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January 16, 2015 CapitalPress.com Low snowpack a worry in Wash. Oregon snow water equivalent By DAN WHEAT (As of Jan. 9) Capital Press BOISE, Idaho — Idaho Farm Bureau Federation of- fi cials worry any proposal to legislatively block state or county labeling requirements for genetically modifi ed or- ganisms would needlessly bring negative attention to Idaho agriculture. Idaho’s sugar industry has started discussions about such a bill and assigned its lob- byist, Roy Eiguren, to draft various proposals for industry consideration. “We’re not to the point of really making a decision as to how we’re going to approach the labeling issues and GMOs in general in the upcoming Legislature,” said Vic Jaro, president and CEO of Amal- gamated Sugar Co. “In gen- eral concepts, we as a com- pany are opposed to labeling biotech ingredients on food packaging.” Mark Duffi n, executive di- rector of the Idaho Sugarbeet Growers Association, said several different drafts and concepts have been discussed, but nothing is “ready for pub- lic consumption.” “We’ve been kind of work- ing with a group of agricultur- al representatives to look at the tactics one could take to 67 78 84 29 38 92 108 25 57 86 24 Source: USDA NRCS Dan Wheat/Capital Press Peshastin Creek, which empties into the Wenatchee River, fl ows at a good pace Dec. 9. Snowpack in that area is 69 percent of normal. The Wenatchee spring and summer streamfl ow is forecast at 84 percent of normal but that’s factoring in a normal snowfall. Washington snow water equivalent (As of Jan. 9) *Average annual SWE, 1981-2010 Percent of median* 25-50% 51-70 71-90 91-110 68 93 76 30 26 39 68 44 52 94 34 Source: USDA NRCS Alan Kenaga/Capital a/ Press But mountain snows came in February, March and April, correcting the situation. Pat- tee now is concerned there may not be as much of that this year because of an El Nino weather pattern. Tree fruit and row crop growers in Central Wash- ington depend on irrigation. Some orchards were torn out for lack of water in the Yaki- ma Valley in 2005 and pears forestall these local initiatives like there’s been in Oregon and Washington and Colora- do,” Duffi n said. “We’re in the process of discussions on that.” Idaho Farm Bureau spokesman John Thompson said his organization voiced its concerns earlier this month during a meeting of agricul- tural representatives and lob- byists with Food Producers of Idaho, which hosts weekly meetings during the legisla- tive session to address issues related to agriculture and nat- ural resources. Thompson said Farm Bu- reau reasons there’s no risk of a GMO labeling initiative passing in conservative Ida- ho anyway, and the timing is bad, given that the state just fi nished a high-profi le debate during the last session about its so-called ag gag law, which prohibits secret recordings of farming operations. “It puts pressure on the legislators. We don’t see any reason for that now,” Thomp- son said of proposing anti-la- beling legislation. “If it were a pressing issue, yes, we’d do it. But there’s so much going on this year, especially related to transportation and new taxes and education, we don’t see good reasons to take the spot- light away from those issues.” had insuffi cient water in the Wenatchee Valley. Water was short in the Methow River in the Okanogan. As of Jan. 8, snowpack in the Spokane basin was 76 percent of normal, Pattee said. The upper Columbia (Okanogan and Methow riv- ers) was 93 percent. The cen- tral Columbia (Chelan, Entiat and Wenatchee) was 68 and the upper Yakima was 44. The lower Columbia was 34, central Puget Sound 30 and Olympics 26 percent. Para- dise at Mount Rainier was 39. April to September stream- fl ow forecasts are: Okano- gan 91 percent of normal; Wenatchee, 84; upper Yaki- ma at Cle Elum, 73; lower Yakima near Parker, 84; the Columbia at The Dalles, 100; central Puget Sound at Cedar River, 88; Skagit River, 97; and Dungeness River, 101. Those fi gures are the fi rst streamfl ow forecasts of the season and will change in coming months, Pattee said. The water availability committee of the governor’s drought task force will meet in