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CapitalPress.com
June 10, 2016
Water
Warm temps prompt early
melt, impacts streamflow
Warm temperatures in April
and May have caused early
snowpack melt across the Pa-
cific Northwest, prompting con-
cerns in some areas about the
availability of water late in the
growing season.
Idaho
Sean Ellis/Capital Press file
A sugar beet field near Ontario, Ore., is irrigated in this file photo
from June 11, 2015. Owyhee Irrigation District patrons will receive
a full allotment of irrigation water this year.
Owyhee Irrigation
District growers will
get full allotment
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
ONTARIO, Ore. — For the
first time since a lingering
drought began to grip this
area four years ago, Owyhee
Irrigation District patrons
will receive a full allotment
of irrigation water this year.
“It’s really a positive
thing for the area,” said
Bruce Corn, a farmer and
OID board member. “It’s
a tremendous change from
what we’ve faced the past
three years.”
The Owyhee Reservoir
provides irrigation water
for 1,800 farms and 118,000
acres of ground in Eastern
Oregon and southwestern
Idaho. OID patrons receive
4 acre-feet of water during a
good water year.
But due to the effects of
a sustained drought, they
only received 1.7 acre-feet
last year and 1.6 acre-feet in
2014.
Because of good snow-
pack, farmers in this area
anticipated receiving 4 acre-
feet this year but the OID
board chose to be conserva-
tive and not allocate the full
amount until the water was
actually in the reservoir.
The board set the allot-
ment at a tentative 3 acre-
feet in March, raised it to 3.8
acre-feet in April and then 4
acre-feet in late May.
OID Manager Jay Cham-
berlin said a major storm
last month dumped a lot
of snow in the valley and
snowmelt was also high-
er than anticipated, which
increased in-flows into the
reservoir.
“Those two things com-
bined gave us an additional
25,000 to 30,000 acre-feet of
water that was somewhat of
a surprise to us,” he said. “It
really gave us a shot in the
arm.”
The focus now shifts to
trying to ensure there is a
decent amount of carryover
water left in the reservoir to
provide a buffer heading into
the 2017 season, Corn said.
There was only 5,000
acre-feet of carryover wa-
ter left in the reservoir at
the end of the 2015 water
season, a drop in the bucket
compared to the reservoir’s
715,000 acre-foot capacity.
“The hope now is that we
can carry over a little water
into next year so we don’t
start at zero like we did last
year,” Corn said.
That means it’s doubtful
that any excess water will
be sold this year, he said.
In years when there is am-
ple water, OID patrons can
purchase excess water above
their 4 acre-foot allotment.
“We’ve been operating
off of the bottom of the tank
here,” Chamberlin said in
regard to the fact the system
has ended the past two sea-
sons with close to no carry-
over water. “We want to get
to the point where we are
operating off the top again.
It’s going to take some time
to get there.”
The reservoir has about
350,000 acre-feet of carry-
over water following good
water years.
Malheur County On-
ion Growers Association
President Paul Skeen said
even 150,000 to 180,000
acre-feet of carryover water
would provide farmers some
breathing room heading into
2017.
“Going into next season
with even 150,000 acre-feet
would be a whole lot better
than what it has been,” he
said.
Idaho managers say stream-
flow levels are peaking ahead
of normal, and the Upper Snake
Reservoir system won’t fill to its
capacity this year.
However, crops are also
progressing ahead of schedule,
and they still anticipate an ade-
quate water supply for irrigators
throughout most of the state,
though the Natural Resources
Conservation Service predicted
in its June 1 water supply out-
look report that potential short-
ages may occur by season’s end
in the Big Wood, Big Lost, Little
Lost and Oakley basins.
Snowpack was average or
better throughout most of the
state, with the Bruneau and
Salmon Falls basins having al-
ready received more than their
normal precipitation for the
entire water year. The driest ar-
eas throughout the water year
— Henry’s Fork and the Snake
Basin above Palisades Reservoir
— have still received 93 percent
and 95 percent of their average
precipitation respectively.
But water managers say the
snowpack has melted prema-
turely and peak flows have ar-
rived a couple of weeks earlier
than normal, shifting demand
to storage. Temperatures were
above average in both April and
May.
June temperatures have been
unusually hot, with record highs
of 97 degrees in Boise and 88
degrees in McCall set on June
5, according to the National
Weather Service.
“Because of the hot weath-
er, that’s pushing the rest of the
high elevation snow out,” said
Ron Abramovich, NRCS water
supply specialist. “The Big Lost
River just peaked June 6, and
most streams will be in residu-
al.”
Lyle Swank, watermaster for
the Upper Snake water district,
aid his system is 84 percent full,
and he anticipates it will peak at
about 90 percent full.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if
we’re close to 10 percent, or
400,000 acre-feet, short on a 4
million acre-foot storage sys-
tem,” Swank said. “I think (wa-
ter users) will have to do some
rentals and other transactions to
get the water where it needs to
go, but I don’t see widespread
John O’Connell/Capital Press
Steve Howser, general manager of Aberdeen-Springfield Canal Co., watches as the start of his canal
system begins to fill after opening the gates on April 11. Howser anticipates he’ll have sufficient water
to make it through the season, with some carryover to spare, though he probably won’t allocate the full
amount to share holders.
problems at this stage.”
