WACD Reading List

Wednesday and Thursday bring us another Fire Weather Watch and Red Flag Warning for all of Eastern Washington. We will experience very dry and windy conditions with winds 15-20 mph and some gusts up to 35 mph. Relative humidity will be as low as 10% in some areas. Expect temperatures to top out at 105 on Wednesday with blowing dust as well. Thursday will be slightly cooler, and the weekend will bring temperatures down to around 90 - very cool in comparison to what we've been used to.

Crews are battling several wildfires in Washington and Oregon as fire season gets underway, raising the fire preparedness level Wednesday to its highest level of 5. That means fire activity is extremely high and resources are extremely tight, and the Washington state Department of Natural Resources is working to bring in help from other parts of the country. The eight largest fires in Washington state have scorched 94,615 acres so far, according to the official Inciweb reporting system. That includes nearly 50,000 acres of state DNR protected land.

John Nohr, the fire chief for parts of Clark and Cowlitz counties in Washington state, was driving down Interstate 5 when another firefighter asked if he’d noticed the trees. Last month’s heat dome left trees across the Portland metro area, and much of the state, browning and dried up. With little moisture in the forecast, those stands of trees pose a risk of turning into major fires. A healthy tree can resist a small fire, Nohr said. But with dead needles all on one side, a fire could easily climb to the top of the tree. At that point, even green needles on the tree could not resist the heat, allowing the flames to spread and set other trees ablaze.

SALEM — The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission has again voted to grant endangered species protections for the marbled murrelet, a small seabird that nests in old-growth forests along the Pacific Coast. Environmental groups initially petitioned the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to “uplist” the marbled murrelet from threatened to endangered under the state Endangered Species Act in 2016, arguing the bird is in danger of going extinct.

Federal wildfire officials say eight major fires are burning more than 220,000 acres in Washington and Oregon. That doesn’t count several other fires burning in Idaho. The Northwest Interagency Coordinating Center says four of the region’s largest fires are in southern Oregon, including the largest, the Bootleg fire.

On July 6, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) designated 14 counties, mostly in Eastern Washington, as primary natural disaster areas. The declaration allows the Farm Service Agency (FSA) the ability to offer emergency loans to producers to help them replace essential equipment, inputs or the refinance of farm-related debts. Producers in 10 Washington counties that are contiguous to the primary counties are also eligible to apply for emergency loans. A federal drought designation is made when a county has a D2 (severe drought) conditions for eight weeks in a row or a D3 (extreme drought) conditions during the growing season. The primary counties are Adams, Asotin, Columbia, Franklin, Garfield, Grant, Kittitas, Klickitat, Lincoln, Spokane, Stevens, Walla Walla, Whitman and Yakima. The contiguous counties are Benton, Chelan, Douglas, Ferry, King, Lewis, Okanogan, Pend Oreille, Pierce and Skamania.

It begins with self-compassion and ends with contributing to the greater good.

The North Cascades Highway west of Winthrop is closing because of wildfire. Monday morning’s decision by the Washington Department of Transportation to close State Route 20 between mileposts 170 and 177 is expected to last at least through the end of the day. Pictures from the highway near the Early Winters campground show flames and smoke erupting from the forest.

Firefighters were working in extreme temperatures across the U.S. West and struggling to contain wildfires, the largest burning in California and Oregon, as another heat wave baked the region, straining power grids. The largest wildfire of the year in California — the Beckwourth Complex — was raging along the Nevada state line and has burned about 134 square miles as state regulators asked consumers to voluntarily “conserve as much electricity as possible” to avoid any outages starting Monday afternoon. In Oregon, the Bootleg Fire exploded to 224 square miles as it raced through heavy timber in the Fremont-Winema National Forest, near the Klamath County town of Sprague River. The fire disrupted service on three transmission lines providing up to 5,500 megawatts of electricity to neighboring California.

YAKIMA COUNTY -- As of 8:50 p.m. on Saturday, Yakima Valley Emergency Management has issued Level 2 and Level 3 Evacuations for the area north of Roza Hill Drive, East of North 57th Avenue, South of the Yakima Training Center, and along Chapman Road. Residents are advised to evacuate now or be ready to evacuate as the fire continues to move south towards Terrace Heights. Firefighters are working diligently to slow this fire down but weather conditions are working against them, according to emergency management.

Spokane keeps setting ominous weather records this year. The region in 2021 had its driest, and second hottest, Feb. 1 through July 10 stretch since record-keeping began in 1881, according to the National Weather Service. And the unwelcome weather isn’t letting up soon, with 100-degree days and no rain forecast this week. Wilson said 2021 has been one of the hottest, driest years in the region’s history. The stretch from Feb. 1 through July 10 has been the second hottest Spokane has ever seen, behind only 2015 – which was the worst wildfire year in state history. “Acres burned are mostly highly correlated to the summertime temperatures, so it’s not a good thing that we see temperatures of this magnitude,” Wilson said.

At more than 300 farms, Washington state accounts for a quarter of U.S. shellfish production — valued at $108 million in market sales — according to the Pacific Shellfish Institute. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife received at least six reports of shellfish die-off in Puget Sound waters after the record heat in late June, according to communications manager Ben Anderson. Some came from the public on recreational shellfish beaches and one from a grower. “The suspicion, obviously, is it’s related to the heat wave,” Anderson said. Like Macias, he noted the impact won’t be known for some time but said the department is actively monitoring potential fallout.

