The Oregon Department of State Lands (DSL) has adopted updated administrative rules establishing new fees for Oregon’s Removal-Fill Program. This program helps protect the state’s wetlands and waterways by requiring permits for activities that involve removing or adding material to rivers, streams, lakes, wetlands, and other waters throughout Oregon.

When Do the New Fees Apply?

• On or before December 31, 2025: Permit applications, general authorization notices, wetland determinations and delineations that are postmarked or received by DSL on or before December 31, 2025 will be charged the current fees. See the current 2025 fees here.
• On or after January 1, 2026: The new fees will be effective January 1, 2026, and subsequent increases are scheduled to fall annually on January 1. See the new five-year fee schedule (2026-2030) here.

What Changed?

Changes to administrative rules include:

• Fees that will cover 80 percent of program costs within five years: Fees will increase gradually over the next five years, beginning with covering 60 percent of costs starting January 1, 2026 and increasing annually until 80 percent of costs are covered in 2030. This allows DSL to immediately begin addressing statutory Common School Fund impacts while also providing applicants with time to budget for increased fees. An annual inflation increase of 5 percent is also included.
• Fees that are based on time, resources required. A tiered fee structure has been adopted for wetland delineation reports and removal-fill permits that’s aligned with how much staff time is required. The tiers for wetland delineation report reviews are based on the size of wetlands or waters present and the size of the study area. The tiers for removal-fill permits are based on the complexity of each permit application, the environmental impacts of different project types on waters of the state, and whether the nature of the project is for-profit or not.
• A five-year fee schedule that clearly states the cost of removal-fill program services: The new five-year fee schedule covers general authorizations, wetland determinations and delineation reports, and removal-fill permits (Individual, General, and Emergency).

Questions?

Contact the aquatic resource coordinator for your county (see online directory here).

Additional Background

Oregon’s Removal-Fill Law helps protect wetlands and waters by requiring permits to remove or add materials in wetlands, rivers, streams, lakes, and other waters of the state. For example, building bridges or boat ramps, installing culverts, or filling wetlands to develop property are common types of projects that require a removal-fill permit. When wetlands or waters are present, a delineation report is required to identify the boundaries of the protected resource.

The statutory Common School Fund heavily subsidizes Oregon’s removal-fill permitting process. The current fees paid by developers, property owners, and other permit applicants cover just 21%. On average, it costs $2.8 million every year to cover the remaining removal-fill permitting costs. With 2023’s House Bill 2238, the Oregon Legislature approved moving removal-fill fees from statute into administrative rule, allowing the statutory Common School Fund subsidy to be addressed with a new fee structure.

A rulemaking advisory committee was convened from July 2024 – November 2024 to inform the how program costs could be covered through changes to the fees, the proposed tiers that the fees would fall under, and how much the fees would be each year. Two public comment periods were held in 2025 that shaped the fees and related rule changes prior to approval by the DSL Director. See all rulemaking materials here.

Fee changes were implemented in administrative rules OAR 141-089-0635; OAR 141-090-0032; and OAR 141-085-0545; related conforming rule changes were implemented in administrative rules OAR 141-085-0510 and OAR 141-093-0120. See the rules filing with the Secretary of State here.

Stay Updated

For the latest news on proposed changes to administrative rules, subscribe to receive email updates or see the DSL website: www.oregon.gov/dsl/Pages/rulemaking.aspx

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Oregon Department of State Lands 

www.oregon.gov/dsl