Please Speak Up for Critical Investments in Oregon’s Waters, Fish and Wildlife Dear River Lovers, Oregon’s rivers, fish, and wildlife need your help! Soon, the Oregon Legislature's Joint Ways and Means Committee will hold virtual hearings across Oregon – starting Wednesday, April 14 – to gather input from citizens on funding priorities for Oregon’s 2021-2023 state budget. By participating, you can support Oregon's rivers, fish and wildlife – and an equitable water future for all Oregonians! Please see below for how to participate, and SCROLL DOWN for suggested talking points. HOW TO PARTICIPATE Meeting and Comment Logistics: The Joint Ways and Means Committee will accept both written and verbal comments. The links below will give detailed directions on how to submit written comment and also how to sign up to testify virtually. Meeting times and dates are set by your U.S. Congressional District: - District 1 - Wednesday, April 14, 5:30-7:30 pm
- District 2 - Saturday, April 17, 1:00-3:00 pm
- District 3 - Wednesday, April 21, 5:30-7:30 pm
- District 4 - Thursday, April 22, 5:30-7:30 pm
- District 5 - Saturday, April 24, 1:00-3:00 pm
Not sure what Congressional District you're in? Find out here: interactive map BACKGROUND Two agencies – Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) – are pivotal to protecting water instream and responsibly managing our water resources. The Oregon Water Resources Department is charged with managing Oregon’s waters, but the agency is chronically underfunded and often lacks data to provide smart, responsible water management. With a changing climate, Oregon desperately needs science and data-driven water management. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Water Program is critical to identifying and protecting instream flows needed for fish and wildlife. The Program needs adequate capacity to function. Please let legislators on the Ways and Means Committee know that a sustainable and equitable water future for Oregon depends on investments in: - Smart, responsible, science and data-driven water management;
- Science and data to understand Oregon’s groundwater systems; and
- Programs that protect and restore streamflows for all Oregonians – and fish and wildlife.
Suggested talking points specific to each agency Oregon Water Resources Department: Smart, responsible and equitable water management is one of the state’s most critical environmental and economic challenges. Given a changing climate and a history of inequitable water decisions, it’s critical that Oregon invest in OWRD programs driven by data, science, and smart water management. - Reject proposed reductions to OWRD’s science, management and data programs. The Governor’s Recommended Budget (Reduction Packages 090 and 092) would eliminate an assistant watermaster, a groundwater hydrogeologist, gaging stations and observation wells, and potentially eliminate other positions that could derail long needed groundwater study work. Please state your opposition to these cuts to needed data, science and management capacities.
- Please support science to understand Oregon’s aquifers and groundwaters. (Policy Option Package 110): In a climate-changed Oregon, this is absolutely critical. Today, the state makes permanent groundwater decisions without data across most of Oregon! This approach resulted in “train wrecks” in basins like the Umatilla and Harney. Please fund POP 110, which will help the state gather data to make more sustainable groundwater decisions for Oregon’s water future.
- Please fund “boots on the ground” water management (Policy Option Package 109): Oregon desperately needs more water management capacity; thus, water management largely is complaint driven. This is unacceptable. Field staff are critical for on-the-ground water management across the state. OWRD capacity is far below needed sustainable management for instream and out-of-stream rights.
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife: Oregon’s future must include adequate water for abundant salmon populations, and the cultures and economies that depend on salmon and healthy rivers. To get there, Oregon must fund ODFW’s Water Program. - Please provide funding to protect fish and wildlife in regional water discussions (Policy Option Package 114). Recent planning efforts under the Integrated Water Resources Strategy require basin specific Placed-Based Planning to meet instream and out-of-stream needs. Yet, the Legislature has NOT funded ODFW to be at the table in these processes, which shortchanges rivers, fish, and wildlife.
Programs for both agencies: - Please fund Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and Oregon Water Resources Department’s work to reallocate stored water behind the Willamette Dams (ODFW Policy Option Package 115, OWRD Policy Option Package 113). Stored water behind 13 federal reservoirs in the Willamette Basin, totaling 1.6 million acre feet of water, was recently reallocated by Congress to allow municipal/industrial and fish and wildlife uses in addition to previously authorized irrigation. Implementation at the state level will take a tremendous amount of work by ODFW and OWRD. Among other things, it will be necessary to quantify and track live-flow and stored-water releases for new instream rights for fish and wildlife and out-of-stream rights for municipal and agriculture users, as well as to manage who gets access to water during times of shortage. This funding is critical for the most populous basin in the state.
- Please support agency work to protect fish and other natural resources in the state’s hydroelectric work: Please support efforts to update and simplify annual fees paid by hydroelectric projects in order to maintain current service levels at OWRD, ODFW and the Department of Environmental Quality. The staff positions are critical to ensuring fish, wildlife and other natural resource values are protected as required by hydro statutes (Policy Option Package 105 and House Bill 2143)
|
