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Local politics, the county, and the world, as viewed by Tammy Maygra Tammy’s views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bill Eagle, his pastor, Tammy’s neighbors, Wayne Mayo, Betsy Johnson, Brian Stout, Former President Trump, Henry Heimuller, Joe Biden, Pat Robertson, Ted Cruz, Joe Biden’s dogs, or Claudia Eagle’s Cats. This Tammy’s Take (with the exception of this disclaimer) is not paid for or written by, or even reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she refuses to be bullied by anyone. See Bill’s Standard Disclaimer
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Death of juvenile lamprey, Winchester dam. This could have been prevented.
LAMPREY
I hope Oregon wins this suit, although there are many other dams which have severely and even decimated fish runs throughout Oregon. Many dams have or are being removed in Oregon to protect thee species. Winchester Dam kills half a million lamprey. Winchester Dam is a dam on the North Umpqua River in Winchester, Oregon. Constructed in 1890, the dam was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. The Winchester Dam was made from large timber cribs. Originally, the dam was a mere four feet high, which was raised to sixteen feet in 1907. The dam was the main source of water and electricity for the town of Roseburg until 1923. The dam's hydropower facilities have long since been removed, and the structure is now maintained solely for the recreational benefit of the Winchester Water Control District, composed of the private landowners surrounding the reservoir pool. The dam is officially categorized as "high hazard" by the Oregon Department of Water Resources, primarily due to likely loss of life in the case of dam failure among the people who frequent the river, parks, and boat ramps just downstream. Following an annual inspection in October 2019, state officials downgraded Winchester Dam’s condition to "poor," requested that the owners hire an engineer to comprehensively inspect its structure, and warned the owners to address known dam safety issues soon. According to the 2019 inspection report, Winchester Dam has not received a comprehensive structural inspection, nor have the owners updated the dam's required emergency action plan, since 1987 In 2013, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife placed Winchester Dam on the Statewide Fish Passage Priority List, an official listing of Oregon's top artificial obstructions to native migratory fish. In 2019, Winchester Dam was raised to the second highest ranked privately-owned dam on the Statewide Fish Passage Priority List, where it is noted for impeding passage to 160 miles of high quality habitat for spring Chinook, fall Chinook, summer steelhead, winter steelhead, cutthroat trout, and Pacific Lamprey, as well as Southern Oregon Coast Coho which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The 17-foot-high, 130-year-old Winchester Dam is maintained solely to create a private waterski lake for surrounding landowners, I think humans can do without this man made recreation area. Please continued reading at https://waterwatch.org/programs/winchester-dam/
Tammy
Oregon seeks $27.6 million for Winchester Dam work linked to mass death of Pacific lamprey By Erik Neumann (Jefferson Public Radio)Oct. 7, 2023 Oregon is suing for more than $27 million in damages from the owners of a private dam near Roseburg after repairs led to a massive fish kill. More than half a million Pacific lamprey died during repairs at the Winchester Dam on the North Umpqua River. The lawsuit, filed in Douglas County Circuit Court by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, targets the Winchester Water Control District and repair contractors TerraFirma Foundation Systems and DOWL, LLC, a company hired to manage fish rescue and salvage operations. The number of lamprey killed as a result of an inadequate fish salvage effort was significant and preventable,” reads a statement from ODFW released on Friday. Such a lackadaisical approach to fish salvage demonstrated the bad faith of Defendants in meeting their respective obligations to preserve the state’s property,” the lawsuit reads, referring to fish which are considered public property. Ryan Beckley, the president of the water control district and the owner of TerraFirma Foundation Systems, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Winchester Dam is owned by the water control district, which is akin to a homeowners association, according to the lawsuit. Juvenile Pacific lamprey live in muddy river banks along the North Umpqua River. They died when the reservoir behind the dam was lowered to enable repair work, which started on Aug. 7 and stretched into early September after several permit extensions were filed. The agency says the damages in the suit represent one of the largest claims for illegally killing wildlife filed in the state of Oregon. “If these damages are recovered, it’s just going to be a fraction of the damages that have been done to an incredibly valuable river by these dam owners over the decades,” said Jim McCarthy, the Southern Oregon program director for WaterWatch, a group that has long opposed the dam because they say it obstructs fish passage on the river with an outdated fish ladder. The group has previously offered to remove the dam for free. Pacific lamprey are listed as a sensitive species in Oregon, meaning their populations are at-risk according to ODFW. The number of juvenile lamprey that were allowed to be killed in the course of doing dam repairs was 30,000, according to the dam permits filed with NOAA Fisheries. But approximately 550,000 juvenile fish were killed this summer. ODFW estimated the damages at $50 per lamprey. In addition to being a species of concern, Pacific lamprey are considered culturally important to Pacific Northwest tribes, including the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians. Besides damages listed in the ODFW suit, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality identified 10 class I water quality violations that include discharging untreated and contaminated water into the river. DEQ did not list specific penalties in its notice of violations to the water control district on Friday.
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