LEGAL Work

Ongoing Litigation

Summer steelhead

In 2021, Willamette Riverkeeper and The Conservation Angler filed a civil lawsuit challenging federal agency actions related to Upper Willamette River winter steelhead in the Santiam River system. Winter steelhead are listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as threatened with extinction. The federal agencies (the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) have funded or facilitated or approved the production and release of hatchery summer steelhead into winter steelhead habitat, which has jeopardized the continued existence of winter steelhead and destroyed and adversely modified their critical habitat, violating the ESA. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has intervened in this case on behalf of defendants. Most recently, parties have submitted a proposed case management schedule for motions for summary judgment after an extended discovery period due to federal defendants’ opposition.

Willamette Riverkeeper is represented by the Western Environmental Law Center in this matter.

Poultry CAFOs

For over 4 years, Willamette Riverkeeper has joined incredible community members and farmers organizations to fight proposed poultry Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) along waterways in Linn County. In fall 2022, Willamette Riverkeeper, Farmers Against Foster Farms, Friends of Family Farmers, and farm owner Christina Eastman filed a state court challenge to the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s (ODA) water quality permit granted to one of these proposed poultry CAFOs, J-S Ranch. J-S Ranch is a proposed mega-chicken operation capable of raising nearly 3.5 million broiler chickens per year in the sensitive area of the Wiseman Island reach in the North Santiam River, home to endangered salmonids and other wildlife species. When operational, J-S Ranch will collect, store, and export massive quantities of livestock waste—approximately 4,500 tons of chicken litter a year—while blowing ammonia from the chicken litter out of its barns, located just a quarter of a mile from the river. Over the strenuous objections of community members around the proposed facility, ODA granted a ten-year general groundwater quality permit with only a few additional conditions. While ODA claims this facility will cause no pollution to ground or surface waters such as the North Santiam River, the plaintiffs and other community members are seriously concerned given the high levels of precipitation, proximity of the river, regular flood events, and huge quantities of chicken waste. The lawsuit alleges that the ODA permit violates state and federal statutes and regulations, including clean water protections for community and wildlife uses. The current permit covers only discharges into state groundwaters, despite plaintiffs repeatedly urging state agencies to consider the likely discharge of ammonia into the North Santiam River. Plaintiffs also allege that it is highly unlikely that J-S Ranch will be able to prevent discharges of litter, compost, or processing wastewater into groundwater based on the climate, weather, and topography of the area. The plaintiffs seek to protect the water quality of the Willamette River Basin and the rural communities and wildlife that depend on that water. In March 2024, plaintiffs survived a motion for summary judgment and the case will be going to trial. 

Willamette Riverkeeper is represented by the Center for Food Safety and Sugerman Dahab in this matter.

Damn Dams

We have 13 federal dams in the Willamette System, regulating significant amounts of water, and affecting the quality and quantity of that water available for our fish, our agricultural needs, and our drinking water. Most of these dams have reached, and exceeded, their expected lifespan as civil engineering projects, and have exhibited problematic safety concerns, especially in response to potential seismic activity. In 2020, Willamette Riverkeeper sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for failure to respond to a FOIA request for information about these dams. As a result of the lawsuit, Willamette Riverkeeper has received over 200,000 pages of records. To view the documents that were released click here.

FEMA

In fall 2023, Willamette Riverkeeper, the Northwest Environmental Defense Center, Center for Biological Diversity, and the Conservation Angler sued the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for failing to adequately protect flood-plain dependent endangered species, including orcas and salmon, in its flood insurance program (NFIP). The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) had created requirements for FEMA to protect threatened and endangered floodplain species that are harmed by the NFIP and FEMA failed to meet the mandatory deadlines NMFS had imposed. In 2016, NMFS determined that the NFIP jeopardized the survival and recovery of protected species through poor floodplain management and by encouraging development in floodplains. NMFS required FEMA to update extremely outdated flood maps, develop new criteria to limit floodplain development, better mitigate development harm, and improve reporting and enforcement. After eight years, FEMA continues to miss key deadlines and is years away from compliance while development continues.  

