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.