FY07-09 proposal 200731600
Jump to Reviews and Recommendations
Section 1. Administrative
Proposal title | McKenzie Canyon Irrigation Project |
Proposal ID | 200731600 |
Organization | Deschutes River Conservancy |
Short description | The Deschutes River Conservancy, Three Sisters Irrigation District, Upper Deschutes Watershed Council and the Deschutes Soil and Water Distirct propose to restore instream habitat and flows in Squaw Creek to benefit ESA listed steelhead and bull trout. |
Information transfer | The results of this project will be reported on-line through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Columbia Basin Water Transactions Program website and on the DRC's website. The DRC and its parnters will also work to provide presentations on the results of the project to the local stakeholder groups whom they represent. |
Proposal contact person or principal investigator |
Contacts
Contact | Organization | |
---|---|---|
Form submitter | ||
Scott McCaulou | Deschutes River Conservancy | scott@deschutesrc.org |
All assigned contacts |
Section 2. Locations
Province / subbasin: Columbia Plateau / Deschutes
Latitude | Longitude | Waterbody | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Squaw Creek | River Mile 23.5 to 0 |
Section 3. Focal species
primary: Steelhead Middle Columbia River ESUsecondary: Chinook Deschutes River Summer/Fall ESU
secondary: All Resident Fish
Section 4. Past accomplishments
Year | Accomplishments |
---|
Section 5. Relationships to other projects
Funding source | Related ID | Related title | Relationship |
---|
Section 6. Biological objectives
Biological objectives | Full description | Associated subbasin plan | Strategy |
---|---|---|---|
Increase life history diversity of resident trout | Maintain or increase the life history diversity of the wild indigenous bull trout and redband trout in the assessment unit. | Deschutes | • Work with irrigation districts and individual water users to enhance instream flows by seeking opportunities such as water leases, water purchases, water transfers, or other conservation measures. |
Provide connectivity between core populations | Provide connectivity and opportunities for redband and bull trout migration between local core populations. | Deschutes | •Work with irrigators to increase the efficiency of water delivery and use to reduce the quantity of water withdrawn from streams. •Increase redband and bull trout populations and re-introduced Pacific lamprey, and summer steelhead populations. |
Sustainable habitat for focal species | Provide suitable habitat conditions for adult and juvenile summer steelhead life history stages and migratory patterns to achieve and maintain an annual spawner escapement of 1,600 to 1,850 naturally produced adult summer steelhead (EDT Projection) into assessment unit streams. This population would be distributed to the following stream systems: Metolius River 600 - 700, Squaw Creek 700 – 800 and Middle Deschutes River 300 – 350 fish when passage is established at the Pelton Round Butte and Squaw Creek dams. | Deschutes | •Increase instream minimum flow to meet instream water right of 33 cfs below Indian Ford Creek •Reduce maximum stream temperature by to meet water quality standards. •Increase riparian function by 50% by restoring diverse riparian vegetative corridors |
Section 7. Work elements (coming back to this)
Work element name | Work element title | Description | Start date | End date | Est budget |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plant Vegetation | Restore native riparian vegetation along Squaw Creek | [Work Element Description Not Entered] | 1/1/2007 | 12/30/2009 | $60,000 |
Biological objectives |
Metrics |
||||
Install Pipeline | Install McKenzie Canyon Pipeline | [Work Element Description Not Entered] | 1/1/2007 | 12/30/2009 | $4,800,000 |
Biological objectives Increase life history diversity of resident trout Provide connectivity between core populations Sustainable habitat for focal species |
Metrics * Amount of unprotected water flow returned to the stream by conservation in acre-feet: 2,037 * Amount of unprotected water flow returned to the stream by conservation in cfs: 4.8 * Estimated # of miles of primary stream reach improvement: 23.5 * Estimated # of miles of total stream reach improvement: 43.5 |
||||
Install Sprinkler | Irrigation Water Management Program | This work element will build on the competed Irrigation Water Management Program developed in 2005 by the Deschutes Soil and Water Conservation District, OWEB, TSID, CEC, and BOR. The IWM partnership will improve both on-farm and irrigation delivery systems for landowners through irrigation water scheduling, nozzle replacement, and lining and piping on-farm water conveyance systems. NRCS and the Deschutes SWCD will work with landowners, as the pipeline is installed beginning in 2006 and concluding in 2009. | 1/1/2007 | 12/30/2009 | $40,000 |
