One morning in late May, a writer, a conservationist, a filmmaker and an engineer gathered around a morning campfire on the North Umpqua River.
They were united by a passion, and a concern. A passion for the iconic summer steelhead of the North Umpqua, and crippling concern for the harm caused to them by a more than 130 year-old dam producing nothing other than shit eating grins on the faces of homeowners frolicking on their private jet ski lake.
Swing The Fly is proud to be part of a team led by one of our esteemed sponsors, Two Hand Hardware, a number of our conservation partners including The Steamboaters and Native Fish Society, local friends and artists James Samsel and Richard Harrington, in a united effort to conserve the wild summer steelhead of the North Umpqua River to enable removal of the Winchester Dam.
How Did We Get Here
The Winchester Dam, owned and operated by the Winchester Water Control District (WWCD), impedes 160 miles of the North Umpqua river just east of Roseburg, Oregon.
The dam, with fish passage built on the wrong side of the river, and a number of false attractions, has been the subject of controversy for decades.
Here’s the highlight reel.
- Hydropower was removed from the dam in the 1980s and the City of Roseburg’s water intake was moved downstream.
- In 2018, the owners “repaired” Winchester Dam after obtaining emergency repair permits from regulators, WWCD poured green concrete into the river, killing hundreds of fish. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) clearly documented these abuses. Conservation groups notified the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), who pressed charges. WWCD was found guilty and the botched repair lasted less than four years.
- In August 2023, TerraFirm Foundation Systems, owned by president of the Winchester Water Control District (WWCD), Ryan Beckley (with no reported experience repairing dams), was contracted to repair false attractions in the dam face, reinforce the dam structure, and patch the hole on the south side once and for all. During those repairs: the river was blocked for an unprecedented amount of time, dewatering above the dam killed hundreds of thousands of Pacific lamprey, TerraFirma violated permits driving heavy machinery in the dewatered riverbed and was spotted violated their permit by placing contaminates like rubber tire mats on the riverbed for transportation.
For a more in-depth summary of the 2023 Winchester Dam debacle, read Better Late Than Never: Opportunities Appear For North Umpqua, Winchester Dam
“Suppose the most important thing is that even though they extended beyond the allowed work window, and interrupted steelhead and other fish migration, killing massive numbers of pacific lamprey, they did not finish the repair. There are 110 tie rods, a certain percentage of them were to be tested, and they were not, and there is a metal lattice not secured completely,” said Kirk Blaine, of The Steamboaters and Native Fish Society.
“It’s quite possibly MORE dangerous than it was before they made the repairs”
Kirk Blaine, Steamboaters, Native Fish Society
“The dam safety officials from the state of Oregon asked them (WWCD) to produce a plan to address the deficiencies by a date certain, that date passed,” Jim McCarthy, from WaterWatch Of Oregon told Richard Harrington on The River Rambler podcast. “ Now, we’re in a situation where the State has filed a proposed action if the plan and timeframe for the work is not submitted by March 14th, and in response if corrective actions are not addressed, the State proposes to issue a final order taking disciplinary action against WWCD by seeking injunctive relief in circuit and requesting Attorney General or district attorney of any county where any or all of the dam is located to bring an action declaring the dam a public nuisance to be removed at owners expense.”
Taking Action
For Rob Beckius of Grants Pass, Oregon. Beckius, owner of Two Hand Hardware (THH) and North Umpqua regular, enough was enough.
Beckius, an ace steelheader, is far from what you’d call extreme. The pragmatic father-of-three and engineer by trade started Two Hand Hardware as a fun way to help anglers better protect the precious flies he knew we all spend too much time tying already. That, and maybe earn himself a little beer money and make a few friends along the way.
Actually, that’s how Beckius, THH and Swing The Fly organically found each other. In 2021, Beckius was looking for a place to market his young brand through a media outlet that supported his belief in eliminating the unnecessary harvest of wild steelhead in South Oregon.
