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April 14, 2017 CapitalPress.com 5 Gov. Brown declares drought over, issues conservation orders By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown Friday declared an end to California’s fi ve- year drought while proposing new long-term water conser- vation measures that must be passed by the Legislature. Brown rescinded two emergency proclamations he made in 2014 as well as four drought-related executive or- ders in 2014 and 2015, but he maintained water reporting requirements and prohibitions on what offi cials consider wasteful practices, such as watering during or right after rainfall. “This drought emergency is over, but the next drought could be around the corner,” Brown said in a statement. “Conservation must remain a way of life.” The drought emergency was lifted in all counties ex- Associated Press File In this photo taken May 18, 2015, irrigation pipes sit along a dried irrigation canal on a fi eld farmed by Gino Celli near Stockton, Calif. On Friday Gov. Jerry Brown declared California’s fi ve-year drought over. cept for Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Tuolumne, where emer- gency drinking water pro- grams will continue to take pressure off depleted ground- water supplies. The State Water Resourc- es Control Board will con- tinue to enforce urban con- trols, including reporting requirements, and the state will continue to respond to an unprecedented bark beetle outbreak in drought-stressed forests that has killed millions of trees, the governor’s offi ce stated. Meanwhile, the state De- Horticulturist appointed director of OSU’s Mid-Columbia center By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press HOOD RIVER, Ore. — Veteran horticulturist Steve Castagnoli is the new director of Oregon State University’s Mid-Columbia Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Hood River. Castagnoli has worked at the center since 2000, and is well known among the area’s pear and sweet cherry grow- ers. His appointment comes after a tumultuous couple years in which three key people re- signed, including the previ- ous superintendent. Tree fruit growers hope the center will stabilize and resume research projects that were interrupted when the people conducting them left. “I’m very supportive of Steve’s appointment,” said Mike Omeg, a cherry grower in The Dalles who also sits on the Capital Press board of direc- tors. “He understands the tree fruit industry in the Mid-Co- lumbia real well.” But Omeg warned that Castagnoli has stiff challenges ahead of him, including “staff and funding issues that are pro- found.” The center has seen signif- icant turnover. Horticulturist Todd Einhorn, who was doing what growers consider import- ant dwarf root stock research on pears, left to work on apples at Michigan State University. Entomologist Peter Shearer, who had been the research cen- ter superintendent, resigned in 2016; he was among the Pacif- ic Northwest’s key researchers on spotted wing drosophila and brown marmorated stink bugs, two damaging pests. Preston Brown, who managed the center’s 55-acre experimen- tal farm, also quit. And Brian Tuck, whom Castagnoli re- placed, rotated back to his post as regional administrator of Extension in Hood River and Wasco counties. partment of Water Resources, Department of Food and Ag- riculture and other agencies will push for legislation to establish long-term conserva- tion measures and improved planning for future droughts. Among the measures would be a requirement for agricultural water suppliers to submit plans on how they’ll increase water use effi ciency and develop adequate drought plans, and improved drought planning for small water sup- pliers and rural communities. “California’s farmers and ranchers practice conserva- tion every day,” CDFA secre- tary Karen Ross said. “They are prepared to continue in that spirit in adherence to groundwater regulations and the adoption of more effi cient irrigation systems.” California was prompted to review its “drought status” after the DWR’s latest man- ual snow survey on March 30 found a season-high snow-wa- ter equivalent of 46.1 inches in the Sierra Nevada near Lake Tahoe, or 183 percent of aver- age for this time of year, agen- cy spokesman Doug Carlson told the Capital Press. Brown’s new executive or- der on April 7 came as a win- try storm softened already sat- urated ground, brought wind gusts of up to 62 mph and knocked out power to more than 40,000 Pacifi c Gas and Electric Co. customers in the San Francisco Bay area, The Associated Press reported. Up to 3 feet of new snow was expected in the Sierra Neva- da, according to the National Weather Service. Northern California leg- islators and water district of- ficials had urged Brown to declare the drought’s end, cit- ing the winter’s deluges and heavy snowpack. The gover- nor’s executive orders man- dating continued, long-term water savings were appropri- ate, “but this power should not be abused,” state Sen. Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, said in February. State water regulators had been hesitant, noting that some Central Valley commu- nities still depend on trucked and bottled water and that groundwater — the source of at least one-third of the sup- plies Californians use — will need more than one wet win- ter to be replenished in many areas. The long-term measures proposed by Brown pleased environmental groups, some of which issued statements supporting the measures. Nat- ural Resources Defense Coun- cil senior water policy analyst Tracy Quinn argued that the near-failure of a spillway at Oroville Dam demonstrated the vulnerability of the state’s water system and reinforces the need for effi ciency. Find the Cream of the Crop... Irrigation district may seek Bureau of Reclamation assets Area in detail By DAN WHEAT KENNEWICK, Wash. — The Kennewick Irrigation District is looking into getting title to its canals and other as- sets as it nears the 2022 payoff of a 66-year, $5 million lease- loan from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for construction of the infrastructure. The federal agency has done about 30 similar title transfers across the nation in the past 20 years and the pro- cess can take up to 15 years, said Charles Freeman, KID manager. “We hope to have a staff recommendation to the board on whether or not proceed by the end of the year and if we go forward to have it done by 2022,” Freeman said. A title transfer would give the district direct control over the assets, remove a layer of bureaucracy for customers and would divest the USBR of responsibility, maintenance, regulation and liability for the assets, Freeman said. District staff will try to de- termine if there are any ben- efi ts of not seeking title, he said. District ratepayers have been paying off the zero-in- U.S.D.E. HANFORD 240 SITE 395 Richland 82 Pasco 124 Kennewick 221 Kennewick Division 14 WASH. 82 Ri ver Capital Press Col umbia ORE. Umatilla Hermiston 730 N 84 10 miles Capital Press graphic terest, lease-loan for 66 years as part of their annual assess- ments, he said. The KID board approved a resolution March 7 directing staff to explore title transfer. Board President Gene Huffman, Freeman and Seth Defoe, district land and wa- ter resources manager, talked with the staffs of the USBR, U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse and Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell recently in Wash- ington, D.C., while attending a National Water Resources Association conference. “Reception has been pos- itive. KID staff will engage regional stakeholders and partners as it works through the process to ensure a title transfer benefi ts the commu- nity, the river and other stake- holders,” Freeman said. Determining the current value of assets will be one of the tasks of the process, he said. Assets include more than 100 miles of canals and later- als, a diversion dam at Prosser, three fi sh ladders and screens, two pumping plants, a power plant with two, six-megawatt hydro turbines and a switch- yard. The KID, referred to as the Kennewick Division by the USBR, is one of several irri- gation districts served by the USBR through the Yakima Basin Project’s fi ve mountain reservoirs, the Yakima River and canals. The KID has 23,000 cus- tomer accounts and serves 20,201 acres with water that is returned to the system from the other districts upstream and diverted at Prosser. The district serves mostly orchards but also provides water to vineyards, alfalfa and blueberry fields from Prosser to Finley and a lot of residential and commer- cial lawns in Kennewick and Richland. Place your help wanted ad in Capital Press. 1.800.882.6789 www.cpmarketplace.com 15-2/#13 15-7/#6