Local waters listed as sub-standard

Several Sisters area streams have below-standard water quality, according to an updated analysis by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).

All the local streams were listed due to elevated water temperatures.

According to Bonnie Lamb, a natural resources specialist with the Bend DEQ office, temperature is only one of several criteria used in water body evaluation.

She pointed out, however, that temperature is an obvious factor and does not preclude the existence of other problems for which data do not exist.

Squaw Creek, which flows through Sisters, has been listed before; but Indian Ford Creek is a new listing.

Lamb said that the addition of Indian Ford Creek does not necessarily indicate a new problem. Rather, it means that data are now available to justify the creek's placement on the list.

Mike Riehle, Fisheries Biologist for the Sisters Ranger District, agrees that there were already "some red flags" on the health of Indian Ford Creek, and he was expecting it to be on the new list.

Much of the new data came from studies conducted by FLIR-equipped overflights.

FLIR stands for forward-looking infra-red.

"The FLIR flights were multi-agency funded, and even Black Butte Ranch chipped in on it," Riehle said. "Squaw Creek and Indian Ford were flown a couple of years ago."

Riehle explained that the infrared equipment detects radiant heat "and they translate that into water temperature.

"For a stream, the readings correlate well with actual temperature," he said. "Indian Ford is a spring-fed creek that comes out cool but warms up rather quickly.

"Below the major irrigation diversions, the creek gets really warm," he said. "It's almost standing water."

Riehle also suspects that further study of the creek could reveal below standard readings for bacteria, pH, and dissolved oxygen.

"Spawning criteria were considered this year," Lamb said.

She explained that a water temperature of 55 degrees F is the upper limit for optimal fish spawning, while 64 degrees F is the critical point for rearing of the young fry.

Virtually all of Squaw Creek -- from its mouth to the irrigation diversions above Sisters -- failed the temperature standard.

The infrared study shows a huge temperature spike as Squaw Creek approaches and passes through Sisters.

It cools again where springs enter near Camp Polk.

The creek steadily warms up again for the next 15 miles until it reaches the inflow from Alder Springs about a mile and a half from the mouth.

The report, compiled by Watershed Sciences of Corvallis, notes that a prominent feature in the warming trend near Sisters is the Squaw Creek Irrigation Canal.

The report indicates that the "temperature profile suggests that flow reduction may play a significant role in the observed increase in heating rates."

"From our studies of the Squaw Creek watershed, we know the streams are in trouble," said Forest Service District Ecologist Maret Pajutee. "It's mostly because they are too warm. There's simply not enough water in them."

She went on to say, "Much of the stream flows are diverted; so the cold water is pulled off, and the small trickle that is left reaches temperature levels that are harmful to aquatic life and fish."

Both Pajutee and Riehle observed that Indian Ford irrigation use exceeds the creek's total capacity in the summer.

"I'm concerned that we still see management of riparian areas with bulldozers," Pajutee said.

Exacerbating Indian Ford's plight is a deep, straight channel cut into the lowest reaches of Indian Ford Creek below the Sisters Airport.

The channel runs several feet below the soils of the floodplain. Any surface water reaching that area simply drains into exposed gravel and rock and is lost.

To make matters worse, in recent summers the water flow has been insufficient to even reach that area.

Long-time residents, such as Edith Leithauser, can recall when the whole Indian Ford floodplain was a marshland. She recounts tales of residents ice skating all the way from town to the Indian Ford Ranch area.

Pajutee acknowledged that demands for irrigation, recreation and fish and wildlife health are complex issues.

The picture is complicated by division of the land and a multitude of landowners.

"Collaborative work is extremely time consuming," Pajutee said. "It takes years to change how people are using the watersheds."

In addition to the streams in town, Lamb said that even the Metolius River made the list because of a Bull Trout standard of 50 degrees F; Canyon Creek also flunked the Bull Trout test.

Lake Creek, Brush Creek and First Creek are other Metolius Basin streams that failed to meet the spawning standard.

Riehle explained that the list is known as the 303(d) list for the section of the Water Quality Act that mandates the identification of lakes and streams with water quality problems.

The listings which DEQ just released remain subject to public comment through November 1.

Comments may be directed to: Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Water Quality Division, 811 S.W. 6th Avenue, Portland, OR, 97204-1390.