By Julie Johnson

The Bulletin

PRINEVILLE – Next week, Zane Carpenter plans to mow the lake bed in his back yard.

Normally, Ochoco Reservoir east of Prineville laps quietly at the weathered wooden posts that mark his property line.

But summer drought conditions and irrigation demands have sucked up nearly two-thirds of the reservoir’s water, leaving it the most depleted reservoir in the region – and covered with weeds and mud where there used to be water.

Statewide, reservoirs report muddy beaches, stump-strewn shores and declining use for recreation since at popular spots like Detroit Reservoir even low-water boat docks are left high and dry by receding water.

But Ochoco Reservoir – formed by an earthen dam on Ochoco Creek – is home not only to boaters, anglers and summer swimmers, but also to about two dozen homes, half of them vacation homes. The lake’s drought has left lakeshore residents like Carpenter with parched earth and stranded boat docks in place of the recreation paradise he and his wife moved to Ochoco Reservoir to enjoy.

And the dry lake presents other problems as well. Without the pressure a full lake applies to the water table, wells near the reservoir have lost pressure.

Weeds grow like crazy in the rich earth of the lake bed, creating a potential fire hazard when the vegetation dries out. Carpenter and his neighbors have pooled their efforts to keep the weeds at bay.

Standing at his property line, Carpenter points to the spot between two huge junipers where he usually strings a hammock in the summer to enjoy the shade, lake breezes and the sound of waves. There’s no hammock there now, and the water line glimmers nearly 400 feet away from its customary high mark.

Between the hammockless shady spot and the faint water line lies a sloping mess of parched earth, shorn weeds and mud.

A wooden boat dock tilts uselessly in the dirt halfway between the water and Carpenter’s modest brick-red home.

”We couldn’t put the boat out at all this year,” he said. ”We usually put the boat out every day just to cruise and enjoy the water.”

Carpenter’s wife, Debbie, said she misses the pleasure boating, but the couple have towed their small motor boat to Lake Billy Chinook or nearby Prineville Reservoir.

Carpenter said vacation homes on the lake – like the one next door to him, which is shared by four families – are getting little use this summer. The Carpenters are year-round residents.

But the Carpenters knew when they bought their home 12 years ago that there would be times like these.

”It’s definitely something we’ve seen before,” he said, recalling 1992, when the the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation drained the lake so it could repair the dam. The reservoir remained empty for a year.

And Ochoco is not the only reservoir experiencing low water. At Prineville Reservoir, rock hazards near the shore have surfaced. Officials blame a dry winter for the low water. Without enough snow in the mountains, spring runoff failed to fill most Oregon reservoirs this year.

And though the Ochoco Irrigation District has reduced the amount of water allocated to farmers in Crook County because of the drought, water still spills into irrigation canals from Ochoco and Prineville reservoirs, further reducing the water.

”When you live out of town, you’ve got to expect some inconvenience,” Carpenter said. ”There’s a lot of things we can’t do, but we expect it.”

The low water level is not only an inconvenience for residents, but also for Prineville business owners as well. Local retailers suspect low water at Ochoco Reservoir has led to a decrease in tourist traffic. In June, 195 people visited the Prineville-Crook County Chamber of Commerce for visitor information, compared with 384 visitors in June 2000, said Diane Bohle, executive director of the chamber.

And campsites and RV parks along Ochoco Reservoir are sorely lacking for customers, said Greg Osborne, manager of the Lakeshore RV Park. Monthly renters have remained stable, but those visiting for just a weekend have all but vanished, he said. He blames the low water.