Friday, February 11, 2022
CapitalPress.com 13
Water
HOOD RIVER IRRIGATORS
‘We have to take whatever the mountain throws at us’
By GAIL OBERST
For the Capital Press
Gail Oberst/For the Capital Press
Les Perkins of the Farmers Irrigation District stands above a canal
that provides irrigation water from Hood River.
district websites — suggest that pro-
viding irrigation water to the thou-
sands of agricultural water users in
the watershed has never been easy.
Today, there are added complex-
ities. In addition to pipes glutted
with Mount Hood silt, demands for
water are rising with the burgeoning
population, and evaporation from
open canals and leaky conveyances
threaten to dissipate the water before
it reaches its destination.
In addition, Hood River’s historic
chinook, steelhead and coho runs,
CREP: A popular strategy for saving water
Two Hood River reservoirs upgraded
for irrigators, wildlife, recreation
By HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
For the Capital Press
By GAIL OBERST
For the Capital Press
HOOD RIVER, Ore. — At a time when
reservoir expansions in Oregon are rare, the
Kingsley Reservoir, in the northern foothills
of Mount Hood, is an exception.
The reservoir, which currently holds nearly
715 acre-feet, provides water to Farmers Irri-
gation District members, including ranchers
and orchard owners. It is also a popular place
to hike, boat, swim, picnic and camp, and it
provides water downstream to salmon and
other species of fish and wildlife.
The expansion will nearly double the res-
ervoir’s storage while improving dam safety.
Reservoir expansion is rarely supported
unless the project provides multi-purpose
benefits, improving in-stream flows for fish
and downstream water users, as well a rec-
reation and irrigation, according to Les Per-
kins, manager of the district. The project
was funded by a grant from the state Water
Resources Department, loan funds from the
Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund and
Farmers Irrigation District user fees.
Years of study by regional planning groups,
with expert help from the Water Resources
Department and the Bureau of Reclamation
and local tribes, culminated in a plan that
included reservoir expansion along with con-
servation improvements.
The district has constructed a wetland to
replace one impacted by the expansion. Hood
River County and the district are building
campsites, a boat ramp, a day use area, toilets
and other improvements, some of which will
reopen this summer.
Construction is complete on the Kingsley
Reservoir dam, but irrigators and other water
users may have to wait up to two years for it
to fill.
New storage water rights allow the district
to take water from creek sources — Cabin,
Rainy, and Gate creeks, for example — only
when the water flow reaches a certain level.
New water rights also require upgraded fish
screens and improvements to diversions,
some of which include sophisticated elec-
tronic monitoring systems.
When it is filled, the reservoir should pro-
vide irrigators with water throughout the
growing season, even during a drought, Per-
kins said. With added conservation measures,
there will be enough added in-stream flow for
fish and wildlife.
In past summers, irrigators have used
every drop allocated from the reservoir, Per-
Farmers Irrigation District
Before the project started, the reservoir
held 715 acre-feet of water. The expan-
sion nearly doubles the volume.
kins said. During drought years, irrigation has
been restricted to meet district demands.
Farmers Irrigation is not the only district in
the Hood River watershed with reservoir con-
struction plans.
Upstream, Craig DeHart, the Middle Fork
Irrigation District’s manager, said his district
is working to upgrade the 50-year-old earthen
Clear Branch dam, which holds back Lau-
rance Lake — Hood River county’s largest
water storage facility.
The proposed project, which is expected to
be completed in five years, will reduce water
lost through seepage. The improvements also
aim to increase water flow below the reser-
voir, provide fish passage and improve water
quality while decreasing the risk of flood dam-
age and maintaining a reliable and depend-
able water supply to district users.
Laurance Lake is about 12 miles south of
Kingsley Reservoir as the crow flies, and at
the foot of Mount Hood. Clear Branch Creek
is one of several waterways at the headwaters
of Hood River, which flows into the Colum-
bia River about 25 miles north of Laurance
Lake.
