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CapitalPress.com
October 30, 2015
El Nino-powered winter creeps forward
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
SACRAMENTO — For
much of Northern and Central
California, the El Nino-pow-
ered arrival of winter could be
more of a gradual onset than a
grand entrance.
After several weak storms
spritzed the region in the final
days of October, another cool
and potentially wet system
is due to hit California in the
middle of next week, forecast-
ers say.
But it may be mid-Novem-
ber before a change in weath-
er patterns really takes hold.
AccuWeather’s long-range
forecast shows mostly cloudy
days with some showers and
thunderstorms in Northern
California through the second
half of the month.
“This is the transition to our
wet pattern,” said Michelle
Mead, a National Weather
Service warning coordinator
in Sacramento. “This is about
the time we start to see more
storms moving off the Pacific
(Ocean) into California.”
El Nino signaled its pres-
ence late last week with
Hurricane Patricia, which
slammed into Puerto Vallarta,
Mexico, and was still bringing
torrential rains, strong winds
and local flooding to much
of the southern United States
this week.
Forecasters have predicted
Southern and Central Califor-
nia could see above-average
rainfall this winter from El
Nino’s southern storms, and
Northern California could
start to see above-average
precipitation as the winter
proceeds.
However, the federal Cli-
mate Prediction Center fore-
sees equal chances of above-
or below-average rainfall
throughout California in No-
vember.
And next week’s system
isn’t coming from the south
but from the north. It’s what
meteorologists call an “in-
side slider” expected to make
its way down from the inter-
mountain region of Idaho and
Montana, bringing the pos-
sibility of the season’s first
significant snowfall at higher
elevations.
Mead cautions that weath-
er in the spring and fall is
more difficult to predict, and
long-range forecasts tend to
rely more on what’s happened
in past years than on anything
that’s happening in the atmo-
sphere.
“When we’re transitioning
(from summer to winter), the
models play catch-up for a
while,” she said. “Every sev-
en to 10 days they start show-
ing us a weather system com-
ing in, but they don’t always
come to fruition.”
Seminar to address
hot-button water
issues, including
WOTUS rule
Host of irrigation-related topics are on the agenda,
including EPA’s controversial new regulations
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — Several
hot-button local, state and
federal water issues will be
discussed during the Idaho
Water Users Association’s
annual Fall Water Law and
Resource Issues Seminar
Nov. 19-20.
An update on the Envi-
ronmental Protection Agen-
cy’s controversial Waters
of the United States rule is
expected to be the main at-
traction.
A panel of experts will
discuss what the rule means
and what’s next, after a fed-
eral court ruling earlier this
month temporarily blocked
the rule from taking effect
in all 50 states.
The panel, which will in-
clude an EPA representative
and two legal experts, will
examine all aspects of the
rule, according to an IWUA
news release.
“The EPA rule is one of
the most hotly contested
federal government moves
in some time because of the
threat that it poses to state
sovereignty,” IWUA Execu-
tive Director Norm Seman-
ko stated in the news release.
“That fact only guarantees
the panel will be a hot-but-
ton attraction for folks at-
tending the meeting.”
The seminar, which will
be held in Boise, attracts
a who’s who of people in-
volved with water delivery
in Idaho.
The IWUA represents
300 irrigation districts and
canal companies, agribusi-
nesses, hydropower and
aquaculture interests and
groups around the state that
manage water supplies for
more than 2 million acres of
irrigated farmland.
The seminar is a great
educational opportunity for
people involved with water,
said Idaho Water Resourc-
es Board Chairman Roger
Chase.
“It’s a really important
event (because) you get to
hear from people who are
experts on the issues, not
More information
For seminar details, visit
the IWUA website at www.
iwua.org or call (208) 344-
6690.
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
only locally but regional-
ly and nationally as well,”
he said. “I really enjoy the
event and always learn a lot
there.”
Chase is on the semi-
nar agenda and will update
people on state efforts to
recharge the Eastern Snake
Plain Aquifer. Aquifer re-
charge plays a big role in
implementing the settle-
ment between surface water
users and junior groundwa-
ter pumpers resulting from
a 2005 water call, he said.
“That’s a real important
part of (the agreement),”
Chase said. “We want to
take some of that water that
leaves the state and instead
recharge it into the aquifer.”
Chase’s talk will be part
of an overall presentation
on water delivery calls in
Idaho and settlement up-
dates.
Idaho Department of
Water Resources Water Dis-
tribution Section Manager
Rob Whitney will discuss
how the department handles
complaints about unautho-
rized water uses.
“I’m going to talk about
what department policy is
related to enforcement of
unauthorized uses of water
and how the department is
using technology ... to ad-
dress that issue,” he said.
University of Idaho Ag-
ricultural Economist Garth
Taylor will provide an over-
view of irrigation use and
agriculture in Idaho and
said he wants to show just
how big a player the state is
in both areas.
Other presentations in-
clude an update on Califor-
nia water shortages and cur-
tailment orders, legal limits
on using wells to recover
canal seepage, and wheth-
er flood control releases in
the Treasure Valley should
count against reservoir stor-
age rights.
Farmer Leonard Heidt examines thornless Marionberries growing on his property near Mount Angel, Ore. Heidt came across the variety
as a “sport” a decade ago and is pursuing a plant patent for it.
Thornless Marionberries
reduce liability concerns
Variety also easier to handle, preserves fruit quality, grower says
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
MT. ANGEL, Ore. — Over
the course of his four decades
in farming, Leonard Heidt has
found a half-dozen thornless
“sport” canes growing from
otherwise thorny Marionber-
ries.
