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“It’s just going to be extremely tough to make up for that amount of water that’s going to be missing out of the upper basin reservoirs.”

Some farmers blame their water issues entirely on the spotted frog. Matt Cyrus, the president of Deschutes County Farm Bureau, thinks irrigation districts would be doing much better without the conservation measures and attributes the ongoing water shortage to politics, rather than climatic conditions, though Giffin affirmed that the overlying reason for the shortages is the drought.

Because of the conservation plan, “There’s a lot of ground that’s just being dried up [in North Unit],” according to Cyrus, a sixth-generation farmer.

But Tod Heisler, a longtime river advocate who

worked to develop the conservation plan, said it’s “irresponsible” for farmers to blame their water issues entirely on the spotted frog. Water was over appropriated in the first place, he said, and has been inefficiently managed for 120 years.

“We work hard to get these tiny bits [of water back in the river],” he said. “The problem is that [the conservation plan] was a change.”

“We don’t want to see the river catastrophically devastated. We don’t want to see the frogs and the fish devastated. But we don’t want to see farmers go out of business either — because that’s how we all eat.”

—JOHANNA SYMONS Chris Casad, a first-generation farmer, co-owns a 360-acre farm in Madras.

Courtesy Cate Havstad

Finding the “perfect balance”

Everyone agrees that something needs to be done to address the water shortages — they just don’t all agree on what that something should be.

COID is currently in the midst of an elaborate canal piping project, helped by $30 million in federal funds. Up to 50% of water from canals in the region has historically seeped into the ground before it reaches the farms, according to experts, so piping the canals is aimed at getting farmers more water. This solution does come with trade-offs though: piping canals may mean less groundwater for residents who rely on wells. This large-scale piping project will also largely benefit water users in the irrigation district with the most water.

“It’s still a step in the right direction,” Heisler said. “But [irrigation districts] really need to work much more effectively out at the farms.”

These could mean more efficient sprinkler units and financial incentives to use less water. Many also support “water banks,” which could transfer water from people who have extra to those in need. A pilot program is currently underway, allowing Central Oregon Irrigation District patrons to sell their water to the North Unit, though participation numbers are low: Due to technicalities in the water rights system, patrons will only sell 90 acres of water, while the target was 1,200 acres.

The North Unit has also eyed the water in Lake Billy Chinook as a possible solution to its crisis, though critics say a project of that magnitude would be pricey and time-consuming.

“If we do find an alternative water source, [farmers] are going to be done anyway,” said JoHanna Symons, who co-owns a beef company in Madras. Due to the water shortage, Symons is only able to farm about 200 acres out of 1,100, she said.

That’s one reason why, in 2016, she and her husband started the organization, Perfect Balance USA, in order to give farmers like them a seat at the table and work toward “a common sense” solution, where farmers and frogs can both thrive.

“We don’t want to see the river catastrophically devastated,” Symons said. “We don’t want to see the frogs and the fish devastated. But we don’t want to see farmers go out of business either — because that’s how we all eat.”

A large part of the organization’s focus is on educating the public through tours of the farm and showing people where their food comes from. Though these efforts give her hope, Symons is tired of seeing her neighbors’ farms go under.

“A lot of the farms around here have been handed down from generations,” she said. “We’ve worked our whole lives to pay for the farmland and everything that we’ve gotten. The thought of losing absolutely everything — it’s just devastating.”

Cate Havstad-Casad supplements her family’s income from the farm with a hat company, Havstad Hat Co.

This story is the second part of a series exploring water shortages in Central Oregon. The first part focused on groundwater and residents seeing their wells go dry. The third part will focus on municipal water use and shed light on the region’s largest users.