Ag Journal Daily Record Spring 2018
Irish Eyes business expanding ■ Cattleman of the Year: Kyler Beard ■ Yakima Basin plan projects on the horizon ■
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Table of contents
Ag Journal Editor Joanna Markell Publisher Heather Hernandez Advertising Contact us: Ag Journal 401 N. Main Street Ellensburg, WA 98926 509-925-1414 The Ag Journal is published three times a year by Kittitas County Publishing LLC. Contents copyrighted 2018 unless otherwise noted.
On the cover: Brian Myrick / Daily Record
Kevin Johnson pours potatoes into a packaging machine at Irish Eyes Seed Company.
Seed business expands Page 4
Making a cattleman of the year Page 8
Water in the West
Projects on the way
Page 18
Page 14
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Seed business expands Irish Eyes company growing nationally
Brian Myrick / Daily Record
Kevin Johnson pours potatoes into a packaging machine at Irish Eyes Seed Company. 4 | 2018 Ag Journal - Spring
By KARL HOLAPPA staff writer
A
n organic seed company which started with seven acres in Badger Pocket in 1989 is growing nationally. Irish Eyes Garden Seeds has expanded to 275 acres — all certified organic. The business ships seed potatoes, garlic, shallots, onions, and packaged seed products nationwide. And it’s growing by the month. Owner Greg Lutovsky fully converted to organic farming in 2002. When he first began the transition process, other farmers in the valley called him crazy, he said. “I’m sure they still think I’m crazy,” Lutovsky said. Irish Eyes has 21 employees and today is based in Robinson Canyon. The company recently picked up another 50 garden centers in places such as Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey, Georgia and Florida, he said. Irish Eyes has only been marketing nationwide for approximately 18 months. It has sent out 25,000 wholesale catalogs and already picked up a following. “They like the oddball potatoes,” Lutovsky said. “A lot of our seeds are very short season seeds for the climates that might be maritime or mountainous.” Seed potatoes have driven the national growth of Irish Eyes. Although 30 percent of the company’s gross profit comes from packaged seed products, much of which is contracted out to other growers, most of the rest of the profit can be attributed to seed potatoes. Seventy-five percent of all the acreage Lutovsky farms are dedicated to seed potatoes. At least 15 varieties the company grows are proprietary. “The potatoes are the gateway,” Lutovsky said. “It’s usually
the funkiness of the potatoes that catches peoples’ eyes and it helps us get into the store, and then we hope we can expand our seed line in there.”
THE LIFE OF A POTATO
The path to a potato is far from easy. It all starts in a laboratory. The entire breeding process can take anywhere from seven to more than 15 years before a potato hits the commercial pipeline. Lutovsky works with a commercial breeding conglomerate in Idaho called SunRain. “They breed potatoes day in and day out,” Lutovsky said. “They’re looking mainly for processing potatoes. Things that you can bake, things that you can make tater tots, French fries, that type of thing.” SunRain passes down cultivars to Lutovsky that don’t hold widespread commercial interest. They come partially as a result of the breeding process, and partially because of the genetic diversity of potatoes. “Potatoes have an incredible diverse genetic background, one of the most diverse in the plant kingdom,” Lutovsky said. “Cannabis, tulips, apples and potatoes are the most genetically diverse.” SunRain noticed Lutovsky’s success in the home gardening market and approached him two years ago. They asked if he would be interested in marketing some of the company’s varieties from the bottom up in the hopes that it would interest consumers to purchase them on a larger scale, in grocery stores, for example. “Hopefully then consumers start
Brian Myrick / Daily Record
Jesus Villa grades potatoes for distribution at Irish Eyes Seed Company. going to their produce places asking for the varieties they see grown from seed,” Lutovsky said. “They think maybe it’ll create a larger market down the road.” Lutovsky starts his potatoes, purchased as generation one seed from SunRain, in his greenhouse. There, they are grown in a soil-less medium in a pest-free environment. These are called pre-nuclear potatoes. The next generation, called nuclear potatoes, is moved to the company’s
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110 acres on Upper Peoh Point Road in Cle Elum. This is the first time they touch native soil. The potatoes stay for one more generation before they are moved down to the property in Robinson Canyon where they finish their time as seed potatoes. Potatoes lose yield percentage and gain disease susceptibility with every generation that passes, so Lutovsky strives to get the best product to market.
