The irrigation district project will also address the issue of reduced fish passage, a common challenge for upper Deschutes Basin streams.

The Three Sisters irrigation channel has a small dam that prevents downstream fish from moving above it, and no screens to prevent fish upstream of the canal from entering it and becoming trapped. Mathias Perle, a project manager for the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council, noted that 5,000 fish were recovered from the canal at the end of the 2006 irrigation season.

As part of the piping project, the irrigation district will screen their diversion intake and build a ramp-like structure to allow fish to move over the dam. The U.S. Forest Service, which owns the land on which the dam sits, will also undertake a stream restoration project to improve habitat functions. The agency’s goals include reducing streambed erosion, increasing the amount of vegetation along the channel, and improving the quality and number of fish habitats. As Perle describes it, “The collaboration between groups, not only the project partners but also the regulating agencies, is challenging, but it is also the best part of the project. Everybody has been on board.”