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July 20, 2018 CapitalPress.com 13 Aquifer recharge, other efforts paying off By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press The water level in the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer increased an astounding 1.7 million acre-feet over last year for the single largest increase in water volume in more than 80 years. Bountiful winter precip- itation during the past two years helped immensely, al- lowing the Idaho Water Re- source Board to optimize its managed recharge program. But the gain is also due to reduced water use by farm- ers, private recharge efforts, increased tributary flows and natural seepage from winter runoff. “The stars were lined up,” Vince Alberdi, Idaho Water Resource Board member and former long-time manager of the Twin Falls Canal Compa- ny, said. IWRB was able to re- charge 545,000 acre-feet last winter through developed recharge sites, an amount be- yond anyone’s expectations, tive use by 13 percent, about 240,000 acre-feet annually, in a 2015 agreement with surface water users. The board is steadily expanding its recharge program and, hopefully, the Legislature will keep stepping up to fund the program, he said. “This aquifer will con- tinue to rebound little by little. It’s a win-win deal all the way around,” he said. It will take an ongoing Photo Submitted effort, but it’s a good solu- Water is recharged into the aquifer at Idaho’s Milepost 31 site. Aqui- tion to a problem that would fer recharge and other efforts have resulted in the Eastern Snake have festered for years — Plain Aquifer increasing by 1.7 million acre-feet during the past year. and the result would not have been good. If nothing ers to reduce consumptive had been done, the aquifer he said. The managed recharge use, the board’s efforts to in- would have continued to program also sent 317,000 crease recharge capacity and decline, resulting in disaster acre-feet seeping into the funding by the Legislature all and curtailments, he said. aquifer the year before, help- played a part in increasing IWRB estimates the ing to raise overall aquifer water levels in the aquifer, aquifer was being depleted levels by 660,000 acre-feet. he said. by 200,000 acre-feet a year “It’s great, it’s wonderful. Hopefully, Mother Nature between 1952 and 2017. Its We have a roadmap for suc- will continue to cooperate, goal is to recharge 250,000 cess to continue doing what he said, adding that even if acre-feet annually, averaging we’re doing,” he said. she doesn’t the pieces are in wet years with dry years, to Two good winters, good place to succeed. bring the aquifer to average carryover this year, a com- Groundwater users com- levels it was at between 1991 mitment by groundwater us- mitted to reducing consump- and 2001. That will take an increase of 3 million acre- feet. Water from the ESPA drives the economy in east- ern and south-central Idaho, serving agriculture, indus- try, manufacturing and mu- nicipalities and providing drinking water for more than 40,000 residents. There’s been a significant uptick in the aquifer level, Mike McVay, an engineer and hydrologist with the Idaho Department of Water Resources, said in a press release. “But we have to remem- ber that this is a long-term proposition, and this is a good start. We need to build the aquifer back to sustain- able levels over time,” he said. Less that 200,000 acre- feet of recharge will be pos- sible in drought years, so it’s critical to take full advantage of opportunities to compen- sate for dry years, according to IWRB, which is consider- ing more recharge sites in the region. Boise-area irrigation districts deal with trash dumped in canals By BRAD CARLSON Capital Press Irrigation system opera- tors in the greater Boise area say their canals are increas- ingly being used as trash dumps, costing farmers and others money to clear it out. The Treasure Valley Wa- ter Users Association reports that more unwanted — and illegal — materials are being dumped in canals and ditches. Landscape waste, trash, old furniture and appliances, and even car parts have been re- trieved from parts of the area’s 1,500-mile system of canals, laterals and ditches. “It is a serious problem for our irrigation delivery folks every summer, and it has only gotten worse with the strong residential and commercial growth we are experiencing,” association executive director Roger Batt said in a release. Idaho law prohibits dump- ing into canals and ditches any material that can interfere with delivering water, he said. Dumping also appears to be more common since landfills tightened their rules about what can be discarded, Pioneer Irrigation District Mark Zirschky, Pioneer Irrigation District water superintendent, clears trash and debris from a weed rack on a small canal in Canyon County, Idaho. said Mark Zirschky, water superintendent with Pioneer Irrigation