ADMINISTRATIVE SUMMARY
The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon
Hood River Production Program
6030 Dee Highway
Parkdale, Oregon 97041
Fisheries Program Manager:  Brad Houslet (541) 553-2039
Fiscal Officer:  Arthur Mitchell  (541) 553-3219
Hood River Production Program Coordinator:  Chris Brun (541) 352-3548
Technical Contact:  Joe McCanna (541) 352-9326

FY 2008 work to be performed with project funds:

Purchase and install 3,122 feet of 30” buried coated steel pipe to complete Lower Phase B of East Fork Central Lateral irrigation piping project.

Project History:

For the past 100 years, the East Fork Irrigation District (“EFID”) has used Neal Creek to convey 42 cubic feet per second of irrigation water from their East Fork Hood River source into the Eastside Lateral in order to serve orchards and farms in the lower east valley. Glacial silt from the East Fork Hood River is introduced into Neal Creek by the irrigation system, impairing water quality. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has notified EFID that this situation does not comply with state water quality standards. EFID operates an irrigation diversion dam on Neal Creek at river mile 5.0. The diversion has an outdated rotary fish screen that fails current state and federal fish protection criteria. The dam impedes fish migration affecting ESA threatened steelhead.
Project objectives include: (1) restore upstream and downstream passage of anadromous and resident fish by removing a small diversion dam in Neil Cr.; (2) remove an ineffective and unsafe fish screen on the diversion; (3) improve water quality and fish habitat in Neal Creek; and (4) conserve water and restore streamflow to the East Fork Hood River. Since the majority of project environmental benefits will occur only when all three phases are complete, East Fork Irrigation District (EFID) and its partners are committed to completing the final piping phase during 2008.

The project has been divided into three phases and sub-phases. The table below displays the completion dates of each phase. A specific description of each phase is provided in Project 1998-021-00 annual progress reports.

Completion Date Project Phase Miles Piped
Fall/Winter 2003/2004 Upper Phase 1.1 Miles
Fall/Winter 2004/2005 Upper Middle Phase   .5 Mile
Fall/Winter 2005/2006 Middle Phase Completion 1.0 Mile
In Construction/Planned
Spring-Fall 2007 Lower Phase-A (Season 1)   1.0 Mile
Spring-Fall 2008 Lower Phase-B (Season 2)     .7 Mile

Total: 4.3 Miles

In addition to the benefits of this project to Neal Cr. described above, Oregon Water Trust has contracted with EFID to assist the district with application for a Conserved Water Agreement for 2.33 CFS returned flow to the East Fork Hood River.

In order to quantify the benefits of this project on water quality, fish habitat, and aquatic life in Neal Creek, a monitoring program is place and partially funded through the expense contract under BPA project 1998-021-00. The program includes summertime measurements of water temperature, turbidity and total suspended sediments at sites in the Neal Creek watershed above and below irrigation water influences. Bioassessment using macroinvertebrates is currently conducted in Neal Creek by Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, which will serve as further baseline data. Annual electrofishing surveys are conducted in the Eastside Lateral Canal and compared to before-project fish salvage data. Baseline data collection has been collected during 2005-2007. Post-project monitoring will continue for three years after project completion, and again 5-years and 10-years following project completion.