North Santiam Drought Contingency Plan

DRAFT Drought Contingency Plan Update Work Plan (as of 05-26-2023)

In 2016, the Santiam Water Control District (SWCD) received funding through a Bureau of Reclamation WaterSMART grant to develop and implement a Drought Contingency Plan (DCP) for the North Santiam Watershed. Meetings for this planning can be found at the bottom of this page.

This funding opportunity allowed SWCD to contract with GSI Water Solutions and subcontractor David Evans and Associates to help develop this much needed plan. A stakeholder task force was formed to help develop the watershed scale drought plan. With the finalizing of the Drought Contingency Plan in 2018, the document covered six elements of drought.

Today, members of the original planning team, and new watershed partners are convening to review the process of updating the Drought Contingency Plan document with another opportunity from Bureau of Reclamation WaterSMART grant funding. For information on the Draft DCP Plan Update – Work Plan (as of May, 2023), click here.

North Santiam Drought Planning Partners:

Santiam Water Control District
City of Salem
City of Stayton
Linn Soil & Water Conservation District
Marion County
Marion Soil & Water Conservation District
Norpac Foods, Inc.
North Santiam Watershed Council
Oregon Department of Agriculture
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
Oregon Department of Forestry

Upcoming Meetings for DCP Updates:

Please join us for the next Drought Contingency Plan (DCP) update meeting on: August 22, 2024 from 10:00-11:00am. Partners will be coering response actions to reduce impacts during each of the stages of drought. Click here to open the zoom link for the August 22nd meeting

Here is the agenda for the August 22nd, 2024 Meeting

Past Working Group Meetings for Drought Contingency Plan – Update:

March 20, 2023 – Drought Contingency Plan update Kickoff

February 6, 2024 – Partners met to hear a status update about the project and Work Plan, and transition into discussions on the Drought Monitoring element. Consultants sought to understand how partners are using the monthly monitoring reports, provide feedback on drought indicators, and stages of drought to help aid response actions.

April

March 14, 2024 – Partners met to discuss the Drought Monitoring element of the plan. Partners explored new data sources available for drought monitoring in our watershed. Partners also had the opportunity to provide feedback on monthly reports, specific to the report structure and also provide input on drought indicators.

March 28, 2024 – Partners met via Zoom to address the Vulnerability Assessment Element of the DCP. This element helps assist with evaluating the potential impacts of drought on resources and assets within the North Santiam watershed. Partners looked at what is at risk when the next drought occurs, which will ultimately assist the foundation for helping identify mitigation and response actions that protect what stakeholders care about most.

April 23, 2024 – Partners discussed proposed updates to the vulnerability assessment results based on provided feedback, in order to update the Drought Contingency Plan which was finalized in 2018.

May 22, 2024 – Partners met to discuss the updates that have been proposed so far for the drought monitoring element and the vulnerability assessment

June 27, 2024 – Partners provided updates on the implementation of mitigation actions included in the 2018 Drought Contingency Plan and shared ideas for new mitigation actions to include in the updated plan.

July 30, 2024 – Partners covered mitigation actions that will help proactively increase resilience in the watershed before a drought occurs. Partners looked at each sector to address underlying causes of vulnerability.

Want to Learn More?

If you would like to learn more about the meetings and updates to the Drought Contingency Plan, please reach out to: lcogan@gsiws.com

Archived Drought Planning Task Force Meeting Materials for the Original Plan:

January 7, 2016 – Drought Contingency Planning (DCP) Kick Off Meeting

April 25, 2016 – DCP Monitoring Framework Work Group Planning Meeting 1

April 28, 2016 – DCP Vulnerability Assessment Work Group Planning Meeting 1

May 12, 2016 – North Santiam Basin Summit

May 23, 2016 – DCP Monitoring Framework Work Group Planning Meeting 2

May 26, 2016 – DCP Vulnerability Assessment Work Group Planning Meeting 2

June 22, 2016 – DCP Task Force Meeting

August 17, 2016 – DCP Response Action Work Group Planning Meeting 1

August 24, 2016 – DCP Mitigation Action Work Group Planning Meeting 1