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CapitalPress.com
May 22, 2015
Drought
Western landowners can apply
for drought mitigation funding
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
Farmers and other landowners in Or-
egon, Idaho, California and five other
drought-stricken states are eligible for
funding under a program announced
Monday by U.S. Agriculture Secretary
Tom Vilsack.
The USDA’s Natural Resources
Conservation Service will oversee dis-
tribution of $21 million in emergency
funding, Vilsack and NRCS Chief Jason
Weller said in a conference call with re-
porters.
The money can be used to offset the
cost of drought mitigation work such as
planting cover crops, removing invasive
plants, improving livestock watering
systems or installing more efficient irri-
gation systems, Vilsack and Weller said.
Meager snowpacks during the winter
have left much of the West facing water
shortages due to greatly reduced stream-
flow and diminished reservoir storage.
The NRCS recently reported that warm-
er than normal winter weather had al-
ready melted much of the snowpack that
feeds streams during summer months.
Landowners in Kansas, Texas, Neva-
da, Oklahoma and Utah are eligible to
apply for funding, along with people in
Oregon, Idaho and California.
Washington was not included in the
funding even though Gov. Jay Inslee
declared a statewide drought emergency
May 15. Tracy Robillard, public affairs
officer with the NRCS Portland office,
said funding is reserved for states with
regions registering extreme (“D3”) or
exceptional (“D4”) level drought.
Landowners in those areas will have
a 30-day window in which to apply; the
registration period in each state will be
announced later this spring.
The money comes from the Farm Bill
under the Environmental Quality Incen-
tives Program, known by the acronym
EQIP. Under the program, landowners
sign a contract to perform conservation
work and the NRCS provides technical
assistance to get it done. The landown-
er pays for the work up front. After an
evaluation, the NRCS reimburses the
landowner for some, half or more of the
cost.
In Oregon, the NRCS will focus on
range and forest conservation projects
that reduce wildfire threat, Robillard said
in an email.
Rain eases drought, but not much
Rain drips from
green cherries in an
East Wenatchee,
Wash., orchard the
morning of May 14.
Cherries throughout
Central Washington
were still too green
to be harmed by
several days of rain
that provided short-
term drought relief.
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
SUNNYSIDE, Wash. —
Rainstorms that hit Washing-
ton last week provided some
short-term drought relief but
didn’t add a lot of water to
mountain reservoirs, a state
water expert says.
A trace of rain started
Monday, May 11, increased
Tuesday, was heaviest on
Wednesday and tapered off
Thursday morning.
“It was not widespread.
More like thunder cells,” said
Scott Pattee, water supply spe-
cialist of the Washington Snow
Survey Office of the USDA
Natural Resources Conservation
Service in Mount Vernon.
It rained on the north side
of Naneum Ridge, helping the
Wenatchee River and from
White Pass eastward to Sun-
nyside but there was very little
precipitation in the upper Yaki-
ma Basin, Pattee said.
Cle Elum, Rimrock and
Bumping lakes all benefited
and overall about a week’s
worth of reservoir water was
saved by the rain, said Chris
Lynch, hydrologist at the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation in Ya-
kima.
On May 19, the bureau re-
duced the Yakima Basin season
forecast to 44 percent of nor-
mal. It would have been a bit
worse without the rain, Lynch
said.
“We were in quite a skid and
it helped put the brakes on,” he
said.
Even with the rain, the ba-
sin is tracking 20 percent below
Dan Wheat
Capital Press
average precipitation for the
month of May, Lynch said.
It rained hardest around
Sunnyside, where the Roza Irri-
gation District has shut off wa-
ter to farms to save it for later in
the season.
The largest amount of rain
recorded in Benton County
was 2.7 inches at Roza Station
2, and other nearby stations on
the Washington State University
AgWeatherNet system had sim-
ilar amounts for the week end-
ing May 13. Benton City had
1.73 inches.
Jim Willard, a Prosser grape
and tree fruit grower, said he re-
ceived 1.58 inches of rain in his
cherry orchard. He had just used
the last of his pre-shutdown wa-
ter from the Roza canal.
“It was like one good water-
ing,” he said of the rain.
He usually irrigates the or-
chard every eight to 10 days this
time of year and every four days
in the heat of summer.
Scott Revell, manager of
Roza Irrigation District, said the
rain was helpful, that the entire
district got at least an inch of
rain. He agreed it was the equiv-
alent of one good irrigation cy-
cle.
Other May 13 AgWeather-
Net readings in Eastern Wash-
ington: Pasco, 1.16 inches;
Wapato, .77 inch; Moxee (near
Yakima), .81 inch; Mattawa,
1.10 inches; Moses Lake, .59
inch; Ritzville, .50 inch; Fair-
field (near Spokane), .24 inch;
East Wenatchee, .49 inch; and
Brewster, .24 inch.
Rain was welcomed by near-
ly everyone except those just
starting first-cutting alfalfa and
protecting early cherries around
the Tri-Cities.
