Guest Comment: Thoughts on water quality and ag’s future

Published 10:58 am Monday, March 16, 2020

Grant County ranchers and the Department of Agriculture from Salem met at the airport a week ago to discuss water issues and water quality. Many good questions were asked by ranchers, and the Department of Agriculture answered many of them. There were about 70 or more ranching men and women attending, and the Department of Agriculture will be returning again in each of the next three years.

A concern that I realized was not addressed that should be a concern for all of us is about the unknown affects of climate change and if warmer winters are the new normal. Most ranchers attending have experienced 4-foot or greater snow packs and 20-30 degrees below zero temperatures over the last 50 years. We are all dependent on snow and rain at the higher elevations and in the national forest. If in 10 years we experience a 25% reduction in our 8-inch to 14-inch snow and rain, and in stream and river flows, can we adapt and prepare for how we raise crops and livestock? This change in weather may not happen, but I see the Forest Service and BLM in somewhat of a bind. Under forest health management there is a need to reduce fuels and open forest stands to reduce severe fire damage. If trees are spaced out and the slash and fuels are burned or removed and the forest soils lose the organic matter and their water holding capacity, springs and streams may dry up and we may lose the late season flows in the rivers. It seems that the hydrologists, silviculturists and soil people need to address this issue.

What concerns me most is that most of the ranchers, both men and women, attending this important meeting may not be ranching or farming 10 years from now in 2030. In a good year ranchers make money, and we buy things we need. In bad years we don’t make money, but our operating expenses remain the same, and paying those expenses contribute to the economic stability of Grant County.

What also concerns me is that a young couple with one or two children or a young man or woman who wants to ranch or farm can’t afford to buy a tractor, let alone a ranch or farm, and add to that the yearly operating costs. Without the 40 or 50 years of ranching/farming experience in both good and bad years that each one of us has and the knowledge of how to handle tough situations, it seems to me there needs to be a lot of thought to addressing this issue while we have all the valuable experience and know how that was in the room at the airport.

It’s hard to tell, but it’s possible that in 2030 our country may need many young men and women who are willing to work hard 10 or 12 hours a day outside in the fresh air, 12 months of the year.