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Friday, May 7, 2021 CapitalPress.com 7 Willamette Valley bracing for drought after record dry April ST. PAUL, Ore. — A record dry April is accelerating drought condi- tions and hampering water storage throughout much of the typically rain soaked Willamette Valley. Nearly all of Western Oregon received just 25% or less of normal precipitation last month, accord- ing to the West Wide Drought Tracker, making it the driest April on record in large portions of the region stretching from Portland to Eugene. The U.S. Army Corps of Engi- neers, meanwhile, is struggling to refill 13 Willamette Basin reservoirs in time for peak summer demand. As of May 4, the combined system was 64% full, setting the stage for a difficult water year. “We collaborate with a lot of agencies, partners and stakeholders to try and balance all of the compet- ing demands and comply with the law,” said Erik Petersen, project operations manager. “As we head into more marginal water years, it becomes increasingly difficult to satisfy everyone’s interests.” The Willamette Valley Proj- ect, in particular, is designed to Brenda Frketich hold back water for flood control during the rainy spring and winter months. The water is then released downstream to augment flows for fish, wildlife and agriculture in the summer. “If we don’t get precipitation that comes in the form of rain in February, March and April, we’re going to have a tough conservation season,” Petersen said. Petersen said the Corps struck a deal with the National Marine Fish- eries Service and Oregon Depart- ment of Fish and Wildlife to hold back more water this spring, drop- ping below minimum required streamflows in the Willamette River near Albany and Salem to provide more water later in the summer when it’s needed. Despite the looming deficits, irrigators anticipate they will still receive their full water allotments for the year. Brent Stevenson, general man- ager of the Santiam Water Control District in Stayton, Ore., said that while officials are watching water Getty Images Nearly all of Western Oregon received just 25% or less of normal precipitation last month, according to the West Wide Drought Track- er, making it the driest April on record. levels in Detroit Lake, he does not expect much of an impact. “The drought will change flows into Detroit, but typically unless it’s really severe, it doesn’t affect discharges,” Stevenson said. “We are at this point expecting normal deliveries.” In addition to providing water for the city of Stayton, the dis- trict delivers irrigation water from the North Santiam River for about 17,000 acres of farmland. The U.S. Drought Monitor now Wildfire season will arrive early in much of West By BRAD CARLSON Capital Press Wildfire forecasters say early summer-like condi- tions in much of the West will likely set the stage for a busy peak season. “ W e have had a pretty dry spring in the Pacific Northwest, Nick especially Nauslar on the east side, so drought has increased across a good portion of the region,” National Inter- agency Fire Center mete- orologist Nick Nauslar said in an interview. “With that, fuels are drying, and at times we’ve seen fuel conditions more indicative of what you would see in June or July in the last few weeks.” Drying fuels and expected above-normal temperatures mean cen- tral and eastern parts of the Northwest should see a fairly active summer fire season that starts early, he said. NIFC in its National Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook for May through August said cli- mate forecasts indicate con- ditions that are warmer and drier than normal are likely for much of the Plains and the West into summer. “Drought is expected to persist if not worsen and David Halterman/USFS Wildfire season will arrive early this year, forecasters predict. expand across the West and in the northern and south- ern Plains into summer,” the report said. The risk of significant fires — those burning more acres than the median num- ber — is above normal in several Western regions. In much of the North- west, fuel moisture dropped to unusually low levels but early snowmelt increased access for prescribed burning. NIFC said significant fire potential is expected to increase to above aver- age in June across cen- tral Oregon and into south- east Washington, and continue through August. Above-normal potential for significant fires is expected by August in southwest Oregon. North-central Idaho and northwest Montana have adequate precipitation thanks to frequent, timely storms and cool weather that helped the area pre- serve snowpack at middle elevations, the report said. Northern California and Hawaii have above-nor- mal potential for significant fires from June through August in most mid- and upper-elevation areas, NIFC said. The fire potential is above normal in south- ern California in July and August, away from the des- erts and the San Joaquin Valley. In the northern Great Basin, NIFC expects above-normal fire poten- tial to increase by July and August in parts of Idaho and Wyoming. Despite cold fronts and some precipitation in April, severe to extreme drought continues over much of Nevada and parts of central Idaho, where winter precip- itation was lower. Drought likely will persist through spring, with warm and dry weather to return to much of the Great Basin in May. shows most of the Willamette Val- ley in moderate to severe drought, which is affecting agriculture in other ways. Tim Winn, who grows about 1,000 acres of grass seed and veg- etable seed crops in rural Benton County, said that without rainfall to build up soil moisture he was forced to begin irrigating weeks ahead of schedule. “We