OSU MOVING TOWARD HIRING HAZELNUT EXTENSION SPECIALIST Page 3
Capital
Press
The West s
Weekly
FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2015
VOLUME 88, NUMBER 18
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
$2.00
HETCH HETCHY
Latest lawsuit doesn’t target ag, group says
Courtesy of ODFW
A pup of the Wenaha wolf pack
is seen howling during summer
2014 in Wallowa County.
Ranchers
unhappy
with wolf
delisting
delay
Conservation
groups push for
greater numbers
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
Photos via Wikimedia Commons
By TIM HEARDEN
A view of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and Granite rock formations in the Hetch Hetchy area of northwestern
Yosemite National Park, May 15, 2011.
Capital Press
Pinecrest
108
Hetch Hetchy
Reservoir
STANISLAUS
NATIONAL
FOREST
e
u o l u m n
R i
YOSEMITE
NATIONAL
PARK
r
v e
Tuolumne
Meadows
T
SAN FRANCISCO — The
group that fi led a second lawsuit
against this city’s operation of the
Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosem-
ite National Park isn’t proposing
that the city instead try to take its
water from agriculture, its execu-
tive director said.
Restore Hetch Hetchy, whose
2012 San Francisco ballot propos-
al to consider draining the reser-
voir and returning the valley to
its natural state was soundly de-
feated, last week fi led suit in Tu-
olumne County Superior Court
claiming the city’s operation of
the reservoir violates the state
constitution.
The petition alleges the reser-
voir that provides water for an
estimated 2.5 million San Fran-
cisco Bay area customers violates
Turn
to SUIT,
Turn
to SUIT, Page
Page 12
12
120
120
Yosemite
Village
140
Area in
San
detail
Francisco
49
This photograph, taken in the early 1900s before the O’Shaugh-
nessy Dam was constructed, shows the Hetch Hetchy Valley and
the Tuolumne River, looking east. Wapama Falls is on the left,
Kolana Rock on the right.
N
CALIF.
41
SIERRA
NATIONAL
FOREST
Oakhurst
Capital Press graphic
“We are not advocating taking or buying water from agriculture. But paying ag
districts to recharge groundwater when possible is certainly on the table.”
— Restore Hetch Hetchy executive director Spreck Rosekrans
Livestock ranchers and
farm groups approached the
April 24 meeting of the Or-
egon Department of Fish and
Wildlife Commission with a
clear mindset: Oregon’s rap-
idly-growing wolf population
has increased to the point that
gray wolves can be removed
from the state endangered
species list.
Given the emotion and
politics of the issue, however,
they didn’t necessarily ex-
pect a decision that day. The
commission, facing a crowd
in which delisting opponents
were the majority, asked
ODFW staff to come back
with information beyond the
64-page biological status
review they had in front of
them.
The commission wanted
more information on the op-
tions of delisting wolves in
the eastern half of the state, in
the entire state, or taking no
action. It may be September
before staff reports back.
The state’s wolf plan calls
for beginning the delisting
process when the state has at
least four breeding pairs for
three consecutive years. Or-
egon reached that standard at
the end of 2014, when eight
Turn to WOLF, Page 12
Washington irrigators look for water
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
SUNNYSIDE, Wash. —
The Eastern Washington irri-
gation district that stands to
be most severely impacted
by the 2015 drought wants
to lease water, but it may not
fi nd any available.
With growers beginning
to sacrifi ce apple orchards
and hop fi elds, the board of
the Roza Irrigation District in
the Lower Yakima Valley vot-
ed April 27 to lease water at
$500 per acre, said Scott Rev-
ell, district manager.
The board set no limit but
estimates spending about $1.2
million of its $3.5 million in
reserves to lease 5,000 acre-
feet of water, most likely from
the Sunnyside Valley Irriga-
tion District, with half of the
cost reimbursed by the state,
Revell said.
However, Jim Trull, SVID
manager, said he would bring
the matter to his board as soon
as possible.
Turn to WATER, Page 12
Crews build a $26
million, 35-acre
water reservoir for
the Roza Irrigation
District north of
Sunnyside, Wash.,
on March 26.
Dan Wheat
Capital Press
THIS WEEK IN THE CAPITAL PRESS
Volunteers, sponsors make
Ag Fest a success
Hundreds of volunteers joined
sponsoring businesses and 4-H and
FFA members to help Oregon Ag
Fest educate thousands of children
about ag.
Page 8
State funding in question for
junior livestock show
Money may not be available next
year to pay premiums to youth for
the animals they raise.
Page 14
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