February, he said. There probably would be no meet- ing if overall state snowpack was greater than 100 percent of normal, he said. Last year, the committee met for the fi rst time since 2010. The situation in Oregon is similar at 46 percent of nor- mal snowpack but Idaho is at 96 percent, Pattee said. Ida- ho has received better snows from storms so far than Wash- ington, he said. Alan Kenaga/Capital Press Low W. Oregon snowpack may impact summer irrigation By MITCH LIES For the Capital Press With half of the season past, snowpack levels in Western Or- egon are dangerously low. The good news is the levels could rebound before the snow- fall season ends, and in Eastern Oregon, where farmer fortunes are more closely tied to snow- pack, the levels are fi ne. Still, with the warm, wet conditions of an El Nino per- meating Western Oregon at a time when the snowpack is typically building, concerns are mounting that Western Oregon farmers could face water short- ages come irrigation season. “We’ve seen years where snowpack levels rebounded,” said Scott Oviatt, snow pro- gram manager for the Natural Resources Conservation Ser- vice in Portland. “We’ve also seen years where the tap just shut off.” Last year, Oviatt said, snowpack levels were below even this year’s in the January survey. But heavy, late-season snowfall created near normal snowpack levels by May. Oviatt said the NRCS attri- butes the low snowfall levels in Western Oregon this year to “climate variability” and not climate change. “Climate variability is the key here, and that is the case every year,” he said. The lowest levels in the fi rst NRCS Oregon snow survey of the year are in the Klamath Basin, which is at 24 percent of normal; the Rogue Umpqua Basin, which is at 25 percent of normal; and the Willamette, which is at 29 percent of nor- mal. Also dangerously low are the Hood, Sandy, Lower Deschutes Basin at 30 percent of normal; and the Upper De- schutes, Crooked Basin regis- ters 38 percent of normal. Snowpack conditions im- prove dramatically to the east, with Harney Basin at 108 percent of normal; Mal- heur at 92 percent of normal; and Owyhee at 86 percent of normal. The Umatilla, Walla Walla, Willow Basin is at 68 percent of normal; the Grande Ronde, Powder, Burnt, Imnaha Basin is at 78 percent of nor- mal; while the Lake County, Goose Lake Basin is at 57 per- cent of normal. BUYING 6” and UP Alder, Maple, Cottonwood Saw Logs, Standing Timber www.cascadehardwood.com 3-5/#4X Capital Press *Average annual SWE, 1981-2010 30 Idaho anti-GMO labeling talk concerns Farm Bureau By JOHN O’CONNELL Percent of median* 25-50% 51-70 71-90 91-110 3-5/#24 MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — The mountain snow- pack is 49 percent of normal in Washington compared with 44 percent a year ago. While that seems to be an improvement it’s actual- ly more worrisome because the forecast for snow isn’t as good, the state’s top water supply expert says. “The extended three- month forecast from the Na- tional Weather Service is for above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipita- tion,” said Scott Pattee, water supply specialist of the Wash- ington Snow Survey Offi ce of the USDA Natural Resourc- es Conservation Service in Mount Vernon. “That’s not a good deal. We want precipitation in the form of snow in the mountains this time of year,” he said. During the fi rst full week of January and month of De- cember record high tempera- tures were logged at 26 of the agency’s 73 weather data col- lection sites. “Temperatures are in the realm of 15 to 20 degrees above normal. That’s warm. That’s telling me the moun- tains aren’t even freezing up at night,” Pattee said. He was referring to the 5,000- to 6,000-foot level. A site at 5,800 feet above the Skagit River had an overnight low of 40 degrees on Jan. 8, he said. Another at 5,200 feet at Cayuse Pass was at 46 de- grees at 10 a.m. that day and had been as high as 52 in pre- vious days. “Our highest station at Harts Pass, above the Methow River, is just under 6,500 in elevation and it was 35 de- grees for the low,” he said. A year ago, Pattee was concerned about summer drought for irrigators in 2014. 7 3-5/#4N