New Management Plan Up and Running on Lower Deschutes
By Mark Elling

"It's a no-win situation for managers and boaters--there's eight chefs trying to cook one cake, and it's gonna fall."

The lower Deschutes River is the culmination of the Deschutes' journey from its headwaters in the Cascade Mountains through Bend, Ore., and beyond Lake Billy Chinook, where it mingles with the Crooked and Metolius rivers behind Pelton dam. Below Pelton, the lower river flows 100 miles without obstruction to the Columbia, through the communities of Warm Springs and Maupin, Ore. Thirteen miles of that run, above and below Maupin, are especially well-known for their whitewater and therein lies the problem. The lower Deschutes is accessible and easy to run, so everybody does. This has caused growing pains for boaters, fishermen, regulatory agencies, communities and the river itself--including a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plan to staunch weekend use.

The problem is crowding; but it should have been foreseen, say commercial outfitters. They claim that for too many years it was too easy for people to obtain permits to operate on the river, and that too little management of commercial use existed. "Up until recently, pretty much anybody who came to the table got a permit from the BLM," says Dennis Oliphant, owner of Sun Country Tours, a Bend, Ore., outfitter. "They should have stopped it years ago."

Destruction of riparian habitat, campsites and property has raised complaints. According to Brian Cunninghame, natural resource planner for the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, one of the area's landowners, complaints from private boaters about "rude behavior" by commercial passengers are also common. "We're dealing with a lot of anti-social behavior on the weekends," he says. "Families are being forced to put up with obscene behavior and nudity, and unwanted attacks from rowdy groups with huge water cannons."

Before the implementation of the BLM plan two years ago, the lower Deschutes was known for an "Animal House" atmosphere during busy weekends. According to veteran Deschutes guide Larry Firman of Bend, years ago the circus even included an obese man who routinely floated the river with a gas-powered bilge pump he'd converted into a boat-mounted, mega-pressure water weapon. "There were days when you could literally walk from one side of the river to the other on top of rafts," he says.

Commercial outfitters aren't arguing there wasn't a problem, but claim that they are being held accountable for more than their share. In 1996, when the number of commercial permits available was capped, the river had 135 commercial operators. The new management plan increases weekend "boater pass fees," which every boater must pay to float the river, in an attempt to displace users toward the less-crowded mid-week. But it also targets outfitters by holding them to a maximum level of weekend user-days and requires them to reduce this number by 5 percent each subsequent year until an undefined "target level" is reached. "It's really a fascinating evolution for the river," says the BLM's Tom Mottl, who helped develop the new regulatory system.

The plan calls for targeted levels of private and commercial river use, which must be met on an annual basis. If it isn't, private boaters and outfitters will face a "Limited Permit System" which would require each user to apply for a lottery-style permit prior to launch. This possibility does not please outfitters who rely on walk-in customers. "It's a bad system," says Kent Wickham, owner of Bend's Ouzel Outfitters. "It's a no-win situation for managers and boaters--there's eight chefs trying to cook one cake, and it's gonna fall."

The plan has indeed seen most of its criticism come from commercial operators in and around the river, but not for the same reasons. One rental operation noted that business was down simply because law enforcement officials had become more stringent in citing boaters for alcohol-related violations. Many guides, however, feel the last two seasons have been much better than previous years. Firman actually left the industry for a few years due to the Deschutes' past problems and returned last year. "I was disgusted," he says. "Disgusted by the masses on the water, the alcoholism and some folks' disregard for other people. It was insanity."

Dave Simms, also of Bend, guided on the lower Deschutes for the sixth summer in a row last summer and noted a marked change from two years ago, when the crowding was at its worst. "This summer there were a lot less people," he says. "It's a completely different scene now."

--Mark Elling