Other Legal Work

glenwood riverfront

For those of you in the South Valley, you are probably well-aware of the long, twisted history of the City of Springfield’s lengthy efforts to redevelop the Glenwood Riverfront area. For years, Springfield has primed the public to develop the prime riverfront real estate into a baseball stadium, and soccer stadium, and now they have added a 12 story hotel and parking structure. Springfield has numerous land use and water quality and species protections laws they must adhere to before anything can be constructed at the site. Willamette Riverkeeper is working with members of the public to advocate for strong protections for this project, In hopes that Springfield will do the right thing by the Willamette River. 

trash tmdl

Willamette Riverkeeper submitted a petition to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and Environmental Quality Commission to list the Willamette River Basin as impaired for trash and implement a trash Total Maximum Daily Load, as required by the Clean Water Act. The petition was denied on technicalities and Willamette Riverkeeper is now currently participating in the process to create the 2024 303(d) (impaired waters) list the state is creating to submit to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Willamette Riverkeeper submitted comments and data from trash cleanups to the state in fall 2023. The draft 303(d) list listed parts of the mainstem Willamette River as impaired for trash. Willamette Riverkeeper submitted comments urging DEQ to make this impairment a higher priority and to get a trash TMDL on their 2030 timeline. Willamette Riverkeeper will continue to submit comments and do whatever necessary to work towards a basin-wide trash TMDL.

MCKENZIE RIVER DAMS

Willamette Riverkeeper keeps a close eye on all dams in the Willamette River Basin, but two dams that have been getting considerable attention are the Leaburg Dam and the Trail Bridge Dam, both in the McKenzie River system. The Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) has decided to decommission the Leaburg Hydroelectric Project after extensive evaluation and determination that the project is not economically viable and would be irresponsible to invest in. Over the next decade, we can expect to see the decommissioning process begin and Leaburg Lake returned to river form, opening up and providing habitat for aquatic species. At the Trail Bridge Dam, EWEB has failed to create a fish passage system as their license requires. Because of this, the National Marine Fisheries Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service have withdrawn from the settlement agreement for the license and have determined that the agreement’s trap and haul system is no longer a viable option and instead EWEB must create a fish passage system such as a fish ladder to protect the listed salmonids and their habitat area from further degradation. Willamette Riverkeeper is closely following FERC’s actions in this issue and will continue to advocate for the opening of fish habitat and protection of our waters and the species that rely on them.

TIMBER SALES

The 2020 fires burned hundreds of thousands of acres throughout the Willamette River Valley. In response to the post-fire landscape, State and Federal agencies have noticed multiple logging projects across the Santiam, North Santiam, Calapooia, and McKenzie Watersheds, all of which feed into the Willamette River. While some work is necessary to make post-fire areas safe for crews and the community and the public, Willamette Riverkeeper has worked with Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wild to identify several projects that go well beyond safety needs and appear to be more of an opportunistic grab of large, mature trees in sensitive complex forest and riparian areas. Recently, we challenged the Big League Timber Project along the Calapooia River, and in response to this challenge, the project was withdrawn for the time being. Willamette Riverkeeper and our partners will continue tracking these projects and challenging the ones that will negatively affect the Willamette River Basin.

If you have any questions about our legal work please contact staff attorney Lindsey Hutchison at [email protected].

FURTHER INFORMATION ON UPPER WILLAMETTE RIVER CHINOOK SALMON AND STEELHEAD

Spring Chinook/Winter Steelhead

Willamette Riverkeeper works to protect and restore the Willamette River's water quality and habitat. In addition to advocating for the protection of habitat, and our hands-on work to restore habitat that benefits native species, occasionally we utilize the Endangered Species Act to help protect threatened and endangered species. When the ESA is violated, entities like Willamette Riverkeeper can help enforce the law. 

