In the Media

For irrigators throughout Central Oregon — especially in North Unit Irrigation District (NUID), where I farm — 2021 was the worst season on record for water supplies. Given current reservoir levels and snowpack, farmers in NUID and other districts in the basin are now facing a 2022 season that could be even worse. Below normal precipitation for nine of the last 10 years has depleted storage reservoirs and reduced the capacity of the basin to recharge and recover from persistent drought.

Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden on Wednesday announced a $1,370,473 grant from the Bureau of Reclamation to reduce the impact of drought in Central Oregon.

On top of a historic drought, farmers and ranchers in Jefferson County gave up water for the habitat of the spotted frog and other endangered species. Farmers and ranchers wanted to know whether their sacrifices made any difference for the frog.

Although we’ve had some mild days, it’s still the dead of winter and there’s not much going on at the Wetlands — at least that we can see — thus, this is a good opportunity to address a topic on everyone’s mind: why is the complex here and what does it do? You’d be surprised how many daily users of the facility have no idea, and so here’s a brief attempt to change that.

A succession of heat waves last summer that caused heat-related deaths, dried up crops and depleted snowpack may have also accelerated the disappearance of Central Oregon glaciers.

Funding for the Deschutes River Conservancy was included in a $20.5 million package for a suite of 13 drought resiliency projects in five Western states, the organization said Monday as it outlined details of the project, while noting that he Deschutes Basin was the only project site to be selected in Oregon.  

More than 100 farmers and ranchers gathered at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds Mackey/Conroy building Thursday night, Dec. 16 to plan for the coming irrigation season. Another 50 followed the meeting online.

Thanks to multiple atmospheric river events, average snowpack in California has gone from 18% to 98% in just two weeks. “Increases in snowpack of this size are not common, but also not unprecedented,” Julie Kalansky, deputy director of operations for the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E), explained.

A water bank can mean many things. Here it is a pilot program to enable the exchange of water between patrons of Central Oregon Irrigation District and where it is arguably needed more downstream in North Unit Irrigation District in Jefferson County.