Steve Howser, general man-
ager of southeast Idaho’s Ab-
erdeen-Springfield Canal Co.,
said a wet May in his growing
area allowed him to significant-
ly reduce diversions, which he’s
ramped up lately. Howser said
his water rights have filled in
Jackson and American Falls res-
ervoirs, but he’s expecting only
80 percent of his Palisades rights
to fill, and anticipates delivering
shareholders 85 to 90 percent
of their maximum allocations
this season. He expects to hit
his mark of ending the year with
50,000 acre-feet of carry-over
storage.
“It’s looking like we’ll have
a normal or better year,” Howser
said.
Brian Olmstead, general
manager of Twin Falls Canal
Co., gets three-fourths of his
water from natural flows. He
expects to exhaust his natu-
ral-flow rights originating from
the Upper Snake by about June
20, which would be a couple of
weeks ahead of normal. Olm-
stead said supplemental surface
water that groundwater users
provided this year under a wa-
ter call settlement agreement
should protect his users.
“We won’t drain the storage
system this year,” Olmstead
said. “Most people will have
some carryover storage.”
Oregon
The final water supply report
of the season concludes Oregon
creeks and rivers will have be-
low normal flows this summer,
tightening the amount of water
potentially available for irriga-
tion, fish and recreation.
The USDA Natural Resourc-
es Conservation Service in Port-
land predicts most streams will
be at about 60 percent of normal
flow, worse in the southeast cor-
ner of the state.
The June Water Supply Out-
look reflects an up and down
year as monitored by the NRCS
snow survey team in Portland.
In a recap, team supervisor
Scott Oviatt said heavy win-
ter precipitation helped refill
the state’s reservoirs, which
dropped precipitously during
the drought.
“Water year precipitation
(measured Oct. 1 to March 31)
has been near to above normal
across the state, and has boost-
ed reservoir levels that were
near record low at the end of
last summer,” Oviatt said in a
prepared statement. “This paints
a much better picture for water
supply this year, compared to
last year when reservoir storage
was well below average. How-
ever, if the summer is hot and
increases demand, water users
drawing from reservoir sources
could still experience possible
water shortages.”
Reservoir levels won’t be
sustained into the summer by
melting snow, because it’s al-
ready gone.
About half the state’s snow
monitoring sites recorded near
normal snowfall this past win-
ter, but the peak of it occurred
one to four weeks earlier than
normal, the NRCS report said.
Then came an early April heat
wave, and the snow at most
monitoring sites melted one to
three weeks earlier than normal,
and up to five weeks early at a
few sites.
Washington
Cascade Range snowmelt
was above normal in May, de-
pleting the remaining statewide
snowpack to 46 percent of nor-
mal in the first days of June.
Snowpack below 5,000 feet
elevation is virtually gone and
five mountain reservoirs supply-
ing summer irrigation water to
464,000 acres in the Kittitas and
Yakima valleys have been full
since mid-May.
The
reservoirs
hold
1,065,400 acre-feet of water,
one third of what’s needed for
annual riverflows and irrigation.
The other two-thirds is provided
by snowpack.
Drawdown of the reservoirs
is just beginning and will contin-
ue through summer, occasional-
ly slowed by cooler weather or
rain.
Major irrigation diversions
on the Yakima River totaled
4,818 cubic feet per second on
June 6, which is normal and
largely still made up of water
being released just to keep the
reservoirs from overflowing.
Inflow at the five reservoirs
was 83 percent of average, re-
leases were 112 percent of aver-
age and major canal diversions
were 103 percent of average on
June 6, according to the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation.
“Diversions collectively are
pretty normal. Things look solid
right now, but heat snaps or rain
storms can increase usage or
moderate it,” said Chris Lynch,
USBR hydrologist in Yakima.
The 46 percent of normal
snowpack is a “tricky number
because only about 25 percent
of our 70 SNOTEL (snowpack
telemetry) sites in Washington
still have snow on them,” said
Scott Pattee, water supply spe-
cialist with the U.S. Natural Re-
source Conservation Service in
Mount Vernon. Those sites are
at 5,000 feet elevation and high-
er. Little snow is left below that,
he said.
Yakima, Wash., irrigators cross their fingers
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
ELLENSBURG, Wash. —
Two big Yakima Basin irriga-
tion districts that dramatically
LEGAL
http://www.pvmi.org )
Request for Proposals:
To produce a document that evaluates PVMI’s business practices including financial management,
policies/procedures, and board/business operations, and recommends improvements. The work
will include a 10-year business plan and a succession plan.