“I’m not an activist. I’m not the first one to say ‘tear down dams,’ but when they don’t have any public benefit, they’ve got to go!’ This one ONLY harms the fish. They need to make it right. They’ve had every chance to do so. I’m not going to be the one to tell them (private landowners) to do anything, but, don’t ask the public to pay the price for them.”
Rob Beckius, Two Hand Hardware
Steam coming from his waders, Beckius decided to take action to restore the North Umpqua.
He called up friends, artists and North Umpqua enthusiasts James Sampsel, and Richard Harrington, and the three collaborated to create art for the packaging of THH’s innovative magnet Wheatley box inserts Along with the decorative packaging, each of these inserts will have a bit of information on the need to support local conservation initiatives in removing Winchester Dam and eliminating its unnecessary impacts of the North’s prized game fish. A portion of each of these sales to be donated directly to the effort to remove the Winchester Dam.
After linking up with Harrington and Samsel, Beckius knew his pet project had legs. Still, he had to find the best place to put his contribution to work. So, he got on the phone, and called Kirk Blaine, current President of the Steamboaters and Southern Oregon Regional Coordinator for the Native Fish Society.
“The best thing you can do is partner with the Steamboaters,” Blaine told Beckius when he called. “All the money goes towards legal fees to remove Winchester Dam.”
Humble to a fault, Beckius was clear the collaboration, available now directly through THH, The Steamboaters, Native Fish Society and Swing The Fly, is not an attempt to elevate his personal brand, or sell more units of THH.
“To be honest, I don’t really care about what this does for sales of inserts. Sure, it would be cool to move a few boxes and inserts because a portion of each sale is going to benefit The Steamboaters, but if you don’t need boxes, or anything, and you just want to support the cause, that’s just fine by me!” Beckius laughed. “Just donate the money to them. Fine by me. That’s even better! And thanks!”
The Long Game
The Steamboaters, started in the 1960s by folks like Frank Moore sitting around the Steamboat Inn, started as a fishing club ethically oriented towards conservation. As The Steamboaters developed over the decades they really began to focus on restoring wild fish populations and the habitats they depend on.
In 2017 a large group of conservation and river advocates started working together to bring the rule of law to Winchester Dam. Before this, WWCD had avoided all regulatory requirements for owning a private dam.
In 2020, The Steamboaters joined a lawsuit with WaterWatch Oregon and Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman against the take of ESA listed Coho Salmon and now The Steamboaters are working with a coalition of river advocates to move on the State regulatory violations by WWCD to help ensure WWCD and the associated contractors are held accountable for the environmental disaster last summer.
These violations include:
- 27 million dollar damages case filed in Douglas county circuit court for recovery from unlawful killing of pacific lamprey. Fined for killing 550,000 Pacific lamprey.
- DEQ case, for putting toxic tire mats in the river without permits and polluting the waters of the state with uncured concrete.
- Water storage case, for storing more water than their water right allowed.
“Remember, this all started with a letter to homeowners – offering fundraising to do an engineering study to improve fish passage,” Blaine said. “We’ve given them the benefit of the doubt. Until now. Since they failed in 2015, 2018, then AGAIN in 2023, they’ve proven untrustworthy.”
It’s going be a long, hot summer on the North Umpqua, and its iconic summer steelhead need all the help they can get.
“I hope folks share this with their friends, share the issues that are going on at Winchester, whether they live here or not,” Blaine told Harrington on the River Rambler. “This river is world renowned. The dam was not fixed this summer. It’s worse than it was before. They’re going to have to do repairs again, and we’re going to need the public to come to the table and speak up, on why they want to see Winchester Dam removed for the future of the North Umpqua river.”
Together, Beckius, Sampsel, Harrington and YOU can make sure Winchester Water Control District feels the heat.
This article was written as part of a proud partnership with Two Hand Hardware The Steamboaters, and Native Fish Society, with special thanks to countless other groups and individuals.