From the Fields - Jim Morris

By Jim Morris, Siskiyou County farmer and rancher 

I have planted water conservation crops, including a perennial bluegrass for seed, which is new to our area. Plus, I’m doing carrots for seed that will be drip irrigated to conserve water. We also grow forage crops, such as alfalfa, small grains for forage and orchard grass.

I keep my own hay. Last year, when hay was very expensive and I could sell it—and it sold easily for a lot of money—I didn’t want to feed my better hay to my livestock. This year, I have lots of hay, and I’m glad I have livestock. Right now, I am lambing, and we’re just finishing calving, which is going well. The calves look good. Cattle prices are still strong. Prices on forage crops are less strong; demand is pretty weak.

We are forecasted to get some precipitation. It’s been a pretty dry fall. On the east side of Scott Valley, we’ve only had a couple inches of rain so far this year, but the forecast shows there is lots of precipitation coming. We were forecast for extreme cold, but it looks like it’s just going to be cold. What we’re really hoping for is a good snowpack, which is how our water supply is stored. Even if we get an exceptional rainfall year, we have good water in the spring, but that water doesn’t hold over well to the fall without snow.

Not having much of a snowpack is a concern for us. Maintaining river flow all year doesn’t naturally happen without snow. The solution would be adding different forms of water storage, such as more groundwater recharge.

The California State Water Resources Control Board last Friday proposed emergency regulations to establish minimum flows on the Scott and Shasta rivers, even though we don’t yet know what winter may bring. People outside our area are curious as to what’s happening, because if the regulations stick, I believe the state is going to adopt regulations in other watersheds.