Irrigation pivot near the Oregon sisters. Federal government cuts have stagnated spending on water infrastructure projects, such as irrigation pipes.
Amelia Templeton / OPB
As a longtime Oregon water manager, Jeremy Giffin has a lot of experience telling people what they don’t want to hear.
“I’ve been talking about water outlook for about 30 years now, and I have to say about 20 of them. That was really bad news,” Giffin said at the recent City Hall meeting of Central Oregon Irrigators in Redmond.
This year, he had far more varieh’s predictions to share with landowners and farmers starting to extract water from the Deschutes River System on April 1st.
Giffin found a March 19th leader meetup from most of the eight irrigated districts collectively diverting more than 90% of the Deschutes River flows over the summer.
Over the past decade, sustained droughts and recently implemented rules to protect endangered species species have led to reduced water availability for landowners. Even without irrigation detours, in 2022, the river had dipped to its lowest natural current since the state pursuit began in 1938.
The snowy wet winter promises that landowners and farmers will encourage this growing season.
“We’ve been waiting for this for years,” Giffin said. “The last time we were in this good shape, I had to go back 17 years ago.”
But they still weather the political uncertainty as some people with water rights celebrate an improved situation. Federal government cuts have stagnated spending on water infrastructure projects, such as irrigation pipes. Long delays could trigger a chain reaction that puts Jefferson County farms at risk with junior water rights.
The impact of dodges on water in Oregon
Since 2018, irrigation districts have worked together to win approximately $100 million in funding for water-saving projects.
Much of that money is intended to replace irrigation ditches from a century ago with larger pipes. The mission is to stop the water from returning to the ground or evaporating before it reaches the landowner with the most advanced water rights.
The water thus saved will be handed over to the junior water rights, farmers of Jefferson County. They stand up to the tranquil clock for the threat of federally at risk of species law enforcement.
Oregon spotted a frog in the swamp. Through a federal programme finalised in 2020, irrigators and the city of Puddingville in central Oregon have agreed to slowly tilt how much water is left in the river to benefit spotted frogs and fish.
Teal Water Strut / US Fish and Wildlife Service
Through the federal programme finalised by the Trump administration in 2020, central Oregon irrigators and the city of Puddingville have agreed to slowly raise the amount of water left in the river to benefit spotted frogs and fish.
The next major milestone in the habitat conservation plan is 2028. If the irrigator misses that mark, it could mean that there is far less water going to farmers in Jefferson County, the North Unit Irrigation District.
Federal cuts through the efficiency of the Elon Musk-led government could slow down irrigation projects that release preserved water on these farms.
Construction to pipe major canals in the Oregon Central Irrigation District. March 23rd, 2023. Some wonder whether the Trump administration will review water politics in drought-prone Oregon if the federal government stalls irrigation projects.
Kelly Humvee / Central Oregon Irrigation Area
“I have a $15 million grant so I can’t even reach the website, so I can even start asking for funds to repay. So I’m not literally starting a project because I can’t withdraw funds,” says Managing Director of the Central Oregon Irrigation District,
Coid has the most powerful water rights in the basin. This is a key player in a complex conservation plan aimed at handing water to North Unit Farmers.
He and other irrigation managers shared other examples that we don’t know where the major projects are currently standing, or how long they are behind. Still, Horrell said he remains positive.
“Whether you’re a ‘D’ or ‘r’, these projects are still important and good, no matter what side of the aisle you’re in. I believe that this administration will also be able to gain more funds in the future.
“I believe in Donald Trump”
In the town hall crowd, the Jefferson County farmers weren’t worried about the delay.
Gary Harris will turn the 600-acre farm in the North Unit Irrigation District into a farm. He hopes that his choice for the president can overturn the laws of the endangered species, and even inherits the politics of water in central Oregon.
“I believe in Donald Trump, I believe in America’s golden age,” Harris said.
Nearly 80, he is an established leader in the area’s agricultural community and proudly calls himself “Jefferson County’s oldest farmer.”
He was worried that the young farmer wouldn’t get the same opportunity he had. Harris was not the only irrigator in the crowd to wonder whether Trump could succeed in rolling laws for the endangered species.
“He asked for that for the first semester,” Harris said, “He didn’t get the job done.”
Harris believes that the endangered species laws have been misused to become a “blanket policy” targeting rural communities. However, changes to the law could also undermine political appetite for plumbing projects by removing pressure on irrigators and changing practices.
Farmers will check out the carrot seeds in the soil left in the combination while harvesting the North Unit Irrigation District of the field near Madras, Oregon on August 31, 2021.
Nathan Howard / AP
“The laws for endangered species were intended to save bald eagles, grizzly bears and wolves, and we turned it into an act of saving all species in the world,” he said.
During the questions at the City Hall meeting, someone asked his lawyer about David Filippi of the irrigation district if he needed to follow federal rules to protect the species.
“My advice to the district and the city of Princeville, and I’ll say it publicly, that we need to continue to adhere to it until the endangered species laws are actually repealed,” Filippi said.
