SEQUIM — The snowpack has never been this low, as far as Gary Smith knows.
“In my experience, this is the worst snowpack that we have had,” said Smith, spokesman for the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Agricultural Water Users Association, in an interview.
In 2005, the snowpack was a little less than 50 percent.
“It’s currently at zero” for the Olympics, he said.
A special community forum to discuss drought conditions and options, especially in the Dungeness River watershed, is set from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. tonight (Thursday) at the Guy Cole Convention Center, 202 N. Blake Ave.
The free forum is sponsored by the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe and the Dungeness River Management Team and also includes the state Department of Ecology.
Snowpack is like a frozen reservoir for river basins, in a typical year accumulating over the winter and slowly melting through the spring and summer, providing a water supply for rivers and streams.
“This is the lowest snowpack year on record for the Dungeness basin,” said Amanda Cronin, a Washington Water Trust project manager and Olympic Peninsula native who will be one member of a panel discussing local measures to be taken.
“Snowpack supplies the majority of flow to the Dungeness river, especially during the summer,” Cronin said.
“The river supports irrigated agriculture across the valley and four species of salmon.”
Dry spells affect “the general quality of life in the Dungeness Valley, so an extreme drought year like we are having will have a big impact,” Cronin said.
This year’s runoff from snowmelt for the period of April through September is projected to be the lowest on record for the state in 64 years, according to Ecology.
Gov. Jay Inslee last Friday declared a statewide drought emergency.
Before Friday’s statewide declaration, the governor first declared drought emergencies in March for three regions of the state, including the Olympics, and later expanded the areas to include nearly half of Washington.
State agriculture officials estimated a loss of $1.2 billion in crops this year because of dry conditions.
And state wildfire managers expected blazes earlier than normal in the season and at higher elevations.
During tonight’s (Thursday’s) forum in Sequim, experts will discuss what the drought means for the community and what area residents can do to conserve water.
Experts scheduled to speak are:
■ Michael Gallagher and Jeff Marti of Ecology, who will provide a drought overview.
■ Scott Pattee of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, who will discuss the water supply outlook for the area.
■ Teresa Scott of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and Scott Chitwood of the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, who will discuss the impact of the drought on fish and wildlife.
■ Julie Knobel and Bryan Suslick of the state Department of Natural Resources, who will talk about the threat of wildfire during a drought.
■ Andrew Haner of the National Weather Service, who will address weather trends in the Pacific Northwest.
In addition to Cronin, the local panel will include:
■ Ben Smith of the Waters Users Association of Sequim, which is one of seven associations under the umbrella of the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Agricultural Water Users Association.
■ David Garlington, Sequim city engineer.
■ Tom Martin, Clallam County Public Utility District water and wastewater systems assistant superintendent.
■ Ginnie Stern, state Department of Health hydrogeologist.
Members of the irrigation ditch companies in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley are evaluating a draft drought-response plan, Gary Smith said.
When finished in a couple of weeks, the plan will define at what point irrigators should begin to cut back on water use, he said.
That point will be determined by Dungeness River flow, he added.
It will “comply with our minimum requirement of leaving at least 61.5 cubic feet per second in the river,” he said. “We will manage to that number.
“We are expected to have to close the ditches earlier than normal.”
Ditches usually are closed Sept. 15.
Once the water stops flowing, “crops will dry up,” Gary Smith said.
He didn’t know when that would happen.
“We haven’t had any experience with anything like this before,” he said.
“We have only guesses at when . . .we might have to stop withdrawing water.”
For information on the Ecology’s activities in regard to drought, see www.ecy.wa.gov/drought.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
Managing Editor/News Leah Leach contributed to this report.
