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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
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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
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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
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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
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