Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 2007)
Irrigators to get more lake water permanently Wednesday, November 7, 2007 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Mustangs advance to first round of state playoffs The Heppner Mustangs advanced to the first round of the state playoffs after defeating the Elgin Huskies 48-0 and capturing first place in Blue Mountain Conference play. The Mustangs will play the Loggers front Scio on Saturday, November 10, at 1 p.m. in Heppner. - Photo by Sanely Matthews County and cities to meet Friday over ‘tippage’ fees By David Sykes The Morrow Coun ty Court will meet Friday morning with the mayors of the five communities in the county to discuss the usage o f "tippage” fees generated at the Finley Buttes landfill near Boardman. Heppner, lone, Lex ington, Irrigon and Board- man joined together in Janu ary to demand that the coun ty turn over the majority of the tippage rponey generated by the landfill. The funds, which come from fees lev ied on each ton of garbage dum ped, average around $80,000 per month, or just under $1 million per year, and currently go directly into the county general fund. The cities say this is not what was originally prom ised when the landfill was constructed back in the 1992 and that they should get the Trick or Treat! _» .üS_I Makavla Shiley, 5. waits patiently for her candy on Hallow een. majority of the money. In February the Mor row County Court said no to a demand by the cities that the m oney allocation be changed. “This money goes to the county fund and the county is going to keep con trol o f those funds,” Com m issioner John Wenholtz said at the time. The cities had threat ened to take the issue to the voters if the county declined their demands, and August 9 they followed through on the threat and filed a mea sured titled “An ordinance requiring distribution o f landfill feestocities/towns” with the county court. Under the proposed o rd in a n c e b e g in n in g in Fiscal year 2008-2009 the county would give up 25 percent o f the tippage fees to cities. In 2009-2010 that would jump to 50 percent and 2010-2011 it would top out at 75 percent. The ordinance stipu lates that the cities portion will be divided in half, with one half the funds divided equally among the cities, and the other half divided according to population. The measure is ex pected to be voted on in the May election. The meeting Friday w ill be an attempt to iron out differences and avoid a vote on the issue. The meeting will be held at 9 a.m. at the -Continued on page seven Month April 15-30 May 1-31 June 1 -30 July 1-31 August 1-31 September 1-30 Totals Percent to be Released 4 15 18 25 *n 16 100 Acre-feet Released (2.500 total) 100 375 450 625 550 400 2.500 E stim ated visitation at W C Lake, 2 0 0 2 -2 0 0 7 Period Oct - Dec 2002 Jan - Mai 2003 Apr - Jun 2003 Julv Sep 2003 Oct - Dec 2003 Jan - Mar 2004 Apr Jim 2004 July Sep 2004 Oct - Dec 2004 Jan - Mar 2005 Api Tun 2005 July Sep 2005 Oct - Dec 2005 Jan - Mar 2006 Api - Jun 2006 Julv Sep 2006 Oct - Dec 2006 Jan - Mar 2007 J 10 Pages Proposed monthly release of irrigation water from lake ^ NO. 45 Corps of Engineers plans to give long-term irrigation contracts for Willow Creek Lake w ater. c VOL. 126 -• ---i 1 Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library University o f Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 but was authorized to do so only under emergency drought conditions. The cur rent action would make the additional water available permanently. In a draft environ mental assessment posted on the internet, the Corps describes how much and when the water would be released, and the economic impact o f the release. When the dam was b u ilt in 1983 the C orps described the main purpose o f the dam as flood control. “ Flood control is the pri mary use o f storage space in Willow Creek Lake. Rec reation, fish and w ildlife, sedim entation, and future irrigation are secondary uses o f storage space (water)," it says in the operational manual for the dam. The Corps manual also stated that 1,787 acre-feet would be reserved for “future ir rigation.” There is slightly over a total o f 14,000 acre- feet of water storage avail able in the lake. Under the proposed increase in irrigation us age the lake will be drawn dow n earlier and farther that under typical operations. The Corps says Irrigation w ithdrawals would start af ter April 15 (see table), and continue through September 30. The change will not alter the winter flood control op erations but w ill make more flood control space available the rest o f the year. The irrigators who purchase the water will di vert water at two locations that have been used the last few years to divert water under emergency water con tracts. The first diversion