The Jackson County Bear Creek Project

The Freshwater Trust partners with irrigation districts in Southern Oregon
In 2006, The Freshwater Trust and its partners added nearly 5 cubic feet per second of water to Bear Creek in Jackson County. The Freshwater Trust worked with irrigation districts in Talent, Medford and Rogue River Valley to identify interested district patrons and locate parcels of water rights available for instream lease. The resulting cooperative plan focused on Bear Creek because it typically has low flow and poor water quality in summer months.

The districts and seven patrons each executed a contract with The Freshwater Trust and submitted instream lease applications to the Oregon Water Resources Department, which reviewed the lease applications for completeness and to ensure no other water rights would be harmed. The Carpenter Foundation of Medford and the Laird Norton Foundation of Seattle provided primary financial support to the project.

"This pilot project went well for the district and our patrons. I think Bear Creek benefited from the additional water. The Freshwater Trust is a good partner.” - Jim Pendleton, Manager of Talent Irrigation District

The result: more water in Bear Creek when it was needed most. The Freshwater Trust and its partners also learned important lessons to create efficiencies to ease future leasing in the districts.