Both district managers say reservoirs, and
careful conservation, will support agricul-
ture’s future water resources.
“It’s both a hopeful and cautionary tale
regarding developing projects like this and
our lack of preparation from a regulatory per-
spective to meet the adaptive demands of cli-
mate change,” said Perkins.
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Irrigation is challenging
in some regions, especially
during dry years and areas
where decades of pump-
ing water has lowered the
aquifers that serve as water
sources.
In recent years, several
programs have been insti-
tuted to conserve water.
A government program
called CREP — Conserva-
tion Reserve Enhancement
Program — is part of the
largest private land conser-
vation program in the U.S.
Administered by the
Farm Service Agency,
CREP utilizes federal and
non-federal funds to con-
serve land.
In exchange for remov-
ing acres from production
and establishing perma-
nent resource-conserving
plant species, farmers
and ranchers are paid an
annual fee, specified in
each CREP agreement.
Participation is voluntary,
and the contract typically
lasts 10-15 years.
In Idaho, CREP is
focused
on
address-
ing water shortages in
the Eastern Snake River
Plain —where drought,
increased use of ground-
water and changing irriga-
tion practices have led to
decreased flows in tribu-
taries of the Snake River.
The goal of Idaho
CREP is to retire up to
100,000 acres of ground-
water-irrigated
land
and save approximately
200,000 acre-feet of water
per year.
In exchange for remov-
ing irrigated cropland
from production, farmers
are paid a modest annual
rental fee. Participation
is voluntary. According
to Rob Sharpnack, water
quality resource conser-
vationist at the Idaho Soil
and Water Conservation
Commission, the first con-
tract period is 15 years with
the option to re-activate the
water right and return to
irrigated farming or possi-
bly re-enroll at the end of
the contract.
CREP is a partnership
between the conservation
commission, USDA Farm
Service Agency, Natural
Resources Conservation
Service, state Department
of Water Resources, state
Department of Fish and
Game, state Ground Water
Appropriators, local irriga-
tion districts and Pheasants
Forever, said Sharpnack.
The first 15-year con-
tracts are ending, and some
farmers are signing up
again.
“The program is com-
pleting the first round of
contracts and will be doing
more next summer. It helps
that the federal govern-
ment has significantly
increased payment rates
for the new contract period,
and the state is also con-
tributing monies,” he said.
“CREP is more competi-
tive now with rental rates
across southern Idaho.
One farmer was happy to
re-enroll since he is now
semi-retired and the pro-
gram payments are enough
to enable him to hold onto
the land he loves — with-
out selling it yet — to sup-
port him and his wife in
retirement.”
A Cassia County farmer,
Todd Harris, has been suc-
cessful in meeting the
ground water conservation
goal of CREP and recently
re-enrolled some of his
farm in the program. He
participated in the first con-
tract period for 15 years,
enrolling more than 1,400
acres.
Harris’ farm is a family
operation that had earlier
irrigated 2,400 acres.
“The water table was
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starting to drop and we
were having a hard time
getting over all that
ground, especially during
dry years,” Harris said.
“When that program
became available, we put
more than half the farm
into the CREP and were
able to shut off half our
wells,” he said, adding that
to be eligible to enroll, the
ground had to have been
irrigated for the previous
10 years.
“We had to plant native
grass on the acres that were
no longer irrigated — to
protect the soil and ben-
efit wildlife,” he said. “It
worked for us because
we were no longer short
on water for our remain-
ing crops, but after we
signed up for this program
the price of hay and grain
went up, and we might
have been better off finan-
cially to keep those acres in
crops,” said Harris.
“Another downside is
that we can’t graze it. We
always ran our cattle in
the fall and winter on crop
aftermath — which helped
soil fertility — but with
this program they won’t let
us put cattle on it or graze
it,” he said.
“Some fields had to be
planted several times to get
grass established, because
it was so dry and we
couldn’t irrigate it. Then
we had to clip it every
few years to try to control
weeds, whereas grazing
would have helped.”
