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2 CapitalPress.com August 4, 2017 People & Places Taking a world view of water Eric Sproles, a hydrologist, studies how nations share river resources Western Innovator Capital Press Eric Sproles Professional: Consulting hy- drologist; contract employee with Oregon State University and works half-time with the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Associations. Deeper dive: Describes his work as the interface of science and policy. Worked on international project to examine potential trouble spots in “transboundary” river basins — ones shared by multiple nations. Courtesy of Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas Oregon hydrologist Eric Sproles worked in Chile from 2014 to 2016. This photo was taken at an elevation of 13,100 feet at the headwaters of the Elqui River watershed in north-central Chile, where a team was installing a groundwater monitoring well to study the connections between snowmelt and groundwater. of this is that countries don’t go to war over water,” Spro- les said. Rather, some nations might use water as leverage in regional disputes, and in some countries water shortages or other problems can escalate internal strife. He said an example of the latter in Venezuela, which has seen street protests against the socialist government over food shortages. A Washington Post article attributed the un- rest to “farm nationalizations, currency distortions and a government takeover of food distribution.” Meanwhile, Venezuela and other parts of northern South America have been gripped by drought for several years, “In Venezuela, there’s an undercurrent of conflict,” Sproles said. “A lot of it is over economics and natural resources, and it begins to build. Venezuela doesn’t have the institutional capacity to deal with it. It will be a flash point in the not-too-distant fu- ture.” The lesson for the Pacific Northwest, particularly agri- culture, is to count ourselves lucky, Sproles said. Dams on the Snake River remain a point of contention, but the re- gion doesn’t have base-level problems such as ethnic ten- sions to hinder cooperation. “The Columbia River sys- tem is not perfect but it func- tions really well in terms of hydrology, flood prevention and water for irrigation,” he said. “The fact that the U.S. and Canada can sit down at the table and renegotiate a treaty, along with the tribes, speaks to the resilience of this region. “For agriculture, that’s huge,” he said. “Farmers want to reduce their exposure to vulnerability. We have wet winters and dry winters, but in August and September there’s water for irrigation. That is not the case everywhere.” On other topics, he said ar- tificial groundwater recharge makes sense in the Pacific Northwest. In such projects, water is pumped from riv- ers during high winter flows and allowed to percolate to the underground aquifers that many farmers in East- ern Oregon and Idaho rely By JAN JACKSON For the Capital Press Calendar Bing Bingham/For the Capital Press Livestock guardian dogs stay with the livestock and protect them from predators. Jan Jackson/For the Capital Press Ann Snyder has worked guard- ian dogs on her Central Oregon ranch for more than 10 years. many people don’t realize that it takes two to three years for guardian dogs to mature. In the meantime they are barking, roaming and very Sponsored by: To submit an event go to the Community Events calendar on the home page of our website at www. capitalpress.com and click on “Sub- mit an Event.” Calendar items can also be mailed to Capital Press, 1400 Broadway St. NE, Salem, OR 97301 or emailed to newsroom@capital- press.com. Saturday, Aug. 5 Left Coast’s Run for the Oaks, 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Left Coast Cellars, 4225 N Pacific Highway W, Rickreall, Ore. All proceeds from the race, food and wine sales for the day will be devot- ed to the Oak Savanna Restoration Project. 10K Trail Run: $60, start time 9 a.m. 5K Trail Run/Walk: $50, start time 9:15 a.m. Registration In- cludes complimentary wine tasting; free Patagonia Capilene T-shirts; fin- ishers receive a GoVino wine glass; music, awards and snacks. Left Coast Cellars has over 100 acres of Capital Press Managers Joe Beach ..................Editor & Publisher Elizabeth Yutzie Sell .... Advertising Director Carl Sampson ................Managing Editor Jessica Boone ........ Production Manager Samantha McLaren .... Circulation Manager Hometown: Eugene, Ore. on for summer irrigation. “Think how much water moves out of the system in the winter months,” he said. “If you can retain it, you don’t have to build more dams; it allows kind of a cushion (against drought).” Aquifer recharge requires a lot of electricity because the water has to be pumped twice — into the ground and back out — but the Pacific North- west has relatively cheap power for such projects, he said. Sproles believes the west- ern U.S. could benefit by adding more flexibility to our system of water rights. He doesn’t advocate taking away rights, but said holders ought to be more free to sell allot- ments they aren’t using. Regarding water infra- structure, Sproles said the U.S. is relying on facilities built in the 1930s and during the post-war 1950s boom. We should make sure our dams can withstand an earthquake, he said. We also remain vulnerable to a return of drought, he said. “What happens if 2015 is Key recent work experi- ence: Spent three years as a hydrologist with the Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Aridas in Chile. Education: Ph.D. in water resources science, Oregon State University; master’s de- gree in geography, University of Oregon; bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies, Florida State University. Family: Wife, Katie, and two daughters “who miss em- penadas (pastries filled with meat or vegetables) and their Chilean friends, but are just fine without the earthquakes.” not the bottom of the barrel?” he asked. Sproles describes his hy- drology work as “the inter- face of science and policy.” His expertise includes using satellite imagery to calculate river basin trends. He and his family returned to the U.S. this past year after he worked for Chile’s Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Aridas, the Center for the Advanced Studies of Arid Zones, from 2014 to 2016. Livestock guardian dogs are a breed apart SALEM, Ore. — Live- stock guardian dogs are worth their weight in gold to a ranch- er. They are intelligent, loyal and brave in keeping predators at bay. But guardian dog breeders warn that the large dogs are also easily bored, bark a lot and have minds of their own. If you don’t like all of those traits, guardian dogs are proba- bly not for you, says Ann Sny- der, who has worked guardian dogs on her Central Oregon ranch for more than 10 years. “I couldn’t afford ranching if I didn’t have the dogs pro- tecting my sheep and meat goats from cougars and coy- otes,” Snyder said. “However, these dogs dance to a different drummer and they are not per- fect for everybody. Choosing the breed or cross breed that best suits your situation and doing the research it takes to know how to raise them is crit- ical.” For instance, she said, Established 1928 Board of directors Mike Forrester Steve Forrester Kathryn Brown Susan Rana Mike Omeg Corporate Officer Heidi Wright Chief Operating Officer By ERIC MORTENSON Water connects people. Or- egon hydrologist Eric Sproles has a expression for it: “The great unifier.” But access to fresh water — the use and control of life-giv- ing river basins — also is a flash point in multiple parts of the world. In Africa, 11 nations share the greater Nile River basin. Ethiopia is building the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile, a major trib- utary. Sudan and Egypt are downstream, and are heavily dependent on the Nile. Ethi- opia is changing the basin’s flow dynamics as it seeks to generate electricity and to store water for irrigation. Sproles, who lives in Eu- gene, Ore., has a keen interest in the world’s social and polit- ical flows. He was a co-author of a report, commissioned by the United Nations, that ex- amined multiple river basins where trouble brews among countries that share them. The research team’s report, called the Transboundary Wa- ters Assessment Programme, said potential flashpoints in- clude the Middle East, Central Asia, the Ganges-Brahma- putra-Meghna basin chiefly shared by rivals India and Chi- na, and the Orange and Limpo- po basins in southern Africa. Those regions and others in Asia, South America and Eu- rope share similar problems: increasing populations and ris- ing demand for water. Nations that share a river basin and don’t collaborate on develop- ment, irrigation and allocation may find themselves butting heads with upstream or down- stream neighbors. “The really important point Capital Press ecological compensation areas and 70 acres of old growth oak forest. Our goal is to restore the forest to a native oak savanna. We have part- nered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Website: http://leftcoastcel- lars.com/ Saturday-Sunday Aug. 5-6 Mother Earth News Fair. 9 a.m.