Capital Press
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Friday, July 29, 2022
Volume 95, Number 30
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‘A
RUDDERLESS
SHIP’
Irrigators struggle with Oregon water policy
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
H
OOD RIVER, Ore. —
Years of work and millions
of dollars invested in rais-
ing Kingsley Dam in Ore-
gon’s Hood River Valley
are about to pay off .
At least, that’s the hope of the Farmers
Irrigation District, which oversaw the proj-
ect and footed much of the bill.
Though the reservoir is nearly ready to
store more water, the irrigation district fears
it may only seldom be used at full capacity.
“We’ve built a $5.5 million reservoir
expansion that we may not be able to fi ll,”
said Les Perkins, FID’s general manager.
The project was partially funded by a $3
million state government grant, which has
some complicated strings attached.
As it turns out, those hurdles may be so
high that the additional reservoir volume
will likely remain unfi lled in many years.
The irrigation district couldn’t have
expected that possibility when it obtained
the grant six years ago, Perkins said.
“You just don’t know. It’s a giant black
box,” he said.
Agricultural organizations worry such
restrictions not only thwart the purpose of
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Les Perkins, general manager of the Farmers Irrigation District, explains the
expansion of the Kingsley Dam and associated reservoir, on which the dis-
trict’s farmers rely for irrigation in Oregon’s Hood River Valley.
the grant program but more broadly hin-
der the state’s investments in water supply
development.
Complications in way
“Oregon has a way to make the funding
more complicated than it needs to be,” said
April Snell, executive director of the Ore-
gon Water Resources Congress, which rep-
resents irrigation districts.
The possibility of encountering expen-
sive and restrictive obstacles can discourage
irrigators from seeking state government
funding, even when they lack other options,
she said.
“If we want more innovative projects,
there have to be fewer surprises,” Snell said.
The case of Kingsley Dam is illustrative
of the problems cited by critics.
Because the irrigation district accepted
the grant money, its new storage water
right is subject to stricter environmental
conditions.
Additional water can only be diverted
into the reservoir during winter if aff ected
stream levels rise above thresholds set by
state regulators.
This “seasonal varying fl ow” require-
ment is intended to protect fi sh.
Elevated water levels are needed for
adult fi sh to swim upstream and for juve-
niles to move downstream. High fl ows also
fl ush unwanted sediments from spawn-
ing habitat and maintain stream channels,
among other functions.
The Farmers Irrigation District knew
the grant money entailed “seasonally vary-
ing fl ows” and other requirements, such as
devoting 25% of the newly stored water for
in-stream uses.
However, the irrigation district could not
have predicted the exact fl ow thresholds
until the Oregon Water Resources Depart-
ment completed its analysis of stream data.
While the OWRD’s experts believe the
reservoir’s chances of being fi lled every year
top 90%, the irrigation district is skeptical
See Water, Page 9
Farmers Irrigation District
Before the project started, the Farmers Irrigation District Kingsley Reservoir held 715 acre-feet of water. The expansion nearly doubles the volume.
Groups worry anti-ag bias clouding housing debate
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
As Oregon’s government
agencies contemplate upgrad-
ing farmworker housing rules,
the agriculture industry is
worried whether an inherent
bias has stacked the debate
against growers.
Farmworker housing is
likely the next front in the
battle over Oregon’s regula-
tions for agricultural employ-
ers, raising concerns about
mounting production costs for
labor-intensive crops.
Recent comments by a
state employee have also led
agriculture groups to question
if their perspectives are given
a fair hearing.
“It’s a very obvious bias
the agencies are allowed to
show that is going unchecked
by their superiors,” said Mary
Anne Cooper, vice president
of government aff airs for the
Oregon Farm Bureau.
More stringent farmworker
housing standards would fur-
ther increase expenses for spe-
cialty crop growers who are
already contending with the
phase-in of higher agricultural
overtime wages, Cooper said.
Combined with other
costly labor requirements
imposed in recent years, the
fi nancial burden will proba-
bly prove too heavy for many
orchardists and other farmers
who depend on hand labor,
she said.
