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4 CapitalPress.com April 10, 2015 Drought Low Oregon snowpack means low rivers By JEFF BARNARD Associated Press GRANTS PASS, Ore. — Federal hydrologists say the latest numbers reinforce the forecasts: Rivers and streams throughout Oregon will have flows far below normal this summer due to the meager mountain snowpack. The Natural Resources Conservation Service released its April surface water outlook on Tuesday. Precipitation has been at or near normal in most basins, but warm temperatures have left the amount of snow in the mountains at record lows, be- tween 8 percent and 32 percent of average across the state. That means basins with major reservoirs for storage are expected to do relatively well. The Willamette River at Salem, for example, is predict- ed to have flows 76 percent of average. But even they will drop far below normal as the summer wears on, due to low flows in streams feeding the reservoirs. And basins depending on snowpack for most of their water storage are expected to do poorly. The Silvies River at Burns is forecast to be at 17 percent of average. The water year started off well, with strong storms, even though they came with warm temperatures. The report says the most significant snowfall came in late December, and if temperatures had remained that cold the rest of the winter, snowpack would be near nor- mal. But January was relative- ly warm and dry, and the pre- cipitation that has fallen since has been mostly rain. March came in warm and sunny, and left with raw cold and some snow in the Cascades. As of April 1, 76 percent of snow monitoring sites were at their lowest level on re- cord. Though April 1 normally marks the peak snowpack for the year, more than half the monitoring sites reported bare ground. The U.S. Drought Mon- itor puts most of Oregon in drought conditions, with the southeastern corner in extreme drought. Inflow to the Owyhee Reservoir is forecast at 24 per- cent of average. Inflows to Upper Klamath Lake, the primary reservoir for the Klamath Reclamation Proj- ect straddling the Oregon-Cal- ifornia border, are forecast at 39 percent of normal. In southwestern Oregon, the Rogue River at Gold Hill is forecast to be 69 percent of average. In central Oregon, the De- schutes River south of Bend is forecast at 79 percent of aver- age. In northeastern Oregon, the Grande Ronde River at Troy is forecast to be 52 percent of average. Drought emergencies declared in 3 counties SALEM (AP) — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has declared drought emergencies in three more counties — Crook, Har- ney, and Klamath — due to low water levels and record low snowpack. Brown declared a drought emergency in Malheur and Lake counties last month. She added the latest three on Mon- day. The counties asked the state to take action, and the Oregon Drought Council considered the requests in light of water conditions, future climatic forecasts and agricultural im- pacts. The drought continues to have significant impacts on ag- riculture, livestock and natural resources in each of the coun- ties. In the governor’s words, “Oregon’s unusually warm and dry winter has potentially dire consequences.” The declara- tion allows increased flexibility in how water is managed to en- sure that limited supplies are used as efficiently as possible. Idaho eagerly awaits early water Yakima Basin By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press ABERDEEN, Idaho — Canals throughout Southern and Eastern Idaho have turned on well ahead of schedule, providing desperately needed water for newly planted crops and moisture-stressed winter wheat following three consec- utive dry months. Lyle Swank, water master of Eastern Idaho’s Water Dis- trict 1, said all but a couple of the canals between Blackfoot and Idaho Falls were active by April 2, much earlier than he’s ever seen in the past. Swank said dryness and spring-like March tempera- tures have sped up irrigation demand. “When winter wheat breaks dormancy, we’re used to having conditions where we’ve gotten some signif- icant moisture within the previous couple of months,” Swank said. “This year, the storms we got were pretty small, and not the soaking type.” Idaho Wheat Commission Executive Director Blaine Jacobson said declining soil John O’Connell/Capital Press Steve Howser, general manager of Aberdeen-Springfield Canal Co., notes the locations of sink holes as water fills a canal in Springfield, Idaho. Howser said he’s rushing to fill the reservoir to deliver water to winter wheat crops that need the