On Natural Resources and Wildfire on Tuesday morning at their informational session on the Winchester Dam on the North Umpqua River.
McRae told the committee members, “The North Umpqua Foundation – or TNUF for short – was founded in 1983 and joined a group of concerned citizens to successfully prevent a proposed hydroelectric project using Winchester Dam. Our donors are hikers, boaters, fishermen, and visitors to the Big Ben Pool.
“ODFW’s 2019 statewide fish passage priority list ranked Winchester Dam as the second highest among privately owned barriers in the state in need of fish passage correction. Winchester’s noted for impeding passage to 160 miles of high quality habitat for spring and fall Chinook, summer and winter steelhead, cutthroat trout, Pacific lamprey, and Southern Oregon coast coho, which are listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.
“The highest ranked privately owned barrier on ODFW’s 2019 list Pomeroy dam on the Illinois River was removed this summer. Winchester’s fish ladder is difficult to locate for upstream migrating fish, has a number of right turn angles, and the ability to control flow velocities in the ladder is limited, making it difficult for fish to pass at a range of flows.
“I stopped at the [Winchester] dam on my way to Portland a week ago. There are three irregular spots all creating dramatic ‘rooster tails‘ of upward spray where the river hits either shallow bedrock or concrete and shows just how much smashing force the fish experience. In order to get over the dam, the vast majority of outgoing migrating fish fall 14-feet, hitting the bedrock and concrete with this same force, which means juvenile salmon and steelhead born in the 160 miles of habitat above the dam and adult steelhead returning to the ocean gets smashed into those shallow reefs with that same force.
“Over the span of the last 41 years TNUF’s focus has been not only on the river and its fish but also on the basin as part of the whole picture… attempting to do everything we could to improve the North Umpqua basin, only to have a derelict dam delay, injure, and kill the variety of species of fish who call it home, so 100 or so owners can maintain a private waterski lake. There is no hydro project there.
“TNUF joined numerous other local and regional groups in sending a letter to the Winchester Water Control District on April 1, 2020, letting them know, in writing, we stood ready to work together to help acquire state federal and private funds necessary to achieve a successful removal of Winchester Dam under voluntary agreement. TNUF still stands by that commitment which we believe is the most economical and ecological value alternative for addressing a multitude of chronic problems at this structure.
“As a North Umpqua water right holder, I do have one personal comment related to the storage of water behind the dam. For years the Winchester Water Control District has been storing more water than their water right allows. Instead of coming into compliance as the state has instructed them to do, the owners are now insisting that the Oregon Water Resources Department, or a judge, carve out a special exemption for them for the rules that all other water users in the state have to follow.
“This is wrong and exemplifies the chronic indifference to the laws and rules that has made this dam so harmful for our resources. As someone who does have a water right on the north and I can tell you, I know exactly how I can use my water including not being able to wash my car. Because of where my property is located no one would ever know if I washed it or not. But as we’ve always told our two kids and four grands, ‘Doing the right thing does not always the easy thing but it’s always the right thing.'”
