No one would call Bend and Central Oregon a “dry” area in
the libation sense with the region’s more than two dozen breweries, a few
distilleries and a national reputation as a “beer town.” But this year another dryness is raising concern.
More than in many recent years the coming Spring and
Summer regional snowpack high in the Cascades, and the ensuing seasonal runoff
to creeks and rivers, will be in the policy spotlight.
The concern is easy to explain. At the end of December
2014 the higher elevations snowpack in the Central Oregon Cascades was running
above normal. Then came January, with the Bend area enjoying Spring-like
conditions for most of the month following a frigid period of zero temperatures
and snow just before the New Year.
Balmy temperatures by mid-month, some nearly reaching 70,
resulted in green shoots emerging under normally dormant perennials. Golf
course parking lots filled up and usually popular cross-country ski areas on
the way to Mt. Bachelor were essentially not skiiable.
“The mountain” as locals refer to Bachelor has some of
the best conditions on the West Coast, although the bar has been set lower. As
of January’s close the snow base was running about half of a usual winter,
after a decent seasonal start that allowed skiers to hit the slopes before
Thanksgiving.
The latest SnoTel report from the US Natural Resources
Conservation Service notes that the water content of the snowpack in the Upper
and Lower Deschutes and Crooked River Basins of Central Oregon is less than 50%
of normal. And the snowpack itself as measured in inches was 28% as of January
29.
Taking as an example the SnoTel reading at Three Creeks
Meadow, an elevation of nearly 5,700
feet, the reading as of January 29 was 3.9 inches of snow water equivalent, or
only 32% of the median for that date.
Even less than the basin 28% of normal on the date was
the reading at the instrument on McKenzie Pass, at 4,770 feet, where the the water content was
only 24% of normal.
Even more drastic is the report of snowpacks in the
Klamath Basin of only 17% of normal and 18% in the Rogue-Umpqua. The Willamette
Valley report was 28% of normal.
The Klamath Basin has in most recent years been the focus
of disputes between irrigators, federal agencies and tribal interests over
balancing the allocation of water for irrigation and to support endangered fish
populations.
In Bend environmental groups have tried to halt the
city’s expansion of the Bridge Creek water project, arguing that surface
withdrawals from the Tumalo Creek watershed will adversely affect springs and
potentially harm fish. In approving the project, which runs across Forest
Service land, the opponents say the federal agency did not give adequate
consideration to climate change.
Central Oregon and the Cascades often catch up after lower early season snowpacks with heavier snowfalls in late Winter. But various agencies and stakeholders, including irrigators, are nervously watching weather forecasts given the unusual deficit thus far.
There's that old axiom of the West that goes, roughly, "Whiskey (or beer for that matter) is for drinking and water for fighting over." Any tussles over the precious resource has been in the courts to date, but the issues could top the discussion agenda this Spring and Summer.
Central Oregon and the Cascades often catch up after lower early season snowpacks with heavier snowfalls in late Winter. But various agencies and stakeholders, including irrigators, are nervously watching weather forecasts given the unusual deficit thus far.
There's that old axiom of the West that goes, roughly, "Whiskey (or beer for that matter) is for drinking and water for fighting over." Any tussles over the precious resource has been in the courts to date, but the issues could top the discussion agenda this Spring and Summer.
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| Reservoir levels as of Jan 29 2015 |
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| Three Creeks Meadow SNOTEL graph |
