Oviatt: Oregon’s Water Situation Concerning

The dry conditions across the Northwest are becoming more of a concern for farmers and the USDA a like. Scott Oviatt with NRCS-Oregon said while western Oregon saw some rain showers in late May and early June, locations east of the Cascades have been very dry all spring, and now into early summer. He noted that irrigation districts across the state are already starting to have curtailment conversations, and he expects those to intensify in the coming months. Oviatt added these dry conditions already impacting many Oregon crops.

“If you’re having an alfalfa cutting or hay cutting you’re going to be looking at minimal cuttings.  And the concerns with pasture and rangelands, there’s just a lack of soil moisture to support a lot of grazing, so there’s those concerns, and dryland wheat is a concern as well. So, all across the board there’s concerns across the state and across the region.”

Oviatt said 2021 started off with a lot of potential thanks to very healthy snowpacks over the winter. However, much of that snow melted very early, which he says is unfortunately a pattern that is becoming all too familiar to Northwest producers.

“In the last, you know, 5-10 years, we’re starting to encounter these situations more frequently where we have heavy precipitation and snowpack during the winter or even extreme events of precipitation, but then it immediately dries out and warms up so the benefits of having the above normal, above average snowpack and precipitation are quickly worn out by the hot temperatures and the dry conditions.”

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