See Potatoes, Page 6
Brian Myrick / Daily Record
Employees process bags of potatoes for distribution at Irish Eyes Seed Company.
Potatoes Continued from Page 5 “Our goal has been to get organic growers and home gardeners early generation organic commercial seed so that they have the best chance of success in their garden,” Lutovsky said. “Less disease load, higher in vigor, higher in yields.”
GROWING IN THE VALLEY
Lutovsky says Kittitas County is an excellent place to grow seed potatoes. He says it is partially due to the isolation in the state from other seed potato crops, and because of the wind patterns. “The biggest vector in spreading disease is the green peach aphid,” Lutovsky said. “It actually doesn’t fly, it floats. Generally they float up the Jetstream on the Columbia
River. Our wind that blows toward the Columbia keeps the aphids out in large numbers.” Lutovsky said the winds also help foster an ideal environment to grow organically. Chemicals that are normally used to treat bacterial and fungal diseases are mitigated by the wind patterns and dry climate. “Even when we use sprinkler overhead, you turn the irrigation off in about an hour or two,” Lutovsky said. “With our winds, the top of the soil gets a nice dry crust on it which then holds the moisture in. With that dry crust you don’t get any of the bacterial problems you get if that stays wet for a few days. It’s an excellent area for doing what we do.”
THE FUTURE
Lutovsky recently invested in a new packaging machine that
allows his seed potatoes to be sold in smaller increments with individual labeling and UPC codes. In the beginning, Lutovsky said seed potatoes were sold in 100-pound bags. He then reduced the poundage to 50. He eventually got requests for one pound packages from stores. “They could charge more, and they would have a UPC on them so they could just scan them at the check stand to speed things up,” Lutovsky said. “We started with one customer doing that and now I bet you the packages of our potatoes makes up about 30-35 percent (of sales).” Lutovsky said he is working with a farmer from the Yakima area to grow some new seed crops in line with his three-year rotation plan for his acreage in Robinson Canyon. The crops include early watermelon, corn and tomatoes.
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“This will be a new thing for us,” Lutovsky said. “We are just going to collaborate and give some support on equipment.”
KEEPING IT LOCAL
Although Irish Eyes products are sold valley-wide, and more recently nationwide, Lutovsky says visits are welcome. Orders for any product the company offers can be placed online or called in. He hopes to eventually open a retail store at the Robinson Canyon location. “You can come out here and get your order,” Lutovsky said. “You don’t have to be a commercial farmer, a market grower, a feed and farm store or what have you.” Lutovsky said many people think the office is only for wholesale sales, but all are welcome. “We’d love to have them come out and get their seeds here,” Lutovsky said.
Brian Myrick / Daily Record
ABOVE: Kevin Johnson pulls bags of potatoes off a packaging machine at Irish Eyes Seed Company. BELOW LEFT: Employees process bags of potatoes for distribution. BELOW RIGHT: A bin full of potatoes, bagged and ready for shipping.
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Making a cattleman of the year
Brian Myrick / Daily Record
Members of the Beard family, from left, Josie, Judy, and Kyler, ride together near Ellensburg.
Kyler Beard chasing the dream of being a real working cowboy By MIKE JOHNSTON Special to the DAILY RECORD
F
or as far back as he can remember, Kyler Beard wanted to be a real, working cowboy. “The first place I remember living at was La Conner, Washington,” Kyler said when recently asked to share about his path, which led to his family being selected in Feb-
ruary as the 2018 Kittitas County Cattlemen of the Year by the county Cattlemen’s Association. “My dad was a chef and mom was an interior designer. I was 2 years old and always was wearing my cowboy hat.” Patti Beard, Kyler’s mom, said Kyler was quiet growing up, but was always excited about horses. One of his first words when learning to talk was “horse.”
