Drought officially over in Scott River watershed, yet emergency regulation remains--Local farmers and ranchers still required to give up 30% of groundwater

Contact: Theodora Johnson, Scott Valley Agriculture Water Alliance (AgWA) – theo@scottvalleyagwa.org - (530) 598-3081

Siskiyou County, CA (May 12, 2023)—The Scott River watershed is officially no longer in drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Local family farmers and ranchers are asking Governor Gavin Newsom to rescind the Emergency Drought proclamation for the area, which is driving severe irrigation water restrictions for local agriculture.

Yesterday, the Drought Monitor released its updated map, which shows that Scott Valley and the majority of Siskiyou County are no longer considered to be in drought. Yet, the Valley’s small family farmers and ranchers are still being required to give up 30 percent of their irrigation groundwater in order to avoid a 100 percent shut-off this summer. The regulation, put in place by the State Water Resources Control Board, even places restrictions on how much livestock are allowed to drink during curtailments.

“In a good water year such as this, it’s senseless to have this extreme regulation still in place for our small, multi-generational ranches,” said Theodora Johnson, spokesperson for a local grassroots communication group, Scott Valley Agriculture Water Alliance. “There is no longer a ‘drought emergency’ in the Scott River watershed.”

Johnson said the regulation began in September of 2021, after Governor Newsom issued the Emergency Drought proclamation in May of that year. In March of this year, Newsom dropped the emergency drought proclamation for all areas in the state except the Klamath River watershed (including the Scott) and the Colorado River Basin.

Now, drought conditions have subsided in the lower Klamath watershed. Indeed, in the Scott River watershed—a major tributary to the Klamath—water conditions are very good. May 1 snowpack surveys for the Scott show 168 percent of average for snow water equivalence. Precipitation to date in Callahan (at the head of Scott Valley) is at 161 percent. Fort Jones (lower in the valley) is at 95 percent. The Scott River runoff forecast for April through July 2023 is 177 percent of average.

Johnson said Scott Valley agriculture is getting harsher treatment than anywhere else in the state, despite the Valley’s having a stable aquifer that is not overdrafted. And, local coho salmon populations have been on an upward, healthy trend for the past 20 years—even over the past three drought years.

“We know we need to take care of our fish and our aquifer. We want the State to give us a chance to pursue local, voluntary solutions,” Johnson said. “Scott Valley has a history of coming up with ways to safeguard our environment and rural lifestyle. But we may not survive this regulation in order to pursue those solutions. If the State wants to come across as ‘reasonable,’ it must retract this regulation on good water years such as this.”