Lower Deschutes updates

Temperature and Fish Growth in the Deschutes

Since the Selective Water Withdrawal tower went into operation at Round Butte Dam on the Deschutes, spring water temperatures in the lower river are warmer than they were previously. The increase...

Bugging Out on the Lower Deschutes

This fall, Native Fish Society partnered with The Salmonfly Project for a 10-day field campaign on the lower Deschutes River, gathering critical data on aquatic insect populations. The study...

Summarizing the Lower Deschutes Stakeholder Process

For the past year, Native Fish Society has been a convening member of a stakeholder group that has examined water temperatures in the lower Deschutes River. One of the goals of this group was to...

Oregon DEQ Aquatic Life Rulemaking and the Deschutes

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has recently released their proposed changes to the Fish and Aquatic Life Uses of Oregon's waterbodies. Some systems will be getting more...

McKenzie Chapter Update: ODFW Presentation in April & Future Meetings

On April 26, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) researcher Kara Anlauf-Dunn presented an excellent summary of her work studying temperature on native fish to the McKenzie Chapter at...

Outlook for Deschutes & John Day Summer Steelhead

On April 18, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) hosted a webinar (watch the recording here) to inform the angling public of the outlook for this year's run of Columbia basin...

Columbia Steelhead in Crisis: Leadership & Loss on the Deschutes

NFS River Steward Jeff Hickman, the owner and head guide of Fish the Swing, a highly respected fly fishing outfitter based in Oregon, recently announced that he is canceling his entire season of...

Bring on the Goats! A Small Part of the Larger Picture

It was the middle of May on the Deschutes, the time of year when the salmonflies are prolific and unavoidable. Tom Derry, Liz Perkin, and I were walking up the tracks to Tommy’s secret fishing...

A Season of Stewardship on the Deschutes

River Steward Stories: Matt Mendes, Warm Springs & Lower Deschutes Rivers“Sometimes, we would just put the truck in first gear and walk alongside throwing empties in the bed,” explained Matt...

River Steward Program Newsletter Winter 2018

We are starting to see rains show up earlier in southern Oregon than I can remember in the past couple of years, and I hope that this is the beginning to a long wet winter here in the Northwest. ...

A Long, Hot Summer for the Deschutes

It has been a hard year for the Deschutes River and its native fish. Below average snowpack in the higher elevations followed by an early, hot, and long summer drove water temperatures into lethal...

In Depth on the Deschutes - Part II: What now?

In the first part of our series, In Depth on the Deschutes, we explored the issues impacting the river and its fish today. In the second part of our series, we take a look at the goals Native Fish...

In Depth on the Deschutes—Part 1: Where We’re At

The Native Fish Society and its Lower Deschutes River Stewards get a lot of questions about what's going on with the Pelton Round Butte fish passage project. Some people are pretty...

Governor Brown: Let's Improve Water Quality on the Lower Deschutes River

Biologically Based Water Quality Standards Essential for the Lower Deschutes River In August I had an opportunity to visit with Governor Kate Brown regarding a number of challenges and...

A Conversation with the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission

On Friday, September 15th in Welches, Oregon the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission met to discuss several items important to fisheries conservationists throughout the state. First, the wild...

What is a maxillary clip?

What is a Maxillary? We often get questions about what a maxillary clip represents. The maxillary is a bony structure, located on the upper jaw of a fish, circled in red on the photo above. When a fish has a maxillary...

Governor Brown Signs Suction Dredge Mining Reform Bill to Protect Oregon Rivers

Today, Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed the Suction Dredge Reform Bill (SB 3) legislation which establishes a permanent framework to manage in-stream motorized mining across Oregon. The bill...

Suction Dredge Mining Reform passes Oregon House of Representatives

May 31, 2017 Salem, OR – The Oregon House passed legislation today in a bipartisan vote to protect sensitive salmon and lamprey habitat from suction dredge mining. The Suction Dredge Reform bill...