The Horizon
All the latest updates on our work defending rural lands, creating livable cities and towns and preserving wild lands and water throughout Central Oregon
Guest Column: Attack the Reservoir of Wasted Water
It is time to focus on solutions to water waste to ensure that both our frogs and our farmers get the water they need - and time is of the essence as climate change tightens its grip.
Notes from the Field: Frogs
Springtime frog song reminds us of the ubiquity of these otherwise shy amphibians, even here in the high desert of Central Oregon.
A River in Peril
The Oregon spotted frog highlights where the Habitat Conservation Plan falls short.
The Northern spotted owl may be the most controversial animal in the Pacific Northwest. The owl was pushed into the national spotlight in the early 1990s…
COID requests $42 million in taxpayer dollars to pipe 7.9 miles of canals
Central Oregon Irrigation District’s (COID) latest watershed plan would pipe only 7.9 miles of the more than 400 miles of its canals and cost a whopping $568,000 per irrigator. The cost would be more than four times the price of conserved water generated by other similar piping projects in COID in recent years.
Celebrating an enormous response to call for comments on the Deschutes
We worked closely with and directly supported the efforts of the community movement 30/30 for the Deschutes to advocate for a healthy river. Overall, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service received more than 1,700 comments from the public asking them to assure that an improved plan for the Deschutes River is developed!
Will we save the Deschutes River and its species?
Central Oregon LandWatch will be submitting substantial comments on the HCP's inadequacies and how it could be improved. In addition to Rivers Conservation Director Tod’s Heisler’s 15 years of experience with this basin, we have a team of experts commenting on on various aspects of the plan, including: hydrologists, water managers, wildlife specialists, and attorneys.
LandWatch Files Appeal to Protect Riparian Habitat
Central Oregon LandWatch is the only group on the front lines in defense of Deschutes County’s wildlife habitat code protections. Last week, we filed an appeal of an alarming change to the county’s Flood Plain Zone to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals.
Letter: A better plan for Deschutes River flows
Making a judge decide what is right and wrong for the river is not fair to her; the different government agencies need to do their mandated jobs.
The Bulletin Editorial Board: Irrigation Districts Should Share Water
Flows in the Upper Deschutes become a relative trickle in the winter. They get as low as 20 cubic feet per second. People may disagree about what exactly would be a “healthy” flow. Nobody looks at 20 cfs and cheers. Ten times that would be a start
Water Rights: Conservation Efforts Questioned
More than a century ago, private capitalists, including Alexander Drake, built canals in Central Oregon to attract settlers with the promise of irrigation for farming