News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Water will flow through the dry part of Squaw Creek all year long when Barclay Ranch irrigation water rights go back to the stream.
Barclay Ranch owner Ted Eady signed an agreement last week with the Oregon Water Trust to transfer 42.9 acres of the ranch's 53 acres of water rights back in-stream to Squaw Creek. The trust agreed to a price of $1,000 per acre for the rights. Eady will retain the remainder to irrigate his farmland in Dry Canyon.
Eady plans to build an inn on the Barclay Ranch, and zone a portion of the property for light industrial use. Those plans take the ranch out of agricultural use.
The deal must still be approved by the state Water Resources Department, but those involved don't anticipate any problem.
Squaw Creek is so heavily tapped for irrigation that, during the summer months, a long stretch of the creek where it passes through Sisters goes dry.
"The hope is that this will allow for a constant rate of flow through that dry part of the creek," said Andrew Purkey of the Oregon Water Trust.
Eady's water right, which dates back to 1885, is particularly valuable because of its seniority. Senior rights have priority in dry times; those with less seniority have their water shut off first.
The 386 gallons per minute that will now return to the creek should remain untapped all year.
"It should, in most years, be protectible all the way downstream," Purkey said.
Purkey noted that, while there is not an established market rate for water in the area, Eady probably could have gotten more than the trust's $1,000 per acre.
Eady said he transferred the water rights to an in-stream right because, "I thought it was a good thing to do. The bull trout may go on the endangered species list and that's important habitat," Eady said. "And I support what OWT is trying to do, which is to give people solutions."
Both Purkey and Eady acknowledged that this transfer is not enough to restore the creek to the degree envisioned by the Squaw Creek Stewardship Working Group and other watershed restoration activists.
"It doesn't solve the problem altogether," Eady said. "What it does do is let them build on it."
Purkey hopes to do just that.
"It is the first of what we hope will be additional agreements with other landowners on Squaw Creek," Purkey said.
Purkey noted that the outright purchase of water rights is only one option OWT offers.
For example, some landowners could work out a deal in which OWT would help put them on ground water in exchange for an in-stream transfer of water rights.
The Squaw Creek Stewardship Working Group hopes to build on the restoration of flow to completely restore the riparian habitat of the creek, turning it into an aesthetic and educational asset for the Sisters community.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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