COMPRESSED CROP SQUEEZES CHERRY PRICES Page 3
Capital
Press
The West s
Weekly
FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015
Capital Press
LACEY, Wash. — The
Washington Department of
Ecology is reworking its
drought response plan, shift-
ing the focus from bringing
farmers relief this summer
to longer-term water projects
proposed by cities, irrigation
districts, tribes and other pub-
lic agencies.
The agency has been
scrambling
for months MORE
to respond INSIDE
to a steadi- For more
ly worsen- drought
ing drought storiies
please turn
without
a to Page 4
fi rm spend-
ing plan or
budget authority from law-
makers. With newly appro-
priated money fi nally in hand,
DOE Director Maia Bellon
signed an order Friday set-
ting out rules to obtain up to
$500,000 for public projects
to relieve water shortages
causing hardship to fi sh, com-
munities and farms.
The order represents a
change from the plan outlined
by DOE to lawmakers last
spring, when the agency said
it was focusing its drought
relief efforts on minimizing
crop losses in the Yakima Ba-
sin.
Back then, DOE proposed
spending $4 million or more
in the basin on agriculture,
compared to $2 million for
city water systems and $1.2
million for fi sh survival state-
wide. “Those delineations are
pretty much out the window,”
DOE spokesman Dan Par-
tridge said Thursday.
DOE says spending in the
Yakima Basin hasn’t materi-
alized because of the scarcity
of water rights to lease.
DOE has committed $1.1
million to draw water from about
40 emergency wells, mostly in
the Roza Irrigation District in
the Yakima Basin. The state and
farmers share costs.
The agency has said it
anticipates spending about
$700,000 on water leases be-
tween Roza and senior water
Turn to WATER, Page 12
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
George Hernandez was one of eight wranglers moving 350 pair of cattle from one unburned pasture to another on July 9. Ranchers hope emergency grazing of Conser-
vation Reserve Program land can continue.
By DAN WHEAT
Carlton Complex Fire
Started: July 14 by lightning
Contained: Aug. 25
Acres burned: 256,108
Lives lost: Rob Koczewski, 67,
on July 19, 2014 from a heart
attack; John "Danny" Gebbers,
84, on Oct. 21, 2014 from a
head injury
Homes lost: 277 primary,
50 cabins
Other losses: 900 to 1,000
cattle; 500 miles of fencing;
millions of board feet of timber
Power outage: 3,602 customers
for more than a week; 156 for
more than 20 days
Damage claims against DNR:
More than $75 million
Suppression cost: $100 million
WASH.
OKANOGAN
NATIONAL
FOREST
Area in
detail
OKANOGAN
153
The “donut hole”
Okanogan
20
97
153
Brewster
17
173
Pateros
Carlton
Complex
Fire
Bridgeport
174
DOUGLAS
Chelan
172
Alt
97
Source: Capital Press research
Dan Wheat and Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
Capital Press
N
97
5 miles
B
REWSTER, Wash. — Scorched land-
scape shows signs of new life as ranch-
ers and orchardists work with govern-
ment agencies toward recovery one
year after the largest wildfi re in Washington state
history. Losses exceeded $100 million.
The Carlton Complex Fire, ignited by lightning
in the Methow Valley on July 14, 2014, three days
later raced 30 miles down the valley, burning homes
in the town of Pateros and threatening nearby Brew-
ster. Firefi ghters estimated that the blaze, at times,
covered four to fi ve acres per second.
By the time fi re crews brought it under control,
the Carlton fi re had burned 256,108 acres, resulted
in the deaths of two people, killed approximately
1,000 cattle and destroyed some 500 miles of fenc-
ing and millions of board feet of timber. It also
destroyed 277 houses, 50 cabins and knocked out
electrical power to 3,602 customers for more than
a week.
Turn to FIRE, Page 12
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Another load of salvaged timber is
trucked downhill July 9 through woods
burned in last year’s Carlton fi re
northwest of Brewster, Wash. About
18 million out of 30 million board
feet damaged in the fi re have been
salvaged so far.
Marijuana can’t justify new farmland dwellings
Oregon lawmakers exclude psychoactive crop from new home rules
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Oregon property owners
cannot qualify to build new
dwellings in farm zones by
growing marijuana, accord-
ing to recent revisions to the
state’s land use laws.
When voters approved a
ballot initiative legalizing rec-
reational marijuana last year,
it sparked concerns that the
high-value crop would make
it easier to develop homes on
farmland.
Under Oregon’s land use
rules, landowners who gen-
erate at least $80,000 in reve-
nues from agriculture for sev-
eral years can build a dwelling
on their property.
Oregon is now one
of just four states
that has legalized
marijuana for
recreational use.
E.J. Harris
EO Media Group
Turn to POT, Page 12
29-1/#5
By DON JENKINS
$2.00
CARLTON FIRE
1 YEAR LATER
r
Department’s
initial budget
plan revamped
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
Victims of Washington’s largest
wildfi re begin long road to recovery
R iv
e
Ecology
lays down
rules for
drought
relief
money
VOLUME 88, NUMBER 29