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CapitalPress.com
Friday, June 18, 2021
Wheat farmers ponder Simpson’s next dam moves
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Little Goose Dam
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Lower Granite Dam
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Ice Harbor
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Lower Monumental Dam
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MOSCOW, Idaho —
Northwest wheat indus-
try leaders say Idaho Rep.
Mike Simpson’s plan to
remove four dams on the
lower Snake River has little
support.
But they worry about
what the Republican con-
gressman could do to push
the plan through anyway.
Idaho Wheat Commis-
sion, Oregon Wheat Com-
mission and Washington
Grain Commission leaders
discussed their next steps
June 9 in Moscow, Idaho.
“We just recognize that
the Snake River issue is
getting huge,” said Glen
Squires, CEO of the Wash-
ington commission.
Simpson has not pro-
posed
any
legislation
regarding his $33.5 billion
plan, which he announced in
February.
Following a recent Idaho
Grain Producers Associa-
tion meeting with Simpson,
“Genesee” Joe Anderson,
chairman of the Idaho com-
mission, said there could be
a “softening” on Simpson’s
part.
One of the big things
Simpson wants is a 35-year
moratorium on dam litiga-
tion pertaining to migrating
fi sh, but Anderson said he
doesn’t think environmen-
talists will agree to that.
“I think it’s supposed
to be a legacy for him, but
it’s not gaining traction,”
Anderson said.
However, Simpson is on
the House Appropriations
Committee, and the wheat
leaders expressed concern
that he could insert funding
into the pending infrastruc-
ture bill and then come up
lum
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Co
COLUMBIA
r
125
Walla Walla
12
College Place
730 Wash.
11
Ore.
10 miles
Wash.
Ore.
Capital Press graphic
with an agreement.
“None of us know what
this Simpson deal will morph
into,” said Mike Carstensen,
grain commission chair-
man and a Lincoln County,
Wash., farmer. “Something
will happen, but the end-
game for all of us, I believe,
will be when it really goes
after transportation.
Once the dams are out,
the balance shifts from
river navigation to rail,
Carstensen said.
“You don’t have to be a
river user, you don’t have
to be in the Lewiston pool
to have your transportation
aff ected by having those
dams coming out,” he said.
River navigation advo-
cates say rail and trucks
are not economically or
environmentally
sustain-
able alternatives to barging
wheat and supplies on that
part of the river.
“Grain doesn’t have a
great track record of com-
ing out on top in rail issues
when there’s high-priced
petroleum wanting to run
down the tracks — and corn
and soybeans,” Anderson
said.
The agriculture indus-
try will continue to pro-
mote the environmental and
economic benefi ts of the
river system for decades to
come, Anderson said. In 20
or 30 years, perhaps tech-
nology could make some of
the things Simpson wants
possible, he says, such as a
replacement for the electric-
ity the dams generate.
“There may be hydro-
gen-powered electric auton-
omous semis that can run
down the river in 20 or 30
years, but they’re not there
now,” Anderson said. “I
don’t like to even think
about agreeing to anything
on theoretical or conceptual
fi xes to a problem.”
Squires said the Wash-
ington Association of Wheat
Growers, the lobbying
arm of the state’s industry,
increased its funding to the
Inland Ports and Navigation
Group, the legal arm of the
Pacifi c Northwest Water-
ways Association. He rec-
ommended other grower
organizations also be aware
of the group.
Agriculture stakeholders
support the Columbia River
System Operations environ-
mental impact statement and
NOAA Fisheries’ salmon
recovery plan.
Southwest Idaho irrigators battle trash, debris dumping
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Irrigation districts and canal
companies in growing south-
west Idaho say they’re seeing
more yard waste, trash and other
debris dumped into canals, later-
als and ditches as well as onto
their legally protected rights of
way.
“With the population growth,
it’s more than ever,” Treasure
Valley Water Users Association
Executive Director Roger Batt
said. “People think these places
are waste-disposal sites.”
The valley’s irrigation delivery
entities operate about 1,500 miles
of canals, laterals and ditches.
Batt said there are more homes
near irrigation infrastructure and
more residents who are living
near it for the fi rst time.
The Community Planning
Association of Southwestern
Idaho reported that the April 2021
Treasure Valley Water Users Association
Trash is an increasing problem in southwest Idaho irrigation canals and ditches.
population was up by 3.2% in
Ada County and 3.6% in Canyon
County from a year earlier.
“This year, we have already
seen an alarming increase in
household waste being dumped
into our irrigation facilities and
along our easements,” Mark
Zirschky, superintendent of
Caldwell-based Pioneer Irriga-
tion District, said in a release
from the association.
Cleanup-related
spending
“should not be the burden of our
water users,” and the dumped
material can harm the system, he
said.
For example, a load of tree
limbs and stumps dumped at night
plugged Pioneer’s main spillway
on the sizable Phyllis Canal this
year. Water rose, and “absent our
automation system, we could have
lost the canal (function) in the early
morning hours,” Zirschky said.
Nampa & Meridian Irriga-
tion District Water Superinten-
dent Greg Curtis said the dump-
ing problem grows in step with the
population increase.
