Amy and John Hazel: DRA’s 2025 River Champions
Besties: John and Amy Hazel, happy on their home water.
The First Couple of the Deschutes River
John and Amy Hazel are The Deschutes River Alliance’s 2025 River Champions. Both in intensity and duration, no other couple lives, breathes, and loves the Deschutes River as John and Amy have. And certainly, no other couple has done more in the campaign to bring the lower Deschutes River back to its deserved state of grace.
The Hazels home, shop and guide services are the hub of a growing community around the lower Deschutes River. The Deschutes River Alliance would not exist in its current robust state if not for the Hazels. And the river itself would be a far poorer place without them.
Relentless River Advocacy
When an unsuspecting angler walks into the Hazel’s shop, asking an innocent question about why the river seems so choked with algae, or why fish don’t hit a dry fly like they used to, that customer leaves The Deschutes Angler armed with information, as surely as she’ll leave with the right fly to hook a steelhead.
When an old friend visits, the chance to compare notes and commiserate, and perhaps share a dram and some hors d'oeuvres in the back of the shop is rarely refused.
When a former or current employee needs a meal, a shower, a pep talk or a place to park a rig, chances are better than even that person winds up at John and Amy’s for the night.
And when a client gets to know the river well enough to see that it’s not what it should be, chances are excellent that this person will wind up contributing to the DRA–whether it’s purchasing a bumper sticker at the front counter of the shop or writing a larger check.
Above all, any of these people, and countless others too, given sufficient time with the Hazels, will undoubtedly catch the infectious love for the lower Deschutes that John and Amy have shared with thousands of people over the years. “Love,” writes the western writer Bill Kittredge, “is never giving up on something, no matter how long the odds.” If Bill ever had the pleasure of spending an hour with the Hazels, it well could have been them that inspired this platitude.
“When something means so much to you that you couldn’t imagine your life without it, you do whatever it takes to save it,” writes Amy Hazel after receiving the news of being selected as this year’s river champion. “We have been fortunate to have a platform that allows us to reach out to others who deeply love the Deschutes, and we have been able to rally those anglers around our cause. This award is not ours alone, it belongs to everybody who has heeded the call and given selflessly to the Deschutes River Alliance.”
More From The Blog
Subscribe the the DRA Newsletter
The Deschutes River Alliance is your focused voice to protect the lower Deschutes River, its cold water flows and the fish and wildlife that are sustained by them. We send regular emails with important data and news about the lower Deschutes River. We will not sell or loan your contact information to others.
How to Support the DRA
Everyone wants clean, healthy water in the Deschutes River. Oregonians cherish our clean and healthy waterways to provide drinking water, wildlife habitat and recreational activities. The lower Deschutes River is a federally designated Wild & Scenic River, and a national treasure. It must be protected for the environmental and economic health of Central Oregon. We believe by working together we can return the lower Deschutes River to full health.
