A16
NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, July 7, 2021
Drought
Robertson said he suspects
some will have a harder time
this year than others. Over-
all, he said, irrigators use very
little of the total amount of
water in the John Day system.
Instead, he said they rely upon
the system during the most
critical time of the year when
flows are the lowest.
Robertson said there are
many proven techniques to
extend the hydrograph when
peak runoff occurs and when
water is most critical for agri-
culture and aquatics. He said
those improvements would
dramatically improve flow
conditions for both irriga-
tors and fish but that Ore-
gon appears unwilling to take
those measures.
Continued from Page A1
that year. The county peaked
at moderate drought levels
throughout the following year.
The conditions are signifi-
cantly impacting ag opera-
tions already.
“I have lost two cuts of
hay over the last two years on
Cottonwood Creek in Mon-
ument,” said Farm Bureau
member Gary Adams in com-
ments supplied by Robertson.
“I only get 30 days of water,
so I get one cut (of hay) a year.
So I have lost about 15 tons
a year, a significant loss for a
small farm.”
In another experience that
Robertson shared with the
Eagle, Micah Wilson, a Grant
County ranch manager, said
the drought’s impacts started
last May. Wilson said the pas-
tures his cows had grazed
early in the season never
recovered.
Like other ranchers across
the West, he said the ranch
he manages would be buying
about 500 additional tons of
hay this year.
He noted that, if conditions
do not change, they would
have to “destock” in the late
summer, early fall.
Kyle Sullivan, Grant Soil
and Water Conservation Dis-
trict’s director, runs a ranch
for his in-laws and his wife in
Dayville. He said no spring
rain added to less-than-normal
precipitation. The lack of rain,
coupled with low temperatures
and steady winds, stunted grass
growth.
Robertson reported a sim-
ilar experience in a mildly
warm winter, with low precipi-
tation, that evolved into a cold,
dry, mildly windy spring.
Increased wildfire risks?
Getty Images
Drought conditions are significantly impacting agricultural operations.
How does the heat
affect drought?
Robertson said the heat
essentially sucks out whatever
moisture is in the ground and
the plant.
“We don’t get any (mois-
ture) recovery at night, and
plants cure much earlier,” he
said.
The lack of moisture
reduces available feed for
everything: cattle, wildlife and
watershed function, he said.
Julsrud added that the
heat, coupled with the wind,
increases evaporation, dries
the ground out faster and slows
water spread in irrigation
ditches.
He likened the phenome-
non to watering a house plant
that has not been watered for a
month. The water, Julsrud said,
does not soak into the soil.
Instead it spills onto the floor.
“The same principle applies
to the soil in the world,” he
said. “If they get so dry, and
you try to spread water on it,
it doesn’t soak in. It just sheets
off.”
Early regulations?
To maintain critical thresh-
olds for rivers and streams
lakes to maintain fish survival,
the state’s regulations of water
allotments will likely kick in
much earlier this year, Julsrud
said — any day now.
Oregon’s water laws are
based on “prior appropriation.”
Under Oregon law, the person
who established water rights
next to a stream or body of
water is the last to get shut off
during times of drought or low
streamflows. Meanwhile, those
downstream from a “senior”
rights holder have to curtail
their usage.
Hailey Boethin, the coun-
ty’s assistant watermaster, said
the water district is roughly four
to six weeks early in receiving
calls for state regulations.
She said when water users
see the “writing on the wall,”
they work “collaboratively”
together to best utilize the lim-
ited resource.
Regional differences?
Boethin said the North Fork
of the John Day River is typi-
cally a healthy system. Julsrud
said this is because the river
starts farther north than the
other stems. The Middle Fork,
Boethin noted, is the second
best. Julsrud pointed out that
the upper Prairie City coun-
try, including Reynolds Creek,
does well in drier seasons as it
starts up high in the hills.
Canyon and Dixie Creeks,
he said, do not perform as well
when low streamflows occur.
Julsrud noted that southerly
flowing tributaries around Prai-
rie City are “generally pretty
poor.”
Boethin pointed out that
some of the south Prairie City
tributaries can be healthy in
the upper timber country but
unhealthy closer to the valley
floor. Julsrud said this could
be due to fault lines, cracks in
the bedrock and a host of other
“crazy things.”
Ron Simpson, Malheur
National Forest fire and avia-
tion staff officer, told the Eagle
that a drought letter recently
went out to range permit hold-
ers. Simpson, who empha-
sized that he is not a range
expert, said that the grazing
system is spread thin with-
out the spring rain that usu-
ally generates more abundant
grass growth.
“Depending on how many
cows per acre are out there,
I think (the drought) is just
going to put stress on the sys-
tem as a whole,” he said.
Simpson said the drought
conditions had put the fire
season ahead of schedule by
about a month.
Simpson said, without the
spring rain, larger fuels that
typically retain more moisture
and are more fire resilient are
drying out more quickly, lead-
ing to the potential for larger,
more robust fires in the forest.
“That increases intensities
and the burn intensity of the
fire itself,” he said.
Paws
Continued from Page A1
nings, much like Marvin. Hope 4
Paws puts them together with own-
ers who love them, and I think
that’s such a valuable service in this
community.”
The organization also works
with canines.
Last summer, a lost border col-
lie named Bailey wandered out into
the mountains and appeared in the
John Day Valley, according to Hope
4 Paws Director Scotta Callister.
Hope 4 Paws volunteer Shawn
Duncan said Bailey was lost for
about two and a half months
in the valley before being cap-
tured by good Samaritans. Dun-
can said Bailey would not let any-
body catch her because she was
scared.
When Bailey was hurt and
lying on a guardrail just outside
of John Day heading toward Prai-
rie City, a kind person noticed her
and checked to see if she was alive,
according to Duncan. Bailey, with a
serious gunshot wound to one leg,
noticed the person trying to check
on her and tried to run away.
The good Samaritan followed
Bailey until she stopped walking
Contributed photo
away.
“(Bailey) was extremely skit- When Kati Dunn gets home from work, she is greeted by an abundance of af-
tish, too frightened to be caught,” fection from Marvin, who was adopted through Hope 4 Paws.
Callister said. “As sightings began
to be reported, volunteers searched Scio told her, when the family went of the amputation was covered, and
for her, and a good Samaritan was out horseback riding, they lost Bailey and her family were tear-
fully reunited.
able to pick her up outside of town Bailey.
“Everybody pulled through, and
“They had since lost hope of
and take her to the vet, where she
was placed under Hope 4 Paws’ finding their dog alive and had been I even had somebody get ahold
unaware of the frantic rescue efforts of me and said they would cover
care.”
Callister said the wounded leg that unfolded,” Callister said. “The the cost of the whole amputation,
was amputated due to the seri- single mom and her 13-year-old but by that time we already raised
ous injury. The dog’s family was son were elated to learn their Bai- enough money,” Duncan said. “The
reached, thanks to the help of social ley was still alive.”
owner has a son, and that was his
Scotta said, thanks to the dona- dog. They sent us a video of them
media posts.
Duncan said the family from tions of generous people, the cost reuniting, and it was a tear-jerker.”
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assistance. Even if a person is try-
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the animal is not abandoned.
“We all need help at some point,
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