“He would crawl up high enough at 1 year old to look out the window at the horses in a field we rented out to a good friend of the family,” said Patti, who now works part-time at the Washington Cattlemen’s Association office in Ellensburg. “He had no fear of horses, and if ever we had to look for him, we learned to look out in the horse pasture or barn first.” Kyler, 33, will tell you quickly that
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where he’s at today is due to working with several great stockmen, wise horsemen and longtime ranchers who’ve been patient mentors in showing him the ropes, literally. Kyler’s now the one being sought out at stockmanship clinics for his quiet, unassuming and effective way of passing on the skills he’s learned and practiced in his own life’s work. Kyler’s wife, Judy, a skilled rider who
Kyler early on learned about raising and humanely treating livestock during his long summer stays at the Beard family ranch northeast of Ellensburg run by his grandpa and grandma, Frank and Charlot Beard. It was the headquarters of Beard Rodeo Company, a supplier of champion bucking stock for some of the biggest PRCA rodeos in the nation. “Every summer since I was 3 years old I would stay with them,” said Kyler who has memories of riding at that same age, moving roughstock at his grandparents’ ranch. Frank Beard, now 90, was known for his skills dealing with horses, Patti said. “Besides providing the Stetson cowboy hats and cowboy hats for Kyler as he grew, Gramps Frank surely taught him some valuable lessons in caring for animals,” Patti said. When Kyler was older, Frank bought a young Paint Horse that had bucked someone off. He purchased it on a whim and in hope it might mature into a good saddle horse. There was no guarantee it wouldn’t continue to be a problem horse. Kyler took over riding, training and patiently working with the horse whenever he could. Soon the
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2018 Kittitas County Cattlemen of the Year Who: Kyler and Judy Beard, and daughter Josie, age 6 Address: Kittitas Highway, Ellensburg Ranch operation: Includes cows that calve in summer and selling those calves; custom grazing of yearling beef cattle on about 800 acres of leased ground at locations around the Kittitas Valley
Summer rodeos
Patti said Kyler traveled with his grandparents and the mare to many summer rodeos where he was put to work with the Beard company. Kyler claims he wouldn’t be into the livestock business now if it wasn’t for that Paint mare. “While helping my grandpa I would use the mare to sort and move livestock when I was probably 18 years old,” Kyler said. “She was a nice enough horse that, in spite of me, I was able with the help of other (rodeo arena) pickup men like Ricky Shannon to pick up bucking horses at rodeo practices.” Pickup riders in a rodeo arena are on horseback to increase the safety of contestants in the bareback riding and saddle bronc competition; they assist contestants to get off bucking horses safely and help them get out of the arena. “Before I knew it, I was a pickup man at PRCA shows and got to ride a lot of horses, starting some young ones and buying some trying to get enough horses to go into pickup man work. I had no idea how to rope or handle something if I did rope it.” He deeply enjoyed working from horseback and, after a few years of working for his grandpa full time, he left the rodeo company and began riding and training colts for other horse owners. At the ripe old age of 25 he was asked to help out in gathering year-
ling cattle and realized how much he had missed working with livestock in a kind of partnership with a skilled horse under him, like that Paint Horse mare. Upon returning to the Kittitas Valley he contacted Marcus Mays of the Don Mays Livestock Co. and asked for a job “And the rest is history,” Kyler
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said. “Out of all the early influences, the Paint mare was the biggest.”
The good hands
Kyler said he’s had the opportunity to work for quite a few ranchers in the region who took the time and effort to teach him their skills.
See Cattlemen, Page 10
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Kyler’s off-ranch work: Managing beef cattle herds of other area landowners and ranchers, assisting to improve strategies for planned herd movements for pasturing, calving, health checks and transportation. Judy: Taught health and physical education 12 years at Kittitas Secondary School; currently is assistant professor of PE, physical activity and coaching education at Central Washington University.
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mare fit like a glove into the daily life of a ranch horse. The mare exhibited more skillful connections with Kyler than he trained her for, he said.
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grew up on a family farm, shares his passion for more gentle ways of working with animals. Kyler will tell you he’s always up to learning something new and will try it out if it benefits the health, safety and wellbeing of rancher, horse and livestock.
