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DateNameCompanyComment
 Mary WoodworthAdel Water Improvement District and Schadler Ranch IncDear Oregon Water Resources Department: These comments are submitted on behalf of the Adel Water Improvement District (“District”) regarding the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (“ODFW”) water right application IS-89312. The District requests that the Oregon Water Resources Department (“OWRD”) propose to deny application IS-89312 or, alternatively, limit the water authorized for instream use to the amounts of water actually available in Deep Creek each month of the year. Application IS-89312 requests water year round for instream uses in a 13-mile reach of Deep Creek. Deep Creek is part of the watershed that feeds into the closed Warner Lakes Subbasin, in ?southeastern Lake County. The District holds irrigation, supplemental irrigation, and storage water rights that authorize the District to use the water of Deep Creek and other waters when they reach the valley floor. Water is used for agricultural uses, irrigation, and livestock watering. ?This creek and the others in this watershed are dependent on annual winter snowpacks, making ?water flows, availability, and reliability unpredictable from year to year and season to season. ? Over the last several years, the District has worked with Lake County Umbrella Watershed Council, ?ODFW, Lakeview Soil and Water Conservation ?District, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the United States Forest Service, to replace and upgrade the primary ?irrigation structures within the District’s irrigation system. These projects were done to support conservation goals, particularly to create habitat improvements for native fish species, like the Warner Sucker, to improve fish passage, to increase fish screening, and to promote irrigation efficiency. To realize these goals, ?District members along with local, state, and federal partners determined changes to the location of at least three points of diversion (“POD”) were necessary. ? The District understands that, if approved, ODFW’s instream water right will be junior to all currently existing water ?rights. However, the District’s concern is that if an instream water right is approved, ODFW may determine there will be injury if the District or its patrons apply for any POD transfers. ?The extensive projects the District has undertaken with local, state, and federal partners to upgrade its irrigation structures to improve fish habitat and irrigation efficiency may not have happened if there was an instream water right due to the expense and time that would have been required navigating the consent to injury process. Due to these concerns, projects like those that have already occurred are unlikely to occur in the future if there is an instream water right on Deep Creek. Additionally, the District has concerns about the lawfulness of OWRD’s proposed approval of application IS-89312. In its Initial Review, OWRD proposes to approve application IS-89312 at amounts of water that nearly exceed the natural stream flow from July through November based on OWRD’s analysis of water availability at a 50% exceedance rate. After accounting for already allocated consumptive uses and storage from Deep Creek, application IS-89312 would authorize amounts of water that do exceed the expected stream flow in Deep Creek at a 50% exceedance rate from July through October. The District is intimately familiar with stream flows in Deep Creek and observes that in June, July, and August there is no “wet” water available in Deep Creek on the proposed reach in application IS-89312. Further, the proposed reach is nearly 13 miles long, yet OWRD appears to be relying on streamflow data for its water availability analysis that is taken at one location. OWRD may not authorize instream uses that exceed the estimated average natural flow. (OAR 690-077-0015(4)). Without additional data and streamflow measurements throughout the proposed 13-mile reach of Deep Creek, OWRD’s proposed allowable instream flows will unlawfully exceed the estimated average natural flow in portions of Deep Creek. Additionally, ODFW’s requested instream flow amounts are based on outdated technical data and outdated methodologies. The amount of water that may be included in a request for a new instream water right is limited to the amount “necessary to support those public uses as recommended by the State Department of Fish and Wildlife.” (ORS 537.336(1); OAR 690-077-015(11)) (instream water rights shall not exceed the amount needed to provide increased public benefits). As such, OWRD must be able to demonstrate that the instream flows are necessary to achieve the public benefits claimed in application IS-89312. However, OWRD is relying on ODFW’s 50-year old data to determine the flow amounts that are necessary. ODFW’s application states that it developed its streamflow recommendations based on data reported in the Basin Investigation Report, which was published in 1971, and on the 1972 Oregon Method. The data and methodology do not reflect conditions on the ground 50 years later. During those intervening decades, there have been immense changes, including climatic changes, which affect stream flows. These changes must be accounted for in any instream flows. The information ODFW and OWRD are relying on is stale and cannot be used to justify the instream flows requested in application IS-89312. The District acknowledges ODFW’s policy to establish instream water rights and has appreciated partnering with ODFW on fish habitat improvement projects. However, in this rural, rugged closed ?basin, application IS-89312 will create a regulatory hindrance to the ?conservation work that has been occurring in the Warner Lakes Subbasin.? For these reasons and as explained above, the District requests that OWRD propose to deny application IS-89312 or, alternatively, limit the water authorized for instream use to the amounts of water actually available in Deep Creek in each month of the year. Sincerely, Mary Woodworth, Vice President, Adel Water Improvement District
 Patricia CarrollOregon Lakes AssociationOregon Lakes Association (OLA) supports the issuance of the instream water right in the amount applied for by ODFW. Fulfillment of these applications will provide assurance into the future that instream flows for stream biota and channel function will be available without jeopardizing the existing valid water rights issued for other beneficial uses.
 Ellen PorterUmpqua Valley Audubon SocietyUmpqua Valley Audubon Society provides this comment in support of the issuance of the instream water right in the amount applied for by ODFW.
 Mark RogersOregon Council Trout UnlimitedThe Oregon Council of Trout Unlimited supports Application # IS 89312 in the amount applied for by ODFW. Thank you.
 Shaun PigottDeschutes Redbands Chapter - Trout Unlimited The Deschutes Redbands Chapter of Trout Unlimited, representing 758 members in the Deschutes Basin, supports the in-stream water right application # IS 89312 in the amount applied for by ODFW.
 James FraserTrout UnlimitedTrout Unlimited (TU) supports this Application (IS 89312) in the amount applied for by ODFW. TU is a non-profit dedicated to conserving coldwater fish (such as trout, salmon, and steelhead) and their habitats, and we have more than 350,000 members and supporters nationwide. Thank you for considering our input.
 Jennifer FairbrotherNative Fish SocietyNative Fish Society supports the issuance of the instream water right on Deep Creek in the amount applied for by ODFW. Thank you.
 Ryan HoustonOregon Natural Desert AssociationThe Oregon Natural Desert Association supports this instream water right application.
 Caylin BarterWild Salmon CenterCORRECTED: Wild Salmon Center supports approval of instream water right application IS-89312.
 Caylin BarterWild Salmon CenterWild Salmon Center supports approval of instream water right application IS-89308.
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