2325 RIVER RD STE 3
THE DALLES, OR  97058        Coordinator:  Kate Merrick  

Phone: 541-298-8559 Ext 119

kate.merrick@oacd.org

Four Watershed Councils are active in Wasco County: Bakeoven Watershed Council, Fifteenmile Watershed Council, The Dalles Watershed Council, and Mosier Watershed Council.  Contact Coordinator Kate Merrick for meeting dates and locations.

Fifteenmile Creek provides essential habitat for threatened wild steelhead and Pacific lamprey, but it suffers from high temperatures and low flows.  In response, Fifteenmile Watershed Council is coordinating a diverse group of stakeholders that collect and share data as they work to devise solutions to the sometimes-lethal stream conditions.  Partners including state and federal agencies, tribes, and non-profit groups are monitoring stream flows, temperatures, fish populations, and pesticides levels.  Local landowners lead Council membership and help set agency monitoring priorities.  Fifteenmile Watershed Council feels that lasting stream flow improvements are more likely to result from this collaborative approach than from the regulatory alternative.

The Freshwater Trust, a Fifteenmile Watershed Collaborator, monitors stream flow on Fifteenmile Creek.