Klamath County sheriff’s deputies began handing out citations and issued a stern warning that they may start arresting people who refuse to follow evacuation orders as the intense Bootleg fire continues to burn national forestland and threaten several small southern Oregon towns. The wildfire grew to around 148,000 acres by Sunday afternoon after dangerous conditions Saturday prompted firefighters to pull back and move to safety zones. Crews were back on the fire lines Sunday.

PENDLETON (July 10, 2021) – Firefighters continue suppression efforts on the Green Ridge Fire, which has now burned approximately 143 acres on the Pomeroy Ranger District. The Green Ridge Fire, which is located approximately 30 miles east of Walla Walla, Washington, is comprised of two wildfires burning in steep, rugged terrain, consisting of mostly timber, grass and shrubs. Values at risk include structures in the area. Yesterday’s fire behavior consisted of active upslope runs, spotting and torching. Steep ground with rolling rocks and burning material is adding to fire growth and containment difficulties. Firefighters, aided by aerial resources, focused suppression efforts on protecting the values at risk and establishing containment lines to slow the spread of the fire.

CHILOQUIN — Two wildfires in southern Oregon doubled in size by Saturday morning, bringing widespread smoke across the southern half of the state. The Bootleg fire in Klamath County grew from 61 square miles on Friday to almost 119 square miles on Saturday in the Fremont-Winema National Forest and on private land.

ASOTIN, Wash. — Emergency first responders and fire crews from throughout Southeast Washington are combatting a string of wildfires that were caused by passing thunderstorms on Wednesday morning. According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture — Forest Service, authorities from the Pomeroy Ranger District are hard at work trying to contain wildfires across the Umatilla National Forest. As a result, authorities have closed Forest Service Road (FSR) 41, FSR 43 and, FSR 44 along with all trails within the closure. By this point, the Lick Creek Fire has burned over 2,600 acres of National Forest land. Now, that fire has converged with the Dry Gulch Fire, which began on Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) land nearby.

Experts hold little to no optimism about this year’s wheat harvest after droughts during the spring and summer, and the record heat wave, shriveled fields in the Inland Northwest. Glen Squires, CEO of the Washington Grain Commission, said he’s expecting winter wheat to be about 50 bushels per acre for Eastern Washington when the average tends to be about 70 bushels per acre. Harvesting has not started in the region, but some results have come in from farms in drier south-central Washington that start the process earlier. They’re not good.

Last week, a “thousand-year” heat wave baked the Pacific Northwest and adjacent British Columbia with widespread highs topping 100 degrees, resulting in a death toll in the hundreds. The Canadian province’s Lytton climbed to 121 degrees and established new national records three days in a row before the town burned in heat-intensified wildfires. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Friday that the heat wave helped the United States clinch its hottest June on record. Eight states had their hottest Junes, including Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah.

The Batterman Fire burning in Douglas County reduced to an estimated 14,100 acres with 80% containment as of Friday morning, according to the Northwest Incident Management Team mobilized to help fight the fire. Level 3, 2, 1 evacuation notices were issued for homes near the brush fire that started burning Sunday in Douglas County.

EPHRATA — Crews contained a roughly 150-acre brush fire northwest of Ephrata late last night. Grant County Fire District 13 reported making progress containing the lightning-caused fire with the help of a farmer and their tractor disc, according to a Fire District 13 Facebook post. Firefighters had “significantly reduced” the fire by the end of the night, reported the fire district.

LIND, Wash. — Washington State University researchers are assessing the losses after a wildfire burned a portion of the dryland research station. The fire started shortly before 11 a.m. June 27, east of Lind, about half a mile away from the station. It burned a total of 2,100 acres.

It is perhaps ironic that when cool, cloudy air floods western Washington as it did yesterday, winds surge in eastern Washington, leading to the potential of rapid wildfire growth.

It's been more than three weeks since Seattle had measurable rainfall, and the impacts are showing.

In 2015, extremely warm water combined with low stream flows. The Snake River sockeye run that year was supposed to break records. Instead, nearly 99% of the run died before it reached Idaho’s Sawtooth Valley. Improvements were also made to the system after 2015 to help temperatures at fish ladders. Idaho Fish and Game can also trap and haul sockeye captured at Lower Granite Dam to the Sawtooth Hatchery, when it deems the water is too warm.

Did you know that wildfire can affect forest soils? The effect of fire on trees, shrubs, and herbaceous (non-woody) plants are easily visible. It is not so easy, however, to see the effect wildfire has on the forest soil. There is more under your feet than what you see with the naked eye. Whole communities of organisms live in the soil contributing to the health of the forest itself.

STILLWATER, Okla. — Oklahoma State University researchers have received funding from the Environmental Protection Agency to examine how virtual fencing technology could improve the water quality and ecosystems of cattle grazing lands. The new EPA grant totaling more than $800,000 supports research on how GPS-enabled collars worn by cattle can help producers not only better manage grazing, but also improve water quality and other natural resources, such as wildlife habitat and soil health.

LYNDEN, Wash. — The raspberries growing high on the rows of vines Rolf Haugen has cultivated on his Lynden farm for 41 years should not look like this on July 5. “They’re sunburned and shriveled,” said Haugen, who says he has never seen such damage from the heat of a single day — June 28, when temperatures reached 108 degrees on his farm — and the highest in recorded history for Lynden.