The dewatered Winchester Dam in August 2023, exposing pressure treated and creosote treated wood.
Unable to prevail in a court of law, on January 15, 2026, Ryan Beckley settled a $1.5 million September 2024 personal injury lawsuit brought against Beckley’s TerraFirma Foundation Repair Inc., the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Winchester Water Control District (WWCD), owners of the condemned and notorious Winchester Dam.
Ryan Beckley, president of the WWCD Board of Directors, is familiar to readers as the man responsible for the Oregon Department of Justice $27.6 million lawsuit against the WWCD and Beckley’s TerraFirma for the massive August 2023 fish kill of 550,000 Pacific lamprey during attempted “repairs” of Winchester Dam in August 2023.
Beckley, who awarded the dam repair job to himself, apparently created an unsafe working environment. On August 14, 2023, lawsuit Plaintiff, Aiden M. Scott, age 23, an employee of Guido Construction, the cement subcontractor on the job site, fell 14-feet and seriously injured his back
But Beckley and his contractors failed to report this serious injury, in violation of Oregon Administrative Rule 437-001-0704(1)(b), which legally requires reporting to Oregon OSHA within 24 hours. When employers fail to act after a known injury and continue to expose workers to the same hazards, OSHA may classify this as a willful violation, the most egregious level of negligence.
According to the lawsuit, Ryan Beckley’s “TerraFirma also served as the project manager for the duration of the relevant repair work on the Winchester Dam. TerraFirma’s president is Ryan Beckley. TerraFirma contracted with multiple subcontractors as part of this project, including Plaintiff’s direct employer Guido Construction. On August 14, 2023, TerraFirma employees and its owner Ryan Beckley were present at the Winchester Dam job site.”
Winchester Dam’s antiquated and crumbling 80-year-old concrete fish ladder and lamprey ramp are located at the north end of the 450-foot dam. The lawsuit explains, “A [metal] pole was used as part of the fish ladder, and LP ramp, said pole sitting between the ladder and the ramp.”
“On or about August 14, 2023, Plaintiff was present on the Winchester Dam job site as an employee of Guido Construction. Plaintiff needed to speak with a coworker about the project. Due to the construction site noise, and to speak with his coworker, Plaintiff was forced to navigate above and on the fish ladder. Due to the ongoing project, the fish ladder had been drained of water, meaning Plaintiff was walking and working at a height of more than ten feet (and up to fourteen feet high). To reach and speak with his coworker, Plaintiff needed to access a metal walkway directly underneath the dam’s lamprey ramp. To access this walkway, Plaintiff (while walking on the fish ladder) grabbed a metal pole sitting between the top of the fish ladder wall and the bottom of the lamprey ramp—using it as a handhold and for balance, while stepping onto the metal walkway. The pole appeared to be connected to both the top of the fish ladder and the bottom of the lamprey ramp.
“As Plaintiff grabbed the pole, he put one foot on the metal walkway while his other foot remained on the fish ladder wall. The pole then, suddenly without any warning, gave away. As a result of the pole giving away, Plaintiff fell to the ground below.
“As a result of the fall, Plaintiff suffered serious, permanent, and disabling injuries to his back, including (but not limited to) fractures to his thoracic and lumbar spine (T10-L2).”
According to the lawsuit, “defendants failed to inspect an evaluate the relevant pole to determine if it had been correctly bolted into the fish ladder wall and/or lamprey ramp,” and “failed to properly install the relevant pole to ensure that it was correctly bolted between the fish ladder and the lamprey ramp” and “failed to provided adequate fall protection.” In this way, “defendants created an ongoing risk of serious injury to Plaintiff and others by allowing the pole remain unsecured immediately next to the walkway,” in violation of ORS 654.305.
“By violating one or more of the safety codes…defendants…failed to comply with every order, decision, direction, standard, rule, and regulation made, or prescribed by the department in connection with the material specified in ORS 654.001-654.295 and 654-750 to 654-780.”
Oregon OSHA requires employers to report all “in-patient hospitalization, loss of an eye, and either an amputation or avulsion that results in bone loss within 24 hours of when it happened or when it was reported to you or your agents.”
But neither WWCD Board President Beckley nor his contractors reported Scott’s job site injury (which required in-patient hospitalization) to Oregon OSHA as required by law.
According to Brandon Lyda, a Records Request Fulfillment Specialist at Oregon OSHA, “There is no accident report for an Aiden Scott, nor any accidents reported for either company to OSHA in 2023.”
Thirteen months after his injury, Scott’s attorneys filed a lawsuit in Multnomah Civil Court on September 19, 2024. By delaying taking legal action until well after the six-month statute of limitations elapsed, Scott likely saved his employers thousands of dollars in Winchester Dam reconstruction delays, investigation fees, and penalties.
According to Oregon OSHA, “Young workers, ages 14 to 25, face a greater risk of injury and death in the workplace. Youth in the workplace generally have less job experience, do not receive proper job training, and might be hesitant to ask questions about safety.”
OSHA recognizes that the problem of employers failing to report workplace injuries can be more prevalent when young workers are injured. Consequently, Oregon OSHA has a special division that investigates injuries to workers 14-25-years-old who have received less training and are more easily influenced by their employer to remain silent about workplace injuries.
Unrelated to Scott’s fall, Oregon OSHA investigated a Winchester Dam reconstruction workplace complaint on August 31, 2023 (two weeks after Scott’s fall) and issued three citations for the following issues:
1. Employees using ladders in ways not designed for.
2. Several employees were exposed to falls greater than six feet without fall protection.
3. Employee observed working while standing on dam frame without fall protection.
It is worth noting OSHA’s complaint form for employees working without fall protection was issued two weeks after Scott fell. OSHA specifically cited Ryan Beckley, President of the Winchester Water Control District, and owner of TerraFirma Foundation Systems, who was listed as the site manager.
Beckley took no action to protect his other employees after Scott was seriously injured on the job site—an apparent example of Beckley’s low prioritization of job safety.
Scott’s family’s crowd-funding page raised $1,615.00. But the names of Guido or Beckley did not appear on the list of donors, nor did any other members of Winchester Water Control District leadership, the privileged few who benefitted most from failing to report Scott’s broken back during repairs of a condemned and uninsurable dam.
The dam’s only function is as a private water ski lake.
As with all of the many lawsuits in which Ryan Beckley and the WWCD are now either plaintiffs or defendants, the 100 homeowners in the Winchester Water Control District (WWCD) collectively pick up the tab for attorney Dominic Carollo’s sizeable fees, which only grow larger as the lawsuits in which Beckley and the WWCD are now embroiled move through the courts.
Scott’s lawsuit was one of half a dozen lawsuits in which Beckley finds himself a plaintiff or defendant.
This brings into questions why the contract to repair the 135-year-old derelict Winchester Dam was not awarded to a reputable and experienced dam repair firm, but rather to the President of the WWCD himself, Ryan Beckley—who, according to Jim McCarthy of Oregon WaterWatch, “has never repaired a dam [before] in his life.”
The Winchester Dam provides no hydroelectricity, no irrigation, and no flood control. It’s sole function is as a one and a half mile private water ski lake for a few dozen wealthy speed-boat owning WWCD homeowners.
One is left with the impression that Beckley is less concerned with safety than he is with shortcuts, as is evidenced by the many lawsuits that clutter his 2026 calendar with depositions, hearings, and ongoing courtroom drama.
