Thornburgh Resort Proposal Under Review
A view from Cline Buttes, overlooking the area for a proposed resort development
For years, the proposed Thornburgh Destination Resort near Cline Buttes has garnered widespread concern, from alarm over projected groundwater use to the impact on surrounding public lands and wildlife habitat. Next week, there is an opportunity to ask Deschutes County to say no to another destination resort in Deschutes County.
Low river flows hurt fish habitat, increasing water temperatures to potentially lethal levels and harming the ability for fish to navigate waterways.
The concern over water use and the Fish and Wildlife Management Plan
LandWatch has been working for nearly a decade to ensure Deschutes County complies with land use and water laws in reviewing proposals for Thornburgh Resort.
The resort must abide by a 2008 Fish and Wildlife Management Plan (FWMP). The plan requires the resort to mitigate any negative impacts their groundwater use will have on fish and wildlife.
Simply put, the resort’s groundwater use will lower stream flows into the Deschutes River and surrounding tributaries, hurting habitat and fish. Because of this, the proposed development needs to mitigate, or find water to put back instream, to balance the harmful impacts.
At this time, the resort is proposing to modify the FWMP, but there is no evidence that the modification will sufficiently protect fish habitat.
Conditions on the ground have gotten worse both as a matter of drought impacts and water consumption in the basin since the resort was originally approved.
The current application changes the core characteristics of the FWMP. Hoping the public won’t take notice, the resort’s proposal fails to acknowledge that the resort currently has no source of water to inform any modification to the FWMP.
The development’s new FWMP modification application is another attempt to pull the wool over the public's eyes by providing, yet again, an application that fails to include documented support for its position. This new application was put forth in a manner that makes it almost impossible for the public to understand how the FWMP modification will affect cold surface water flows, fish, and wildlife.
Map of the proposed resort site: Oregon Public Broadcasting
An expired water permit
The proposed resort once had a water right permit- G-17036- for 9.28 cubic feet per second (cfs) of groundwater. That permit was issued in 2013 and expired in 2018 when the resort failed to “prove up” its water right by putting the water to beneficial use prior to the 2018 expiration date.
The Oregon Water Resources Department (“OWRD”) issued two orders this past July concerning the availability of water at Thornburgh. First, OWRD issued a Superseding Proposed Final Order denying the resort’s request for an extension of its now-expired water permit.
Second, OWRD issued a Water Right Application Initial Review indicating that Thornburgh cannot replace its expired water right for 9.28 cfs with a new water right, because to do so is “no longer within the capacity of the groundwater resource.”
Take Action
As of right now, the proposed development has no right to withdraw water. It matters little if the development proposes using 6 gallons or 6 million gallons of water per day - there is no current valid water right for the resort to withdraw groundwater.
Without a valid water right, LandWatch does not believe that Deschutes County should continue to approve requests for specific land use permits for this resort.
Our land use system relies on public participation, and we are calling on our supporters to take action.
HOW To Submit written remarks
Anyone can submit a written comment as part of the public hearing. Email comments to Caroline.House@deschutes.org and include “Public comment regarding 247-22-000678-MC / 247-22-000984-A / 247-23-000003-A” in the subject line.
Not sure what to say? See our suggested talking points below.
Key messages to share in your comment
We are asking Deschutes County to deny this proposed change and require a new application. Here are a few different reasons to support that request.
Deschutes County should deny the proposed change to the Fish and Wildlife Management Plan (“FWMP”) for Thornburgh Resort. The original FWMP was integral to the original approval in 2008. Making such substantial changes in the FWMP is a fundamental change to the original plan. The County should require the resort to submit an entirely new conceptual master plan application.
All of the parts to the original approval of the resort in 2008, from the original water right permit to the original FWMP, are interrelated. They cannot be reviewed piecemeal. Rather, the County should deny this proposal and require a new resort application.
The development’s water right expired in 2018 when the resort failed to “prove up” the water right in five years. As a matter of law, that water is no longer available to the resort. The original approval of the resort in 2008 depended on the resort’s having the water in the now-expired permit. The County should refuse to consider the resort’s proposed modification to the FWMP. Instead, the County should send the resort back to the drawing board and require the resort to submit a new application proving water availability under the now-prevailing groundwater conditions.
If the proposed resort acquires new water, there will be new and different impacts on surface water, fish, and wildlife in different places. The loss of the resort’s water right, OWRD’s denial of the resort’s request for an extension of the water right, and the impossibility of replacing the lost water right due to changes in the capacity of the groundwater resource all constitute substantial changes to the original resort plan. This proposed modification should be denied. A new application is required.
The County should require the Thornburgh development proposal to articulate how cold surface water flows and anadromous fish will be adequately protected with this proposed modification of the FWMP.
Wasim Muklashy
A Watchdog for Central Oregon
At LandWatch, we serve as a watchdog organization and continually monitor development across Central Oregon. When we see something that clearly violates Oregon’s land use policies or environmental laws, we sound the alarm.
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