Fall River Stewardship Group

  TU's Deschutes Chapter is building a Stewarship Network for Oregon's Fall River. We're engaging local landowners, agency staff, NGOs and anglers to help guide our next steps. Based on our Fall 2013 "Fall RIver Needs Assessment," we have identified restoration, education and biomonitoring needs for the stream. Part of the project's funding is provided by the Embrace-a-Stream grants program.

  "The Fall River is a unique spring-fed stream. It is the gem of the Upper Deschutes Watershed and in winter typically accounts for approxiamtely 75% of the flow in the Deschutes River above its confluence with the Little Deschutes (largely due to Wickiup Dam). The Fall River is also among the leading year-around economic drivers for recreational opportunities in southern Deschutes County offering camping, hiking, trail running, hunting, mountain biking, birding and fly fishing for locals and visitors alike. As one fly fisher vacationing in Sunriver said, “I always manage to leave my watch at the house when I visit the Fall.  

  It is an intimate fishing environment that has introduced generations to the joy of casting a fly. But the new fly fishers keep coming back and the old timers never seem to leave which produces greater pressure on a sensitive resource. So now it’s time to give something back and take specific actions to protect this gem for future generations. Through Trout Unlimited’s leadership and the commitment of many who care, a plan of action is being developed to restore and protect the Fall River."

                                                  - Local landowner and angler Shaun Piggott