To the editor:
At the end of June, I drove to the Siletz River Gorge hoping to catch one of the magnificent summer steelhead that return to the upper Siletz basin each year. But when I reached the bridge near the gate that enters Weyerhaeuser property, the river flows stopped me in my tracks. We are in decidedly new territory on the coast.
On June 26, the Lincoln County Chronicle highlighted the drought emergency declaration in Lincoln County, Oregon’s first official drought declaration for 2025.
The Siletz River provides clean, safe, and reliable sources of drinking water to many mid-coast communities. From the municipalities and the Georgia Pacific mill to the summer steelhead, coho, and Chinook salmon, everyone who calls the Siletz River basin home depends on its cold, clean water.
Yet, this cold, clean water is threatened by a combination of drought, warming waters, declining river health, and competing water needs. Increasingly scarce water supplies impacts the ability of farmers to irrigate their crops and mill owners from operating their business. Lower flows and warmer waters can kill juvenile salmon and steelhead before they can reach the ocean.
The good news is that folks are working to mitigate this problem. Over the past few years, local water districts, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, state agencies, local businesses, farming groups, timber companies, and watershed councils came together to develop a mid-coast water action plan for the basin.
This plan identifies high-priority strategies, from data sharing to efficiency, to increased water supply, to address local water issues. Concurrently, the Siletz Coho Partnership has developed a strategic action plan to be published this month, highlighting high-priority restoration actions to alleviate drought conditions. These actions include projects that reduce stream temperatures by planting trees and projects that increase water retention on the landscape, which helps recharge groundwater aquifers.
By working together with partners from the Mid Coast Water Planning Partnership, the Siletz Coho Partnership, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, and the local community, Lincoln County can ensure cold, clean water for both communities and fish in the Siletz basin. Common sense solutions developed in partnership across the mid-coast are essential to protecting clean, safe, and reliable water supplies.
As I looked downstream across the incredible Siletz watershed, I couldn’t help but imagine what the river should look like in June. The ongoing drought conditions really hit home for me. Compared to the last 105 years of record on the Siletz, the river is at 51 percent of normal flow this September.
Implementing the mid-coast water action plan will be critical to safeguard cold, clean water and a healthy river that supports fish, wildlife, and the people who rely upon it.
— Kirk Blaine/Roseburg. (Blaine is a senior program manager at the Wild Salmon Center in Portland and frequently visits the central Oregon coast to fish for steelhead and salmon.)