is three miles downstream from the dam and the second four miles. Irrigation pumps have been screened to pro tect fish and the irrigators are in the process o f forming an irrigation district. Accord ing to the Corps the district w ill sign a contract w ith the US government for use of the water and “repayment o f certain costs.” What that cost will be was not spelled out in the environm ental impact statement. The im pact sta te ment also addressed the economic impact o f selling more irrigation water on a long-term basis. “ Water- based recreation uses o f Willow Creek Lake would be affected by the proposed action. The lake would be draw n down earlier and farther than under typical operations. The early, lower draw dow n would reduce the lake area available for recreational boating use. However, the usability o f the boat launching facility at the project should not be affected," the Corps wrote. “ In addition to the decreased surface area, the drawdown for irrigation would expose muddy slopes and banks that are aesthetically unap pealing and restrict access to the shoreline o f the lake. Also, some economic losses in the local area would occur because o f the reduction in water-based recreation use. Sport fishing opportunities may be decreased as the population o f largemouth bass and fingerling rainbow trout could be reduced or 1 lliliiliiililiillliiiiillilin ll By David Sykes T h e U .S . A rm y Corps o f Engineers is plan ning on making long term agreem ents to release an additional 2,500 acre-feet o f water from Willow Creek Lake each year for use in ir rigation o f farm land down stream from the dam. The C orps, which operates the lake, is cur rently taking public com ment on the proposal. In the past the Corps has released extra water for irrigation, eliminated by the proposed irrigation drawdown. How ever,” the Corps concluded. “ODFW (Oregon Dept. Fish & Wildlife) restocks catch- able tout in the lake on an annual basis, which will help alleviate some o f the effects to the recreational fishery.” The Corps did not attach a dollar amount to the potential loss o f recreation usage at the lake; it did cite the following statistics from 1999. "There was a total of 39,972 recreation visits to Willow Creek Lake. O f this amount, recreation use was estimated to include 7,195 picnickers, 2,798 swimmers, 799 water skiers, 9593 boat ers. 8794 sightseers, 7,994 anglers, and 8,794 others. This amount o f visitation was estimated to result in $600,00() in \ isitor spending w ithin 30 miles o f the lake. Visitor trip spending w as es timated to result in $650,000 in total sales, $340,000 in to tal income, and supported 17 jobs in the local community surrounding the lake.” The Corps did not estim ate losses to recre ational income as a result o f less water in the lake. While the Corps did say it is difficult to estimate the economic impact of not providing the extra irrigation water, it did siteUSDA Farm Services offices in Heppner which said “The average normal yield for alfalfa is four to five tons per acre, and current value is $90 to Estim ated N um ber of V isitors 13.165 12.129 36.814 45.277 13.717 6.649 38.633 55,631 22.058 7.280 39.362 41.535 15.792 32.355 47.657 30.944 8.459 10.818 42.686 $100 per ton. The USDA estimated a 50 percent loss in yield if this crop is not adequately irrigated. Based on providing supplemental irrigation for 1.725 acres o f alfalfa, the estimated maxi mum total yield is 8,625 ton w ith an estimated maximum total value o f $862,500; 50 percent of that value is $431,250. Also, there would be an unquantified monetary loss for small grains and the potential for additional impacts if the alfalfa plants them selves are dam aged because it is a perennial crop with the potential for losses in future years, as well as likely increased costs for more frequent tillage and reseeding,” the Corps con cluded. According to a Corps spokesman the exact amount irrigators will pay for the lake water has not been de termined. but the Bureau of Reclamation will handle the actual sale. The Corps will be accepting public comment on the irrigation release p ro p o sa l u n til N o v e m ber 30. A nyone w ishing to com m ent should con tact Carolyn Schneider at: C a ro ly n . B .S c h n e id e r(2 usace.army.mil email. 503- 808-4770, or regular mail at District Engineer. U.S. Army Corps o f Engineer D istrict, Portland. A ttn: CCENWP-E Carolyn Sch neider. PO Box 2946, Port land. OR 97208-2946. At the MCGG GREEN FEED STORE in H eppner: WGRNGR FIBGRGLASS STGPIADDGR 6 foot • 2 5 0 lb. capacity Reg. $107.99 ON SALE $ 7 5 .0 0 ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. M orrow C ounty Grain Growers Green F eed & S eed 242 W. Linden Way, Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main office) r
