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Drying Up?

One homeowner says Central Oregon Irrigation improvements are causing her residential well to go belly up

Six weeks ago, a local woman experienced water pressure loss at her home off Rogers Road, near the old Bend-Redmond Highway. “All of a sudden there was no water. I looked at the 1,800-gallon holding tank connected to my well, and it was empty,” she said.  The woman believes her 50-year-old well dried up as […]

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A River Runs Through Here

Water issues downriver in Jefferson County affect those upriver, too, impacting the economy, recreation and food

“Without water – no farms – no food.” With that simple statement, Jefferson County Commissioner Mae Huston emphasizes the importance of irrigation water for farms near Madras, in Jefferson County, where the seed industry, along with other crops, are the lifeblood of the rural community. Without adequate water supplies for farmers, she says the City […]

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Redmond Homeless Camp Closing

Law enforcement followed up on 24-hour eviction notices, but decided to give some of the larger camps a little more time to clear out

Driving east on Antler Avenue in Redmond across the rutted, potholed road, I stopped my truck near a gate on Central Oregon Irrigation District property. Walking roughly 100 yards south on another dirt road, I saw the first camp, marked by a black car with its front windshield smashed in. A dog barked from behind […]

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Displacing the Displaced

Redmond’s homeless find blockades to encampments. Deschutes County says it’s a “and-use issue; COID plans to sell parcel for a reported $8 million.

Estimates vary, but soon 200 to 400 people will be finding a new place to call “home,” packing up their motorhomes, tents and tarps and hitting the road to find unoccupied land on which to settle. Large boulders or physical gates sit at the head of two main roads leading to a swath of land […]

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Side Notes: Local News Roundup

Free shuttle launches in Bend, Bikeshare expands, public info on canals and more

Shuttle Launching in Bend; Bikeshare Program Expands A summer shuttle program for central Bend starts June 23. The “Ride Bend” shuttle is a pilot program aimed at providing visitors and residents another way to connect between downtown Bend, the Old Mill District, OSU-Cascades, Galveston Avenue., Century Drive. and other popular spots in the city. The […]

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Putting Back the River

100+ year-old canals are a target in an effort to restore water flows in the Upper Deschutes

A little Central Oregon irrigation humor. Reporter: “How do you measure how much water you’re getting?” Farmer: “Go to the tree, grab that stick, stick it in and if it hits the notch then that’s the right amount.” That’s no joke. Such measuring tools are still in use while irrigation water flows are still calculated […]

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Fish Rescue

Every October, a group dons their waders to rescue fish around Lava Island. Thousands live. Thousands also die.

It was 2013 when Kim Brannock of Bend first witnessed thousands of dying fish in a side channel of the upper Deschutes River near Lava Island. As co-founder of the Coalition for the Deschutes, she was sickened by the sight, only to find out it had been occurring for decades with seasonal irrigation water flows […]

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Water Rights

Conservation efforts questioned

Lawsuits filed by environmental groups against the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and multiple Central Oregon water districts, including the Central Oregon Irrigation District (COID), demand changes to the way the Deschutes River’s water is managed. The environmental groups are using the destruction of habitat of the spotted frog and the federal Endangered Species Act to […]

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