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August 10, 2021
SALEM, Ore- On May 21, 2021, Governor Kate Brown signed House Bill 2298. The bill gave ODFW one year to adopt rules and administer a program for authorizing voluntary environmental restoration weirs in Eastern Oregon’s closed basins (basins that do not flow to the Pacific Ocean).
The rules are designed to permit the construction of environmental restoration weirs in qualifying streams. Environmental restoration weirs cannot be built in streams with healthy native migratory fish populations, and they can only be as large as necessary to cause overbank flooding onto the ancient floodplain during ordinary high flow events.
If fish are present in the stream, environmental restoration weirs are required to provide fish passage. However, they will be exempt from the current fish passage requirements for streams with historic but not current fish presence.
Additional information, links to the draft language, and legislative history are posted in the House Bill 2298 box on the ODFW Rules Revision Initiative website.
Members of the public can send written comments to, or request additional information from, Katherine Nordholm, 4034 Fairview Industrial Dr. SE, Salem, OR, 97302, e-mail Katherine.e.nordholm@odfw.oregon.gov, or by calling (503) 947-6274.
Comments are due by Aug.31, 2021. There will also be additional opportunities for public comments at upcoming Rules Advisory Committee Meetings and an upcoming Fish Passage Task Force Meeting.
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