About 30 to 50 percent of
first-cutting alfalfa in the lower
Columbia Basin — Basin City
to Hermiston — was cut with 20
percent of that baled before the
rain, said Chep Gauntt, a Pas-
co grower. There will be some
“pretty severe damage” on the
rest of it, he said.
“We got an early start and
have all of ours in the shed,” he
said. “Those who haven’t cut yet
will be a little later. Their yield
will go up but quality will be a
little less. If they can cut within
the next week in the lower basin
they will do good.”
It was still early enough be-
fore harvest that cherries weren’t
damaged, said Denny Hayden,
Pasco, one of the earliest grow-
ers in the state. He anticipates
starting harvest between May
24 and 27.
“It did more damage to roads
than crops,” he said. “We had
20 percent of our annual rainfall
(over an inch) in one day.”
Some of his Chelan cherries
are straw color and he protect-
ed them with calcium spray to
reduce moisture going into the
cherries, Raingard to keep mois-
ture out and helicopters to blow
off water.
“It was 47 to 50 degrees
the whole time and the wind
blew, which was a positive,”
Hayden said. “Toward the
end, it really blew and dried
them extremely quick. The
helicopter had to quit because
of the wind. We went into last
night dry. I think we came out
very well for the kind of rain
we had.”
Roza District looking for water; forecast drops
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
SUNNYSIDE,
Wash.
— The Roza Irrigation Dis-
trict in the Yakima Valley
continues to look for water to
lease from other districts as
the U.S. Bureau of Reclama-
tion drops its estimate of the
summer water supply in the
Yakima Basin to 44 percent of
normal.
That’s 3 percent less than
the previous forecast. Mid-
LEGAL
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
Notice is hereby given that the
Oregon Potato Commission
will hold a public budget
hearing at 8:30 a.m. on Friday,
June 5, 2015. The regular
quarterly Commission meeting
will begin at 8:00 a.m. These
meetings will be held at the
Eagle Crest Resort
1522 Cline Falls Highway
Redmond, OR 97756
The purpose of the public
budget hearing is to receive
testimony and evidence on the
proposed budget for operation
of
the
Oregon
Potato
Commission during fiscal year
July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016.
Any person desiring to submit
facts or data, orally or in
writing, may do so by
attending the public hearing
or by contacting the Commis-
sion Executive Director before
the hearing date.
Bill Brewer, Executive Director
Oregon Potato Commission
9320 SW Barbur Blvd., Suite 130
Portland, Oregon 97219
Phone: (503) 239-4763
Email: brewer@oregonspuds.com
A copy of the proposed budget
is posted on the Oregon
Potato Commission website
www.oregonspuds.com
and may be obtained by
writing to the Commission.
21-2/#4
May rains slowed water con-
sumption from the region’s
reservoirs and even added a
little water to two of them.
As of May 18, owners of
1,200 acres in the Sunnyside
Valley Irrigation District are
willing to lease their supply to
the Roza at $500 per acre, said
Jim Trull, SVID manager.
That will provide about
2,400 acre-feet of water of the
5,000 that the Roza District is
looking for. The RID is look-
ing for more landowners in the
SVID willing to lease out water
but there may not be anymore,
Trull said.
What will be leased is prob-
ably water from pasture and
forage crops, he said.
Scott Revell, manager of
the RID, said he probably has
another 200 acres in other dis-
tricts including the Naches Se-
lah. The deadline for signups
in the SVID was May 18, but
Revell said a second round
would begin May 19 and go a
couple of weeks. All leases are
subject to approval by Yakima
County Superior Court because
of long-standing adjudication
of water rights, he said.
The RID board meets May
22 to discuss how long the dis-
trict’s temporary suspension of
water to growers will last. It
began May 11 to save reservoir
water for later in the season.
The 2,400 acre-feet of leased
water will add about three days
to the end of the shortened irri-
gation season, Revell said.
The Yakima Tieton Irri-
gation District decided not to
lease any water to the Roza.
“We’re sympathetic to their
concerns but just didn’t feel it
was in the best interest of our
users, not knowing the final pro-
ration level,” said Rick Dieker,
Yakima Tieton manager.
Twenty-five percent of the
Yakima Tieton’s water is junior
rights subject to proration.
“We want to make sure we
have enough to get through
the season. Right now we an-
ticipate having enough and
delivering through September.
Normally, we go into the first
or second week of October,” he
said.
The Wapato Irrigation Proj-
ect doesn’t have any water for
the Roza and began limiting de-
liveries to 66 percent of normal
on May 18, said Edwin Lewis,
project manager.
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Washington Department of Ecology Director Maia Bellon talks
about her agency’s drought response as Gov. Jay Inslee stands
behind her during a press conference May 15 in Olympia. Bellon
says getting water to Yakima Basin farmers is a high priority.
WSDA estimates
statewide drought to
cost farmers $1.2B
Governor foresees
hardships as
summer progresses
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — Washing-
ton’s first statewide drought
in a decade will cost produc-
ers $1.2 billion in lost in-
come, the state Department
of Agriculture estimates.
Gov. Jay Inslee referred
to the projection Friday at
a news conference at which
he announced he was de-
claring a statewide drought.
