One cure for the Deschutes, Thornton says, is enthusiastic support for the Deschutes River Alliance. “The [lower Deschutes] River is home base, absolutely vital to the well-being of Maupin and the surrounding community, and a life-blood of central Oregon. We should all be supporting what the DRA is doing.” 

The Deschutes River Alliance’s third annual Troutfest is in the books. Friday’s mid-day heat and Saturday’s mid-day wind made for some challenges, but everyone in attendance  rose to the occasion. All that was left to do Sunday was clean up and begin compiling a long list of thank-you’s to be reiterated here on this week’s blog.

The Deschutes River Alliance’s third annual Troutfest is in the books. Friday’s mid-day heat and Saturday’s mid-day wind made for some challenges, but everyone in attendance  rose to the occasion. All that was left to do Sunday was clean up and begin compiling a long list of thank-you’s to be reiterated here on this week’s blog.

You could call The Takes’ music alt-country, Americana, country-rock, and you’d have a general idea. Yet the place-specific idea is one in which their music is evocative of the melody a river makes, the song that sticks with you even when you’re walking the concrete canyons of a comparatively soulless city or suburb. Those early childhood memories of a campfire near the banks of the lower Deschutes come bubbling up.

Conservation NGO’s have too seldomly deployed the power of the significant economic value that our common cause represents. Over the long haul, the DRA would like to see a comprehensive study of the economy of the lower Deschutes. In the meantime, we’ll continue to operate on the principle that the water in the river we love is worth its weight in gold. 

The science team at the Deschutes River Alliance delivered a scintillating status report on the state of the lower Deschutes River. The 75 minute-long presentation is worth every minute of viewing, and you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/kxamZiLP8dA.

“So we went into Maupin, found some carpet sample squares, and cut and superglued them to our tennis shoes. I caught my first big Deschutes redside on a 3 weight Fenwick with an old Medalist reel, throwing a dry-fly.”

-Fly and Field owner Scott Cook, recollecting his inaugural lower Deschutes fishing jaunt three decades ago.

In just the first week our monitoring equipment was in the water, pH violations were recorded.  For eight months out of the year, warm, polluted surface water from the Lake Billy Chinook flows into the lower river. 

The DRA proposes flipping this script: we want the maximum amount of cold, clean water to flow into the lower river year round…

“The DRA’s activism is informed by science. Last year’s letter-writing campaign to Gov. Tina Kotek was a success, with over a thousand of you taking the time to write, in part because so many of your letters were informed by scientific facts gathered and disseminated by the DRA. Those same facts were presented to the Governor’s office last fall in a high-level meeting that resulted in Gov. Kotek directing DEQ to explore ways to get the lower Deschutes back to the good health it deserves.”

The 3^rd Annual DRA Troutfest & Dutch Oven Cook Off is right around the corner! Make plans to be at the Oasis Riverview Campground (622 US-197, Maupin, OR 97037) in Maupin on Friday, May 30^th through Sunday, June 1^st. In the meantime, hop on over to the event website to sign up for casting lessons, volunteer support, the Dutch Oven Cook Off, and to check out all that this exciting event has to offer.

But this milestone also raises some questions. As reported previously on this blog, since 2020, between 30,000 and 40,000 of the 100,000 steelhead smolts released annually as part of the post SWW recovery effort are now trucked around three dams and released directly into the Deschutes.These fish don’t ever encounter Lake Billy Chinook  or the SWW.

So what portion of these returning 675 steelhead are those that got a free ride around the dams? Unfortunately we’ll never know. Fisheries managers at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife are not differentially marking those bypassed fish.

The 2024 Water Quality Report is now available! This annual report highlights ongoing water quality issues in the lower Deschutes River, largely linked to the operation of the Selective Water Withdrawal (SWW) Tower at the Pelton-Round Butte Hydroelectric Project.

“We have to know what we have,” says Krueger. “Intact habitat that allows wild trout to thrive and reproduce. We have to be good stewards of the place if we want it to thrive.”  

John and Amy Hazel are The Deschutes River Alliance’s 2025 River Champions. 

Both in intensity and duration, no other couple lives, breathes, and loves the Deschutes River as John and Amy have. And certainly, no other couple has done more in the campaign to bring the lower Deschutes River back to its deserved state of grace. 

“With this growing need to ensure the resilience of key waters and the species they support, we are asking the Department for a renewed examination of all available options for meeting Deschutes water quality standards and the Pelton Round Butte fish passage objectives.” -Senior Natural Resource Advisor for Gov. Kotek, Geoff Huntington

Amy and John Hazel were honored as the DRA’s 2025 River Champions, and received a sustained standing ovation from the 250 people in attendance.  True to form, they turned the honor they received back on those in attendance and the many others who weren’t there but support the DRA too. “This award is not ours alone,” said Amy, “It belongs to everybody who has heeded the call and given selflessly to the Deschutes River Alliance.” 

Let’s be real, it can be hard to explain to those not in the know about what’s wrong with the lower Deschutes. The Last 100 does the job as well as it can be done—here’s where to see and hear about the Selective Water Withdrawal Tower, and how its operation negatively affects water quality on the lower river. It’s also a succinct overview of the ways in which PGE continues to violate the public trust with status quo operations of its failing tower.

“For the first time in a while, I was able to be fully present, celebrating with one of my closest friends, encountering a beautiful wild steelhead, on my favorite river in the world.”

But through it all, the azure waters (or what we hope one day soon will return to that brilliant shade of blue) of the Deschutes keep flowing—carving its relentless path to the Columbia. Below the water’s surface the first steelhead of the season are making their way upstream to complete a journey we can all admire. And every once in a while, one of those fish will rise and take my waking muddler. In those rare, hard-earned moments in the canyon, there is nowhere on earth I’d rather be.

“Without the Deschutes, we’re just another mail order fly shop.”