It’s
not only Mt. Bachelor, Hoodoo and their eager skiers nervously hoping for a
good snow year. The region’s agricultural industry could be looking at another
tense growing season in 2019 if the white stuff doesn’t materialize in
sufficient depth this winter.
On
the morning of Nov. 6 Mt. Bachelor posted an election day “red, white and blue”
go vote message with a photo of the a painted lift chair, a few inches of new
snow and clear blue skies. Thus far, though, the light dustings of the past week
are fading away with sunny days, no precipitation in sight and temperatures in
the 40s and 50s.
And
the long term forecast for Bend calls for more sun and 50s during the day,
although nightime temperatures wlll be mostly freezing and perhaps dipping
briefly into the high teens.
A
look at the drought map for Oregon as reported by the Natural Resources
Conservation Service is not encouraging for farmers and ranchers whose
livelihoods depend on irrigating their crops.
As
of Oct. 30, the NRCS map released Nov. 1 showed 33.65% of Oregon in extreme drought, including all of
Deschutes County and up to half or more of Jefferson County to the north and
Crook to the east. The remaining area of those counties were in severe drought.
Last
year on Oct 31, the NRCS reported that no counties of Oregon suffered from
extreme or severe drought and only 40.44% of the state was even abnormally dry—against
all the state this year.
On
Sept. 24 at the start of the “water year,” 31.62% of the state was in extreme
drought. That benchmark is important as a general forecast of the formidable
challenge ahead if the region is to have enough snowpack to feed the Deschutes
and its tributaries, and in turn the reservoirs that store irrigation water.
Wickiup
Reservoir, the largest impoundment in the Deschutes basin serving the North
Unit Irrigation District, reached its lowest level in a half century as the
season ended this Fall. As of Nov. 5 the reservoir, which stores water for the most
agricultural acreage in all of Central Oregon, was only 15% full.
Crane
Prairie, above Wickiup on the Upper Deschutes River, which holds water for the
Central Oregon Irrigation District, was at 64% and Prineville Reservoir on the
Crooked River, 35% full.
Wickup
held 30,859 acre feet of water in early November this year, more than 71% below
the 108,052 acre feet in November 2017 and 66% below the historic average of
91,876 acre feet. Each acre foot covers an acre of land to a depth of one foot.
