Another year of exceptional drought in Central Oregon is raising questions about whether cloud seeding can boost the region’s water supplies by increasing snowfall that feeds into streams and reservoirs.
Boaters will be feeling the impact of Central Oregon’s drought at several area lakes this summer. The U.S. Forest Service announced Friday that low lake levels are preventing the installation of docks at both East Lake and Crescent Lake.
The pond is full again at Upingaksraq Spring Alaska Schreiner’s high desert farm. It’s a welcome sight for Schreiner, who owns Sakari Farms north of Bend.
A much-anticipated water bank designed to help Jefferson County farmers is underway, just not to the scale that everyone involved had initially hoped.
Today, there are hundreds of hatcheries in the Northwest run by federal, state and tribal governments, employing thousands and welcoming the community with visitor centers and gift shops. The hatcheries were supposed to stop the decline of salmon. They haven’t. The numbers of each of the six salmon species native to the Columbia basin have dropped to a fraction of what they once were, and 13 distinct populations are now considered threatened or endangered.
Snowpack has steadily increased from just six weeks ago when the Upper Deschutes Basin was only 54% of normal.
But while the snowpack has given Bend a pretty backdrop, the region’s drought is still far from over. Recent snowfall is not the best indication of how much snow is actually in the mountains, said Kyle Gorman, region manager for the Oregon Water Resources Department.
The North Unit Irrigation District, which supplies irrigation water to Jefferson County, is delivering just 0.45 acre-feet of water to its patrons, a fraction of the normal 2 acre-feet.
This year is (again) a wake-up call for how we use and manage water in the Deschutes Basin. Central Oregon, as well as much of Oregon, is headed into another year of extreme drought. While the water shortage and associated climate situation is bleak, we have two things working for us. Solutions and collaboration.
The unseasonably cold and snowy weather helps the water picture for Jefferson County farmers, at least for the time being. In fact, the North Unit Irrigation District board met in an emergency meeting Monday, April 18, to decide how to handle the extra water.