“We’re really hitting that
tipping point,” Cooper said.
George Plaven/Capital Press
Each room at Wafl a’s farmworker housing facility in Mt.
Angel, Ore. has two beds, with 45 total beds available.
The debate over increasing farmworker housing stan-
dards and enforcement in Oregon has raised concerns
about an anti-agriculture bias in the state government.
“I think we’re going to see a
massive loss of fruit and veg-
etable production in Oregon.”
This summer, a task force
started by Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown has begun discussing
recommendations for increas-
ing compliance with farm-
worker housing rules.
The task force will also
make recommendations for
capital improvements to farm-
worker housing, which would
potentially be funded with
grants, tax credits, or low-in-
terest loans.
Changes to zoning regula-
tions, water rights and other
“barriers” to better housing
conditions for farmworkers
will be considered by the task
force as well.
The task force is an oppor-
tunity to make recommenda-
tions that may seem “way out
there,” said Tim Mahern-Ma-
cias, community and stake-
holder engagement special-
ist for the Oregon Housing
and Community Services
Department.
Such recommendations
may including altering the
state constitution and revis-
ing rules for “urban growth
boundaries” and “exclusive
farm use” zones, Mahern-Ma-
cias said during a meeting
June 16 with farmworker
advocates. A video of that
meeting was posted on the
agency’s website July 6.
“As for ideas, the sky is
the limit,” he said. “Don’t feel
boxed in. Don’t feel like this is
just another run-around.”
For example, one con-
cept may be to “compensate
a farmer for part of their land”
and use it to “build communi-
ty-based housing” instead of
having it run by the employer,
See Housing, Page 9
‘Murder hornets’ get a new name
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
The Entomological Society of
America on Monday asked scientists,
government offi cials, media and pub-
lic to call Asian giant hornets, popu-
larly known as “murder hornets,” by
a new name.
The society adopted “northern
giant hornet” as its common name for
the world’s largest wasp. Washington
State Department of Agriculture ento-
mologist Chris Looney proposed the
name.
“Northern giant hornet is both sci-
entifi cally accurate and easy to under-
stand, and it avoids evoking fear or
discrimination,” Entomological Soci-
ety President Jessica Ware said in a
statement.
Until now, the hornet, scientifi -
cally known as Vespa mandarinia,
Karla Salp/WSDA
An Asian giant hornet, now known
as a northern giant hornet.
has not had an offi cial common name,
though Asian giant hornet has long
been established in scientifi c papers.
Entomologists have generally
shunned “murder hornets,” saying
the name’s sensationalistic, though
the name has caught on.
The society has been review-
ing names of insects. The society’s
guidelines discourage names linked
to geography or ethnicity, or that
would make people view the insect as
loathsome.
Last year, the society dropped
“gypsy moth” in favor of “spongy
moth,” the fi rst product of its Better
Common Names Project.
The society also accepted Loo-
ney’s proposal to name Vespa soror
the “southern giant hornet.” It does
not have a popular name, though it is
also described in scientifi c papers as a
giant hornet.
The two large hornet species over-
lap in southern China.
The northern giant hornet ranges
north to Japan and the Korean Penin-
sula. The southern giant hornet ranges
south to Vietnam and Cambodia.
Northern giant hornets have been
found in northwest Washington
and just across the border in British
Columbia, but nowhere else in North
America.
Offi cials in both countries are trap-
ping for the invasive species and hope
to keep it from being established. The
hornets swarm bee hives during what
scientists call their “slaughter phase.”
Eff orts to reach Looney for com-
ment Monday were unsuccessful. In
an earlier interview, he said that he
proposed “northern giant hornet” to
avoid confusion with yet a third hor-
net species, Vespa veluntina.
That hornet has reached Europe
and is commonly known there as the
“Asian hornet.”
The similarity between “Asian
giant hornet” and “Asian hornet”
apparently led a Washington resident
to report an Asian giant hornet sight-
ing on a United Kingdom website.
The confusion delayed fi nding
and eradicating a nest in Whatcom
County in 2020, according to the state
agriculture department.