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Methow Valley News June 3, 1999 Endangered
Species Coverage Ghosts of the past...clues to the future? 1971: The state Water Resource Act of 1971 establishes the principle of protecting water for the public benefit in Washington. 1976-77: The Methow Basin Plan, and the state administrative code, through WAC173-548, require that growth be accomplished through government planning. The basin plan, effective in 1977, does not affect existing water rights but sets aside 2 cubic feet per second appropriations in seven reaches of the Methow, with first priority for single family use and stock watering, followed by instream flow needs. Some citizens argue, however, the basin plan should be amended to encourage "cluster style" development with open space and group domestic water systems rather than single family platted projects with individual wells and septic systems. 1977: The state Department of Ecology closes the Methow River Basin to further water appropriation unless a permit applicant can show that adequate drinking water is available. 1982: The Okanogan County Comprehensive Plan regulating growth and development is adopted. June, 1983: A special program to protect groundwater in the Mazama area is adopted by the county as part of the 1982 county Comprehensive Plan. The Mazama area is targeted for attention as the result of anticipated development related to the proposed Early Winters Ski Area. After an appeal to the state Pollution Control Hearings Board the county and DOE agree to establish a "utility" to protect water in the Mazama area. The plan would include water monitoring devices. 1986: A Methow Water Monitoring Program (for Mazama): DOE order (DE 86-0289) requires the county to limit development that would generate domestic wastewater in the Mazama "planning area." November, 1986: The state Department of Ecology issues a moratorium on all new septic permits, building permits and subdivision of existing property until a groundwater protection plan is in place. February, 1987: The state Pollution Control Board grants an order lifting the DOE moratorium providing the county meets deadlines for establishing the Mazama groundwater protection system. October, 1987: The county creates the Mazama Water Quality Protection System by resolution, No. 11-87, and subsequently sells $250,000 in bonds for construction. December, 1987: The county sets rates for the monitoring system. Affected property owners subsequently form a citizens group and pursue legal action arguing that improved water quality will benefit the entire valley and should not be subsidized by one group. September, 1988 to January, 1990: MWQPS rate collections are suspended, then reinstated. The system includes 14 monitoring wells that began operation in January of 1990. February, 1990: Nearly 400 people pack the Winthrop Barn to discuss with DOE officials several proposed changes to the Methow Basin plan that would favor new public water supplies and promote "clustered" development over proliferating single family lots, each with individual septic systems and wells. March, 1990: DOE officials respond to a federal Fish & Wildlife manager’s request for a moratorium on new water withdrawals with the statement, "It has never been our intent to place a moratorium on new water use permits in the Methow Valley." June, 1990: DOE informs the Methow Valley Irrigation Ditch directors that the agency favors converting the ditch system to one made up of individual or community wells. Ditch chairman Ray Walsh is quoted in the Methow Valley News as saying members, "will not lose our legal priority with a conversion as proposed." Nine years later the issue is still being debated and is the subject of a lawsuit by members who oppose conversion to wells or enclosing the ditch. August, 1990: DOE officials say they have "definitive information" that "proves there is not enough water for any further development" in the Methow Valley without infringing on senior water rights. Okanogan County officials disagree with DOE’s opinion and continue issuing building permits. 1990:The so-called Chelan Agreement establishes the basis for creating "pilot" watershed planning efforts in the Methow and Dungeness-Quilcene basins. The agreement aims to establish a "collaborative" process to set water management policies and avoid water litigation. It intends to bring together government, business, environmental, agriculture, recreation and tribal interests in the basins. November, 1990: The Yakama Indian Nation representatives write county, DOE and Colville Confederated Tribe officials that the Yakamas’ goal is "long-term instream water resource management" to achieve gains in fish and wildlife habitat, "to their full productive capacity." The Yakamas argue that regulations, "must be changed to establish base (stream) flows that have a biological basis on fisheries needs." January, 1991: The Methow Regulation Review Advisory Committee recommends that DOE place a moratorium on drilling of new wells--except for upper reaches of the Methow River including the Mazama area. MRRAC also recommends Okanogan County stop issuing building permits and not approve new plat applications and requests for planned unit developments. January, 1991: The Methow Valley Ground Water Advisory Committee, formed by the county and DOE in 1988, passes a resolution opposing the MRRAC vote for a moratorium. January, 1991: The state Department of Ecology enforces the 1977 basin plan with announcement of an "emergency rule" (AO#: 91-07) closing 30 Methow Valley basins to "future building and well drilling." DOE says the rule is necessary to protect existing water rights and instream resources in the closed areas. January, 1991: The county commissioners follow