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CapitalPress.com
April 28, 2017
People & Places
Building a better canal system
Heather Rice
develops precise
new model using
LIDAR technology
Western
Innovator
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
ABERDEEN, Idaho — By
the time Heather Rice com-
pletes her master’s degree
thesis, Aberdeen-Springfield
Canal Co. will have a unique-
ly precise and high-tech pre-
dictive model of its entire sys-
tem that will help managers
cope with increasing grower
demand for water.
Rice, who joined the canal
company’s staff as a hydrolo-
gist in August 2015, will start
collecting flow data to create
the interactive model in late
April.
She’s pioneering the use of
Light Detection and Ranging
technology in canal manage-
ment, which will also serve as
her project toward a master’s
degree in water resource man-
agement at the University of
Idaho.
3-D canal model
LIDAR is used to create
highly accurate 3-dimensional
images of objects. It emits and
tracks laser pulses that mea-
sure the distance to objects.
Rice’s work could have
far-reaching benefits for ca-
nal management in Eastern
Idaho. Starting in a couple of
years, Aberdeen-Springfield’s
board of directors plans to
contract with other canal
companies to help them create
their own predictive models,
Heather Rice
Age: 34
Hometown: Pingree, Idaho
Job: Hydrologist with Aber-
deen-Springfield Canal Co.
Family: Husband, Sean Rice
Education: A bachelor’s
degree from the University
of Idaho in microbiology; cur-
rently working on a master’s
in water resources manage-
ment at UI
John O’Connell/Capital Press
Heather Rice, a hydrologist for the Aberdeen-Springfield Canal Co., shows a small boat and sonar
equipment she’ll use to document flows for mapping the company’s canal system. She plans to incor-
porate the data into an predictive canal flow model.
seeking to defray the compa-
ny’s $120,000 investment in
the LIDAR technology.
“I would hope (the project)
would encourage other canal
companies that aren’t using
science to manage their water
to start doing so,” Rice said.
“In the past, we’ve used sci-
ence as the basis for a lot of our
management decisions, and it
seems to work out a lot better.”
This summer, the compa-
ny’s staff will use a tiny boat
with a sonar device aboard to
record square footage and wa-
ter velocity to quantify flows
and volume losses throughout
the 176-mile canal system.
A small probe with a pro-
peller will be used in narrow
lateral canals. LIDAR read-
ings will be taken starting in
October when the canal is
empty, and will also record
how changes in substrate
affects water friction. Rice
will adapt the U.S. Bureau
of Reclamation’s specialized
software to calculate how ma-
nipulating variables, such as
flows, impacts the system.
Many growers throughout
the system are switching to
canal water to irrigate thou-
sands of acres that for decades
have been irrigated using
wells. Under a recent water
call settlement junior ground-
water users must reduce their
reliance on well water.
Predictive model
Rice explained that the
model will help her predict
how constrictions, sink holes
and other obstacles might im-
pede ramped-up deliveries,
enabling managers to install
liners, widen or deepen the
canal or build up banks as
needed.
“We want a predictive
model that allows us to ad-
dress issues before we have
to start delivering water,” said
Aberdeen-Springfield general
manager Steve Howser. “We
have yet to find another canal
company that’s doing some-
thing like this.”
Howser said the compa-
ny has two other technicians
working on modeling. Tan-
ner Daley, who started last
month, is assisting Rice, and
Cephas Holder has been de-
veloping a 3-D groundwater
model specific to the canal
Innovation: Developing an
interactive model of the
Aberdeen-Springfield canal
system to predict how the
system will respond to in-
creased flows, as producers
who have been irrigating with
wells for several decades re-
turn to the system to reduce
their groundwater use.
Marshfield News-Herald
STURGEON BAY, Wis.
(AP) — If a repeat of the Great
Potato Famine was to strike
or climate change so altered
the Earth that water became
scarce, potato seeds from the
U.S. Genebank on the out-
skirts of Sturgeon Bay could
provide the solution to a loom-
ing food crisis.
While that seems far-
fetched, it’s not, USA Today
Network-Wisconsin reported.
A potato fungus about 15 years
ago threatened crops around
the nation. Potato seeds from
Sturgeon Bay were among the
tools used to avert a potato cri-
sis.
The fungus, called late
blight, was a variation of the
disease that caused the Great
Potato Famine leading to failed
crops and starvation in Ireland
and parts of Europe from 1845
to 1852. It also caused mass
migration to the United States.