District in Caldwell, Idaho. “We find household trash, grass clippings, tree limbs, tires, batteries and quite a few old televisions,” Zirschky said. “When water was com- ing in this year, we found a pile of trash that consisted of TVs, mattresses, coffee tables and a recliner. It would’ve been a real mess had the ditch rider not made an additional trip, ahead of the water being turned on, and cleared it all.” Building materials also have been found, said Mack Myers, district manager at New U.S. Wheat chairman: Trump thinking about farmers’ best interests By MATTHEW WEAVER Boise-based Settlers Irriga- tion District. Settlers, which serves many growing residen- tial neighborhoods, is expe- riencing a growing problem with unlawful dumping in its canals, which can seem like an out-of-sight, out-of-mind place to get rid of litter, he said. Outlook ‘cautiously optimistic’ for good falling number in wheat Capital Press By MATTHEW WEAVER The new chairman of U.S. Wheat Associates says he believes President Don- ald Trump is thinking about wheat farmers. “Somebody’s got Trump’s ear, because some of the things that have been brought up in our meetings, I’ve heard him repeat,” said Chris Kolstad, who farms near Ledger, Mont. Trump recently men- tioned during a rally that U.S. wheat that crosses the border into Canada is classi- fied as feed wheat. “He didn’t understand ex- actly what it meant, but he did know it was not good for U.S. farmers,” Kolstad said. “I think he’s got our best in- terests in mind. We’re prob- ably just not as patient as he is because our livelihood de- pends on this.” Kolstad, 65, raises win- ter wheat, spring wheat, durum wheat, malt bar- ley, chickpeas, yellow peas, lentils and industrial hemp. Kolstad took over as chairman from Ritzville, Wash., farmer Mike Miller during U.S. Wheat’s sum- mer board meeting in Seat- tle. The organization is the overseas marketing arm of the industry. Last year was a “transi- tion year” for U.S. Wheat, as Vince Peterson took over as president from Alan Tracy. Capital Press U.S. Wheat Associates The U.S. Wheat Associates board of directors seated new officers at their June 24 meeting in Seattle. Left to right: Vice Chairman Doug Goyings of Paulding, Ohio; Chairman Chris Kolstad of Ledger, Mont.; Past Chairman Mike Miller of Ritzville, Wash.; and Secretary-Treasurer Darren Padget of Grass Valley, Ore. USW officers serve one-year terms and are elected at the winter board meeting. Mark Fowler replaced Pe- terson as vice president of overseas operations. This year, Kolstad said, U.S. Wheat will focus on global trading, developing foreign markets and work- ing on international trea- ties, such as the Trans-Pa- cific Partnership, the North American Free Trade Agree- ment or bilateral treaties with countries such as Japan, Kolstad said. U.S. Wheat would like to get back in the TPP, which proceeded without the U.S. after Trump withdrew from the trade deal in 2017. Kol- stad said the decision has to come from the Trump ad- ministration. “Hopefully we can per- suade (U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny) Perdue to get our message across,” he said. Kolstad said the wheat industry’s biggest need is increased funding for the USDA Foreign Agricultur- al Service’s Market Access Program and Foreign Market Development programs. As Trump’s tariffs go into effect against China and oth- er countries, the extra money will be needed to reach cus- tomers overseas, he said. U.S. Wheat is working on farmers’ behalf, he said. “We appreciate the check- off dollars we receive from the approximately 140,000 wheat farmers across the na- tion,” he said. “Their dollars keep us going, and hopefully we can keep them going and increase markets around the world.” Where homes back up to canals, district employees have seen dirt and rock on the right of way, Myers said in an interview. Some landscap- ers, in completing finish work before grass is planted or sod installed, toss the unwanted material over the homeown- er’s fence, he said. Fall and spring cleanup seasons also can increase debris volume. Nampa & Meridian Irri- gation District, the Treasure Valley’s largest, spends about $500 per year just hauling off old tires, water superintendent Greg Curtis said. He also sees more televisions, computer monitors and pet waste lately. As for lawn and garden waste, it can include pesti- cides the water transports to other users, he said. In an interview, Curtis said the district sees at least one- third more trash and debris in its systems than it saw 20 years ago. Batt said trash and debris threaten equipment, plugging pumps connected to pressur- ized irrigation systems that serve residential areas. Ditch riders are spending more time dealing with trash, he said. People ask Camille Ste- ber if it’s going to be a low falling number year, an in- dication wheat starch hasn’t been damaged. “I am cautiously