By NACD Intern Katrina Vaitkus

In Oregon’s Wasco County, named after the Wascopam Indian tribe, water influences many aspects of life. Located within the White River Watershed, the county sits above many natural waterfalls. For the farmers there, traditional irrigation practices include flood irrigation and open ditch systems. These practices have caused many streams in the area to become seasonal, rather than perennial. However, many farmers, in conjunction with the Wasco County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), are working to change that.

Josh Thompson, senior conservation planner at the Wasco County SWCD, has been working with the district for 18 years, helping farmers implement conservation practices. In 2015, the district was awarded $1.6 million by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) through a Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) project titled the “White River Irrigation Efficiency and Stream Flow Restoration Project,” with a funding match of just under $2 million.

Thompson said that the primary concern addressed by the project was “insufficient water in streams due to inefficient use of water.” He hopes to one day completely remove open ditch irrigation systems, which are only 40-50 percent efficient. In these systems, Thompson says, “Half of the water taken out of the stream doesn’t even make it to the field.” The RCPP project created six areas of focus to address this concern. A few have already been completed, with the rest expected to be finished by the end of 2019.

“This project has been a success,” Thompson said. “Once we get all of the projects completed and see the cumulative impact, this will be quite a success story”. Thompson estimates that in total, the RCPP project will turn 20 miles of streams in the area back to perennial systems rather than seasonal.

However, this success has not come without challenges. “Pipe prices have almost doubled since the receipt of the funding,” Thompson said. This impacted their budget and caused the Wasco County SWCD to apply for extra funds and find new partners. The project was also affected by the shocking death of two of their participants, as well as farm succession changing the landowners involved. Because of these challenges, Thompson hopes that the flexibility of Environmental Quality Incentives Programs (EQIP) contracts will increase in the future. “You have one year to implement the projects (with RCPP),” he said. “With life happening and multiple parties involved, it sometimes takes longer!”

When asked about future plans regarding concerns about insufficient water, Thompson said that the district plans to keep working on projects similar to those done within the White River Irrigation Efficiency and Stream Flow Restoration Project. “We have more of a need for funding now for irrigation and conveyance efficiency,” Thompson said. “This project was a good model, and our next project will be easier.”