By ADAM LAPIERRE
News staff writer

Hood River County’s irrigation systems and practices are at the forefront of some fairly drastic improvements being made in the industry, due in large part to a progressive and proactive watershed management community. Among the many changes, a project completed this month on Coe Creek showcases a simple but highly effective new technology, designed and patented in Hood River County, which is proving valuable to watersheds across the Northwest.

Of the roughly 70,000 diversions in Oregon’s creeks, rivers and lakes, less than 10 percent have screening structures to help keep fish, debris and sediment where it belongs. At a cost to both farmers and fish, the 50,000 or so unscreened irrigation diversions in the state take in more than just water. Silt, rocks and debris play havoc on irrigation systems, from the point of intake all the way down the line to pumps, valves and sprinkler systems.

Fish are also sucked into unscreened diversions indiscriminately, and are often crushed or killed by older, vertical screening systems.

Since flooding and a massive debris flow in 2006, Middle Fork Irrigation District has been working hard to repair and upgrade parts of its roughly 100 miles of pipelines, ditches, hydro plants and diversions in the county.  On Coe Creek, not far upstream from where the creek runs under Laurance Lake Road, MFID recently completed a $1.6 million project to remove an old diversion and dam and add a new, higher-efficiency and lower-maintenance diversion system.

Utilizing a new screening system developed locally and patented under the valley’s Farmers Conservation Alliance, the new diversion will not only allow fish to pass freely up and downstream without danger; in the long run, it will also save the district, and farmers, a lot of money.

“The Farmers Screen” was designed by members of the Farmers Irrigation District after flooding in 1996 took its toll on the district’s infrastructure. After several years of design work, the district came up with a simple but highly effective screening system that is essentially 100-percent effective in keeping fish and debris out of intakes. In addition, to its great benefit, the Farmers Screen has no moving parts and is self-cleaning.

“The best aspect of the Farmers Screen is that it both protects fish and benefits the agricultural community through dramatically decreased operation and maintenance costs,” said Les Perkins, FCA business development director. “With over 150,000 unscreened diversions in the Pacific Northwest alone, screening is one of the biggest existing opportunities to protect fish.”

According to MFID Manager Craig DeHart, the new diversion is much more “fish and water quality friendly than the old one, with inclusion of engineered fish channels to provide fish the ability to migrate both upstream and downstream.”

The basic mechanics of the Farmers Screen are fairly simple: Water is diverted into an off-stream channel, where it runs over a long horizontal screen. With a hole pattern only large enough to let a small amount of water through, fish, debris and a cleaning water run across the screen and are redirected back into the water body. Water that makes it through the screen is then directed into the irrigation system.

“When the Coe Branch Diversion was originally installed in 1988, no provisions were made to protect bull trout that inhabit the waters,” explained Steve Stampfli, Hood River Watershed Group coordinator. “Subsequent to federal protection of this species, Middle Fork Irrigation District installed a temporary fish screen and ladder at the diversion in 2006 as a temporary protection measure.”

Coe Creek, which flows down the north side of Mount Hood starting above Laurance Lake, is thought to hold the Mount Hood National Forest’s only population of native bull trout.

In addition to the Coe Branch Project, MFID is finishing a 6,000-foot Emil Creek Pipeline project in Parkdale. According to Stampfli, when completed, the roughly $150,000 project will improve water delivery in the northeast areas of the district, and also restore water quality in Emil Creek and the East Fork Hood River. 

“Though the cost of the projects are high, the watershed partnership is confident that both projects will result in winning outcomes for everyone interested in stewarding the waters of the Hood River valley,” Stampfli said. 

For both projects, several agencies helped to fund and complete the work, including Middle Fork Irrigation District, Hood River Watershed Group, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Hood River County Title II, U.S. Forest Service, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and Farmers Conservation Alliance.

For more information on watershed projects occurring in the Hood River valley, contact MFID at 541-352-6468 or the HRWG at 541-386-6063. For information on the Farmers Conservation Alliance, visit www.fcasolutions.com.