Geneplasm, or potato
seeds, from the Sturgeon Bay
facility were used to develop
a potato immune to the new
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Through Sunday,
April 30
Wooden Shoe Tulip Fest 9
a.m.-6 p.m. Wooden Shoe Tulip
Farm, 33814 S. Meridian Road,
Woodburn, Ore. Stroll through 40
acres of stunning beauty, expe-
rience expansive views of vine-
yards, distant mountains and a few
mud puddles. Fresh flowers, food
and fun. Cost: $5 per person or
$20 per car. Website: www.wood-
enshoe.com
Friday, April 28
form of late blight, said John
Bamberg, a plant geneticist
with the USDA Agriculture
Research Service and project
leader of the U.S. Genebank.
The genebank is at the Pen-
insular Agricultural Research
Station.
“For years we knew that
there was a Mexican species
that was resistant to late blight,
and researchers had been
working on it using seeds from
our genebank,” Bamberg said.
When it was discovered
that the new form of late blight
was resistant to sprays used to
control the fungus, researchers
went into action to develop a
potato variant based on the
Mexican plant that was im-
mune.
“A lot of people don’t know
about the important work be-
ing done right here in Sturgeon
Bay,” Bamberg said.
Washington Ag Forestry Lead-
ership Class Graduation. 5 p.m. Mi-
rabeau Park Hotel, 1100 N. Sullivan
Road, Spokane Valley, Wash. The
Washington Agriculture and Forest-
ry Education Foundation will grad-
uate 24 individuals from its 38th
Leadership Program class. These
leaders have honed the skills need-
ed to tackle the dynamic and ev-
er-changing issues that face Wash-
ington State’s natural resource
industries. http://agforestry.org
Saturday-Sunday
April 29-30
Oregon Ag Fest. 8:30 a.m.-5
p.m. Oregon State Fairgrounds,
2330 17th St. NE, Salem, Ore. Ag
Country activities, a petting zoo,
pony rides, toy tractor races, a
craft and garden show and family
entertainment make for a fun and
informative day. A ranch breakfast
is served on Saturday from 8:30 to
10:30 a.m. Cost is $6. Sunday Ag
Fest hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Ag
Fest cost: Free for 12 and under.
$9 for 13 and older. Free parking.
http://oragfest.com/
Monday, May 1
Soil and Water Conservation
Commission meeting. Noon-4:30
p.m., 304 SE Nye Ave., Pendleton,
Ore. Website: www.oregon.gov/
ODA/programs/naturalresources/
Pages/meetings.aspx
Tuesday, May 2
Fungicide presentation. 4-6
p.m. Bandon, Ore. Lindsay Well
of Ocean Spray will speak. A field
trip to a farm will be included. Cost:
Free
Thursday, May 4
Four-Part Farm/Ranch Succes-
sion Planning Workshop. 6-8:30
p.m. Canby High School, 721 SW
Fourth Ave., Canby, Ore. A free four-
part workshop on succession plan-
In the greenhouses at the
U.S. Potato Genebank, lush
green tendrils of potato plants
reach toward the grow lights.
The mature plants sprout pods
the size of walnuts that yield
valuable pin-head-size seeds.
These seeds hold the clues
for scientists seeking answers
to a wide range of topics,
including higher yield and
drought- and pesticide-tolerant
potatoes. The world’s largest
collection of potato seeds and
cultivars are housed at the U.S.
Potato Genebank, representing
more than 5,000 potato variet-
ies and species.
Potatoes can grow almost
anywhere, need less water
than most food sources and are
packed with nutrients, antiox-
idants and minerals, Bamberg
said. Researchers around the
world are working to develop
new potato strains to feed bur-
geoning populations in areas
where the soil is poor and the
climate is cold, hot or dry.
“In a world where the cli-
mate is changing, potatoes are
an adaptable crop,” Bamberg
said.
Potatoes are a super-food,
Bamberg said. There are not
many food sources as easy to
cultivate, with the same tasti-
ness and provide similar nu-
trient and mineral benefits as
potatoes, he said.
Recently scientists at a fa-
cility in Peru that partners with
the Sturgeon Bay site com-
pleted experiments where they
successfully grew potatoes in
a climate similar to Mars. In
the popular 2015 movie, “The
Martian,” an astronaut strand-
ed on Mars survives by grow-
ing potatoes.
Growing potatoes in an
adverse climate like Mars
demonstrates the potential for
potato crops, Bamberg said.
“It’s similar to climate
change where what you used
to grow, you can’t anymore,
so maybe potatoes are the
answer,” he said. “Potatoes
are already an important food
crop, and as the climate is
changing, there’s a need to
meet the new challenges in
growing the crop.”
