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About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (July 21, 2022)
, cattle rancher in Keating Valley east of Baker City 8 | SPRING RAIN | BAKER COUNTY U.S. Drought Monitor June 28, 2022 Oregon (Released Thursday, Jun. 30, 2022) Valid 8 a.m. EDT Grass: Continued from Page 7 Drought Conditions (Percent Area) Current Last Week 06-21-2022 3 Months Ago 03-29-2022 Start of Calendar Year None D0-D4 D1-D4 D2-D4 D3-D4 D4 24.60 75.40 66.49 52.71 31.72 1.77 24.60 75.40 66.49 52.71 31.72 1.77 7.16 92.84 88.44 74.25 50.28 15.01 4.16 95.84 89.75 75.37 50.84 17.27 0.00 100.00 100.00 96.47 72.10 26.59 0.00 100.00 99.97 43.93 4.78 01-04-2022 Start of Water Year 09-28-2021 One Year Ago 06-29-2021 81.96 Intensity: None D2 Severe Drought D0 Abnormally Dry D3 Extreme Drought D1 Moderate Drought D4 Exceptional Drought The Drought Monitor focuses on broad-scale conditions. Local conditions may vary. For more information on the Drought Monitor, go to https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/About.aspx Author: Curtis Riganti National Drought Mitigation Center droughtmonitor.unl.edu from Interstate 84, their shoul- ders rising from the green sea like whales’ fl ukes. The soggy spring signifi - cantly eased the drought that has plagued Baker County, and much of Northeastern Oregon, for more than a year. On June 21, just 4% of Baker County — a small sliver in the southwest corner that doesn’t include any farmland — was rated as being in extreme drought, the second-worst among the fi ve-level drought rating system, accord- ing to the U.S. Drought Monitor. That’s the lowest percentage since Jan. 26, 2021, when no part of the county was in extreme drought. On April 5, 2022, by contrast, almost the entire county — 84% — was in extreme drought. Siddoway said the spring rain, though immensely helpful for this year’s grass crop, wasn’t suffi cient to replenish aquifers depleted by the drought. He said springs that have dried up or diminished haven’t recov- ered — a heavy winter snowpack would help with that situation, he said. “The drought is not over yet,” Siddoway said. ‘One of the best grass years’ Clair Pickard chooses the same word as Siddoway did when talking about his expectations when April began. “Disaster.” “We just completely expected a disaster,” said Pickard, who with his wife, Patti, has a ranch in Keating Valley about 15 miles east of Baker City. See Grass, Page 9 July 17 *Breakaway Roping August 10-13 Farm City PRCA Rodeo Blue Mt. Seeds, Inc. August 27 *Cystic Fibrosis Charity Roping Sept. 9-11 *World Series of Roping *FREE Event 380 Railroad Avenue, Imbler 541-534-2221 1705 E. AIRPORT RD. • HERMISTON, OR 541-289-9800 • EOTECHERMISTON.COM
