Ranch not responsible for creek going dry

The Sokol ranch in Sisters apparently had nothing to do with the drying out of a section of Squaw Creek last week ("Fish die as Squaw Creek runs dry," The Nugget, May 28).

The episode led to the death of some 200 fish.

"That was before we started irrigating," said Don Watson, husband of ranch owner Dorro Sokol.

Deschutes County Watermaster Kyle Gorman acknowledged that, if the ranch wasn't diverting water, it didn't have anything to do with the dry-out.

In any case, Gorman said, "it's not their responsibility to make sure there's water in the creek."

That responsibility belongs essentially to Gorman's office. Due to a combination of circumstances, an upstream interruption in flow was not picked up by monitoring equipment.

"We were not aware that that situation could happen," Gorman said.

He said his office is working to ensure that such events don't happen in the future.