got started just in the nick of time before conditions became too stressful on the crop,” said Winn, who is water committee chairman for the Oregon Farm Bureau. Last month, Winn said, he planted about 150 acres of veg- etable seed crops in areas where he does not have access to irriga- tion. For those dryland fields, he said the plants barely have enough water to emerge from the ground. “Wherever dryland farming takes place, it’s all a matter of tim- ing and luck when it comes to how each year pans out with regards to enough soil moisture,” Winn said. Brenda Frketich, who grows grass seed, vegetable seed and hazelnuts on her family’s farm near St. Paul, Ore., said she also relies on April showers that typi- cally provide a much-needed shot of ground moisture. “For us this year, everything we can irrigate, we are irrigating,” she said. “It’s definitely on the earlier side, compared to years past.” It is still too early to say if grass seed yields or quality will be reduced, Frketich said. But she would certainly welcome any rain to help the grass seed crop. “We’re definitely behind com- pared to a normal year,” Frketich said. KWUA motions to reopen lawsuit, resolve questions around Klamath operations By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — As the Klamath Basin braces for a historically dry year, the region’s water wars have once again spilled into court. The Klamath Water Users Association filed a motion April 19 to reopen a lawsuit against the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, seeking clar- ity on legal issues that may determine future irriga- tion water availability in the Klamath Project. Last month, the bureau announced its lowest water allocation for Klamath Proj- ect farmers on record at 33,000 acre-feet, less than 8% of normal demand. Paul Simmons, KWUA executive director, said there is nothing irrigators can do to change this year’s dire situa- tion. Instead, the association is asking a federal judge to rule on future project oper- ations, and what obligations the bureau has to protect sev- eral species of endangered fish. “KWUA wants to estab- lish sideboards that will con- trol future years’ operations in a more reasonable way,” Simmons said. The bureau is in charge of managing the project, which provides water for 230,000 acres of irrigated farmland in Southern Oregon and North- ern California. Under the Endangered Species Act, the bureau must also consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fish- eries Service to ensure the project does not threaten the survival of endangered Lost River and shortnose suckers in Upper Klamath Lake, and threatened coho salmon in the lower Klamath River. Every five years, the agen- cies issue what is known as a Biological Opinion, or BiOp, that includes a detailed oper- ations plan for the project to comply with the ESA. The most recent plan was issued in 2019. Not long after it was released, the Yurok Tribe in California, along with the Pacific Coast Fed- eration of Fishermen’s Asso- ciations and Institute for Fisheries Resources, sued, arguing greater protections were needed for fish. Ultimately, the govern- ment agreed to go back and revise the BiOp and the case was suspended. A three- year interim plan was put in place in April 2020 that avoided a worst-case sce- nario for farms, according to the KWUA. Now, the association wants Judge William Orrick to lift the suspension and bring the case back to court. A hearing is scheduled for May 26. In its motion, KWUA claims the bureau is not adhering to the interim plan. Specifically, “augmentation flows” released in May 2020 for salmon downriver were not supposed to cause long- term harm to project farm- ers, but in fact have resulted in less water and delayed the 2021 irrigation season. USDA says relocated agencies will not move back to D.C. LEGAL PURSUANT TO ORS CHAPTER 87 Notice is hereby given that the following vehicle will be sold, for cash to the highest bidder, on 05/10/2021. The sale will be held at 10:00am by COPART OF WASHINGTON INC 2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR 2016 MAZDA MAZ 4DR VIN = JM1BM1W70G1281387 Amount due on lien $1,515.00 Reputed owner(s) GLORIA EVE WOOD OREGON COMMUNITY CREDIT UNION LEGAL PURSUANT TO ORS CHAPTER 87 Notice is hereby given that the following vehicle will be sold, for cash to the highest bidder, on 05/10/2021. The sale will be held at 10:00am by COPART OF WASHINGTON INC 2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR 2014 AUDI 7PQ 4DR VIN = WAU2MAFC8EN134721 Amount due on lien $1,555.00 Reputed owner(s) ELIZABETH SARA MITCHAM members are needed. “That would give some clarity and certainty to peo- ple,” he said. “Any decision that’s made has to be based on data, on evidence and on humanity.” LEGAL PURSUANT TO ORS CHAPTER 87 Notice is hereby given that the following vehicle will be sold, for cash to the highest bidder, on 05/10/2021. The sale will be held at 10:00am by COPART OF WASHINGTON INC 2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR 2020 TOYOTA COROLLA 4DR VIN = 5YFHPRAE5LP027721 Amount due on lien $1,835.00 Reputed owner(s) METLIFE S242784-1 essential to serving well the needs of our country,” Smith Evans said. Ramaswamy agreed, saying the leaders at NIFA and ERS can work with the Under Secre- tary for Research, Edu- cation and Economics and determine where staff LEGAL Notice of Public Hearing Oregon Sweet Cherry Commission Proposed Budget As required by ORS 576.416, the Oregon Sweet Cherry Commission (OSCC) will hold a public meeting for the purpose of receiving comments on the Commission’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year. Those who wish to attend can join via conference call. Date: May 