Cattlemen
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Continued from Page 9 “I remember helping Ryan Stingley tag calves seven years ago, and I couldn’t tell the difference between a wet cow (producing milk for their calf ) or a dry one (not producing milk),” Kyler said. “When working for the Mays family I started to realize the importance of stockmanship and got to see and handle a lot of cattle. “I have always looked up to good hands, the guys you don’t notice that can do everything,” Kyler continued. “They’re good with cattle, horses and dogs. I have had the chance to ride with some good horsemen and go to stockmanship seminars that have sure changed the way I think.” His livestock business in the Kittitas Valley began with him taking care of other people’s cattle during the grass-growing season on their property. During the past few years
he’s started buying his own cattle, mainly undervalued cattle, animals many ranchers might not want, including summer-calving cows and small, lightweight calves that are sold later as big yearlings after nearly a year of grazing. In 2004, Kyler’s good friend Joel Conner took him to a Buck Brannaman horsemanship and stockmanship clinic in Ellensburg. He said he realized through what he took in at the clinic with the famous horseman was how much he needed to learn. Horsemanship and a lowstress approach to handling yourself and your horse and livestock became much more important to him, he said. Kyler continued his horsemanship education with the help of several skilled riders, including Brannaman and Ricky Quinn. Since 2006 Kyler has taught at horsemanship clinics open to the public and
competed in Buck Brannaman’s prestigious Pro-Am Invitational Vaquero Roping in Santa Ynez, Calif. Kyler was the featured horseman in a January 2017 horsemanship, cattle handling and traditional ranch roping clinic in Pasco. It also included practices used to bring up colts to prepare for riding. To assist in keeping alive the best practices in relating to the working ranch horse and cattle, Kyler founded the Cowboy Traditions Ranch Roping Association in 2009. It has the dual goal of performing for the public traditional cowboy ranch roping, horsemanship and cattle handling techniques, and also sponsors friendly competition among association members. The association is known for putting on the annual Spirit of the West Ranch Roping event in Ellensburg. Those promoting the Janu-
The 2018 Kittitas County Cattlemen of the Year will be honored and the county’s beef cattle industry will be showcased to the public at the annual cattlemen’s field day set for Saturday, May 12, at Frontier Village at the Kittitas Valley Event Center (county fairgrounds) in Ellensburg. Details about the time, the meal offered to the public and the event’s program will be released at a later date. ary 2017 event in Pasco said Kyler shared low-stress cattle handling and moving techniques that included demonstrations of branding and vaccinating methods with the latest animal health equipment. The techniques, they said, can create an easier way to work with cattle and horses with everyone’s health and wellbeing in mind.
See Cattlemen, Page 12
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Brian Myrick / Daily Record
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Cattlemen
Passing along the good ways
Continued from Page 10
Partnering up
Jack Field, former executive vice president of the Washington Cattlemen’s Association for 12 years, is into his second full year in a partnership with Kyler. Field has a calf-producing ranch in Yakima County and allows Kyler to graze his yearlings in the summer on his leased property in exchange for Kyler helping to manage his mother cows and calves. Field, once tied to the association office in Ellensburg, can now work from home as the new executive director of the Washington Cattle Feeders Association, a position he took in 2017. “I rely on him (Kyler) and his expertise, and we have a great, cooperative deal,” Field, 41, said. “Not only does Kyler cover for me if I’ve got to be on the road, but he
also applies his insights here on grass management and pasture planning. At times I pick his brain for what’s going to work better for all of us.” Field said he’s witnessed Kyler’s horse and cattle handling practices that aim to lessen the pressure and stress put on cattle when having to move them, making it easier for everyone. “Kyler has a focus that’s had an impact on other people, educating others in good stockman practices,” Field said. “He shows how you can work an animal to move by taking advantage of their natural herding instincts. He’s passing on these practices to others, and he’s modest as he does it. People look to him for help.” Field said he trusted Kyler’s skills in completely redoing his
corral system in a way to take advantage of those natural herd tendencies. “What took three or four people all day to move animals for doctoring or getting them into trucks or whatever now takes so much less time and stress on the cattle and fewer hands to do the work,” Field said. “At the end of the day you’re not exhausted and in a bad mood, too.” Kyler said it would be less stressful to work for someone else, but “no one that I worked for has the exact, same priorities I have, and if I’m the boss I set the priorities. “In my late 20s I had dreams of owning a big ranch somewhere,” Kyler continued. “Now I’m realizing how hard that’s going to be. My goal is to get my own place big enough to be self-sufficient.”