Background:
In August of 2005, the potato commissions of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho filed Articles of
Incorporation to create the Potato Variety Management Institute (a.k.a. PVMI). Incorporated in
Idaho as a tax-exempt, non-profit organization (501(c)3), and with the potato commissions as its
sole members, PVMI’s stated purpose is “to enhance the agricultural capacity and resources of
Idaho, Washington and Oregon for the benefit of their citizens by coordination of potato varietal
research programs; management and protection of potato varieties created by state funding; and
education of growers, processors and retailers.” The top priorities of PVMI are to ensure
intellectual property protection (via the Plant Variety Protection Act), and to collect license and
royalty income from users of potato varieties develop by the Northwest Potato Variety
Development Program, a cooperative venture of USDA-ARS, the potato commissions, and Land
Grant universities in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. PVMI currently manages thirty protected
potato varieties, collects license fees and royalties from seed potato producers, and after covering
its business costs, returns funds to USDA-ARS and the universities to support potato research at
those institutions.
Much has changed in the potato industry and research programs since PVMI was incorporated
in 2005, and PVMI has accomplished more than the founders anticipated. In light of this change
and success, the potato commission members and the PVMI board of directors have decided to
embark on a formal planning process to launch PVMI into an even more successful second decade
of operation.
To respond to this RFP, please provide:
• A proposal of no more than 5 pages describing how you would provide the
documentdescribed above including a suggested timeline and cost estimate(s).
• A description of at least two successful projects you have completed, similar to the one
contemplated here.
• At least two references from previous clients
Deadline for receipt of proposals: June 15, 2016.
Send all materials as a single PDF to Jeanne Debons, PVMI Executive Director, at:
mailto:jeannedebons@msn.com
Proposal review process and timeline:
Proposal review will begin immediately after the June 15 deadline, with the aim of the PVMI
board of directors selecting the successful consultant during its mid-July board meeting. We
anticipate that most of the work of this project will be completed in the fall and winter months
when the PVMI board members have more time available to dedicate to PVMI, with a completion
deadline of March 15, 2017.
Legal-23-2-7/#4
cut water usage last summer
because of drought hope to
make it through this season
with no restrictions.
One of them, Kittitas
Reclamation District serving
60,000 acres of farmland in
the Kittitas Valley, took ad-
vantage of record April snow-
melt by opening its canals
three weeks early on April 1
and capturing 14,000 acre-
feet of water that otherwise
would have flowed to the
ocean unused.
“Farmers started applying
the water early and it was a
form of ground water storage
that helped us get a jump on
the season,” said Urban Eber-
hart, KRD manager.
It evened out later demand
and was a “rapid adaptive
move we were able to make
because of the work we’ve
done on the Yakima Basin
Integrated (Water Resource
Management) Plan,” Eberhart
said.
It underscores the need
for more surface and under-
ground water storage as dri-
er weather becomes the new
norm, he said.
The district raised its water
allotment by .5 acre-feet of
water per acre to encourage
growers to use early water, he
said.
It’s resulted in a much bet-
ter looking first-cutting Tim-
othy hay that started in late
May, instead of mid-June, and
was in full swing the week of
June 6, he said.
Late summer water supply
for the KRD, Roza Irrigation
District in Sunnyside and oth-
er junior water right holders
in the Yakima Basin was fore-
cast at 86 percent of normal
by the U.S. Bureau of Recla-
LEGAL
OREGON SHEEP COMMISSION
Notice of Public Budget Hearing
The annual Budget Hearing and Regular Meeting of the Oregon
Sheep Commission will be held Monday, June 27, 2016,
beginning at 1:00 PM in the Conference Room of the Oregon
Farm Bureau, 1320 Capitol Street NE, Suite 200. Salem, Oregon.
At this hearing any interested sheep producer has a right to be
heard with respect to the proposed budget, a copy of which is
available for public inspection, under reasonable circumstances,
in each of the Oregon State University Extension Services offices.
Copies of the proposed budget and tentative agenda are also
available for public inspection in the Commission office located
at 1270 Chemeketa Street NE, Salem, OR and may be requested
by calling (503) 364-5462 or sending a message to:
info@sheeporegon.com.
The Oregon Sheep Commission complies with the American
with Disabilities Act. If you need special accommodations to
participate in this meeting, please contact the Commission
24-4/#4
office 48 hours in advance.
mation on June 3. That’s up 1
percent from a month earlier.
At that level, the KRD
should make it to the normal
Oct. 15 end of the season
with no restrictions if farm-
ers all conserve as much wa-
ter as possible, Eberhart said.
The district normally diverts
336,000 acre-feet of water per
season from the Yakima River
at Easton.
Farther downriver, the
Roza Irrigation District serves
72,000 acres of farmland from
Selah to Benton City.
It’s manager, Scott Revell,
said the Roza should be OK at
86 percent of normal supply
as long as it isn’t a long, hot
summer with little or no pre-
cipitation.
If it does become too hot
and dry for too long, the dis-
trict will begin working back-
ward from its normal Oct. 20
shut off for an earlier ending,
he said. He’s keeping a wary
eye on the situation.
At 47 percent of normal
water supply last summer,
the Roza cut water to growers
by up to 75 percent and shut-
down from May 11 to 31.
Kittitas Reclamation cut
off water after in early August
instead of October, largely
preventing a second-cut-
ting of Timothy. The district
lost $11.4 million in crops
and the statewide crop loss
due to the drought was $336
million-plus, the state De-
partment of Agriculture has
said.