“Difficult decisions are
being made today about
which crops get priority in
our vital agricultural re-
gions,” he said.
The statewide decla-
ration had been expected
for several weeks. Inslee
declared an emergency in
about one-fifth of the state
on March 13 and expanded
it to almost half the state on
April 17.
Since then, the U.S. Bu-
reau of Reclamation has
revised downward its wa-
ter supply forecast for the
growing season in the Ya-
kima Basin. While farmers
with senior rights will re-
ceive full supplies, the bu-
reau estimates junior-right
holders will receive 47
percent. Meanwhile, feder-
al agencies are forecasting
record-low flows in rivers
across the state.
“The drought has deep-
ened dramatically over the
past few weeks,” Inslee
said.
The governor warned
that conditions for farms,
fish and municipal systems
that rely on surface water or
shallow groundwater wells
could suffer more problems
over the summer.
“We’re facing hardships
now, and we may face even
tougher, more challenging
months ahead,” he said.
A $1.2 billion loss in farm
revenue would be about 12
percent of the $10.16 mil-
lion value of crops and live-
stock produced in Washing-
ton state in 2013, the most
recent year for which fig-
ures are available.
Yakima Basin growers in
the Roza Irrigation District
and Kittitas Reclamation
District will be particularly
hard hit, according to an as-
sessment by WSDA.
Losses in those two dis-
tricts on crops such as cher-
ries, apples, hops, grapes
and hay are estimated to
reach $243 million, or about
half of what could be ex-
LEGAL
NOTICE OF OREGON BEEF COUNCIL
PUBLIC BUDGET HEARING
NOTICE HEREBY IS GIVEN that a public meeting will be held
pursuant to ORS 577, the Oregon Beef Council Statute, at the
Grant County Fair Grounds in the Keerin North Building, 411 NE
Bridge St, John Day, OR 97845 on Friday, June 12, 2015 at 9:00
am upon a Proposed budget for the operation of the Oregon
Beef Council during Fiscal Year July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016.
At this meeting, any producer of beef in Oregon has the right to
be heard with respect to the proposed budget, a copy of which
is available for inspection, under reasonable circumstances, in
the Oregon Beef Council office in Portland.
For further information, contact the Oregon Beef Council office
at 1827 NE 44th Ave., Ste. 315, Portland, Oregon 97213.
21-2/#4
The meeting location is accessible to persons with disabilities. A
request for an interpreter for the hearing impaired or for other
accommodations for persons with disabilities should be made at
least 48 hours before the meeting to the Oregon Beef Council at
503-274-2333.
Dated this 22nd day of May 2015.
ATTESTED: Sharon Livingston, Chairman,
William N. Wise, CEO
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pected in a normal year,
WSDA Deputy Director
Kirk Robinson said.
For the rest of the state,
WSDA estimates losses at
$972 million, a 10 percent
reduction. Much of that loss
will come in the Wenatchee
area, where farmers rely on
surface water.
WSDA described its esti-
mate as conservative. Rob-
inson said a hot summer
could make losses greater.
The National Weather
Service’s Climate Predic-
tion Center projects Wash-
ington’s summer will be
warmer than average, while
the chances of above or be-
low normal precipitation are
equal.
WSDA did not attempt
to assess indirect econom-
ic losses due to a shorter
packing season and reduced
demand for labor and farm
chemicals and equipment.
The assessment also didn’t
estimate losses if crops are
planted in the fall under dry
conditions.
Robinson advised pro-
ducers to document their
losses. Producers could be-
come eligible for federal re-
lief programs if the drought
persists.
In 2005, WSDA fore-
cast producers would suf-
fer a 5 to 8 percent reduc-
tion in income, with losses
of up to $299 million. That
year, however, conditions
improved as the growing
season went on. The value
of Washington agricultur-
al production actually in-
creased over 2004 by about
$500 million, according to a
report issued the following
year by the U.S. Department
of Agriculture.
State officials hold out
little hope for a turnaround
this year. Because of a lack
of melting snow, the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation be-
gan drawing down Yakima
Basin reservoirs in mid-
April, 10 weeks earlier than
usual.
“One of our highest pri-
orities has been finding
ways to get water to farm-
ers in the Yakima Basin.
It’s our richest agricultural
region in the state and our
highest-risk area for this
drought,” Department of
Ecology Director Maia Bel-
lon said.
Friday was the first time
Inslee has called a news
conference to announce a
drought declaration, under-
scoring its increasing sever-
ity.
The drought will dimin-
ish stream flows for fish
throughout the state, but
residents in the most pop-
ulous areas may hardly no-
tice.
Utilities that supply Se-
attle, Tacoma and Everett
with domestic water sup-
plies have expressed con-
cern that publicity about the
drought will cause custom-
ers to conserve, decreasing
their revenues.
DOE has requested $9.6
million from lawmakers for
drought relief, including $4
million to lease water in the
Yakima Basin for farmers.
Legislators have not act-
ed on the request. Inslee
praised Bellon for marshal-
ing resources to respond to
the drought without wait-
ing for the money. “It’s
taking some creativity,” he
said.