About the Project

Warner Basin holds a series of shallow lakes and marshes in remote southeastern Oregon. Most of the streams in this arid region are diverted for agricultural use, typically with little or no provision for fish passage. The diversions affect the threatened Warner sucker and Warner Lakes redback trout, which spawn and rear in higher elevation streams, then forage as adults in the lakes.

The Western Native Trout Initiative, formed in 2006 as a collaborative of public and private entities working to conserve native trout across the West, and the Warner Basin Aquatic Habitat Partnership have identified 10 irrigation diversions in the Basin that impede fish migration from the Warner Lakes to the higher elevation habitat. Replacing these diversions with roughened channels or other fish-friendly infrastructure will open more than 34 stream miles and allow fish that rear in the Warner Lakes to access the prime spawning grounds in the upper basin on lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management and the Fremont National Forest.

After years of outreach and community engagement by the Lake County Umbrella Watershed Council and others, local landowners support changes to their diversions that will improve fish passage, increase water use efficiency, and reduce operations and maintenance costs.