moisture. moisture prompted many growers to plant spring grain early, and water companies have been striving to deliver water quickly. “(Soil) moisture that in some years would last until late April was disappearing in March,” Jacobson said. Aberdeen-Springfield Canal Co. Manager Steve Howser opened his gates for irrigation on April 1, the ear- liest in his company’s history. Howser said winter wheat growth is advanced for early spring and plants have gotten stressed without adequate water. He saw a few growers on his system mow their win- ter wheat last fall, worried the plants had grown too tall following a wet August and risked breaking under the weight of snow. Furthermore, winter wheat broke dorman- cy early due to a mild winter. “It’s the winter wheat that’s really suffering right now,” Howser said. “There’s no soil moisture left, and those young wheat plants had very shallow roots.” In most years, Howser spends 14 to 18 days slowly filling the system and making preparations before starting deliveries. This year, his goal is to have everyone online within 10 days of opening his gate, starting deliveries earlier in the upper portion of his sys- tem to prevent the rapid filling from causing flooding near the canal’s end. Howser said he lost a few weeks of mainte- nance time, when he normally makes repairs to his system such as filling sink holes, due to the early irrigation demand. “I had one grower tell me if he didn’t get some water soon, he estimated he’d lose 30 percent of his winter wheat crop,” Howser said. “I think we’re going to save most of it. The guys on the very end are going to have the biggest issue because they’re the ones who won’t get delivery until April 10.” Aberdeen farmer Dwight Horsch said his winter wheat still has a healthy color, which he attributes to his heavy soils, but farmers with sandy fields have endured more crop stress. “We normally don’t have it totally dry like this,” Horsch said. “We normally have a shower or two in the spring.” Washington snowpack smallest in 35 years By DAN WHEAT Capital Press Dan Wheat/Capital Press An irrigation canal west of the Beverly Burke Road, nine miles southwest of George, Wash. carries water on March 26. It will run strong all season because it’s fed by the Columbia Basin Irriga- tion Project from Lake Roosevelt. Canals fed by the Yakima and Wenatchee rivers may run low this summer because of drought. be some financial pain and hard- ship for our growers,” said Scott Revell, Roza manager. “Below 60 percent they make some tough decisions. We’re watching the weather closely the next 30 days,” he said. The district leased 28,000 acre-feet of water in 2005, the last drought year, but it might be harder to find that much this year, Revell said. Growers are keeping ponds full, some have wells and the district could shut off its canal for awhile in the middle of the season or termi- nate service early at the end, he said. Seventy-five percent of nor- mal water supply is generally considered the threshold for drought conditions. Gov. Jay In- slee declared drought emergen- cies March 13 for the Yakima “A month ago, in March, we had less snow overall than in 1977,” he said. April 1 historically is the maximum snow accumulation date, Pattee said. Snowpack ranges from 2 percent of normal in the Olympics and 4 percent in the foothills of King and Sno- homish counties to 68 percent of normal in Pend Oreille and 79 percent in the Methow, he said. More importantly, the fore- casts for percent of normal stream flow for April through September are: Spokane, 46; Pend Oreille Lake inflow, 89; Kettle at Laurier, 49; Okanogan, 74; Methow, 73; Chelan, 69; Entiat, 65; Wenatchee, 53; Yaki- ma at Cle Elum and upper lake inflows, 36; Yakima at Parker, 36; Naches, 31; Ahtanum, 55; Klickitat near Goldendale, 67; Walla Walla, 76; Grand Rhonde, 52; Asotin, 60; Cowlitz, 66; Skagit, 83; and Dungeness, 58. The Cedar River, a major source of Seattle city water, is 51 percent and the South Tolt, the rest of Seattle’s supply, is at 66 percent, Pattee said. Seat- tle isn’t too worried though, he said, because reservoirs are full from rain, the rivers will pull from ground water and the city has backup wells. The main stem of the Co- lumbia River from the Canadi- an border south is forecast at 94 percent of normal and 83 per- cent at The Dalles, Pattee said. Users who depend on it should be fine, he said. Capital Press staff writer Don Jenkins contributed to this report. LEGAL PURSUANT TO ORS CHAPTER 87 Notice is hereby given that the following vehicle will be sold, for cash to the highest bidder, on 