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8 CapitalPress.com August 4, 2017 Washington Conservation commission floats clean-water policy Environmental groups attack plan By DON JENKINS Capital Press The Washington State Conservation Commission is floating a plan to revise the state’s primary clean-water policy by assigning conserva- tion districts an official role in working with farmers to keep water clean. Environmental groups are attacking the idea, accusing the commission of trying to undercut the Department of Ecology. Conservation com- mission policy director Ron Shultz said the goal would be to help farmers, not dilute Ecology’s authority. “Over the years, we’ve felt as though incentives need to be considered on the same plain as regulatory tools,” Shultz said. “The proposal would in no way undermine or reduce the focus on regu- Don Jenkins/Capital Press The Washington State Conservation Commission tours farmland Jan. 18 in Snohomish County. The commission is floating a plan to give conservation districts a more prominent and official role in carrying out the state’s primary clean-water law. latory efforts.” The commission has direct- ed its staff members to talk to interest groups, tribes and law- makers about amending the Washington Water Pollution Control Act to stress “incen- tive programs.” The conser- vation commission would be the lead agency in overseeing those programs, which would encourage commission-craft- ed farming practices. Ecology, at the direction of the Environmental Protection Agency, already is working on compiling voluntary guide- lines for farmers and ranchers Drones, robots highlight WSU tech day By DAN WHEAT Capital Press PROSSER, Wash. — Drones increasingly collect more data and can do more things in vineyards, orchards and other agricultural set- tings, says Lav Khot, research professor at the Washington State University Center for Precision and Automated Ag- riculture Systems in Prosser. Drones can carry more sensors that can collect more data that can be more easily analyzed by advancements in cloud-based analytics, Khot said hours before the center’s technology day, July 31. More than 150 growers, crop service providers and consultants were scheduled to attend the event to learn the latest about center research and provide their feedback. to follow. The conservation commission says the two sets of practices would be comple- mentary. Ecology’s representative on the conservation commis- sion, Kelly Susewind, op- posed pursing the policy and said Thursday that he thought the commission’s proposal was too vague and that he couldn’t support anything that might lead to a weaker state law. Ecology already offers technical assistance to farm- ers before issuing fines as a last resort, and two sets of government water-protec- tion practices might confuse landowners, said Susewind, Ecology’s point man on water quality. “It would be totally unfair to producers,” he said. “I want- ed some assurances on how we avoid that.” The Washington Farm Bu- reau has not taken a position on the conservation commis- sion proposal. The bureau’s Lav Khot, Washington State University research professor, oper- ates a drone over a vineyard. Drones have more abilities in crop water stress detection for irrigation management, chemical applications and disease detection, Khot said. Bird hazing is another use and they are being used in tree fruit, vineyards, mint and po- tatoes, he said. “Previously, no one was talking about who would handle the data. There was not much clarity. Not many options. Now there’s several options on that,” he said. While drone usage has been commercialized in the last cou- ple of years, robotics remains in the research and development stage, Khot said. DID YOU KNOW? vation commission has the expertise to develop incen- tive-based practices for farm- ers, avoiding, for example, mandatory and uniform-sized buffers. “We think we have a good mix of people at the ta- ble,” he said. In a separate but inter- twined proposal, the conserva- tion commission will pitch the idea of taxing every parcel in the state $20, raising up to $60 million a year for conserva- tion and other unspecified land projects. “Farmers could engage with conservation districts to address their concerns and conservation districts would have the resources to help them,” Shultz said. A proposal in 2015 to en- act a new parcel fee for water projects received a rocky re- ception in the Legislature and sank. The conservation commis- sion argues its budget has been flat, while the need for conser- vation has been rising. WSU scoops up top award with Huckleberry Ripple ice cream Big Scoop trophy highlights dairy, food science students Courtesy Washington State University associate director for govern- ment relations, Evan Sheffels, said the organizaton, however, supports incentives for farm- ers. “That, on its face, sounds like a good idea,” Sheffels said. “We value our conserva- tion district folks. They have the expertise and a level of trust with producers from de- cades of working together.” Nine environmental groups signed a letter urging the commission to drop the idea of developing its own set of best-management practices. The groups predicted the conservation commission’s guidelines “would ignore the best available science in order to accommodate agricultural interests and therefore would be insufficient to protect Wash- ington’s streams and rivers.” Puget Soundkeeper Alli- ance Executive Director Chris Wilke sent a separate letter airing many of the same com- plaints. Shultz said the conser- By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press Washington State Uni- versity’s Huckleberry Ripple flavor has won a national ice cream contest for the third year in a row. The ice cream flavor, cre- ated by students, won the Big Scoop award at the American Society of Animal Sciences Ice Cream Competition July 9 in Baltimore, Md. “We see people enjoy our ice cream on a daily basis, but it’s good to send it out in the world and see it compete with other universities,” said Dave Soler, assistant creamery manager at WSU. “Coming out on top is always a