Kyler Beard mentors and teaches horsemanship and stockmanship skills at clinics in the region, with events focusing on more efficient and gentle and less-stress practices in working beef cattle from horseback and with trained ranch dogs. Wanting to keep the good ways alive, he is a founder of the Cowboy Traditions Ranch Roping Association, a nonprofit group that promotes quality roping, horsemanship, and stockmanship through competitions. The events are designed to showcase to the public a working cowboy’s daily skills. The association’s roping events feature friendly competition, upstanding credibility, and strong character, bringing all three together in a way to exhibit the best of the western lifestyle, according to the association.
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Living a family life on the ranch By MIKE JOHNSTON Special to the DAILY RECORD Kyler and Judy Beard share love of horses, riding and experiencing the outdoors together. Judy, daughter of Joe and Allie Schomer, was raised on the family’s farm in the Kittitas Valley where she learned a lot about daily hard work, riding, cattle and “chasing water.” She met Kyler at the Ellensburg Rodeo, and they’ve been married nine years. Judy helps out in the summertime moving cows, doctoring yearlings and vaccinating when she’s not teaching at Central Washington University. “We certainly have sympathy and empathy for all animals, nature and all things,” Judy said. “Kindness is important whether
working with people, babies or one another. We also appreciate the little things and value all life.” Her parents, Judy said, “continue to help us on a daily basis.” “I continue to be mentored by my parents, my mother-in-law, and any other ranch women out there,” Judy said. “Strong, smart women like Sandy Gress, Pat Shopbell, Marty Stingley, and the Mays women are my heroes. Of course, I’m missing many, and I apologize, but there are fabulous women in this valley.” Their daughter, Josie, 6, attends kindergarten at Kittitas Elementary School. She said she likes riding horses, the hardest part of ranch life is being afraid of bulls, and life is busy on a ranch. She would like to live on a ranch as an adult “because I love horses
and cows.”
The ranching life
Judy said most challenging part of ranching is working with cattle together with her husband and coordinating with him what needs to be done. Kyler mentioned the amount of capital required as a challenge. “Land is not getting cheaper or more abundant,” he said. “All the pickups, trailers, chutes, corrals, tractors, then you still need land and cattle. What has worked the best is buying undervalued cattle and improving them.” The job also is challenging because it requires skills in irrigation, bookkeeping, being a cowboy and a mechanic “if I absolutely have to,” although he hires a short-term/
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part-time person at the peak of the busiest times. There are rewards, too, he said. His favorite tasks are calving and straightening out fresh yearlings. (Straightening refers to nursing along yearling calves who have been separated from their mothers and have experienced a level of stress from this and transportation.) “Being able to handle the baby calves and keep the mother right and letting them back together after vaccination is really neat,” he said. “There is nothing cooler to me than taking a set of cattle that see you as a threat and being able to make them feel comfortable enough around you to show they are not feeling well or just being able to have them look to you for where to go instead of just running from you.”
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Years in the making
Shawn Gust / Yakima Herald-Republic
The Yakima River winds south of Union Gap. Federal legislation introduced in the House last November would authorize the initial development phase of the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan, a 30-year, $4 billion initiative to improve water resources throughout the region.
Projects on the horizon for Yakima Basin water plan
A
BY KARL HOLAPPA staff writer
s spring and summer gets closer to view, progress is being made in the current phase of the Yakima River basin integrated water management plan. Some projects are in full swing, while some are beginning to take shape.
The Washington State Legislature approved $31.1 million for the integrated water plan in January’s capital budget. The 30-year, $4 billion Yakima Basin integrated water plan calls for habitat improvement and water storage in Kittitas, Yakima and Benton counties. Fully implemented, it would add more surface water
storage capacity in the Yakima Basin, create fish passage at dams, acquire and protect private land and encourage water conservation Melissa Downes, technical and policy lead for the Columbia River office of the Washington Department of Ecology, said the funding will be spread out across seven elements: habitat, groundwater and
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surface water storage, conservation, market reallocation, and structural/ operational application. Downes said both environmental and economic enhancements such as agriculture and recreation come as a result of the planned work. “The integrated plan looks at it holistically,” Downes said. “Not one value is greater than the other. We’re
going to move it forward valuing all our interests in basin. We’re trying to make sure there are projects that are addressing fish, and at the same time projects that are addressing water supply so that everybody’s interest is met.” Two of the main projects Downes said are getting attention this spring and summer are related to fish passage at the Cle Elum reservoir, which received $9 million in funding from the capital budget, and the drought relief pumping project at Lake Kachess.
