State seeks $27.6 million from southern Oregon dam operators

State seeks $27.6 million from southern Oregon dam operators

Source: Oregon Capital Chronicle

10/8/2023

Credit: Kirk Blaine/Native Fish Society

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is seeking near record damages from the operators of a southern Oregon dam and its contractors over repairs that led to the deaths of more than half a million juvenile Pacific lamprey.

On Friday, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife filed a complaint against the Winchester Water Control District and its contractors, TerraFirma Foundation Repair and DOWL Engineering, in Douglas County Circuit Court. The department alleges that the contractors and water control district are responsible for the preventable and unlawful killing of 550,000 lamprey during August and September repairs to the Winchester Dam on the North Umpqua River near Roseburg.