good feeling.” WSU competed against North Carolina State Uni- versity and the University of Connecticut. The animal sciences department received $1,000 in prize money, to be spent on student activities, and will host the traveling tro- phy through 2018. It’s the second time Huck- leberry Ripple won, Soler said. Last year, WSU’s Apple Cup Crisp flavor took home the big prize. According to WSU, the creamery uses 1,700 gallons of milk per day from Knott Dairy Farm, a 150-cow farm near Pullman, Wash., which includes a small herd owned and managed by the Cooper- ative University Dairy Stu- dents, or CUDS. A student production crew maintains quality standards at the creamery. Kris Johnson, interim chairwoman of WSU’s De- partment of Animal Sciences, said the award highlights the students at the dairy and the food science department who make the ice cream and creat- ed the winning flavor. “It’s a really nice illustra- tion of how two really great undergraduate programs can result in something we’re all really proud of,” she said. A commercial supplier provides the huckleberries for Huckleberry Ripple. Soler credits the relation- ship with the dairy, CUDS and the student production crew at the creamery with the victory. “We make cheese and ice cream, but our goal is also to produce high-quality, excep- tional students who are going to enter the industry and make big impacts,” he said. Several CUDS members also work in the creamery. “They’re on the dairy get- ting the cow side of things and then they’re in the creamery getting the pro- duction and processing side of things, too,” Soler said. “They’re leaving here with just a fantastic education. Our goal is to produce out- standing students who are going to go out, be successful and impact agriculture in a positive way.” Johnson plans to compete for the trophy again next year. The next meeting will be in Canada, she said, so “I’ve got to figure out how to get Huck- leberry Ripple across the bor- der.” Undergraduate students create a summer flavor every year. This year’s is lemon chiffon with raspberry ripple, Johnson said. 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For Questions and More Information, Contact Two Rivers Terminal 866-947-7776 info@tworiversterminal.com www.tworiversterminal.com 31-3/#6 YAKIMA, Wash. — The absence of a state capital bud- get will delay millions of dol- lars worth of water projects throughout Central Wash- ington, including the Odessa Subarea, the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan and irrigation canal maintenance, state and irrigation district officials say. More than $640 million was requested in the capital budget for state Department of Ecology projects planned for the 2017-2019 bienni- um. The projects that will not proceed ranged from grants to local solid waste and landfill programs to major construc- tion projects, said Joye Red- field-Wilder, DOE spokes- woman in Yakima. Department Director Maia Bellon “worked tirelessly at the direction of the governor” to help the Legislature resolve issues surrounding the Su- preme Court’s Hirst decision on rural water wells in an ef- fort to get a capital budget passed, but it didn’t happen, Redfield-Wilder said. DOE requested $15.5 mil- lion for canal widening and siphons to provide Columbia River water through the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Co- lumbia Basin Project to farm- ers, who now must continue to rely on the declining Odessa Subarea aquifer. “Irrigation districts have done their own contracting to save money. It’s been a great project for collaboration. It will be a setback,” Redfield-Wilder said of the Odessa work. “Groups have been part- nering for 12 to 13 years to get Dan Wheat/Capital Press The Columbia River flows past a cherry orchard south of Wenatchee, Wash. The river is the lifeblood of irrigated farming in Central Washington. these projects underway. The aquifer is declining rapidly and having irrigators pump off of it potentially impacts small towns,” she said. The Yakima Basin Integrat- ed Plan projects that will be impacted include: • $5.4 million requested to complete a second environ- mental impact statement to consider a temporary floating drought relief pumping plant on Kachess Lake and explo- ration of new Wymer area and Bumping Lake water storage. • $3 million for shoreline stabilization and permitting related to raising Cle Elum Lake three feet for more storage and a potential pipe- line between Kecheelus and Kachees lakes. • $10.5 million for contin- ued fish passage construction at Cle Elum Dam and exploration of fish passage at Clear Lake Dam. • $5.4 million for habitat restoration projects. • $5.1 million for Yakima Basin water conservation proj- ects. The Legislature could con- vene a special session to pass a capital budget if Hirst issues are resolved but that appears unlikely. Under the Hirst deci- sion, anyone in a rural area who wanted to build a house would have to prove the new residen- tial water well would not im- pact stream volumes or senior water right holders. Senate Re- publicans withheld support for the capital construction budget until the issue is resolved. If no capital budget is passed until next April a whole construction season will be lost along with windows to use matching funds, Red- field-Wilder said. Drought years may be in- creasing, snowpack reliability maybe decreasing and momen- tum for creative solutions for fish passage and irrigation is threatened, she said. Scott Revell, manager of the Roza Irrigation District in Sun- nyside, said the district is con- cerned about delays and hopes the Legislature still approves a capital budget this year. The $5.1 million in water conservation includes seal- ing cracks in irrigation canals across the basin, Revell said. “We have a canal sealing we’d like to do this fall of about 1.5 miles and the cost is about $300,000 per mile. Portions of concrete canals are in worse shape than others,” he said. Cle Elum Lake gates have already been raised three feet and the shoreline stabilization work is needed so the pool raise can help with migrating sockeye salmon smolt and ir- rigation, he said.