4/13/2015. The sale will be held at 10:00 am by ANDY’S TRUCK REPAIR 1395 INDUSTRIAL WAY WOODBURN, OR Freightliner Semi VIN=1FUYDSEB6YPH05512 Amount due on lien $6,155.00 Reputed owner(s) Mitchell Rickerd Trimac Equipment Leasing Legal-14-2-1/#4 YAKIMA, Wash. — Wash- ington’s winter snowpack now stands at 21 percent of normal, the lowest in at least 35 years, and the U.S. Bureau of Recla- mation estimates junior water right holders in the Yakima Ba- sin will be limited to 60 percent of normal water supply. That means growers in the Roza Irrigation District and Kit- titas Reclamation District prob- ably won’t get all the water they need in late summer. It could curtail some Timothy seeding in the Kittitas Valley surrounding Ellensburg and harm the ex- pansion of hops fields planned in the Yakima Valley. However, those irrigation districts serve the outer edges of those valleys. Other districts with senior water rights serve the interiors and the bureau is forecasting full supply for senior water right holders. “At 60 percent we can scrape through the season but there will Basin, Olympic Peninsula and Walla Walla regions. The bureau’s April forecast is based on flows, precipitation, snowpack and reservoir stor- age as of April 1. It confirms conditions worsened in the past month. Yakima Basin reservoirs are full, but the snowpack has shrunk, the bureau said. The state Department of Ecology continues to consider its drought responses. Spring weather can still change the situ- ation in either direction. About 8 to 10 inches of snow fell in Cascade elevations above 4,500 feet the night of April 5 but won’t help much, said Scott Pattee, water supply specialist of the Washington Snow Survey Office of the USDA Natural Re- sources Conservation Service in Mount Vernon. The 21 percent statewide snowpack as of April 1 is the lowest on that date in the current data system that goes back to 1980, Pattee said. It’s probably lower than the statewide snow- pack of 1977, a big drought year for all Western states, but no statewide estimate was made then, he said. 15-1/#4X 15-1/#4X drought gets worse DOE expected to step up response By DON JENKINS Capital Press Junior water right holders in the Yakima Basin can expect 60 percent of their normal wa- ter supply during this irrigation season, the U.S. Bureau of Rec- lamation said Monday. The water supply forecast was worse than one month ago when the bureau forecast a 73 percent supply for junior rights. Senior water right holders are forecast to receive full supplies. March’s forecast was be- low the 75 percent figure that Washington state considers the threshold for drought condi- tions. Gov. Jay Inslee declared a drought emergency March 13 in the Yakima Basin, along with the Olympic Peninsula and Walla Walla region. The April forecast con- firmed expectations that the drought deepened in the past month. Yakima Basin reser- voirs are full, but snowpack, al- ready a fraction of normal, has worsened, the bureau’s Yakima Project River Operations super- visor, Chuck Garner, said. The Washington Depart- ment of Ecology will step up its response to drought because of the new forecast, agency spokesman Dan Partridge said. DOE has requested $9 million from lawmakers for drought relief, including $4 million the agency tentatively planned to lease water in the Yakima Basin if the drought worsened during March. The leased water would be put into streams to compensate for groundwater pumped from emergency wells. DOE consid- ers activating emergency wells as an extreme measure. “We kind of anticipated this day would come, and we planned for it accordingly,” Partridge said. “We’re refocus- ing our efforts on the Yakima Basin.” A DOE committee that evaluates statewide water supplies wmet Tuesday. The bureau’s April forecast is based on flows, precipita- tion, snow pack and reservoir storage as of April 1. “The weather conditions this spring will influence the snow in the hills, the flows for fish, and the demands by irrigation. We hope conditions work together to keep the res- ervoirs full well into May,” Garner said in a written state- ment. If spring rainfall and tem- peratures are unfavorable, the water supply forecast for junior users could continue to decline, the bureau warned. The bureau will update its forecast in May. Garner recommended that water conservation be consid- ered by all users in the Yaki- ma Basin. During the last drought, in 2005, the bureau forecast in April that junior water right holders would receive 34 percent of their normal wa- ter supply. The supply fore- cast rose to 41 percent by mid-July.