Deschutes Diaries: October 2024

Welcome to the start of our new series, Deschutes Diaries, exploring the history, developments, and future of the lower Deschutes!

Through these articles, we’ll take a closer look at the events that shaped the Deschutes River we know today, and highlight Native Fish Society's efforts to protect and revive its wild abundance.

This is Part 1 of an ongoing series to showcase and open the conversation of our Deschutes: Return to Wild & Cool campaign. Along the way, we’ll be sharing important milestones, ongoing efforts, and how you can be a part of this vital work. Additional parts and updates will be posted over the next several months. Stay tuned!

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1949: Pelton and Reregulation Dam Proposal

The story of the Pelton Round Butte hydroelectric project begins in January of 1949, when the Northwest Power Supply Company proposed building a dam in a deep canyon of the Deschutes. The site had previously been designated as a “Power Site Reserve” in 1910 by Executive Order. Shortly after the Northwest Power Supply Company made the initial proposal, Portland General Electric (PGE) took over as applicants in 1951. 

The original application was to build a 205’ high dam with three 36,000 kW generators, as well as an 88’ high Reregulating Dam built approximately 3 miles downstream of Pelton. The main purpose of the Reregulating Dam is to moderate any changes in flow caused by power generation at Pelton. Hydroelectric production at the Reregulating Dam was added in 1982 by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, as the tribes are 100% owners of the Reregulating Dam.

Opposition to the Project

The state of Oregon, concerned about how a large dam on the Deschutes could greatly decrease the river’s runs of salmon and steelhead, strongly opposed licensing of the project. While the Federal Power Commission (replaced by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission–or FERC–in 1977) granted PGE a federal license, the state-run Oregon Hydroelectric Commission denied the application for a state license and the state of Oregon took the Federal Power Commission to court on the basis that they didn’t have the authority to issue a license on the Deschutes River. Eventually, the case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where the justices sided with the Federal Power Commission in a 7-1 ruling in 1955. 

Oregon’s Senators Richard Neuberger and Wayne Morse introduced legislation that would have revoked PGE’s license, and Oregon’s Attorney General sued PGE for constructing without a state permit. These valiant efforts ultimately failed. 

Dam Construction

Pelton and its Reregulating Dam were completed in 1958. Originally, there was a fish ladder that was planned to provide fish passage above the dam. Unfortunately, the ladder never really worked and was abandoned fairly quickly. The construction of 440’ high Round Butte Dam in 1964 further cemented the loss of the vast majority of spawning habitat in the basin for summer steelhead and spring Chinook. 

A key part of the Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Federal Power Commission was the belief that the dams would not impair salmon and steelhead runs. Indeed, an opinion submitted by the Federal Power Commission was cited by the Supreme Court 

…that no substantial evidence has been brought forward to show that the facilities proposed for conserving the fish will not maintain existing runs. Moreover, there are indications that the runs can be increased. [Emphasis added.]

Of course, we now know how false that statement proved to be. As it has elsewhere, hatchery supplementation has failed to increase the number of salmon and steelhead in the lower Deschutes, and almost certainly led to decreased fitness of the wild fish. 

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Stay tuned for next month's topic, where we’ll look at how the Pelton Round Butte hydroelectric project changed the landscape and the future of fish passage on the Deschutes.

If you have any questions or topics you'd love to see covered in Deschutes Diaries, please don’t hesitate to reach out – we’d love to hear from you! Send us an email with your questions and suggestions at info@nativefishsociety.org

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Sources:

Proposed Pelton Dam Site, 1949. Oregon History Project. Last Accessed 24 September 2024

Round Butte Dam, 1965. Oregon History Project. Last Accessed 24 September 2024

FPC v. Oregon, 349 U.S. 435 (1955)

Hatchery Scientific Review Group  Review and Recommendations. 2009. Deschutes Spring Chinook Population and Related Hatchery Programs. 

Warm Springs Power and Water Enterprises.