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Nonprofit effort taps landowners for water By Mark Freeman A nonprofit group hopes local farmers and ranchers will donate or lease some of their irrigation water this year to keep Rogue Valley streams as fish-friendly as possible. The Oregon Water Trust bills its new emergency water-rights leasing program as a way for landowners to help buffer infant salmon and steelhead from what promises to be a summer of drought that could dry up Rogue River tributaries. Ranchers, farmers and others who own high-priority summer water rights are being asked to donate some or all so the water can remain in the streams instead of adjacent fields now through early fall. "We believe that landowners can be a significant part of the solution to the drought facing Oregon this year," said Andrew Purkey, executive director of the Portland-based group. In Jackson County, the trust is targeting Evans Creek and the South Fork of Little Butte Creek. In Josephine County, targets are Cheney, Sucker and Williams creeks. These streams are considered priorities because they hold infant salmon and steelhead during the summer and are used heavily for irrigation, Purkey said. Keeping more water in the streams gives infant fish refuges from predators and hot summer sun. These fish also need sufficient summer flows to migrate out of the tributaries, into the upper Rogue and eventually to the ocean. The trust is targeting farmers and ranchers with water rights dating at or before the turn of the century, Purkey said. Under Oregon�s water-rights laws, these parcels get all their irrigation water before younger farms with more recent priority dates. One such high-priority right belongs to Bob Gilkey�s 4-acre field along the South Fork of Little Butte Creek. Gilkey has sold some of his water rights, which date from 1894, for in-stream use and hopes more of his neighbors will do the same. "Mine is just a minuscule amount," Gilkey said. "But it�s significant in the concept of keeping water in the streams." For his troubles, the Oregon Water Trust has paid Gilkey $1 � or 10 cents a year. "I�m not doing it for the money," he said. "I�m doing it for the watershed." Landowners can lease some or all of their water for this year or subsequent years, Purkey said. Most of the potential participants will not be paid, but the nonprofit group has some money to buy the leases, Purkey said. Also, some money could be made available through the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board. Similar programs are also underway in the Umpqua, Hood, John Day and Deschutes river basins. Many of Oregon�s creeks are sucked dry every year � regardless of whether there is a drought � because more rights have been assigned to them than there is water, Purkey said. For more information on the program, telephone (503) 552-9022. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.