Staying at the Table: Representative Bruce Chandler on the History of the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan
The Yakima River near Union Gap, Washington.
W
ashington State Representative Bruce Chandler, whose 15th district is located in Yakima County, has extensive experience working with the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan (YBIP). He supported the passage of the 2013 bill that set the stage for the plan as it exists today. In this interview with Irrigation Leader Managing Editor Joshua Dill, Representative Chandler discusses the origin and development of the YBIP, its current status, and how the state legislature can help make it a success. Joshua Dill: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.
16 | IRRIGATION LEADER
Joshua Dill: What were the main legislative landmarks that brought the YBIP to its current state? Bruce Chandler: For the most part, the YBIP came out of litigation and objections, primarily from the Yakama Nation, regarding water for fish. There is a federal court case on the topic. The YBIP was an attempt to respond to those issues. I don’t think that anyone in the county or the basin really believed that it was going to work out. One of the things that did help it move forward was that the legislature, just a couple of years before, had managed to come to an agreement authorizing the support of a work group developing a plan for the Walla Walla basin in the southeastern corner of Washington State. That actually has had similar constituencies, but on much smaller scale. That success encouraged the people involved with the Yakima basin. I think it helped inspire a resolution that seriously addressed each party’s highest concerns.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE OFFICE OF BRUCE CHANDLER.
Bruce Chandler: I was hired as a laborer in an orchard up in Chelan County in north-central Washington in 1978–79. Since then, I’ve been in the fruit business. I had been living in the Puget Sound region, so it was quite a change. Over the years, I worked for several different orchards and became a manager of several orchards in north-central Washington. I submitted a bid to an orchard in Yakima County that had been defaulted back to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. For some reason, I was the only one who submitted a bid, so I got the orchard. That kept me nervous for years afterward! I’ve been in the fruit business for about 36 years. It’s been a great life and has been really good for my family. As my time in the
industry continued, it was only natural that I start paying more attention to politics and government and how they affect agriculture. Some people that I respected encouraged me to run when Jim Honeyford decided to move to the Washington State Senate. I was persuaded to go on the ballot and ended up being elected to the state legislature. Now I’ve been there for 21 years.
