Water, water everywhere... ... but not a ramp to reach.Byline: Susan Palmer The Register-Guard There's nothing Jerry Valencia and his family like better than boating on the reservoirs in the south Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley (pronounced [wɪˈlæ.mɪt], with the accent on the second syllable) is the region in northwest Oregon in the United States that surrounds the Willamette River as it proceeds northward from its . That's why they moved to Lowell, with its easy access to Lookout Point, Fall Creek Fall Creek is the name of several places in the United States:
In Tioga County, Pennsylvania:
"We mainly water ski, wake board and knee board," Valencia said. "It's supposed to be a recreational paradise here." This season, it might become paradise lost. A drier than average winter and spring in Oregon mean the reservoirs started with less water. At the same time the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the flow, has been required to release more water to help juvenile steelhead - a species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act The federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) (16 U.S.C.A. §§ 1531 et seq.) was enacted to protect animal and plant species from extinction by preserving the ecosystems in which they survive and by providing programs for their conservation. - migrate out to the ocean. In the north, communities such as Corvallis, Salem and Portland are on average 5 inches below normal precipitation for the calendar year. Eugene is 11 inches below normal, and while state climatologist cli·ma·tol·o·gy n. The meteorological study of climates and their phenomena. cli  ma·to·log George
Taylor chalks up the local extreme to a funky rain gauge installed a
decade ago that skews the city's numbers, the fact is it's
been a dry year.
With just 65 percent to 75 percent of normal snowpack snow·pack n. An area of naturally formed, packed snow that usually melts during the warmer months. snowpack 1. , the Willamette Valley's reservoirs never quite filled up. Bottom line: There's more water flowing out of the reservoirs than is flowing into them, leaving some boat ramps high and dry. At Lookout Point, for example, only one of the four ramps is usable. At Hills Creek, only two of the three ramps are accessible. And levels are dropping fast as the amount of water flowing out of the reservoirs exceeds the amount flowing in. At Lookout Point, the average outflow on Sunday surpassed inflow by 1,630 cubic feet per second A cubic foot per second (also cfs, cusec and ft³/s) is an Imperial unit / U.S. customary unit volumetric flow rate, which is equivalent to a volume of 1 cubic foot flowing every second. . The only place where inflow exceeds outflow is at Detroit Lake on Highway 22 southeast of Salem, where state and federal agencies have decided that recreation trumps fish migration. There, all the boat docks are usable, according to the Army corps Web site. Valencia, who takes his family boating at least twice a week, shies shies 1 v. Third person singular present tense of shy1. n. Plural of shy1. away from Detroit because of the two-hour drive. He wishes the Army Corps of Engineers either would build longer boat ramps or plan better. He suggested that they consult the weather forecast in the annual Farmer's Almanac. But corps hydrologic engineer Mary Karen Scullion scul·lion n. A servant employed to do menial tasks in a kitchen. [Middle English sculyon, probably from Old French escouvillon, dishcloth, diminutive of escouve, said her agency consults daily with the meteorologists Atmospheric scientists
"We're watching the flow very closely," she said. The corps also consults with the state Department of Fish & Wildlife and the National Marine Fisheries Service The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is a United States federal agency. A division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Department of Commerce, NMFS is responsible for the stewardship and management of the nation's living marine , which are charged with overseeing the well-being of endangered wildlife. In spring, young steelhead 7 to 9 inches long make their way to the ocean after spending one or two years in the rivers where they hatched, said Jeff Ziller, a state fisheries biologist. Studies have shown that in years when the water in the Willamette River drops below a 15,000 cubic feet per second flow rate at a gauge located near Salem, the return of winter steelhead is abysmal, Ziller said. Since 2001, the state, the corps and other federal officials set a flow of 15,000 cfs for May. In June, the flow gradually decreases from 12,000 cfs to about 6,000 cfs by early July, Ziller said. Besides managing for fish, state and federal officials must keep a certain amount of water flowing in the river to dilute pollution from a variety of sources, Ziller said. While the reservoirs aren't in danger of emptying to their winter levels, Scullion acknowledged that the weather isn't helping remedy the problem. Intermittent showers predicted over the next few days will have little effect on reservoir levels. With the ground so dry, most of the water will probably soak into it, she said. Valencia appreciates the bind that the weather has created for water managers, but it doesn't make him any less frustrated. "Boats are pretty expensive," he said. "You have these payments, and you're surrounded by water. To not have anywhere to put your boat in, that's not right. How can you say that in Oregon we don't have enough rain?" CHECK WATER LEVELS The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lists the accessible boat ramps at its Oregon reservoirs online: www.nwd-wc.usace.army.mil/nwp/Reports/synopsis.out |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion