SFR Oregon Water shortage (NY Times)

Sorta fishing-related
Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting - Mark Twain was credited with this quote but I am not certain he was the source. It's never been more true than in the arid (and even not so arid) west. Having spent a fair amount of my career working with ranchers, water rights and fish friendly farming practices, it's all about compromises. I'm not at all up to speed about Deschutes County but I am guessing that agricultural water rights were probably among the first and are a high priority. It becomes a property rights/takings issue if a "right" is interfered with which is why purchasing water rights from willing sellers has been the preferred alternative for rededicating water for fish and wildlife purposes.

In California, the State Fish and Game Code which among many things, regulates and ensures adequate flows to support aquatic life is often in direct conflict with the California Water Code. Go figure...
 
Increasing idiocy is the cause of our bad fire seasons

In Washington 90% of wildfires are human caused
In Oregon. They claim 70%

It's not about dry conditions that we can't control. It's about people being stupid.

Most are from runaway debris fires.
 
Rob Allen said:
Increasing idiocy is the cause of our bad fire seasons

In Washington 90% of wildfires are human caused
In Oregon. They claim 70%

It's not about dry conditions that we can't control. It's about people being stupid.

Most are from runaway debris fires.
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in Deschutes county we've had an inordinate number of fires started at homeless encampments the past few years. In La Pine two years ago after the Sheriffs couldn't manage to do it, locals posse'd up and paid a visit to the encampment just east of town responsible for two fires and 'convinced' them it was time to disperse.
Aside from lightning strikes, every forest fire is man made.
 
Wenatchee is normal for rainfall this year.

We got .31 inches of rain today. So far, this year 3.18 inches of precipitation and only .15 inches behind normal.
 
goinoregon said:
the river is on the way down. if u will be using small cats or lite rafts - it should be ok with your timing. my alum. driftboat got a few new stripes on the bottom this past week.
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Yeah, we’ve got one big driftboat in the flotilla, so per the DNR guidance our floor is 1200 cfs. Unless we get a last minute inch of rain I don’t think we’re hitting that.

I know some will run it in a drift boat a little below the DNR recommended 1200 cfs, but we’ll probably stick to the guidance.
 
509 said:
That why I said precipitation. The 3.18 inches does include snowfall. Most of our precip does fall as snow.
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Well, you said rain twice, but precipitation(even snow) is still different than snowpack. If it snows but then gets warm rain, which happened a lot this year, you have precipitation but no snowpack. Not looking to argue but I think its an important distinction.

As for the man made fires thing, we had 2 large fires here in the Gorge this summer and both were caused by trains. Pure irony they were hauling oil and coal.
 
SurfnFish said:
Aside from lightning strikes, every forest fire is man made.
Click to expand...
Like clock work the Gorge continues to have train ignited fires every Summer. There's not anything average citizens can do about it. The railroads are unaccountable, untouchable, and have their own bully squad. Ask anyone involved in fire fighting about working near the tracks for an eye opener.
 
90% of all wildfires across the globe are caused by humans. . It is estimated that 85-90% of all wildfires in Washington State since 1960 have been human caused. The largest fire, Carlton Complex, was lightening caused. People cause fires, amongst other things, it's always been that way.

Assertions that people have gotten stupid lately and cause more fires don't seem to be borne out from what I read, as people have always been stupid, all across the globe.

Recency bias is real...
 
Right, the two fires merged...I remember that...
 
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