Three Sisters Irrigation District Main Canal Piping Phase 6

Salmonid Habitat Restoration and Acquisition

Project ID	OWEB 214-4999-11497
Recovery Domains	-
Start Date	11/07/2014
End Date	11/05/2015
Year	2014
Status	Completed
Last Edited	04/12/2024

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Description

In this 6th phase of piping, theThree Sisters Irrigation District (TSID) piped another 4,000 feet of open canal within the irrigation district, conserving 1.33 cubic feet per second that was previously lost to seepage and evaporation. The 1.33 cubic feet per second of conserved water is now permanently protected instream from April through October through Oregon’s Conserved Water statute. This increase in stream flows will help address the chronically low summer flows that have persisted in the creek since the late 1800s. Low summer flows (the creek dried up completely about 2 out of every 3 years) are the primary contributing factor to impaired water quality (e.g. high water temperatures, low levels of dissolved oxygen etc.) and degraded habitat in Whychus Creek, which has been listed on Oregon Department of Environmental Qualitys 303d list since the mid-1990s. The increased flows will improve water quality and habitat, benefiting resident redband trout reintroduced Chinook salmon and steelhead trout.

Based on updated information from the grantee, the actual miles of stream protected for this phase of the project has been corrected to report 28.5 miles of stream protected for adequate flow.

Project Benefit

The goal of the project is to increase protected instream flow by 1.33 cfs during the irrigation season. Increasing flows in the affected reach will improve salmonid spawning and rearing habitat availability between the Three Sisters Irrigation District point of diversion at river mile 23.5 and Alder Springs (near confluence of Whychus Creek and Deschutes River). Habitat quality data analysis suggests that, along with stream morphology, stream flow is a primary factor limiting habitat quality in the creek.Water quality analysis by the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council found a direct relationship between increased stream flow and decreased stream temperature. Decreased stream temperatures associated with stream flow improvements from this project will benefit steelhead rearing in Whychus Creek during the summer irrigation

season.

Source

Funds

State

$293,443

Other

$735,168

In-Kind Other

$809,432

Report Total:

$1,838,043

Worksites

20150201

Worksite Identifier: 20150201
Start Date:
End Date:

Area Description

No Area Description data was found for this worksite.

Location Information

Basin:
Subbasin:
Watershed:
Subwatershed:

State:
Recovery Domain:
Latitude: 44.28760567
Longitude: -121.46578551

ESU

Deschutes River Summer/Fall-run Chinook Salmon ESU
Middle Columbia River Steelhead DPS

Map

Photos

Metrics

C.0 Salmonid Habitat Restoration and AcquisitionY (Y/N)

. . C.0.a Habitat restoration and acquisition funding 1,838,042.94
. . C.0.b Length of stream treated/protected 28.50

. . C.0.c

Project identified in a Plan or Watershed Assessment
Middle Columbia River Steelhead ESA Recovery Plan, Nat'l Marine Fisheries & ODFW 2009; Deschutes Sub-Basin Plan, NW Power & Conservation Council 2004

. . C.0.d.1 Project Monitoring (LOV)
. . C.0.d.2 Monitoring Location (LOV)
. . C.3 Instream Flow ProjectY (Y/N)
- . . . . C.3.a Instream Flow Funding 1,838,042.94
- . . . . C.3.b Length of stream 'protected' for adequate flow 28.50
- . . . . C.3.c Change in water flow1.33 (cfs)
- . . . . C.3.e.1 Irrigation practice improvementY (Y/N)
  - . . . . . . C.3.e.2 Acre feet of water conserved per year564 (Acre feet)
  - . . . . . . C.3.e.3 cfs (cubic feet per second) of water conserved1.33 (cfs)
  - . . . . . . C.3.e.4 Initial start date of action or agreement04/01/2015 (mm/dd/yyyy)
  - . . . . . . C.3.e.5 Final end date of action or agreement12/31/9999 (mm/dd/yyyy)