However, he said, the
program probably helped
the water table.
“One of the other ben-
efits was a guaranteed
income from that land,
without much risk. We
didn’t have to worry about
crop failure,” he said.
The farm has now re-en-
rolled in the program. This
second contract is for 10
years, starting this year.
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The districts are not alone in their
quest to create a healthier water sys-
tem. The Hood River Watershed
Group, formed at the turn of the mil-
lennium to protect salmon, and the
Hood River Soil and Water Conser-
vation District, have worked to col-
laborate with area groups connected
to the river, bringing in experts
and funding to improve flows and
habitat, and working with grow-
ers to reduce water use, runoff and
pollution.
Salmon conservation efforts have
prompted innovations to fish pas-
sages around the districts’ dams.
In some cases, dams have been
removed, including Powerdale,
a hydro facility removed in 2010
in the Farmers district, and Odell
Creek Dam, removed in 2016 in
East Fork’s district.
Innovations to Hood River’s
dams have included new fish screens
at irrigation diversions, some of
which have set the standard for other
irrigation and power districts in the
West.
In the future, irrigators expect
droughts to continue, so the Farm-
ers and Middle Fork districts are
working on expanding reservoirs
and dams. The improvements
address environmental and other
concerns, but irrigating agricul-
tural land continues to top the list.
“Clean, dependable water sup-
ply. That’s what we want to main-
tain. Rehabilitating will hopefully
keep producers in our district prof-
itable,” said DeHart.
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HOOD RIVER, Ore. — Ask any
visitor to Hood River’s wineries and
orchards: The lush land between
Mount Hood and the Columbia
River is a slice of heaven. Irrigating
those lush valleys, however, appears
to be a devil of a job.
“It’s accurate to say this is a hos-
tile environment in which to work,”
said Craig DeHart, manager of the
Middle Fork Hood River Irriga-
tion District, one of three irrigation
districts that have pulled from the
339-square-mile watershed — fed
mostly by runoff from Mount Hood
— for more than 100 years. “We
have to take whatever the mountain
throws at us — debris flows, dirt,
car-sized boulders, trees, but mostly,
sand.”
The three districts draw from the
upper, middle and lower reaches of
Hood River’s tributaries and main
stem. Last year, Mount Hood’s melt-
ing glaciers delivered ton after ton of
sand that clogged the districts’ pipes
and canals. Digging debris out of
pipes, an added expense, is neces-
sary to growers at the delivery end,
said Les Perkins, manager of the
Farmers Irrigation District.
As growers adopt low-volume
drip systems, micro-sprinklers and
other micro-irrigation methods,
water quality requirements increase.
Abrasive glacial sand and silt can
clog or ruin irrigation systems.
Historical records — available on
among other fish, are disappearing
as their habitat shrinks, according to
local conservation groups.
Still, Hood River irrigation
districts persist, thanks to a mix
of adaptation, cooperation and
innovation.
Formerly privately owned, the
districts are now public, with elected
boards for oversight and grant or
public funds available for stabil-
ity. In addition to user charges, two
of the districts, Farmers and Mid-
dle Fork, bolster stability by build-
ing reservoirs and dams that supply
power to their own pumps and to
neighboring farms and homes, and
water to users during the area’s dri-
est months.
East Fork, the largest of the three,
depends almost entirely on grants
and user fees and draws from a sin-
gle source on the East Fork, fed by
snow and glacier runoff.
Steve Pappas, East Fork’s new
district manager, said that his dis-
trict is “aggressively” modernizing,
with long-term plans to close the rest
of its open delivery systems. That
would conserve water and improve
reliable delivery, he said.
Of more than 100 miles of pipes
and canals, 18 miles of East Fork’s
are still open, allowing rapid evap-
oration during hot weather. Perkins
estimated that a third to a half of the
water in open channels is lost in the
summer, when it is needed most.
Farmers and Middle Fork dis-
tricts have enclosed all but 3.6 miles
of their pipes.