McKenzie Canyon piping project wins funding

With money in the bank from two key agencies, the Three Sisters Irrigation District last week switched on the green light for a major piping project that will return water to Squaw Creek.

The McKenzie Canyon Piping Project was approved for funding last week by the Deschutes River Conservancy (DRC, $150,000) and the federal Bureau of Reclamation ($300,000). The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board already committed a contribution of $164,000 and the irrigation district itself will take on $443,400 in in-kind contribution to pipe the Black Butte and Association canals.

The canals run through McKenzie Canyon northeast of Sisters and run down to several farms at Lower Bridge.

The project is the last of several controversial piping projects the district has undertaken to limit water loss through seepage and return water to Squaw Creek.

According to Thalacker, the completed project will put six cubic feet per second (CFS) of water flow back into the creek. There’s about three CFS in the creek now. With the addition of an estimated 10 CFS from a well-exchange program now in the works and some other water rights work, the creek could in the next few years pass the 20 CFS threshold required for the development of fish habitat.

Portland General Electric (PGE), the Warm Springs tribes and several government agencies are working on plans to return fish runs to the creek system and sufficient flow is critical to those efforts.

“People could actually see steelhead in Squaw Creek in 2011,” Thalacker said.

Farmers will also benefit from lower power bills. The pipes would carry pressurized water, reducing the cost of pumping water from the canals.

The piping project will be conducted in five phases over several years. The first phase to be completed will actually be Phase 5 of the project, the area furthest down the canals.

“We’re going to ‘flip’ the project,” Three Sisters Irrigation District manager Marc Thalacker told The Nugget.

The reason for the “flip” is that several residents in the upper canyon have opposed the project. While they are not members of the district and are not officially “affected parties,” Thalacker said the irrigation district hopes to convince those residents to support the project as well.

Several residents have expressed concern that drying up the irrigation ditch that has flowed for years like a creek through McKenzie Canyon will harm vegetation and the deer, elk and other mammals that have grown dependent on that water.

Homeowners in the canyon also fear the loss of beauty and wildlife activity that could result from piping.

Three Sisters Irrigation District has proposed to provide “water features” to those homeowners — if they join the irrigation district and obtain water rights and pay fees. According to Thalacker, those water features could take many forms, from ponds and tanks to drip flows.

However, progress has been slow on that front. Homeowner Jan Daggett, who has been outspoken in her concerns about the project, says she is dissatisfied with the four-sentence “pond agreement” presented to her as a mitigation proposal.

Daggett bought water rights, seeking to be included in the district. But she says Thalacker told her she would not be voted in unless she signs a document she characterizes as a “gag order” preventing her from working with her neighbors in opposition to the project.

Daggett has signed on to an ethics complaint against Thalacker and irrigation district board member Glenn Cooper alleging conflict of interest in their advocacy of the piping project (see related story, page 31).

The irrigation district board of directors agreed on Thursday to accept the funds contingent upon an agreement being reached that is satisfactory to all the farmers affected by the project. The board and the farmers were to hammer out that agreement this week.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

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.

• Email: editor@nuggetnews.com
• Phone: 5415499941