Biological objectives |
Metrics * Amount of unprotected water flow returned to the stream by conservation in cfs: 2 cfs |
||||
Acquire Water Instream | Create Instream Water Right | This element involves the contracting, Conserved Water Application development, submission and tracking. | 1/1/2007 | 12/30/2009 | $50,000 |
Biological objectives |
Metrics |
Section 8. Budgets
Itemized estimated budget
Item | Note | FY07 | FY08 | FY09 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Personnel | Project Management | $25,000 | $25,000 | $0 |
Supplies | Pipeline Materials | $1,400,000 | $1,400,000 | $0 |
Other | Contracted Services | $35,000 | $35,000 | $30,000 |
Personnel | In-kind Installation | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 | $0 |
Totals | $2,460,000 | $2,460,000 | $30,000 |
Total estimated FY 2007-2009 budgets
Total itemized budget: | $4,950,000 |
Total work element budget: | $4,950,000 |
Cost sharing
Funding source/org | Item or service provided | FY 07 est value ($) | FY 08 est value ($) | FY 09 est value ($) | Cash or in-kind? | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BOR | materials | $300,000 | $300,000 | $0 | Cash | Under Development |
OWEB | materials | $320,000 | $320,000 | $0 | Cash | Under Development |
TSID | labor | $1,200,000 | $1,200,000 | $0 | Cash | Under Review |
Totals | $1,820,000 | $1,820,000 | $0 |
Section 9. Project future
FY 2010 estimated budget: $5,000 FY 2011 estimated budget: $5,000 |
Comments: [Outyear comment field left blank] |
Future O&M costs: The Three Sisters Irrigation District will be responsible for ongoing O&M costs associated with the McKenzie Canyon Pipeline The Upper Deschutes Watershed Council will conduct monitoring activities on the riparian restoration component of the project to evaluate overall sucess.
Termination date: 12/30/2009
Comments: All project activities will be complete by the close of the 2009 calendar year.
Final deliverables: *2037 Acre-Feet (4.8 cfs) protected permanently protected in Squaw Creek from piping. *23.5 miles of instream habitat improvement in Squaw Creek *2 cfs resulting from on-farm conservation efforts *2 miles of riparian restoration
Section 10. Narrative and other documents
Reviews and recommendations
FY07 budget | FY08 budget | FY09 budget | Total budget | Type | Category | Recommendation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NPCC FINAL FUNDING RECOMMENDATIONS (Oct 23, 2006) [full Council recs] | ||||||
$660,000 | $660,000 | $0 | $1,320,000 | Capital | ProvinceCapital | Fund |
NPCC FINAL FUNDING RECOMMENDATIONS (Oct 23, 2006) [full Council recs] | ||||||
$0 | $0 | $30,000 | $30,000 | Expense | ProvinceExpense | Fund |
NPCC DRAFT FUNDING RECOMMENDATIONS (Sep 15, 2006) [full Council recs] | ||||||
$0 | $0 | $30,000 | $0 | ProvinceExpense | ||
Comments: Expense portion. See capital budget for capital recommendation ($660k in 07,08) |
||||||
NPCC DRAFT FUNDING RECOMMENDATIONS (Sep 15, 2006) [full Council recs] | ||||||
$660,000 | $660,000 | $0 | $0 | ProvinceCapital |
ISRP PRELIMINARY REVIEW (Jun 2, 2006)
Recommendation: Fundable
NPCC comments: This is a well-written proposal, tight, detailed, supported with numbers and credible references. Wildlife and (named!) weeds are addressed and local land use pressures and ecological trends are recognized along with socio-economic elements. Identifies the major habitat-related problems within the Squaw Creek basin, including lack of adequate stream flows for fish. Historically, Squaw Creek was a major spawning and rearing area for steelhead and today supports a viable population of redband trout. Increased flows in Squaw Creek could be of particular significance as efforts to reintroduce steelhead above the dam complex continue. The sponsors need to better justify, in as specific terms as possible, the extent to which the flow increases will improve habitat conditions. Will the proposed flow increase make a significant, or even noticeable, difference to fish, especially in the lower reaches? What reaches will be most affected by the flow increase? What would be the estimated improvement in habitat (e.g., spawning areas or spawning habitat)? Where would the major increase occur and how much? Would new areas be open to spawning and how much? How would juvenile habitat be improved and where would the greatest improvement occur? In the areas where flow would be increased, is the physical habitat otherwise in good condition? The sponsors state that the flow increase represents 25% of the ODFW