the DOE’s "emergency rule" action in a separate announcement that the county will not issue building permits in the closed basins unless an applicant can show proof of available drinking water. March, 1991: DOE issues "guidelines for new domestic water supply development" for property owners in affected closed basins. April 1, 1991: The Yakama Indian Nation tribal council informs the county and DOE that the tribe will seek "cooperative solutions rather than...legal remedies," if "good faith efforts" continue to be made to address "serious water resource issues in the Methow River drainage..an important spawning and production area for the Columbia River salmon.." April, 1991: The concept of a "Pilot Planning Project" for the Methow Basin is presented to local residents in a presentation by Frank Gaffney of Northwest Renewable Resources. Gaffney says the project would follow the spirit of the Chelan Agreement of 1990, which attempts to set guidelines for state water management and to resolve water issues outside the courtroom. Gaffney tells residents that the Methow was "nominated" by Carlton residents Lee Bernheisel and Lucy Reid, later to become principals in the Okanogan Wilderness League. OWL has in years since then filed suit on numerous water issues in attempts to stop local developments. May, 1991: Saying "enough is enough," Methow Valley contractor Ernie Chenel presents county commissioners with a petition signed by nearly 450 (which later grows to 650) residents who oppose the county’s participation in the Pilot Planning Project. Chenel predicts that competing interests would likely mean that water issues end up in court anyway. May 1991: More than 200 people gather at the Winthrop Barn to discuss the Pilot Planning Project with DOE director Christine Gregoire. Residents are told the pilot project could involve more than eight "caucuses" of special interest groups and that decisions would be made by consensus. DOE would review recommendations and either accept or reject them. Gregoire, now the state Attorney General, told those attending, "Government is not the best decision maker for the Methow Valley." Water decisions have traditionally been made in Olympia, Gregoire said, and the pilot project would be a way to increase local input. May 23, 1991: County commissioners decide to participate in the Pilot Planning Project, while acknowledging considerable negative sentiment and opposition to participation. "This is our best alternative," says commissioner Boyd Walton. "If we don’t plan for water uses and conservation, the DOE will act in its enforcement role and local citizens will lose the chance to participate." July, 1991: The pilot planning project kicks off with a public meeting in Twisp. Initial caucus members include mayors of Winthrop and Twisp and a county commissioner. Contractor Ernie Chenel, who tried to head off formation of the project, is named as the business caucus representative. October 2, 1991 The county’s (then) civil deputy prosecuting attorney advises county commissioners that the county legal office believes that DOE’s assertion that some areas and reaches of the Methow Valley drainage, "are over appropriated, are based on faulty assumptions. Chief among them is that all exempt wells produce 5,000 (gallons) per day. In fact research shows that individual domestic wells use, on an average, less than 1/10 of that amount. The county attorney also argued that another "faulty assumption, the county believes, is that all use is consumptive, whereas most domestically used water returns to the acquifer." December, 1991: The pilot planning committee meets for more than four hours to discuss administrative matters including hiring a project coordinator. May, 1992: Concern is raised over possible overlapping efforts of the ground water advisory committee, established in 1988, and the new pilot planning committee. Both committees are working under 1993 deadlines. GWAC members concentrate on water conservation measures and the pilot committee considers raising the priorities for group domestic water systems. April 19, 1993: A report from EMCON Northwest, a Spokane engineering firm, informed the Okanogan County Department of Public Works that "Area development has not..progressed as rapidly as was envisioned during the past two decades..and that given the rate of development, it would appear that operation of the water monitoring system at its present level would not be necessary." to comply with the DOE/County stipulated agreement. The firm, however, noted that compliance with the agreement would require the completion of the Mazama Wastewater Facilities Plan and continued but reduced frequency of monitoring existing monitoring wells. April 1993: The state Supreme Court upholds a lower court decision denying a claim of the Yakama Indian Nation for a larger share of water in the Yakima River and its tributaries. January, 1994: The pilot planning committee submits recommendations to DOE, some of them requiring new or amended state legislation. Ecology begins the rule- making procedure to implement recommendations. The centerpiece of the pilot planning committee’s report is a "water bank" to feature mostly agricultural water conservation. The report recommends lining irrigation ditches or enclosing with pipe, on-site irrigation improvements, conversion from ditch irrigation to groundwater irrigation from wells, and converting seasonal irrigation to year-round domestic rights. January,1994-January, 1996: Ecology and the state legislature enter into a long-running debate over whether the agency has the authority to make rule changes related to the pilot planning committee’s recommendations. A briefing report concludes: "The (pilot) planning committee, having worked on this project for over five years now, is somewhat disgruntled over seeing no tangible changes resulting from their efforts. To them, the thought of continuing their efforts for a Habitat Conservation Plan seem futile, given the inaction by the state agency and legislature over their current work." July, 1994: Through efforts of the pilot planning committee, DOE issues an emergency rule effective for 120 days that gives group domestic water systems the same permitting consideration as single family wells. March, 1995: The GWAC and pilot plannaing committees reach apparent agreement that in-house domestic water use will not be restricted in new water plans. 