- 6 p.m. Linn County Expo, 3700 Knox Butte Road E., Albany, Ore. The Mother Earth News Fairs are fun-filled, family-oriented sustainable lifestyle events that feature dozens of practical, hands-on demonstrations and workshops from the leading au- thorities on renewable energy, small- scale agriculture, gardening, green building, green transportation and natural health. Cost: $15-50. Web- site: http://www.motherearthnewsfair. com/oregon/ likely being a little rough on lambs, kids and chickens. They need a lot of monitoring at this stage, especially if there isn’t an older dog around to “teach them the rules,” she said. “LGDs also need to be so- cialized. They need to learn who’s boss and need to be trained to a leash or tied up and handled so you can do vet- erinarian work,” Snyder said. “We lost one of the first ones we had because she got caught in a trap but wouldn’t let us come near enough to help her. “When another dog got a face full of porcupine quills we couldn’t get close enough to help her either,” she said. “There is a fine line between bonding with them and letting them work as independently as they need to work. It takes a lot of patience and commitment on your part.” The dogs have many uses. Tom Upjohn, a sheep pro- ducer in Burns, Ore., keeps two guardian dogs in the mountains with his herders. Susie Wilson, at Sudan Farms in Canby, Ore., uses a guardian dog and a border col- lie to keep the raccoons from eating her chickens and ducks. Deb Hildebrandt uses the Anatolian Shepherds she breeds and sells to protect her goats in southern Oregon. Guardian dogs have been commonly used elsewhere in the world for centuries, but livestock producers in the U.S. have been using them only since the late 1970s. Of the dozen or so breeds avail- able, USDA lists the Great Pyrenees, Komondor, Akbash and Anatolian Shepherd and Maremma among the most popular. Breeds used by Oregon producers interviewed includ- ed Maremma, Komondor and Anatolian Shepherd purebreds and Maremma crosses. Producers emphasize the im- portance of selecting dogs with the right personality for your needs and buying them from a reliable breeder that sells dogs from two working parents. “It is also important to check into your own zoning laws,” Snyder said. “If you have neighbors who are not tolerant of hearing them bark, it’s not going to work. I keep two because it helps keep down the bored/lonely bark- ing. It is also easier for a coy- ote to distract one dog than it is two.” Guardian dogs cost $300 to $2,000, depending on whether they are puppies, adult dogs or trained. “The real issue is, if you don’t have knowledge and commitment on your part, you are looking for a wreck,” she said. GASES / WELDING / SAFETY / FIRE www.oxarc.com 47th Annual Great Oregon Steam-Up. 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Pow- erland Heritage Park, 3995 Brooklake Road NE, Brooks, Ore. Packed with vintage pow- er, this annual event celebrates the steam power, machines and people who drove Oregon agri- culture, logging, transportation and more from the 1800s through early 1900s. Get upclose to the team-power farm machinery, vin- tage trucks, antique cars, logging gear and a working steam saw- mill. Kids of all ages will enjoy train and trolley rides, daily pa- rade, huge flea market, traditional tractor pulling, machinery demos, threshing and quilt show. This year the featured makes are Ault- man-Taylor and Rumely. General admission $12, children under 12 are free. Website: http://www.an- tiquepowerland.com/html/steam- up.html 20 Northwest Locations Wed.-Sat. Aug. 9-12 Skagit County Fair. 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Skagit County Fairgrounds, 479 W. Taylor St., Mount Vernon, Wash. Website: https://www.skagitcounty. net/Departments/Fair/main.htm Tuesday-Thursday Aug. 15-17 Future Farm Expo. Pendleton Convention Center, 1601 Westgate, Pendleton, Ore. The Expo has a new name and a program more ambitious than ever. The Future Farm Expo 2017 will now span three full days and feature outside technology demos in addition to its tradition of world-class presenters and exhibitors. Growers, processors, crop consultants, service providers, and technologists are all invited to connect and share knowledge. The 2017 Expo will cover topics such as ground sen- sors, crop imagery, data use, precision irrigation, robotics, automation, soil sci- 1-800-765-9055 ence and more. Website: http://www. futurefarmexpo.tech/ Friday, Aug. 18- Sunday, Aug. 27 Western Idaho Fair, noon-11 p.m. Western Idaho Fairgrounds, 5610 Glenwood St., Garden City, Idaho. Website: http://www.idahofair.com/ Thursday, Aug. 17 Stream Restoration Workshop. 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Federal Building Meet- ing Room, corner of Seventh Street and College Avenue, St. Maries, Idaho. Those wishing to participate should pre-register at the University of Idaho Extension office in Benewah County by Aug. 11. Registration is limited. A $20 registration fee covers resource materials and refreshments. For registration questions, contact the UI Extension office at (208) 245- 2422. Website: www.uidaho.edu/ex- tension/forestry Entire contents copyright © 2017 EO Media Group dba Capital Press An independent newspaper published every Friday. Capital Press (ISSN 0740-3704) is published weekly by EO Media Group, 1400 Broadway St. NE, Salem OR 97301. 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