They also are the most
widely grown and consumed
vegetable in the nation with a
value of $4.3 billion and ex-
system throughout the past
five years.
Howser said the ground-
water model will be calibrat-
ed by daily measurements
from 27 wells along the canal.
The model will help the com-
pany determine where to dig
wells to recover seepage lost
from the system, and where
to install liners to keep farm
fields from becoming boggy
in areas where the water table
is too high.
ports totaling more than $1
billion. In the world, potatoes
rank behind wheat, rice and
corn in consumption.
China is quickly surpass-
ing the United States in potato
production and India is not far
behind, Bamberg said.
Vast varieties of potatoes,
many developed with gene-
plasm from Sturgeon Bay, are
being cultivated across Asia,
India and into Southeast Asia.
“These countries have
large populations, and they
need to feed their people,” he
said.
The genebank’s goal is to
help researchers and breed-
ers innovate improvements
in the potato crops, said Tina
Wagner, a lab technician who
maintains the facility’s collec-
tion.
Through genetics, the op-
portunities to develop pota-
to crops with certain traits
is significant. The genebank
specializes in providing to
researchers the seeds or germ-
plasm that have traits a scien-
tist requires to develop certain
characteristics in a potato,
Wagner said.
GASES / WELDING / SAFETY / FIRE
www.oxarc.com
20 Northwest Locations
ning with one-hour personal counsel-
ing sessions for your family after each
workshop. Light dinner 6 to 6:30,
workshop 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Course 2
on May 4 is Goal Setting for You and
Your Family, Course 3 on May 18 is
Getting Organized, and Course 4 on
June 1 is Passing on Management
Roles. RSVP is required. Organized
by Clackamas Small Business De-
velopment Center and Rogue Farm
Corps. Cost: Free. http://bit.ly/2op
THqO
based program with very efficient,
low-maintenance cows. These are
also the happiest producers I know
of.” Provenza, professor emeritus at
Utah State University, is part of the
BEHAVE team. BEHAVE principles,
based on 30 years of research: If
we understand how animals learn,
we can train the animals to fit the
landscapes instead of changing the
landscape to fit the animals. Cost:
$227 by April 14, $267 after. Web-
site: http://bit.ly/2kpT9yb
Monday-Tuesday
May 8-9
Wednesday-Friday
May 10-12
Ag Innovation Showcase. Uni-
versity of California-Davis Confer-
ence Center, 550 Alumni Lane, Davis,
Calif. Themes of the 2017 showcase
include automation and robotics, food
safety, boosting nutrition and sensory
value and innovation in the livestock
and dairy sectors. Website: www.
foodaginnovation.com
Wednesday-Thursday
May 10-11
Managing for Resilience: North-
west Grazing Conference 2017. 8
a.m.-7 p.m. Pendleton Convention
Center, 1601 Westgate, Pendle-
ton, Ore. Featured speakers are
Kit Pharo and Fred Provenza.
Pharo, cattle breeder and owner of
Pharo Cattle Co., says, “The most
profitable cow-calf producers that
I know of have a low-input, grass-
Oregon Board of Agriculture
meeting. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Location: To
be determined. Salem, Ore. Web-
site: www.oregon.gov/ODA/sbou-
tus/pages/boardagriculture.aspx
Thursday-Saturday
May 11-13
87th Washington FFA State Con-
vention. Washington State University,
Pullman. www.washingtonffa.org/cal-
endar/
Wednesday, May 17
Pesticide Analytical and Re-
sponse Center (PARC) Board
meeting. 9 a.m.-noon. Oregon De-
partment of Agriculture, 635 Capitol
St. NE, Basement Hearing Room,
Salem, Ore. Website: www.oregon.
gov/ODA/programs/pesticides/pag-
es/PARC.aspx
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Thursday, May 18
FSPCA Preventive Controls for
Human Food — One-Day Blended
Course. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Idaho Wa-
ter Center, 322 E. Front St. Boise,
Idaho. The new Food Safety Mod-
ernization Act (FSMA) regulation
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Four-Part Farm/Ranch Succes-
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Canby High School, 721 SW Fourth
Ave., Canby, Ore. A free four-part
workshop on succession planning
with one-hour personal counseling
sessions for your family after each
workshop. Light dinner 6 to 6:30,
workshop 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Course
3 on May 18 is Getting Organized,
and Course 4 on June 1 is Pass-
ing on Management Roles. RSVP
required. Organized by Clackamas
Small Business Development Cen-
ter and Rogue Farm Corps. Cost:
Free. http://bit.ly/2opTHqO
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Index
Dairy .................................... 16
Idaho ...................................... 9
Livestock ............................. 16
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