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Ditches: some movement,much uncertainty

Wolf Creek diversion still dry, Early Winters flows slower

by Lee Hicks

Following hectic weeks of water negotiations, one major irrigation channel on Forest Service land is now flowing.

But the Wolf Creek Reclamation District has yet to turn its ditch headgates high above the valley floor. State and federal agencies and water users, including Sun Mountain Lodge and several ranchers, continue to seek short and long-term fixes for that diversion.

The issue came to a head earlier this month as the Forest Service was informed by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) that various ditches needed improvements such as screens in order to operate.

NMFS made the decision in relation to that agency’s listings over the past two years of the spring-run Chinook salmon and steelhead trout as endangered, and the bull trout as threatened, in the Methow Basin.

Sun Mountain Lodge officials and Nim Titcomb, who manages the Wolf Creek ditch and Moccasin Lake Ranch--a major irrigator--finished a round of discussions with officials of NMFS, state Fish and Wildlife and the Department of Ecology last week.

Sun Mountain board chairman John Barline said Monday that Wolf Creek users were expecting responses from NMFS and the Forest Service by this Wednesday (June 9) regarding options to re-open the headgates. A meeting was set for Sun Mountain.

Barline said the lodge and Titcomb had proposed building a temporary fish trap about a quarter mile from the headgate diversion. The trap would be cleaned twice a day and the fish transported to the stream below, but could not be used until flows in the ditch and stream are lower.

Barline said the meetings with NMFS, the Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife last Wednesday appeared productive. "We had a very good meeting, very pro-active and solution oriented."

NMFS has been criticized for failing to communicate with the Forest Service and ditch operators, then abruptly taking action that forced ditch closures at the beginning of irrigation season.

However, Barline said NMFS has been quick to respond after the recent discussions precipitated by the closures. Referring to NMFS area manager Mike Grady, Barline said, "He’s been good to his word," in providing some answers and information.

Jim King, an engineering consultant for Sun Mountain, also expressed optimism regarding a separate meeting with the state DOE last Thursday regarding related changes in water sources for irrigation on the valley floor below Sun Mountain.

The meetings last week followed a tour of the Wolf Creek headgate last Tuesday (June 1) by about a dozen officials. Included on the trek in rugged terrain above the swollen creek were state and federal agency staff, state Rep. Linda Evans-Parlette and Kurt Gammond, an aide to state House Speaker Clyde Ballard.

For this summer, it’s possible that any Wolf Creek solution could require water rationing for ditch users to avoid drawing down Patterson Lake. The lake is the irrigation source for several ranches and Sun Mountain Lodge, and is the lodge’s source of drinking water.

Water for lodge operation is pumped through a filtration system and stored in tanks on a hill near the lodge. The system will not operate properly if the lake is drawn down too low. Sun Mountain also uses water from Lake Creek that drains below Patterson Lake dam to irrigate the Sunny M ranch owned by the Haub family, which also own Sun Mountain.

The water situation has prompted Sun Mountain to tighten an already "responsible" water conservation program, Barline said.

Sun Mountain officials had earlier expressed concern that without recharging Patterson Lake with the Wolf Creek diversion, lodge operations could be severely curtailed if not suspended by the fall.

Barline said Monday that the uncertainty remains, pending responses from NMFS and the Forest Service regarding the fish trap proposal. A planned $6 million expansion, including a spa and great room building, is also in doubt for this year.

John Easterbrook, a state Fish and Wildlife screen program manager, said after two visits to the Wolf Creek headgate site last week that a long-term solution would not be possible until fall when the creek flow slows.

However, with lower diversion rates of about 4 cubic feet per second instead of the usual 12, the ditch could use a manually cleared fish trap.

The permanent "fix," Easterbrook said, is focused on a combination of a screen, a fish bypass feeding a pipe through the existing canal bank into a metal box, then a flume feeding an open channel. Fish would settle below the ditch in a pool lined with rock that feeds into the creek channel.

The permanent project would be built close to the headgate, rather than at a site farther down stream which was considered. Some equipment might have to be dropped in by helicopter, Easterbrook said.

The Methow Institute, a non-profit group, has agreed to grant money for the Wolf Creek project. Wolf Creek also leads the county’s priority list for salmon recovery projects, and could get up to $300,000 if funding is located.

Up in Mazama, the Early Winters ditch started flowing last Friday after a smaller-mesh, 3/32-inch fish screen was installed over the existing screen below the point of diversion. The ditch is flowing at about 12 cfs, 2 cfs under the new screen’s operating limit and well under its usual spring rate of 20 cfs, according to manager Steve Devin.

"The screen cannot handle the velocity...fish get impinged they say," Devin explained.

"We can’t take the water we’re going to need. If everybody irrigates, we’ll have to do some sort of water rationing."

As is, Devin said he is, "up in the air. Do I gamble and plant or do I not?"

Devin said he needs to make a decision within the next two weeks whether to plant an oat crop. Meanwhile, he has started irrigating an alfalfa crop that has already been "stressed…because it didn’t have water when it needed it."

Devin said he remains concerned that NMFS has yet to provide the ditch members with projected "target flows" it considers necessary to maintain enough instream river flow for endangered fish. Without those figures, any irrigator could risk starting a crop, then not having adequate water to irrigate.

In a letter provided to the Forest Service and irrigators last month, NMFS said it would set target flows soon, and assess the water levels after July 15.

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