In 2007 WR sued the US Army Corps of Engineers (owners of major dams in the Willamette System) for failing to complete plans to reduce the impact of their dams on spring Chinook Salmon and winter Steelhead. These species had thrived in the Willamette River System for thousands of years. As a result of the dams on the Willamette tributaries including the North and South Santiam, the McKenzie, and the Middle fork Willamette River's, significant numbers of juvenile fish heading downstream were killed by these dams - unable to get downstream of the dams. Further, when the adult fish would migrate hundreds of miles and make it far upriver near their spawning grounds,  the dams blocked their path. The "fish passage" options designed at these dams were typically crude at best, resulting in a significant reduction in wild salmon reproducing in high tributaries of the Willamette system. 

Over many years what used to be an estimated run of nearly 400,000 spring Chinook up the Willamette, according to historical estimates, was reduced to a few thousand naturally reproducing fish. 

As a result of WR's legal action, a settlement was finalized in 2008 that requires significant improvements to fish passage at the US Army Corps dams. In addition, funds were provided over a period of years to make improvements to the habitat affected by the dams. Further, increased natural flows are also part of this effort. Unfortunately, after nearly a decade of work, the US Army Corps is far from finalizing improvements at these various dams. 

At present improved fish collection facilities have been constructed on the North Santiam, and on the South Santiam. A fish weir has been designed for Foster Dam and should be in place in 2018. Plans are also afoot to build downstream fish passage at Cougar Dam in the McKenzie System, and at Detroit Dam on the North Santiam - both projects not completed until after 2022. 

WR is pushing the agencies to make improvements faster and to dedicate the necessary funds to get the job done. Unfortunately, there has been a mindset at times the time of doing the least possible to maintain the image of forward progress.

WR is calling for the downstream passage at these dams to be designed as quickly as possible and implemented without further delays in the schedule. Each of these projects has been delayed more than once. WR will be keeping a close watch of this effort and taking part in meeting with the US Army Corps, NOAA Fisheries, and other natural resource agencies. We will utilize whatever tools available in our toolbox to get the job done at a faster pace than we have seen over the last 9 years. 

Hatchery Summer Steelhead - A Potential Significant Impact

In June of 2017, Willamette Riverkeeper, along with our partner organization The Conservation Angler, filed suit against the US Army Corps of Engineers to push them to conduct a formal consultation regarding the impact of Hatchery Summer Steelhead on the native Winter Steelhead. The Biological Opinion for the Willamette Projects recognized the potential negative impact of the hatchery Summer Steelhead on the native fish. 

Willamette River wild Winter Steelhead were listed as threatened under the ESA in March 1999. ODFW began producing the hatchery Summer Steelhead in the 1960s, which hail from the Washougal River Basin. Historically there were no Summer Steelhead in the Willamette System. ODFW, under contract with the US Army Corps to produce Spring Chinook, decided on its own to start producing the hatchery Summer Steelhead on its own. 

Since that time there has been significant new information related to the impact of Corps of Engineers’ authorization, funding, and facilitation of placing non-native summer steelhead trout into habitat for winter steelhead trout in the upper Willamette River basin. Our suit seeks to compel the Corps of Engineers to comply with the ESA by preventing further irreversible and/or irretrievable commitments of resources before it completes reinitiating consultation.

Key to this issue is the fact that winter and summer steelhead spawn naturally in the same areas in upper Willamette River tributaries and there is an overlap in spawning times and locations, resulting in a danger of interbreeding. Typically the offspring of such fish are less fit and are less likely to reproduce. 

Genetic analysis is showing that 10 percent of juvenile steelhead at Willamette Falls are hybrids of the two fish and 11.1 percent of steelhead returning to the North Santiam are genetically mixed and 14.8 percent are genetically mixed in the South Santiam River. In our view hybridization decreases the productivity of the winter steelhead population.

Willamette Riverkeeper strongly believes that we need to take all available actions to restore native fish in the Willamette River system. From improving fish passage at the US Army Corps Dams and restoring habitat in the floodplain, to dealing with predation and curbing the impact of some hatchery species - we need to utilize a variety of tools in the toolbox.