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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 22, 2015)
2A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2015 Marijuana growers face irrigation complexities Federal facilities, other factors complicate water access By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press As Oregon’s marijuana in- dustry emerges from the legal shadows, growers are being confronted with regulatory hur- dles regarding irrigation, experts say. When cultivation of the psy- choactive crop was criminal un- der state law, compliance with water rules was not the top-of- mind worry for growers. Those who now want to par- ticipate in the legal marketplace for recreational marijuana, how- ever, are ¿ nding that irrigation can pose an unexpected compli- cation. To qualify for commercial marijuana-growing licenses, growers will face the same is- sues with water rights as con- ventional farmers as well as problems that are unique to the crop, which remains illegal un- der federal law. Earlier this year, aspiring hemp and marijuana producer Andrew Anderson of Bend was noti¿ ed by his local irrigation district that federal authorities refused to allow their facilities to be used to deliver water for cannabis production. Anderson said he hopes the matter will be resolved over time, but in the meantime he’s drilling an agricultural well to ensure he can irrigate his crop. “I don’t think we’ll ever get a chance to be part of an industry that goes from nothing to a giant conglomerate in a lifetime,” he said. without an intent to pro¿ t, he said. Commercial cannabis grow- ers who want to cultivate the crop inside a warehouse or an- other property within a city can also buy water from the munici- pality, he said. Some cities, counties have opted out Federal enforcement in question The U.S. Bureau of Recla- mation, which operates some water projects in the West, has said it doesn’t intend to become an “enforcer” of federal canna- bis prohibitions, but it remains to be seen how marijuana and hemp production is treated by the agency, said April Snell, executive director of the Ore- gon Water Resources Congress, which represents irrigation dis- tricts. Each irrigation district in Or- egon is likely to have a different perspective on cannabis produc- tion, particularly depending on how reliant they are on federal facilities, Snell said at a recent cannabis workshop in Salem . “They are like snowÀ akes. From a distance they may look Courtesy of Natascha Crater Marijuana clones grow in containers under an indoor grow light. Growers who want to produce the crop indoors or outdoors must contend with water regulations now that recreational marijuana can be legally grown in Oregon. the same but up close they all have their own characteristics,” she said. Cannabis growers can ap- ply for their own water right to divert surface water for ir- rigation or use land with an existing water right — just like other farmers, they’re subject to shut-offs due to water calls from senior wa- ter rights holders, said Doug ACCUWEATHER ® FORECAST FOR ASTORIA Astoria 5-Day Forecast Tonight Oregon Weather Shown is tomorrow’s weather. Temperatures are tonight’s lows and tomorrow’s highs Partly cloudy 44° Friday The Dalles 38/66 Astoria 44/64 Portland 42/65 Corvallis 37/64 Eugene 37/63 Pendleton 36/62 Salem 40/65 Albany 36/62 Saturday Burns 21/64 Medford 38/73 Periods of clouds and sunshine Klamath Falls 25/66 Mostly cloudy Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2015 64° 46° 63° Sunday Monday Chance for a couple of afternoon showers 64° 48° Times of clouds and sun 48° 65° 48° Almanac Sun and Moon Astoria through Wednesday. Temperatures High ........................................... 61° Low ............................................ 47° Normal high ............................... 60° Normal low ................................. 44° Precipitation Yesterday .............................. Trace" Month to date .......................... 2.06" Normal month to date ............. 3.45" Year to date ........................... 33.30" Normal year to date .............. 43.69" Sunset tonight .................. Sunrise Friday .................. Moonrise today ................ Moonset today ................. Regional Cities City Baker City Bend Brookings Eugene Ilwaco Klamath Falls Medford Newport North Bend 6:17 p.m. 7:43 a.m. 3:43 p.m. 1:36 a.m. Full Last New First Oct 27 Nov 3 Nov 11 Nov 18 Under the Sky Today Hi Lo W 64 23 s 62 28 s 67 48 s 65 37 pc 60 51 pc 67 25 s 72 38 s 60 43 pc 63 44 pc Hi 62 63 64 63 61 66 73 61 64 Fri. Lo 26 34 51 39 50 30 42 47 46 Hi 81 53 69 62 69 60 75 35 88 76 73 79 81 83 85 82 83 60 78 62 73 63 74 58 67 Fri. Lo 59 39 60 37 52 50 51 21 74 60 51 59 61 68 75 62 69 44 57 42 62 42 57 46 45 W pc pc pc pc pc pc pc pc pc National Cities City Olympia Pendleton Portland Roseburg Salem Seaside Spokane Vancouver Yakima Today Hi Lo W 60 38 pc 65 36 s 64 42 pc 66 41 pc 64 40 pc 61 49 pc 62 37 s 62 40 pc 68 34 s Hi 59 62 65 69 65 63 59 63 66 Fri. Lo 38 37 46 44 42 48 35 43 35 W pc pc pc pc pc pc pc pc pc Tonight's Sky: The Great Square of Pegasus is nearly overhead before midnight. Source: Jim Todd, OMSI Tomorrow’s Tides Astoria / Port Docks Time High 10:42 a.m. 7.8 ft. 10:45 p.m. 7.7 ft. Time 4:13 a.m. 4:51 p.m. Low 0.6 ft. 1.5 ft. Tomorrow’s National Weather Today City Hi Lo W Atlanta 80 57 s Boston 71 45 pc Chicago 63 49 s Denver 53 39 r Des Moines 69 58 pc Detroit 66 43 s El Paso 71 50 pc Fairbanks 32 22 c Honolulu 90 75 pc Indianapolis 77 54 pc Kansas City 77 60 pc Las Vegas 78 59 s Los Angeles 79 59 pc Memphis 84 64 s Miami 85 75 sh Nashville 81 52 s New Orleans 82 68 pc New York 77 52 s Oklahoma City 75 65 t Philadelphia 78 52 s St. Louis 83 62 s Salt Lake City 64 45 pc San Francisco 73 57 s Seattle 58 45 pc Washington, DC 77 55 s W s s pc pc r s s s s pc r s pc pc sh s pc s c s r pc pc pc s Cold Warm Stationary Showers Rain Flurries Snow Ice -10s -0s 0s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s 100s 110s Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. Forecast high/low temperatures are given for selected cities. Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice. CLATSOP POWER EQUIPMENT, INC. SALES • SERVICE • RENTALS New rules in place as goose hunting season opens New rules for hunting Canada geese in northwest Oregon will be in effect when the n orthwest p ermit g oose z one opens to hunting on Saturday. Gone are the require- ments to check in geese at a check station, which was in- convenient for hunters. The check-in requirement was to screen for d usky Canada geese , a subspecies of Can- ada goose with a small pop- ulation size. Now, the d usky Cana- da goose season is simply closed. It is a wildlife viola- tion to shoot one. Legal shooting hours have also been changed to 15 minutes after sunrise to 15 minutes before sunset. “It is more important than ever for hunters to hold their fire unless they are sure the target is not a d usky Canada goose,” Brandon Reishus, of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, said in a state- OREGON Wednesday’s Pick 4: 1 p.m.: 6-9-6-6 4 p.m.: 4-4-8-9 7 p.m.: 7-7-1-8 10 p.m.: 5-2-0-1 Wednesday’s Mega- bucks: 8-10-12-14-28-35 Estimated jackpot: $5.7 million. Wednesday’s Powerball: ment. “Hunters are advised to focus efforts on cackling Canada geese, which are very abundant and easy to identify.” Goose hunters are still required to pass the North- west Oregon Goose Iden- tification Test (http://bit. ly/1OOpOsG) to hunt. Also, the n orthwest p ermit and n orthwest g eneral goose zones are combined and now the n orthwest p ermit z one includes all of Ben- ton, Clackamas, Clatsop, Columbia, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Multnomah, Polk, Tillamook, Washing- ton and Yamhill counties. The n orthwest p ermit z one goose season will be open Saturday — Nov. 1, Nov. 21 — Jan. 12 and Feb. 6 — March 10. See page 22 of the Oregon Game Bird Regulations at http://bit. ly/1ODGTad for details. 30-32-42-56-57, Powerball: 11 Estimated jackpot: $100 million. $130,000. Wednesday’s Keno: 01- 06-07-11-20-21-27-29-32-33- 36-39-42-48-55-56-60-61-65- 76 Wednesday’s Lotto: 25- 28-32-33-40-44 Estimated jackpot: $5.7 million. Wednesday’s Match 4: 03-14-16-19 WASHINGTON Wednesday’s Daily Game: 0-3-4 Wednesday’s Hit 5: 05- 06-26-28-33 Estimated jackpot: Deaths Oct. 20, 2015 KIRK, Ronald D., 51, of Seaside, died in Seaside. Caldwell’s Funeral & Cremation Ar- rangement Center in Seaside is in charge of the arrangements. Oct. 21, 2015 LEWIS, Lois Jean, 82, of Astoria, died in Astoria. Caldwell’s Luce-Layton Mortuary in Astoria is in charge of the arrangements. Oct. 22, 2015 SCHOESSLER, Melvin Richard, 92, of Warrenton, died in Astoria. Caldwell’s Luce-Layton Mortuary in Astoria is in charge of the arrangements. Public meetings THURSDAY Sunset Empire Transportation District Board, 9 a.m., Astoria Transit Center Confer- ence Room, 900 Marine Drive. Cannon Beach Planning Commission, 6 The Daily Astorian Established July 1, 1873 (USPS 035-000) Published daily, except Saturday and Sunday, by EO Media Group, 949 Exchange St., PO Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103 Telephone 503- 325-3211, 800-781-3211 or Fax 503-325-6573. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Daily Astorian, PO Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103- 0210 www.dailyastorian.com MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for republication of all the local news printed in this newspaper. 34912 HWY 101 BUS • ASTORIA 503-325-0792 • 1-800-220-0792 Photo by Keith Kohl/Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife New rules have been imposed on hunting geese. Lotteries Fronts T-Storms trial and commercial uses. However, those “exempt” uses do not apply to growing a crop, such as marijuana, for pro¿ t, Woodcock said. “Irriga- tion is not part of the commer- cial exemption.” Medical marijuana growers often don’t face such restrictions on groundwater because they produce the crop for person- al use or cultivate it for others The Daily Astorian Ontario 34/65 Bend 28/63 Woodcock, administrator of the Oregon Water Resources Department’s ¿ eld services division. “Know your water rights,” Woodcock said, noting that the right is speci¿ c as to the place and type of use. Drilling a well also requires a water rights permit for agricul- ture in Oregon, though exemp- tions apply for domestic, indus- At this point, though, 29 cit- ies and 10 counties in Oregon have decided not to allow mar- ijuana production within their boundaries, while others remain undecided, said state Rep. Ken Helm, D-Beaverton, who is a land use attorney. People who want to grow marijuana in those undecided areas should become involved in the conversation with their lo- cal governments, he said. “The best place to start is the local planning department.” In counties that do allow marijuana production, only “ex- clusive farm use” zones allow the crop to be grown outright, said Katherine Daniels, farm and forest lands specialist for the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development. Whether the crop can be commercially grown without re- striction in industrial, commer- cial and residential zones will likely vary county-by-county, she said. p.m., City Hall, 163 E. Gower St. MONDAY Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., Seaside City Hall, 989 Broadway. 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