LOCAL
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, June 9, 2021
A7
Commissioners still concerned over drought
Irrigation district
chief not so much
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — As
Wallowa County moves
into warmer weather, the
outlook for the drought dec-
laration the county commis-
sioners approved May 21
isn’t getting any brighter,
they said after their meeting
Wednesday, June 2.
Commissioner
Todd
Nash said the county has
a D1 drought designa-
tion, which is not nearly as
severe as some neighboring
counties.
“In Union and Baker
counties, they’ve tripped
into D3 in one little por-
tion of their counties in the
southern portion. They’re
already there,” he said.
“The north end of Wal-
lowa County did not get
those last rains that we got.
Most of the county got nine-
tenths to 2 inches and the
north end got about a tenth
and they’re extremely dry.
We’re looking at what the
next weeks in the Drought
Monitor might show.”
The U.S. Drought Moni-
tor daily updates the drought
outlook for regions all over
the country. Maps can be
found at https://drought-
monitor.unl.edu.
Nash said a 90-person
board reads the Drought
Monitor weekly and rotates
its members “so there’s a
fresh set of eyes on it.”
But, he said, online maps
don’t always tell the whole
story on the ground.
“One of the things in
our conversations with
(the USDA’s Farm Ser-
vice Agency) is they’re not
equating all the cold nights
we’ve had for grass growth.
A lot of these guys have
been through their pas-
tures one time. Now we’re
getting to a point where
it doesn’t grow back any-
more,” he said. “I was just
talking to a guy from Wal-
lowa this morning and some
of Wallowa didn’t get those
rains. Now he’s going out to
the Divide country and it’s
been so cold up there he’s
still got snow. He said there
isn’t any feed.”
He said he told the FSA,
“You guys can read what-
ever map you want, but
we’re in a critical spot right
now.”
The higher the “D” rat-
is aware that producers in
Umatilla and Morrow coun-
ties are grazing on CRP
land because of the drought
conditions there.
“They were in tough
shape. It was just brutal
dry over there,” Nash said.
“We’re still in better condi-
tion than almost any county
in the state, but it’s not good
(here). The guys who are
“THEY WERE IN TOUGH SHAPE. IT WAS
JUST BRUTAL DRY OVER THERE.”
— Todd Nash, Wallowa County commissioner
ing, the more federal fund-
ing is available. Also, reg-
ulations can be eased, such
as allowing emergency
grazing on Conservation
Reserve Program land that
is otherwise set aside to not
be used agriculturally.
Nash said he’s aware
Wallowa County isn’t in as
poor shape as some Ore-
gon counties. He said he
taking water out of Wallowa
Lake are already on a rota-
tion. It hasn’t been warm
enough early enough and
then they started pulling out
of the lake earlier than nor-
mal so it never had a chance
to back up.”
But Dan Butterfi eld,
president of the Wallowa
Lake Irrigation District,
said he’s confi dent the lake
will stand up to any drought.
“We are in what I would
consider to be a really lucky
situation because we have
a reservoir,” he said, add-
ing that an engineering fi rm
the district contracts with is
giving positive assurances.
“We’re set to fi ll the lake
by July to our maximum
levels,” he said.
In fact, just Wednesday,
the lake showed a 2-inch
increase. Butterfi eld said it
needs to fi ll another 5 feet
to reach it maximum level.
He agreed that many
irrigators turned on the tap
May 1 — the earliest allow-
able date — which was
two to three weeks early.
But he’s not seeing that so
abnormal.
“Last year we got 10
inches of rain and didn’t
irrigate too much,” he said.
Butterfi eld said this year
the district will be putting
that water to use. Farm-
ers are both irrigating
from ditches that run from
the lake and from pipes
installed to keep water from
Enterprise Cemetery
Memorial Day Decorations
evaporating, making that
water more effi cient.
“Right now, we’re using
our water instead of sending
it out of here muddy to the
ocean,” he said. “Almost
every year we end up dump-
ing a lot of water. With the
fact that people have started
irrigating, we may not have
to dump as much.
But the commissioners
remained concerned. Nash
and fellow Commissioner
Susan Roberts agreed there
needs to be rain along with
the warmer temperatures.
“It isn’t the same as
when you have snow and
then you get rain up there to
bring the snowmelt down,”
Roberts said.
“It’s kind of dou-
ble-jeopardy,” Nash added.
“If it warmed up and then
it rained at the same time,
they wouldn’t be pulling
out of the lake for all they’re
worth and it’d be accumu-
lating in the lake. I think
we’re going to see this thing
just keep going to where we
don’t get caught up.”
WC Humane Society
DOG
WASH
Please retrieve bouquets or
other decorations you’d like to keep
no later than Sunday, June 13th.
After that date, the cemetery
maintenance crew will remove
and dispose of items in the way
of trimming headstones and
mowing the grounds.
We appreciate your understanding
and cooperation. Thank you!
Sat June 12 • 11AM-3PM
In the alley behind new
Enterprise Fire Station
Big
Little
dogs
dogs
$10 $5
Shampoo and towels provided. You wash
or we wash but the price is the same
Enterprise Cemetery
District and Friends
of Enterprise
Cemetery
Contact Jennifer Cooney • jcooney@wallowa.com • 541-805-9630
Call 503-621-7352
for more information
209 NW First St., Enterprise OR • 541-426-4567 • wallowa.com
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