Big Steps Forward Protecting McKenzie River Water Quality

The McKenzie River is a wild fish stronghold and supplies drinking water for Springfield and Eugene, Oregon

McKenzie River March Brown Mayfly - Photo by David Moskowitz

TCA has long advocated for reform and legal compliance at Oregon’s many state-operated fish hatcheries. Without careful management, Oregon’s hatcheries release too many hatchery salmon and steelhead, as well as discharge dangerously high temperatures and other forms of toxic pollution into the state’s most ecologically important rivers. This work took a significant step forward this year when TCA joined with Northwest Environmental Defense Center (NEDC) and Willamette Riverkeeper (WRK) to successfully challenge new water quality permits for two hatcheries on Oregon’s McKenzie River.

The McKenzie River is home to several important native species, including threatened bull trout and Spring Chinook salmon, who rely on the river’s cold, clean water.  Yet the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) has been operating the Leaburg and McKenzie hatcheries for years while discharging water to the McKenzie that is too warm for fish. Despite knowing this, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued new water quality permits that effectively would have allowed these facilities to continue these harmful discharges many years into the future.

A fine McKenzie River Rainbow Trout

This year TCA and our allies NEDC and WRK challenged those new permits and in late 2023, as a result of that lawsuit, DEQ finally proposed to withdraw the unlawful Permits and issue new draft Permits for public comment. The new permits would forbid the hatcheries from discharging any heat to this sensitive aquatic ecosystem. TCA and our allies will be monitoring this situation closely in 2024 to ensure the new permits are as protective as possible, and that these hatcheries comply with the new restrictions.

This canal used to deliver water to the McKenzie Hatchery but has been decommissioned due to earthquake vulnerability, and will be removed in the next decade. Dams and hatcheries go hand-in-hand to degrade wild rivers.

Photo by Ben Lonergan of the Register-Guard

TCA’s Legal and Policy Director Rob Kirschner performed much of the underlying permit review and legal research supporting the filings handled by the Crag Law Center and Mr. Anuta. We are grateful to Crag Law Center and the Law Office of Karl G. Anuta for their outstanding representation in this important case and for the excellent teamwork with NEDC and WRK.