1995 Under pressure from Yakama Nation, the Methow Valley Irrigation Ditch board of directors considers measures to enclose the deteriorating irrigation channel and to downsize the 360 member district. About $4 million in funds from the Bonneville Power Administration, Yakamas and the state could be available. The plan is opposed by some members who later organize as Methow Valley Canal Associates. March, 1996: A status report of an Olympia consulting group concludes "the opportunity is upon us" to build support for the new basin plan and water rule. "Or we can choose not to and risk continuing conflict and uncertainty about water usage in the Valley." The report cites the "parallel existence" of two water planning groups, the pilot planning committee and groundwater advisory committee, acknowledging there has been "limited communications..in the past." The report says the separate committees should "come to the same table and shift their discussions toward developing a common understanding of the revised water management plan." May, 1996: After nearly four years of effort, members of the pilot planning committee conclude the prospects of legislative funding and implementation are slim.The final report calls for a "water bank," fish habitat improvements and greater instream flows for fish. As if to signal an open ended and uncertain future for water planning, the final newsletter of the Pilot Planning Committee is undated. July 25, 1996: Dissident ditch members file suite in Okanogan Superior Court to force the MVID membership to complete an environmental impact statement for the project. August, 1997: The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) lists the steelhead trout as endangered under the 1973 Endangered Species Act, affecting mostly sport fishing for this ocean-run rainbow trout species, but setting in motion potential new water regulations for the Upper Columbia River and its tributaries, including the Methow basin. December, 1997: Twisp officials call "ludicrous" a state Supreme Court decision that cuts town water rights in half.The court ruling came on a lengthy appeal by Lee Bernheisel and Lucy Reid of the Okanogan Wilderness League of a 1993 DOE decision granting a water diversion change.The decision leaves in doubt the proposed Twisp industrial park and prompts town officials to seek relief from the state legislature. 1998: NMFS lists the bullhead trout as "threatened" in the Methow basin and other Columbia River tributaries. August, 1998: Under threats from DOE of a potential water permit moratorium in the Methow Valley, and the specter of NMFS intervention regarding endangered fish, county commissioners sign a memorandum of agreement with DOE addressing water issues. The MOA calls for a new watershed planning unit, measures to create a "water bank" to deposit unused water rights and renewed water conservation programs September, 1998: Okanogan County hires Dennis Beich, a former DOE water manager, to head the county’s new water resources department and guide watershed planning efforts. December, 1998: A Wenatchee engineering firm presents a draft sewer plan for the Mazama area that would establish some of the highest standards in the world for nitrate concentrations in groundwater. Estimated costs for installation of new septic systems to meet the standards range up to $10,000. January, 1999: The "initiating government" members of the watershed planning unit agree to expand the unit to include representatives of various Methow River sub-basins. With special interest caucuses, the unit will have more than 25 members. January, 1999: The state Supreme Court generally favors developers of Wilson Ranch in a ruling on earlier water decisions by the state Department of Ecology.The DOE decisions had been challenged by the Okanogan Wilderness League and the late rancher Aaron Burkhart. March, 1999: About 200 people attend the organizing session for the new watershed planning unit. NMFS water analyst Mike Grady warns that federal agencies could intervene if local efforts to protect and conserve ESA listed fish are believed to be inadequate. March, 1999: NMFS lists the spring run Chinook salmon as endangered in the Upper Columbia Basin, along with adding eight other salmon species in the Northwest to the ESA roster, spurring salmon recovery debates and legislative proposals, and creation of a gubernatorial task force. Spring, 1999: The county watershed planning unit expands to more than two dozen members and begins drafting rules for a "water bank" aimed at conserving water for fish while making it available for agriculture and economic growth. May, 1999: NMFS informs the Forest Service that many irrigation ditches and stream diversions on Forest Service land need improvements. Some are shut down and then allowed to re-open after "7d determinations," a federal agency consultation process required under the ESA. Others face more severe problems, including the Wolf Creek Reclamation District which feeds Patterson Lake and is the source of water for the area’s largest employer, Sun Mountain Lodge. Opinion | Sports |
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