Fish die as Squaw Creek runs dry

Keeping water flowing in Squaw Creek requires constant diligence. Photo by Jim Cornelius

About a mile-long stretch of Squaw Creek went dry last week when competing irrigation interests siphoned off the entire stream flow. Like the recent lunar eclipse, water officials say that a series of events had to line up just right -- or wrong -- to cause the incident.

According to Assistant Watermaster Ed Lavelle, "miscommunication" between the Squaw Creek Irrigation District and the Sokol ranch led to the mishap, which killed some 200 or more fish.

Lavelle emphasized that both diversions are legal uses of the water, but the users are generally able to coordinate the water use to prevent such a mistake.

"It was reported Monday morning by a hiker," Lavelle said. "We weren't aware that that section of the creek was fully dewatered. We did a quick survey and released an extra 5 cfs (cubic feet per second) to water the dry section."

Lavelle explained that a monitoring system keeps tabs on the water flow through Sisters, but the dry spot developed farther upstream. Normally, he said, the monitoring station would have picked up the problem, but water was being passed through from Pole Creek.

The watermaster's office said that Pole Creek, a tributary of Squaw Creek, is normally fully committed to irrigation this time of year. However, on this occasion, enough of the Pole Creek water was making it through to register on the Sisters water monitor. Since Pole Creek enters Squaw Creek between the Sokol diversion and Sisters, the interrupted flow upstream was not detected by the equipment.

The end result was no water between the Sokol's ranch and Pole Creek.

Marc Thalacker, of the Squaw Creek Irrigation District, indicated that SCID was caught a little off guard by Pole Creek's augmentation of the water monitor's readings. He added that additional water was released into Squaw Creek as soon as the problem was discovered.

"Right now," Thalacker said, "we're working extremely hard to make sure that the downstream and instream water rights are protected, as well as the irrigation district's water rights."

Thalacker confirmed that allocated water rights exceed Squaw Creek's current water production.

"For the last couple of weeks, we've only been diverting 40 cfs and we have rights to 150 cfs," he said. "So, what we do is divvy that up on a percentage basis. Last week we were delivering about 30 percent; but in this heat, it'll increase."

Forest Service fishery biologist Mike Riehle felt that the incident should have been preventable.

"I think it's something that happens in the spring fairly often," he said, "but as long as it doesn't go completely dry, it stays cold enough that the fish can survive."

Riehle explained that warm spring days and cold nights result in a very irregular water flow in Squaw Creek this time of year. "When the snow melts, it takes about 12 hours for that water to get to town," he said, "so it fluctuates on a daily basis and goes through a cycle each day. This year, the situation is exacerbated by the low snow pack.

"This low flow period isn't unusual," Riehle said. "Some years it may get critical and kill some of the fish. I don't think it has such a severe effect later in the summer when the snowmelt is more consistent."

Riehle said he counted nearly 200 dead fish, but the number was surely greater since his survey was limited by the fact that water was already flowing again when he was on scene.

Most of the fish fatalities he observed were sculpins and long-nosed dace, a native minnow that grows to about five inches in length. He said that both species are "good forage for fish-eating fish."

A smaller number of redband (rainbow) trout also died.

The redband is a federally classified "sensitive species" that is judged to be dwindling; but the listing stops short of "endangered" status.

"It's important for the irrigators to manage the water and coordinate when they are taking water out," Riehle said. "It also puts more emphasis on water conservation efforts and to getting more in-stream water flow to act as a buffer when things break down. There's not a lot of room for error."

Lavelle conceded that the recently acquired 1.81 cfs water right for Squaw Creek through Sisters does not cover the stretch impacted in last week's event. That water right came from another diversion which is closer to town, so a more reliable flow still depends on conservation or acquisition of additional rights.

The Upper Deschutes Watershed Council and various public and private agencies are working to secure increased, permanent water flow rights for Squaw Creek.

A stable flow of water is considered essential for long-term rehabilitation leading to a healthy stream system, which some hope might one day lead to the restoration of salmon and steelhead runs through Sisters.

Thalacker was optimistic that the completed and future water conservation projects, in the form of irrigation ditch piping, would free up about 10.5 cfs to contribute to the Squaw Creek stream flow.

In the meantime, Lavelle said, "We're hoping to develop a little better communication among the users, so this kind of thing won't happen in the future."