Columbia-Pacific Northwest Region

Oregon Projects

While Oregon has abundant rainfall to its west, most Reclamation projects were built to bring irrigated agriculture to the much drier, eastern Oregon where many pioneers settled in the 1800s. Today, most Reclamation efforts are focused on improving the safety of existing dams and reservoirs, enhancing stream flow and fish passage, and working with partners on watershed restoration efforts.

Activities in the Snake River basin of eastern Oregon are administered through the Snake River Area Office. Activities in other areas of Oregon, excluding the Klamath Basin, are administered through the Columbia-Cascades Area Office. Klamath Basin is administered by the California-Great Basin Region.

History

Early Oregon settlers learned to divert rivers and streams through primitive ditches and canals in order to sustain their crops and livestock. With the continuously increasing number of new settlers to Oregon during the mid and late 1800s, rudimentary irrigation techniques could not keep pace with the demand for water.

The creation of the Reclamation Service in 1902 provided Oregon with the planning, design, and construction expertise necessary to develop large scale water projects. The first Reclamation project in Oregon was the Klamath Project, consisting of three storage dams and four diversion dams that provided irrigation water to southwest Oregon and northern California.

In addition to constructing many large and small water projects which are operated and maintained by local irrigation districts, Reclamation has rehabilitated many deteriorating, privately constructed structures under the Safety of Dams program.

Today, Oregon depends on Reclamation facilities to supply water not only for irrigation, but for municipal and industrial use, hydropower, flood control, recreation, and fish and wildlife purposes

Project	Dam	Powerplant
Arnold Project
Baker Project	Mason Dam
	Thief Valley Dam
Burnt River Project	Unity Dam
Crooked River Project	Arthur R. Bowman Dam
	Ochoco Dam
Deschutes Project	Crane Prairie Dam
	Haystack Dam
	Wickiup Dam
Owyhee Project	Owyhee Dam
Rogue River Basin Project	Agate Dam
	Emigrant Dam
	Howard Prairie Dam
	Hyatt Dam
	Keene Creek Dam	Green Springs Powerplant
Tualatin Project	Scoggins Dam
Umatilla Basin Project	Cold Springs Dam
	McKay Dam
Vale Project	Agency Valley Dam
	Bully Creek Dam
	Warm Springs Dam
Wapinitia Project	Wasco Dam

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Oregon Contacts

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Last Updated: 1/16/25