FISH PASSAGE PROJECT
The fish passage project at Cle Elum Dam is currently in the second of four phases. The second phase involves building what are called secant piles. These are concrete pilings placed in the ground to create a retaining wall around the area where a helix will be placed. The helix, the first of its kind in the world, will aid fish in their passage downstream from the reservoir to the Cle Elum River.
Richard Visser, project manager with the federal Bureau of Reclamation’s Yakima office, said the project began last year and the secants were finished in November. He says the project is ahead of schedule due to favorable winter weather. Visser said the next step is excavating the area from within the retaining wall, which began in November. Internal ribs to ensure structural soundness, called walers, have been installed. “We’ve completed three walers to date, and we should be installing the fourth waler starting (in March), so again were ahead of schedule,” Visser said. “We’re pretty sure we’ll be done with this (phase) by the end of the summer.” Visser said the third phase is to build the tunnel that connects the area where the helix will be contained, its path traveling under the dam to the Cle Elum River. He said this phase should start this month.
See Project, Page 16
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Projects Continued from Page 15
KACHESS PUMPING
The Kachess drought relief pumping project is currently in the environmental impact statement review stage, a process that
can take up to three years. In the meantime, a supplementary impact statement has been submitted that calls for the installment of a floating pump system in the lake that could access approximately 200,000 acre feet of water during years of extreme drought. The cost for the floating pump station is estimated at $200 million. A decision on the supplementary impact statement is expected by the end of the year. Scott Revell, manager for the Roza Irrigation District, said the 200,000 acre-feet of water would be drawn out of a total of 586,000 acre-feet of what’s called inactive storage. This water is below both the natural lake and the outlet in the dam. “Roza growers who have expressed opinion are solidly in favor of it,” Revell said. “Functionally, it would serve as drought insurance for them.”
Revell said multiple issues must be addressed during the permitting process. These include ecological, wildlife and recreational impacts, issues regarding well integrity for homes on the lake and potential property value impacts. Other issues include forestry management and fire protection. A group called the Friends of Lake Kachess has raised objections to the project several grounds, saying a pumping plant would not provide the amount of water predicted by the Bureau of Reclamation, would have a devastating impact on the lake and not be cost effective for farmers. Supporters of the integrated project have disagreed with the group’s analysis of the project. “We’ve tried very hard to listen to what the neighbors have had to say,” Revell said. “We’ve had meetings
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“That tunnel is where the fish will actually enter from the helix into the tunnel and they’ll be deposited into the river downstream of the dam,” Visser said. “That (phase) is underway now and should go for about two years.” Visser said the process to award the contract for the fourth phase is currently in progress. The fourth phase involves building the intake gate that connects the helix to the reservoir. “We hope to award that contract by the end of this summer,” Visser said. “That will allow us to potentially start construction before the year’s done.”
with them in various stages over a couple of years, so that’s an ongoing dialogue.” Revell said the timeliness of the impact review statement is crucial, due to the need to construct the pumping station while water levels are low. “Because were doing some construction in places that are often covered with water, you’ve got to time it right,” Revell said. “You have a narrow window to work in so they’ve got to get the pool far enough down in order to do the installation.” Revell said he is optimistic about the final outcome of the project, and hopes to alleviate the concerns of the residents who live on the reservoir with scientific research. “That’s one of the issues the neighbors have expressed, is if you take 200,000 acre-feet out, will it ever refill?” Revell said. “Our experts and those at the state and the federal government and the tribal governments have all said that it will.”
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Water in the West
Irrigators gather in Reno to address Klamath drought
By HOLLY DILLEMUTH Herald and News (Klamath Falls, Ore.)