opti- mistic,” she said. Falling number is a test that measures wheat qual- ity. Low falling number is caused when the enzyme alpha amylase breaks down starch in the grain. Overseas customers have strict re- quirements for falling num- ber tests. Farmers receive lower prices for their grain if tests show a falling number below 300. Steber, research plant molecular geneticist in Pullman, Wash., is testing wheat from Washington State University’s Spillman Farm in Pullman, Wash. for late-maturity alpha amylase, or LMA — a cause of starch damage. “The only thing consis- tent about LMA is that it’s consistently inconsistent,” Steber said. In 2016, low falling number test results hit a large portion of the Pacif- ic Northwest’s wheat crop, costing growers between $30 million and $130 mil- lion in discounts. LMA, an enzyme, is the result of extreme tem- perature fluctuations during grain filling. It is one of two causes for sprout damage to occur in wheat, and shows up in falling number tests at grain elevators. The oth- er is pre-harvest sprouting caused by rain. “This LMA thing kind of snuck up on us,” Steber said. “We weren’t looking for it until farmers started to come to me and saying, ‘Hey, I had no rain. ... Tell me why I had low falling number.’” Wheat development this year slowed due to cold weather after pollen shed- ding, Steber said. She hopes things slowed enough to avoid the severity the indus- try saw in 2016. “Temperature fluctua- tions weren’t as big,” she said. “In 2016, one day we were in the 90s, the next day we were in the 70s and the following day we had a high in the 50s. We just had a ri- diculous temperature crash that year.” This year, temperatures hovered from the 60s to the 80s and never quite hit the 90s, Steber said. Spring wheat is currently in the period of susceptibility, but forecasts indicate tempera- tures will remain consistent- ly high, Steber said. Variety trials have begun harvesting in the center of the state. She expects to re- ceive samples she can run through the falling number testing process. ODFW A federal appeals court heard oral arguments July 11 over whether USDA Wildlife Services is allowed to help state wildlife managers kill a wolf without first studying the environmental impact. Groups claim USDA must study Oregon wolf killing By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press PORTLAND — Environ- mentalists hope to convince a federal appeals court that USDA must study the envi- ronmental effects of assist- ing Oregon wildlife regula- tors with killing wolves. Last year, a federal judge decided that an agreement by USDA’s Wildlife Services to kill wolves at the direction of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife doesn’t qualify as a “major federal action” warranting analysis under the National Environ- mental Policy Act. During oral arguments in Portland on July 11, Casca- dia Wildlands and four other environmental groups asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn that ruling. According to legal prec- edent, NEPA review is re- quired even when the gov- ernment simply provides grant money for a building project, said John Mellgren, an attorney for the environ- mental plaintiffs. “Here, by contrast, there is actual federal action,” Mellgren said, noting that USDA would send out fed- eral employees with feder- ally owned equipment to kill wolves. Although U.S. District Judge Michael McShane found that the decision to kill wolves rested with ODFW, the state agency can’t force USDA to perform a lethal operation — that’s still at the discretion of federal officials and should be studied under NEPA, he said. Sean Martin, an attorney for the federal government, countered that NEPA review is only mandatory when a federal agency has control over an activity. “Here, that kind of su- pervision is absent,” Martin said. “Those kinds of judg- ment calls are left to Oregon and Oregon alone. ... It’s the state calling the shots.” In this case, USDA did conduct a NEPA environ- mental assessment but the environmental groups claim it was insufficient. The government argues it only completed the analysis to settle a previous lawsuit and McShane correctly de- cided the review wasn’t oth- erwise legally required. Even if it was required, the USDA properly conclud- ed the assistance of Wildlife Services in killing problem wolves wouldn’t harm the overall population, which is increasing, Martin said. “Limited control isn’t go- ing to impair that trend,” he said. The primary limiting fac- tor for wolf survival in Or- egon is human acceptance, which necessitates resolving livestock conflicts and man- aging the species, he said. However, Mellgren ar- gued that USDA failed to take a “hard look” at the ef- fects of killing wolves as re- quired under NEPA. The agency should have considered the impacts of wolf killing in Idaho, which is a prime source of wolves migrating into Oregon, he said.
