October 7, 2016
CapitalPress.com
Idaho Water Board to
review rental pool rules
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
POCATELLO, Idaho —
Idaho Water Resource Board
oficials say increasing de-
mands on the state’s res-
ervoir storage supply have
necessitated revisiting the
rules governing water rental
pools, especially for the Up-
per Snake system.
Water Board Chairman
Roger Chase, of Pocatello,
said the rental pool system
was meant to provide a tem-
porary solution for irrigators
with a one-time need for
water, but he’s concerned
some users are viewing it as
a long-term ix.
“We’re going to move
forward because it’s a prob-
lem we have to look at to
make sure we don’t create
a bigger problem,” Chase
said. “I anticipate we’ll have
a working group — one of
our subcommittees — look
at it and have it on our board
meeting agenda in Novem-
ber or January.”
Lyle Swank, watermas-
ter of the Upper Snake wa-
ter district, said his system’s
rental pool consists of water
for Bureau of Reclamation
low augmentation and a
common pool with 50,000
acre-feet provided by the
various storage holders, and
is available for lease when a
user runs short.
He believes it was the na-
tion’s irst rental pool when
the state Legislature created
it in 1979. Its lease rates are
based on demand. Any user
who is adversely affected by
the rental pool is irst in line
to lease from it during the
following year.
Swank said some top
concerns include recent in-
terest in using rental pool
water to irrigate new land
and requests to lease rental
pool water outside the basin.
“One of the issues is there
are people wanting to use the
rental pool for additional
new development at a time
when other groundwater us-
ers are cutting back,” Swank
said. “It doesn’t seem to
make a lot of sense to some
people.”
Swank believes the rental
pool should prioritize leases
intended to further the suc-
cess of a recent water call
settlement between the Sur-
face Water Coalition and ju-
nior groundwater users.
In recent years, Swank
said all of the available rental
pool water has been leased.
Furthermore, 141,000 acre-
feet of water was leased
privately this year, further
stressing the storage system.
Those who lease water
privately will have their
rights be last to ill during the
following season.
Lynn Tominaga, execu-
tive director of Idaho Ground
Water Appropriators Inc.,
said his organization shares
the board’s concerns about
irrigating new ground, not-
ing there’s a pending appli-
cation for a new water right
that would be supplemented
with privately leased or rent-
al pool water. Tominaga ex-
plained groundwater rights
are the lowest priority for
rental pool leases, and even
a 2016 surface right would
take precedent over a more
senior well user’s request.
“If they allow this to hap-
pen — break out new ground
with a very junior water right
— will there be other entities
that will do the same?” Tom-
inaga asked.
Rexburg farmer Jeff Ray-
bould, who serves on the
water board, explained the
Committee of Nine, which
advises on water operations
in the Upper Snake, also has
a subcommittee that annual-
ly reviews rental pool rules
and will coordinate with the
board’s committee.
Proposed rail-to-trail project
unnerves Oregon farmers
3
Growers concerned
about conflicts with
farm practices
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
CARLTON, Ore. — Farm-
er Scott Bernards has more
than one reason to be nervous
about bicyclists and joggers
regularly traveling a stretch of
abandoned railroad next to his
ield.
With the negative atten-
tion given to pesticides in
recent years, converting the
decommissioned railroad into
a hiking and biking trail could
complicate spray operations,
Bernards said.
“What if I don’t even see
them?” he said.
Expecting him and other
farmers to shut down sec-
tions of the proposed 17-mile
“Yamhelas Westsider Trail”
between Gaston and McMin-
nville when applying pesti-
cides is also unrealistic, Ber-
nards said.
“I never know exactly
when I’m going to spray,” he
said.
As the “rail to trail” pro-
posal gains steam among
Yamhill County oficials
and supporters, several local
farmers have been pushing
back against the project.
A chief concern is the re-
action that urban trail users
will have upon encountering
common farming practices
to which they object for en-
vironmental or philosophical
reasons.
“Farming is hard enough
without people from Portland
telling us what to do,” said
Chris Mattson, whose prop-
erty is bisected by roughly
1,000 feet of the railroad.
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Farmer Scott Bernards speaks about why he’s nervous about the potential conversion of an aban-
doned railroad into a hiking and biking trail next to one of his ields near Carlton, Ore.
Aside from potential con-
licts with farm operations,
Bernards, Mattson and other
growers are worried about
the prospect of increased tres-
passing, ire danger and van-
dalism.
Mattson said he’s fenced
off his property abutting the
railroad because of problems
with teenagers drinking, rid-
ing all-terrain vehicles and
dumping trash on his proper-
ty.
If the railroad becomes an
oficial trail and attracts even
more visitors, Mattson said
he’s worried it will be inhab-
ited by transients the way the
Springwater Corridor Trail in
Portland was. It is now known
for homeless camps.
Supporters of the rail-to-
trail proposal say these con-
cerns are overblown given the
rural nature of the area.
“This is not Springwater,”
said Ken Wright, a winemak-
er in Carlton who supports the
project.
The
nearby
21-mile
Banks-Vernonia State Trial
— an abandoned railroad pur-
chased by the state more than
four decades ago — hasn’t
caused increased crime or at-
tracted transients, he said.
“It’s more of a visceral re-
action than a reality,” Wright
said. “Those concerns are not
justiied by history.”
Conlicts between trail
users and landowners also
haven’t materialized, he said.
“There have been no issues
with farming practices up
there.”
New visitors to the area
would spend money on restau-
rants and lodgings, strength-
ening Yamhill County’s busi-
ness community, Wright said.
Clearing brush from the
overgrown railroad track
would actually reduce ire
hazards, and volunteers could
help with the work to contain
costs, he said.
There’s also a legitimate
reason grant dollars from the
Oregon Department of Trans-
portation should be invested
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in the project: Bicyclists who
already use Oregon Route 47
are regularly killed on the nar-
row state highway, he said.
“They don’t want bikes
on these roads. It’s just death
waiting to happen,” Wright
said.
Roughly $2.3 million in
grants has been raised in sup-
port of the project, which is
also in contention for $1.2
million in grants from the
state Department of Transpor-
tation, he said.
Yamhill County oficials
have offered to purchase nine
miles of the railroad from its
current owner, Union Paciic
Railroad, but those negoti-
ations are ongoing, Wright
said.
Capital Press was unable
to reach a representative of
Yamhill County as of press
time.
The Oregon Farm Bureau
has argued that Yamhill Coun-
ty commissioners should irst
complete the land use pro-
cess and issue a conditional
use permit for the trail before
spending money on the land.
The Farm Bureau disagrees
with the county’s view that it
would be premature to begin
the land use process before
the county buys the railroad,
said Mary Anne Nash, public
policy counsel for OFB, in a
letter to the commissioners.
“Constructing a bike path
near agricultural lands creates
a host of potential conlicts
and liability concerns which
the county has yet to address,”
the letter said. “These con-
cerns should be addressed be-
fore the county invests more
resources in this project.”
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