“If that trash and yard waste
stay in the canal, we will have to
fi ght it all the way through the sys-
tem as pipes and weed racks get
clogged,” he said.
Batt said debris dumping has
been a problem for years. One
Idaho statute prohibits it because it
can interfere with delivery of irri-
gation water, and another allows
criminal proceedings against
violators.
Oregon governor signs bill to explore
liability changes for prescribed fi re
sued if there’s an escape,” said Lenya
Quinn-Davidson, who directs the
Northern California Prescribed Fire
Council. “As a burn boss, you take on
a lot of personal responsibility.”
Liability means the legal responsi-
bility a person holds for their acts or
omissions.
The U.S. has three main liabil-
ity standards for prescribed burning:
strict liability, which holds a person
responsible for harm even if he wasn’t
negligent; simple negligence, which
holds a person responsible if he didn’t
take reasonable care; and gross negli-
gence, which holds someone respon-
sible only if he showed reckless disre-
gard for safety.
Most states, including Oregon,
have simple negligence standards.
Eight use a gross negligence standard.
In states with lower liability stan-
dards, people do more prescribed
burns. Oregon, for example, a simple
negligence state, burned only 200,629
acres in 2019, while Florida, a gross
negligence state, burned more than 1
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
SALEM — Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown Monday signed into law
House Bill 2571, which could poten-
tially lead to a change in liability stan-
dards for prescribed fi re.
The new law may help expand the
use of prescribed fi re in Oregon.
Prescribed fi re, also known as
“planned,” “Rx” or “controlled” fi re,
is a fi re set intentionally to limit haz-
ardous fuels on the landscape — for
example, by burning brush under trees
in the spring to prevent a larger wild-
fi re in the summer or fall.
House Bill 2571 directs agencies
and forest industry leaders to study
liability options for prescribed fi res.
This is important because landown-
ers nationwide cite liability concerns
as one of the top reasons they’re reluc-
tant to use prescribed fi re.
“Stricter liability standards deter
people from doing prescribed burns
because they’re afraid of getting
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To incentivize more prescribed
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exploring making the shift from sim-
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But the law signed Monday won’t
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bility standard. Instead, it’ll open the
conversation and prompt a study —
fi rst steps.
“It’s not 100% clear yet if chang-
ing the standard will enable more pre-
scribed fi re, but we do want to have
that conversation,” said Jenna Kno-
bloch, administrative coordinator at
the Oregon Prescribed Fire Council.
The new law directs the Depart-
ment of Consumer and Business Ser-
vices to consult with the state For-
estry Department, Oregon Forest and
Industries Council, Oregon Small
Woodlands Association, Oregon State
University, the Oregon Prescribed
Fire Council and a representative of
the insurance industry to study liabil-
ity and insurance coverage options for
prescribed fi res.
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Brad Carlson/Capital Press File
Lance Phillips checks his cherry trees on May 15, 2020.
This year’s crop is looking better as harvest gets under-
way, he said.
SW Idaho cherries faring
better after diffi cult 2020
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
EMMETT, Idaho —
Lance Phillips liked how
his Emmett, Idaho, cherry
orchards looked on the after-
noon of June 10 follow-
ing substantial rainfall that
morning.
“If that had happened
a week later, we would be
splitting cherries — and
almost immediately if the
right conditions happen,”
the Gem Orchards own-
er-operator said.
The National Weather
Service said Boise received
0.71 inch of rain June 10
and had its wettest 24-hour
period so far this year.
Phillips said the worst-
case scenario for a cherry
grower is heavy rain fol-
lowed immediately by high
heat and a lack of wind. A
cherry that is heat-stressed
and wet can split its skin and
lose moisture, quality and
storage life.
“Today, here it was cool
enough and breezy enough
for long enough” following
the rain that lasted most of
the morning, he said. “The
cherries aren’t going to
split.”
Idaho Cherry Commis-
sion Chairman Sally Symms
said she expects production
in the state to be about 40%
higher than last year, when
heavy frost in late spring
damaged much of the crop.
At Symms Fruit Ranch,
between Caldwell and Mars-
ing, the cherry crop held up
well during a freeze this
April, she said. Harvest
started there June 14.
Idaho is among the
top fi ve U.S. producers of
sweet cherries, according
to the state Department of
Agriculture.
Phillips said his orchard
is producing 50-60% of
what it would if not for frost
damage in early April.
“This year, we proba-
bly lost 35-40% in total
weight” due to frost, he
said. “We hope we make
up for it in size of fruit to
recover some of the loss
in cherries. It’s Mother
Nature’s thinning.”
Phillips said frost dam-
age this year varied among
Emmett producers, based
on the location and ori-
entation of their trees, the
slope of the hillside and
frost-management practices.
Since early April, “condi-
tions have been a little cooler
than normal, but there has
been no rain or hail through
the area that can really mark
and damage fruit,” he said.
Phillips said his crop is
in much better shape than it
was last year, when output
was 5% of normal following
a late, heavy frost.
Gem and other cherry
producers off er a mix of
varieties that mature at dif-
ferent times, which can
extend the public “U-pick”
season.