October 28, 2016
CapitalPress.com
7
Oregon
Oregon water
regulators
seek $3M
Additional funds
will pay for 11 new
positions
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — Oregon’s water
regulators are seeking more
than $3 million to better han-
dle problems with groundwa-
ter depletion and water rights
enforcement.
In its 2017-2019 budget
proposal, the Oregon Water
Resources Department wants
state lawmakers to pay for 11
new positions while increasing
the pay and duties of several
existing positions.
The agency will ask for
three funding “packages” to be
included in Gov. Kate Brown’s
recommended budget for the
next biennium.
Concerns about water have
grown in recent years due to
drought as well as increased
public scrutiny.
Last year, groundwater
depletion concerns in South-
east Oregon’s Harney Basin
prompted OWRD to suspend
drilling of most new agricul-
tural wells.
In August, the Oregonian
newspaper also ran a package
of articles, “Draining Oregon,”
claiming the agency had al-
lowed over-pumping by farm-
ers.
“In some locations through-
out the state, groundwater
aquifers are no longer capable
of sustaining additional devel-
opment,” OWRD acknowl-
edges in its “budget narrative”
for the three funding propos-
als.
• Groundwater studies: Sci-
entists from OWRD require
about five to six years to finish
a groundwater study within a
single basin, such as the current
Harney Basin study.
Without more staff, though,
the agency can only conduct
one basin study at a time.
To allow OWRD to under-
take two studies at once, the
agency has proposed hiring
five new employees — a hy-
drologist, two hydrographers
and two hydrogeologists — at a
cost of more than $1.8 million.
• Water rights enforcement:
Drought and new water de-
mands have also saddled re-
gional watermasters, who en-
force water rights, with greater
workloads at a time financial
support from county govern-
ments has dwindled.
Aside from causing “delays
in regulation” and “excessive
overtime,” the workload has
reduced watermasters’ visibili-
ty in the field, which is needed
to deter illegal water usage, ac-
cording to OWRD.
To alleviate this burden, the
agency proposes hiring five
new regional assistant water-
masters and a new hydrologic
technician to help with water
monitoring.
The $1 million funding
package would also raise the
status of five existing hydro-
logic technicians so they could
take on additional duties while
receiving higher pay.
• Well inspection: Ground-
water supplies are at risk from
“misconstructed, poorly main-
tained and improperly aban-
doned” wells, according to
OWRD’s budget narrative.
To ensure wells are properly
built and kept up, OWRD relies
on well inspectors. Though it’s
authorized to employ six well
inspectors, the agency only has
enough income for four.
OWRD wants to hire two
new well inspectors and up-
grade the status of all six posi-
tions, which would entail more
responsibilities and higher pay,
with about $337,000 from the
general fund.
Under this proposal, the
agency would also generate
revenues by imposing new and
larger fees.
Landowners are allowed to
drill their own wells, but they
require more intense oversight
and assistance from OWRD
well inspectors than do licensed
well drillers.
To help offset these costs,
the agency proposes increasing
the landowner permit applica-
tion fee from $25 to $500, rais-
ing about $20,000 a year.
Mohnen new president of Oregon hay organization
By CRAIG REED
For the Capital Press
BEND, Ore. — Greg
Mohnen, a longtime Central
Oregon hay grower, took on
the role of agricultural educa-
tor earlier this year.
Mohnen, 64, is the manag-
er of the McGinnis Ranch, a
hay and cattle operation that
lies between Bend and Sisters.
But now in addition, he is the
president of both the Central
Oregon Hay Growers Associ-
ation and the Oregon Hay and
Forage Association.
He said his goal as presi-
dent of the two associations is
to educate the public on what
is involved in putting up hay
and how that commodity is
key to the food chain.
“So many people out there
think it is so simple, that you
don’t have to worry about the
weather, about the moisture,”
Mohnen said. “Food has to
come from some place and
hay is part of the process.”
Mohnen had been vice
president of the state asso-
ciation. He succeeded Scott
Pierson of Silver Lake, Ore.,
as president. Pierson became
the vice president.
“I think Greg will be an
exceptional president,” Pier-
son said. “I’m excited to have
Craig Reed/For the Capital Press
Greg Mohnen, manager of the McGinnis Ranch near Bend, Ore., is
president of the Oregon Hay and Forage Association.
him come with a new perspec-
tive for the association. He’s
a leader in the Central Oregon
association and he’s proven to
be a man of solid integrity.
“The hay he produces is
outstanding and he should
be an example to the rest of
us hay growers on using the
innovations that are avail-
able and being dedicated to
producing high quality grass
hay,” Pierson said.
At the 2015 Oregon Hay
King Contest in Klamath
Falls, Ore., Mohnen’s first
and second cuttings of grass
hay earned the highest scores
and his third cutting grass hay
earned the second highest
score. Mohnen and McGinnis
Ranch have 11 entries from its
grass/legume, grass and timo-
thy hay in the Oregon Hay
King Hall of Fame over the
last 12 years.
Mohnen has been working
in hay fields and with live-
stock since he was a young-
ster growing up on a South
Dakota ranch that produced
prairie grass hay, alfalfa and
corn, and had cattle and pigs.
He and his wife moved
to Oregon in 1984 and af-
ter he worked for a couple
Central Oregon ranches he
has worked for Tim McGin-
nis, the owner of McGinnis
Ranch, since 2000.
“Tim supports me being
the state president,” Mohnen
said. “He allows me the time
to do that job.”
Mohnen said water is
the biggest issue facing hay
growers.
“If we weren’t so efficient
with our water, we wouldn’t
have anything,” he said.
This year’s Oregon Hay
King Contest is scheduled
for Nov. 19 at Ag West Sup-
ply in Madras, Ore. Mohnen
said there’ll be plenty of ed-
ucational opportunities. He
said Mylen Bohle of the Or-
egon State University Ex-
tension Service will speak
on soil ingredients and how
they impact hay tonnage; an
Oregon Department of Agri-
culture official will speak on
new chemicals; there’ll be a
presentation on low-pressure
irrigation; and he hoped to
have a speaker explain the use
of cabbage for gopher control
and a speaker from the Uni-
versity of California-Davis.
“We want to encourage
growers to improve their ef-
ficiency,” Pierson said. “We
want growers and consum-
ers to utilize our extension
agents and other available
resources in our state to
make their production more
efficient.”
“There’s always some-
thing to learn no matter
what,” Mohnen said of the
information that will be avail-
able at the Hay King Contest.
“There’s never a dumb ques-
tion.”
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