Herald and News Photo
Klamath Basin irrigator Frank Hammerich listens to a response to his question from a panel of Bureau of Reclamation officials in February during the Family Farm Alliance annual conference in Reno, Nev.
RENO, Nev. — Klamath Basin irrigator Frank Hammerich was among the first to pitch a question to a panel of Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) staff in February at the Family Farm Alliance’s conference on water issues in the West. Standing up among the some 200 irrigators and ag people, Hammerich said he believes water storage in the Klamath Basin is a “good deal.” But he wanted to know how storage benefits the Klamath Basin when it butts up against the Endangered Species Act and fish protection. “The water just goes downstream, so what are we gaining?” Hammerich asked.
The conference, “What’s changed, and where are we going in Western Water?” organized by the alliance, featured BOR Commissioner Brenda Burman, as well as Kiel Weaver, assistant for policy to House Speaker Paul Ryan and David Bernhardt, deputy secretary to the Department of the Interior and Jessie DuBose, of Blue Zones Project Klamath Falls. Sessions addressing the Endangered Species Act and challenges irrigators face with the law, as well as an inside look into water issues at the federal level filled out the two-day conference at the Eldorado Resort Casino.
Drought’s consequences
A contingent of irrigators, including Klamath Basin resident Lynn Long, also met with BOR’s Burman, according to Long.
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“We are asking the commissioner to do everything in her power to alleviate the lack of irrigation deliveries to the Basin,” Long said. “If she can’t pull the water rabbit out of the hat, let’s look for some funding sources that can keep people on the land. “If you take the water away from agriculture, don’t make the farmer be the sole payer of that obligation,” Long added. Long is looking at a summer of drought for his and other farming operation, and the meeting gave him and others a space to share concerns and seek solutions. “We’re in a real pickle,” Long said, following one of the conference sessions. “We’re seeking every opportunity to find solutions, not only to endangered species issues but to continue viable agriculture in the Klamath Basin. “I believe circumstances are more dire as we look at 2018 (than 2001),” Long added. “All of the players involved in the issue know about 2001. There’s not much to be discov-
ered. The outcome that’s squarely in front of us — that’s no water.” (In 2001, water was shut off to the Project in deference for protecting endangered fish, sparking protests and the famous bucket brigade down Klamath Falls’ Main Street. While there’s an uneasy truce over water deliveries 17 years later, many issues remain unresolved).
added. “The desirability of owning a farm and ranch in the Klamath Basin … is unclear.” Burman declined comment on the meeting with irrigators or on issues related to the conference, but referred questions to Alan Mikkelsen, special adviser to Department of Interior’s Secretary Ryan Zinke.
Dire straits
A mixture of mandates
If irrigation water is limited or not available at all, Long said, his net worth will decline and leave his retirement account “diminished.” It’s Long’s first time at the conference, in part due to greater awareness of the Family Farm Alliance and its effectiveness at representing irrigators like him. “They allow me to have contact with the commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation,” Long said. “We, the everyday farmer, irrigator, rancher, we just don’t have contacts at high enough levels to be successful. “The future may be hazy,” Long
Federico Barajas, deputy regional director for the Mid-Pacific region of the BOR, addressed Klamath Basin issues related to drought during the morning session. “Klamath is a good example of a good partnership that we have in Reclamation with the regulatory agencies,” Barajas said. “We’re faced with many challenges in operating that facility and in the midst of us staying to those regulatory requirements, lake elevations, and then flow requirements, and court mandates.” Barajas addressed drought conditions saying not only are areas
experiencing dry weather, but it is also mixed with hot temperatures; a combination which concerns the BOR the most. “We don’t have a lot of storage capacity up in that Klamath Basin for us to be able to maximize our water deliveries,” Barajas said. “Right now we’re in the midst of trying to figure out what our initial water allocation is going to meet, and on top of our multiple water demands, we have now a court mandate for pulse flows and at the same time we need to keep the balance on lake elevations,” Barajas said. “We’re in for a very challenging year all around, with California, with the Klamath Basin,” Barajas added. “We’re trying to be as innovative as we can. “We’re trying to just stretch the water as much as we can,” he said. “We’re going to be working with many of you to continue to do that, to be as creative as we can to be able to maximize those water deliveries.”
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