On March 19, the Deschutes River Alliance submitted a petition urging the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission (EQC) to direct the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) to enforce the state’s water quality standards as written and approved on the lower Deschutes River (LDR).
Our petition focuses on supporting the lower Deschutes’ redband trout during their spawning and incubation periods. Oregon’s water quality standards require specific dissolved oxygen (DO) levels be met from the beginning of resident trout spawning until trout fry emerge from their redd’s riverbed gravel. Those DO levels were chosen and approved to support trout’s biological needs during those crucial lifecycle stages.
For nearly the entire last decade, ODEQ has allowed DO in the LDR to fall far below the legally mandate, biologically necessary levels during crucial periods. The Department defends its actions by relying on a legally shaky letter where, in 2004, it claimed a lack site-specific information prevented proper protections from being implemented. Relying on that lack of information, ODEQ suggested it would provide lower DO levels from June 15 through October 15 – deviating from Oregon law.
To be clear – there is no lack of site-specific information for the lower Deschutes now, nor has there been since 2003. Between the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife data, Portland General Electric monitoring, academic papers and reports, and countless observation by frequent river users, redband trout spawning and egg incubation period in the lower Deschutes River is well understood to begin as early as March and extends as late as December. DEQ’s June 15 through October 15 designated non-spawning period creates an enormous stretch of time where redband trout are not protected.
As mentioned an earlier post, this is not the DRA’s first attempt to get the LDR’s redband trout the protections they need. ODEQ closed our August 2020 pollution complaint without taking any action, despite photographic evidence of redband spawning during the ODEQ-deemed non-spawning period. In December 2020, ODEQ again declined to take any action when we petitioned the agency to reconsider its August closure.
With ODEQ seeming to dig their heels in, we submitted this petition to the EQC with the hope that the Commissioners will act to ensure ODEQ’s compliance with written law. We are looking forward to the response and are hopeful that the EQC will work to protect the lower Deschutes’ iconic redband trout.
Keep an eye on our blog, where we will keep you up-to-date on this developing process. Reach out to Ben Kirsch, DRA Staff Attorney, with any questions: ben@deschutesriveralliance.org.
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