26, 2021 Time: 10:00 am Zoom: Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/97591861289 Meeting ID: 975 9186 1289 Call-In number: 1 253 215 8782 Copies of the proposed budget are available at the commission office, 1827 NE 44th Ave, Suite 315, Portland, Oregon 97213. Any questions may be referred to the Oregon Sweet Cherry Commission office at 503-274-5458. S243244-1 D.C., noting many bought homes and are establishing their families in the new location. The COVID-19 pan- demic has demonstrated employees’ ability to work from home anywhere, Ramaswamy said. Damage done by the move continues to rever- berate, Ramaswamy said. “The agencies continue to have significant chal- lenges as a result of the relo- cation,” he said. “They’re not able to fill positions. ... They’re still struggling, they’re still limping along. It’s going to take several more years to get back to normalcy.” “Recognizing the reality that the agency now oper- ates in two cities, the ERS administrator should have the authority to determine which functional positions are best placed in Wash- ington or Kansas City,” former ERS administra- tor Katherine Smith Evans said. “Such authority will also help the ERS administra- tor to ensure a staff at least as diverse as the agency had pre-2020, which is S242782-1 Agriculture Secre- tary Tom Vilsack will not reverse the Trump adminis- tration’s relocation of two USDA agencies. Vilsack is trying to minimize disruption and rebuild the workforce after USDA moved the National Institute of Food and Agri- culture and Economic Research Service to Kan- sas City, Mo., in 2019, an agency spokesman said. “The secretary has been clear that some staff will be located in Kansas City, some will be in the Wash- ington, D.C. area, and oth- ers — especially hard- to-fill positions — could be anywhere else around the country thanks to our embrace of remote work, which allows us to go to the talent,” Matt Herrick, a USDA spokesman, told the Capital Press. “Our staff has been through a difficult few years and the last thing we want to do is uproot families and lives all over again. Our prior- ity now is rebuilding trust and morale, hiring unfilled positions, and rees- tablishing scientific integrity in our sci- entific and Tom Vilsack r e s e a r c h agencies.” Sonny Ramaswamy, a former NIFA director, was an outspoken critic of the original move. “I absolutely, vehe- mently, positively agreed that that was the worst decision that was made,” he said. “Everything we built in one fell swoop was destroyed. It was all politi- cally motivated, it was not based on science, it was not based on data.” Ramaswamy is now president of the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities in Red- mond, Wash. He praised Vilsack as “a responsible man ... never the kind who’s going to (have) a knee-jerk reaction.” Ramaswamy agreed that it doesn’t make sense to immediately “yank” the relocated employ- ees back to Washington, S242783-1 By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press Moreover, the associa- tion claims the interim plan “simply does not work,” and the re-consultation process on a new BiOp is far behind schedule. “It is the second extremely dry year under purported interim plan operations, revealing far too many round pegs for the square holes of the interim plan,” the motion states. “The parties do not need a plan for wet years; wet years are easy. The par- ties need a plan for dry years, and it is now glaring and apparent that there is no such functional plan.” Simmons said the court should rule that, under the current interpretation of the ESA, the bureau has no legal right to curtail irrigation water that has already been contracted for project farm- ers to protect endangered fish. The Trump administra- tion previously affirmed that opinion in a 41-page reas- sessment of project opera- tions, though that was later rescinded by new Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. “These documents were issued without govern- ment-to-government con- sultation with affected tribes and do not reflect the cur- rent administration’s goals for long-term water recovery and economic restoration in this region,” Haaland said. While Simmons said he hopes they will soon be able to return to a federal court- room, he emphasized litiga- tion alone will not solve all the basin’s problems. LEGAL STATE OF OREGON OREGON ALFALFA SEED COMMISSION P.O. BOX 688 ONTARIO, OREGON 97914 NOTICE OF ALFALFA GROWERS COMMISSION HEARING PUBLIC BUDGET HEARING TO: ALL OREGON ALFALFA SEED GROWERS Notice is hereby given that a public hear- ing will be held pursuant to ORS Chapter 604, Section 14, Oregon Laws 2003, on Wednesday May 19, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. at the Oregon Alfalfa Seed Commission Office, 168 Wellsprings Dr, Ontario, Or- egon 97914. The hearing will be upon a proposed budget for operation of the Oregon Al- falfa Seed Commission during the fiscal year July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022. At these hearings, any producer of alfalfa has a right to be heard with respect to the proposed budget, a copy of which is available for public inspection, under reasonable circumstances, in the office of each county extension agent in Ore- gon. Interested persons may comment on the proposed budget in writing to the Com- mission business office, address above. Comments to be received by May 17, 2021. For further information, contact the Oregon Alfalfa Seed Commission busi- ness office; P.O. Box 688, Ontario, Or- egon 97914, telephone 541-881-1335. TDD 503-986-4762. Curt Sisson, Chairman Oregon Alfalfa Seed Commission April 17, 2021 S242881-1 By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press