Six directors were re elected to the Calapooa Watershed Council Thursday during that group’s annual meeting held at the Brownsville school conference room.
Serving two year terms will be Bud Baumgartner, Tim Jackson, Larry Neher, Cheryl Hummon, Jay Christensen and Cathy Staal.
Formed in 1999, the Calapooia Watershed Council membership is open to anyone who lives or owns property within the Calapooia Watershed. The council’s 11 directors represent a diverse group of interests.
“The Watershed Council has no official authority,” president Bud Baumgartner said. “We are an advisory group.”
Baumgartner said there are approximately 60 general members.
Some of the general information shared by Baumgartner and other directors about watershed activities included:
– A coordinator has been hired and begins work this week. She will be based out of office spaced at the Sweet Home Ranger Station.
– The Council was successful in obtaining $75,000 from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board.
– Received another $6,000 grant for a restoration project on the Calapooia.
– The council assisted with cleanup work at Brownsville’s Pioneer Park after the February 7 wind storm.
– Is developing a watershed assessment plan for the Calapooia. The plan will gather historical and existing data about the watershed as well as riparian and in stream habitat information.
– Wants to increase council membership and expand educational programs for all residents of the watershed.
– Has received donations of $1,000 from the City of Albany and $500 from Cascade Timber Consulting.
Programs
Gary Galovich of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife told about fish surveys taken since 1999 on the Calapooia.
He said that snorkel surveys in 2001 indicated some 65 adult salmon and 1,765 juvenile Chinook in the Calapooia based on index reach counts.
He said one of the ODFW project is placing fish carcasses from the South Santiam Hatchery in the upper Calapooia spawning areas.
Thompsons Mill
Dave Babbit, owner of Thompsons Mill between Brownsville and Albany on the Calapooia, told about the struggle he has had in recent years trying to balance the economics of running the oldest continuously running mill in the state, with environmental concerns.
The mill was built in 1858. Babbit has owned the mill 25 years.
Babbit has been working with numerous agencies to mitigate issues surrounding the mill’s water rights on the Calapooia.
Babbit said the mill has water rights “to every drop of water in the Calapooia” from March through November with “no strings attached.”
Today, Babbit operates a nursery, does custom milling and operates three turbines to generate electricity which is used to power the operation and is also sold to PacifiCorps.
“In 2,000, they would have shut the water off,” Babbit said of government issues concerning the water. “First, they would have shut us off, then I would have shut off all irrigation from the Calapooia. I wouldn’t let it happen. They were going to put me in jail. We were a year ahead of Klamath Falls.”
Babbit shut down his operation for five months and went to work in Eastern Oregon. He said the “fish people” wanted to divert enough water from the mill operation to irrigate 20,000 acres of crops. He holds water rights that would equal about 40,000 acres of irrigation.
The issue with the mill is that it creates a fish blockage problem, government officials said. The mill creates a false attraction at which the fish get trapped rather than continue migration to spawning grounds up river.
Working with the government agencies and Pacific Power, Babbit was paid to turn off the hydroelectric power generating portion of the mill in 2001.
Species of fish impacted include trout, steelhead, Chinook salmon and Pacific Lamprey.
One of the government agencies working with Babbit is Oregon State Parks.
Henry Kunowski said Thompsons Mill is unique in that it hasn’t been adapted or renovated over the years.
“It looks as though the workers just stood up and took a lunch break,” Kunowski said. “There are many who believe the mill should become a state park. If we acquired it, it would probably keep operation.”
The watershed assessment would be vital to the project since Knunowski said, “We can’t sold issues at the mill until we know the issues in the watershed.”
Kunowski said the University of Oregon Field School will spent five weeks in 2003 preparing a structural report on the mill.
Kunowski said the mill would not be obtained through eminent domain but through a buy-sell agreement with the owner should that time come.