All of those turned out to
have undesirable characteris-
tics, such as low berry yields
and deformed blooms that ren-
dered the plants unsuitable for
commercial farming.
For that reason, Heidt was
cautiously optimistic when he
came across a sport a decade
ago that seemed to produce
fruit as well as the thorny vari-
eties of Marionberries.
Years of field testing con-
vinced him that the cultivar
would be viable and he applied
for a plant patent for the variety
in 2012, which is still pending.
The patent application has
allowed Heidt to begin sell-
ing the “Willamette Thornless
Marion” variety to other grow-
ers and collect a royalty pay-
ment of 10 cents per plant.
Since then, Heidt estimates
the thornless cultivar has been
planted on about 200 acres as
growers gain confidence in the
variety.
“I do think it’s going to
eventually replace the regular
Marion, if it proves to have the
same durability,” he said.
Thornless Marionberries
provide farmers with the bene-
fit of being easier to handle, but
they also appear to preserve
fruit quality during mechanical
harvesting, Heidt said.
“They’re not getting hit
with the stickers, so the ber-
ries’ cells aren’t as damaged,”
he said.
For processors and end us-
ers of berries, the main concern
is that pieces of thorny stems
will be found in pies, jams and
other products, Heidt said.
“The liability is the number
one concern,” he said.
Because that worry is elim-
inated with his variety, Heidt
has established a deal under
which the Willamette Valley
Fruit Co. of Salem, Ore., pays
growers a premium of five
cents per pound for thornless
Marionberries.
“We live in an environment
where food safety is really crit-
ical,” said Dave Dunn, general
manager of the Willamette Val-
ley Fruit Co.
Dunn said there’s a “deli-
cate balance” involved in pro-
moting the cultivar’s thornless-
ness without disparaging the
regular thorny Marionberries
that are still the predominant
variety in the area.
The company processed 1
million pounds of the thornless
variety last year and has found
strong support for the cultivar
among buyers, he said. “The
market looks really good for
them.”
Willamette Valley Fruit Co.
Feds must disclose some California water well info
Ruling holds that names and addresses
are public, geological data is not
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Federal authorities will
not have to disclose the loca-
tion, construction or depth of
California water wells to an
environmental group under a
recent federal court ruling.
However, the decision does
require the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation to turn over the
names and addresses of the
well owners and water transfer
participants to AquAlliance,
which advocates for “hydro-
logical health” in Northern
SAGE Fact #119
Oregon consistently ranks
in the top five states nationally
for milk quality.
California.
In 2013, AquAlliance made
a wide-ranging Freedom of
Information Act request for
documents relating to water
transfers in the region, which
included geological data about
water wells.
The federal government re-
leased much of the information
to the environmental group but
withheld the well data under
FOIA exemptions that protect
privacy interests.
AquAlliance then filed a
legal complaint against the
Bureau of Reclamation, claim-
ing that the agency improperly
applied those exceptions.
U.S. District Judge Ketanji
Brown Jackson in Washing-
ton, D.C., has rejected some
of the group’s arguments while
agreeing with others.
The plaintiff claimed that
FOIA privacy exemptions
LEGAL
ADELL LANE
MINI STORAGE AUCTION
2773-B ADELL LANE NE
SALEM, OREGON 97301
(971) 240-2755
Sun., Nov. 1st
10AM
• Unit #D-56
Harold Rhodes
• Unit #D-54
Jenny Arnold
• Unit #C-50
Amanda Lee
Visit
the SAGE
Center:
Visit the SAGE
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Monday
through Saturday
Sunday
-
Thursday
10am
from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. - 5pm
Friday & Saturday 10am - 6pm
Adell Lane Mini Storage
reserves the right to
refuse any and all bids.
44-2/#6
wants to expand acreage of the
crop but is doing so warily to
ensure the brand isn’t misrep-
resented, Dunn said.
For example, the compa-
ny wants to work with trusted
growers and processors who
won’t mix the cultivar with
other thorny berries, but then
market them all as thornless,
he said.
Heidt hopes to forestall this
possibility by certifying fields
as thornless and estimating
their expected production.
Farmers also need to be
sure the new variety will per-
form well in the field — at this
point, the plants have with-
stood low winter temperatures
well, but those in the ground
are still relatively young, Dunn
said.
“So far, the data looks
good,” he said.
Some canes from the cul-
tivar do occasionally revert
to growing thorns, and these
should be removed, Heidt said.
Plants seem particularly prone
to this problem if their roots
are damaged, he said.
44-2/#4x
Legal-43-2-2/#4
for geological well data only
applied to oil and gas wells,
but Jackson dismissed this
argument, holding that water
is also a precious and limited
resource.
Jackson also rejected the
claim that turning over geo-
logical well data wouldn’t im-
properly reveal “proprietary
technical or scientific secrets”
and thus must be disclosed,
contravening a previous fed-
eral court decision from South
Dakota.
On the other hand, the
judge found that the bureau
does have to disclose names
and addresses because this in-
formation isn’t “stigmatizing,
embarrassing or dangerous”
for well owners and people
who participate in water trans-
fers.
The government argued
that turning over the names
and addresses would not serve
the public interest but would
simply allow AquAlliance to
“proselytize” its environmen-
tal message, while the envi-
ronmental group countered
that it needed the information
to ensure water isn’t moved
unlawfully.
Jackson
sided
with
AquAlliance on this question,
finding that the bureau “nei-
ther acknowledges these pub-
lic benefits of disclosure, nor
articulates how these benefits
are outweighed by the rela-
tively weak privacy interests
at stake.”