Bill would continue funding for group
By Peter Sachs / The Bulletin
WASHINGTON - A bill to continue funding the Deschutes River
Conservancy had its first hearing in a U.S. House subcommittee
Wednesday, more than five months after Senate approval.
The bill would continue to authorize up to $2 million per year for the conservancy's habitat restoration and water-saving efforts in the Deschutes River watershed.
The conservancy has never received that much in a year since it was created in 1996, averaging about $700,000 annually, according to Executive Director Tod Heisler.
The time has come, Heisler told lawmakers, for Congress to grant more money to his group so it can undertake larger-scale projects. Last year, slightly more than $500,000 of the group's $2.5 million budget came from Washington. The rest came from several state agencies and private donors.
The Deschutes River Conservancy comprises 19 different entities, including irrigation districts, agencies and Indian tribes. Heisler said the coalition has helped increase stream flows by 137 cubic feet per second, converted some irrigation canals to piping systems, planted 150,000 native plants and performed other habitat restoration tasks.
A piping project in the Three Sisters Irrigation District should be finished in three to five years, Heisler said. After that, five more projects being planned would return 110 cubic feet per second of water flow to streams and rivers in the region.
But those projects will take time, Heisler said, and that's why all the money is needed. The authorization for federal funds ends this year.
While the bill has broad support, some farmers have taken issue with the conservancy projects. Matt Cyrus, a farmer in Sisters, said wildlife living around canals is affected by piping projects, and more studies are needed to determine if the trade-off is worth it.
"Some of the piping reduces the size of the ecosystem, condenses the wildlife back onto the stream channels where they were 100 years ago," Cyrus said.
The Bureau of Reclamation largely supports the bill, though Deputy Administrator Larry Todd said his agency's budget is tight and it will be difficult to find money to continue the conservancy's funding.
"For us to lose federal funding would be devastating," Heisler said before he testified. "Because we're not in a crisis just yet, we have a hard time getting the attention we deserve."