Kimberley and John will discuss WaterWatch’s Crooked River Water Protection and Streamflow Restoration Project and the work that the Fly Fisher Foundation has made possible to date, including how the Crooked River fits into the proposed Deschutes Basin Habitat Conservation Plan, the status of flow restoration efforts for the reach between Bowman Dam and Lake Billy Chinook and the status of proposed new storage projects above Bowman Dam that could reduce the amount of water available for fish in the Crooked below Bowman Dam.

Photos courtesy of BLM

John DeVoe leads WaterWatch of Oregon, the first organization in the West to focus solely on the protection and restoration of streamflows. John joined WaterWatch in 2003 after practicing law in Portland for 13 years. Milestones during John’s tenure include reestablishing a 157 mile free flowing reach of the Rogue River through the removal of major dams, the largest transfer of water instream in the West, the protection and restoration of millions of acre feet of water instream in Oregon and sustained capacity growth for the organization.

Kimberley Priestley is WaterWatch’s Senior Policy Analyst. Since 1993, Kimberley has served as an advocate, diplomat and negotiator for Oregon’s rivers. She is one of Oregon’s top water experts. In recent years, Kimberley has focused much of her work on the Oregon Legislature and the rivers and aquifers of the Deschutes Basin. In the Deschutes, Kimberley has led the conservation community on many successful initiatives including the effort to protect the streamflows from the effects of groundwater pumping and the 2014 federal legislation that will help restore the Crooked River from Bowman Dam to the Deschutes River.