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Deschutes: Issues of the Day
Fish are a critical indicator of the health of an ecosystem. Scientists are particularly interested in some fish, called "marker species," because those fish provide a good measure of environmental quality. If water can no longer sustain fish, it is a sign that the system has become compromised. Sometimes fish die out because they can't reach their native waters to spawn. Sometimes the habitat has been so damaged that it can't support the young fish.
Before dams were built on the Deschutes, the river and its tributaries supported runs of summer steelhead and spring Chinook salmon. Squaw Creek, in particular, was a major producer of summer steelhead.
No one knows exactly how strong the fish runs were before the 1920s. But newspapers and personal letters suggest that the early runs were large and healthy.
In 1922, a fishway (also known as a fish ladder) was built at Steelhead Falls near Bend to help steelhead move upstream. But so much water was being diverted upstream that the fishway only worked during the winter. Steelhead migrating in summer couldn't get through. In the 1950s, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife started counting anadromous fish runs on the Deschutes. In the three summers of 1953 to 1955, a total of 18 summer steelhead were observed at the falls.
On Squaw Creek, upstream from Steelhead Falls, the official fish count found no spawning salmon in 1960. The number of steelhead in Squaw Creek hit zero a few years later.
The final blow came in 1968, when it was determined that a fishway at Round Butte Dam (440 feet high) was not effective. The fishway was closed. Runs of spring Chinook and summer steelhead were eliminated from the Upper Deschutes.
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SQUAW CREEK
A fish swimming from the Pacific to Squaw Creek would face a journey of nearly 300 miles. Squaw Creek starts high in the Three Sisters Wilderness, where snowmelt from Bend Glacier begins the flow. The amount of glacier-melt entering Squaw Creek can vary dramatically, but is always greatest in the spring and early summer. Along the creek's 25-mile route to the Deschutes River, six smaller tributaries augment the stream. The creek has been designated as a Wild and Scenic River and is certainly worthy of protection. But so much water is taken for irrigation and other purposes that by the time Squaw Creek reaches the town of Sisters, the creek bed is often totally dry. Just upstream from Sisters, the creek runs through Camp Polk Meadow, a property held by the Deschutes Basin Land Trust.
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NEXT: Held in Trust >>
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