minimum flow request. At what location in the basin does this estimate pertain? Greater flow augmentation would make this project more appealing. Beyond focal species, the proposal did not note impacts on species adapted to ditches, such as nesting birds or amphibians, but did suggest vegetation salvage, an interesting, but not likely successful effort to reduce impact on non-focal species. It was nice to see terrestrial species being considered. The sponsors use the subbasin plan to justify the proposed project as part of a larger, ongoing regional effort. The first phase has been funded by numerous agencies and NGO’s. It is related to other streamflow restoration projects in the Deschutes Basin. In this water stressed, rapidly developing region, getting agricultural interests to put half the water saved into conservation rather than reducing over-allocation is a remarkable achievement. The work appears well organized and quite low-cost compared to many projects with less definable deliverables. The sponsors have extensive experience, and obvious cooperation with other agencies. Information transfer is not included, but should be. This model deserves more attention, and data should result, both technical and economic, that would be useful. The project needs plans for M&E to determine whether the flow increases have been achieved and what impact they have on habitat and fish. Implementation and effectiveness monitoring for this project could be part of the larger M&E program for the Deschutes Basin, but the sponsors need to assure that the larger program expressly addresses their project objectives.
ISRP FINAL REVIEW (Aug 31, 2006)
Recommendation: Fundable
NPCC comments: This is a well-written proposal, tight, detailed, supported with numbers and credible references. Wildlife and (named!) weeds are addressed and local land use pressures and ecological trends are recognized along with socio-economic elements. Identifies the major habitat-related problems within the Squaw Creek basin, including lack of adequate stream flows for fish. Historically, Squaw Creek was a major spawning and rearing area for steelhead and today supports a viable population of redband trout. Increased flows in Squaw Creek could be of particular significance as efforts to reintroduce steelhead above the dam complex continue. The sponsors need to better justify, in as specific terms as possible, the extent to which the flow increases will improve habitat conditions. Will the proposed flow increase make a significant, or even noticeable, difference to fish, especially in the lower reaches? What reaches will be most affected by the flow increase? What would be the estimated improvement in habitat (e.g., spawning areas or spawning habitat)? Where would the major increase occur and how much? Would new areas be open to spawning and how much? How would juvenile habitat be improved and where would the greatest improvement occur? In the areas where flow would be increased, is the physical habitat otherwise in good condition? The sponsors state that the flow increase represents 25% of the ODFW minimum flow request. At what location in the basin does this estimate pertain? Greater flow augmentation would make this project more appealing. Beyond focal species, the proposal did not note impacts on species adapted to ditches, such as nesting birds or amphibians, but did suggest vegetation salvage, an interesting, but not likely successful effort to reduce impact on non-focal species. It was nice to see terrestrial species being considered. The sponsors use the subbasin plan to justify the proposed project as part of a larger, ongoing regional effort. The first phase has been funded by numerous agencies and NGO’s. It is related to other streamflow restoration projects in the Deschutes Basin. In this water stressed, rapidly developing region, getting agricultural interests to put half the water saved into conservation rather than reducing over-allocation is a remarkable achievement. The work appears well organized and quite low-cost compared to many projects with less definable deliverables. The sponsors have extensive experience, and obvious cooperation with other agencies. Information transfer is not included, but should be. This model deserves more attention, and data should result, both technical and economic, that would be useful. The project needs plans for M&E to determine whether the flow increases have been achieved and what impact they have on habitat and fish. Implementation and effectiveness monitoring for this project could be part of the larger M&E program for the Deschutes Basin, but the sponsors need to assure that the larger program expressly addresses their project objectives.