Uncommon drought emergency affects coastal Lincoln County

Earlier this month, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek declared a drought emergency in Lincoln, Gilliam and Douglas counties. In Lincoln County, low stream flows and dry conditions have greatly affected the coastal region. The declaration is uncommon there. We learn more about what it means from County Commissioner Kaety Jacobson.

The following transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer:

Dave Miller: From the Gert Boyle Studio at OPB, this is Think Out Loud. I’m Dave Miller. Last week, Governor Tina Kotek issued drought declarations for three Oregon counties. Gilliam County is in the dry, windswept Columbia plateau. Douglas County in Southwest Oregon has below average reservoir storage in the Rogue River basin. But the surprise for some people might be Lincoln County, which hugs the state’s central coast. It’s in sight of lots of salt water, but very thirsty for fresh water. Kaety Jacobson is a Lincoln County commissioner. She joins us now to talk about this declaration. Welcome to the show.

Kaety Jacobson: Thank you for having me.

Miller: How common were droughts in Lincoln County in the past?

Jacobson: Really not very common. I became a commissioner about 4.5 years ago, and about a year before that, the county had declared a drought. And that was the first one that anybody could remember. Some of our team that has been with the county a really long time, including our legal council at the time, had been at Lincoln County for 35 years, couldn’t remember ever declaring a drought. So they haven’t been that common in the past. But the last several years, we’ve declared three.

Miller: So obviously that first one was just the beginning of this terrible phrase, “the new normal.” What did happen in that first one?

Jacobson: Again, I was not a commissioner at the time, but it was actually a local farmer and agriculture producer that showed up during a regular board of commissioners meeting and provided public comment, and asked the commissioners to consider a drought declaration because he had both a blueberry farm and cattle, and was really struggling with having enough water for both and keeping his cattle alive. And a drought declaration by the county, that is the first step to him being able to switch his water rights around to be able to keep both things on his farm alive.

Miller: When did you start paying attention to this issue as a county commissioner?

Jacobson: Well, when I became a commissioner, this had just happened the summer before. So it was on everyone’s mind, especially because the county was very much scrambling. How do we declare a drought? When do we declare a drought? What paperwork do we use?

Miller: Literally the mechanics of how do we do the stuff that county commissioners in many other counties east of you are used to doing. You’re saying you just didn’t have that muscle memory?

Jacobson: Didn’t have the muscle memory because it was a muscle we never had to use. And so when I became a commissioner, it was very clear we needed a different kind of process to use. And being someone that absolutely believes in climate change, I knew that unfortunately, as you said, this probably is a new normal.

And so I set up to start a different process. And so we created an ad hoc drought committee made up of agriculture producers, forest landowners, industrial landowners, various state agencies like Oregon Department of Water Resources, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, as well as local water districts and water purveyors, so cities and water districts, that sort of thing. We meet very informally through the summer, usually every week or every two weeks, and just look at the data together. We look at a variety of different things put out by the state, put out by Farmers Almanac: river levels, river flow, rainfall, fire risk, all of that kind of stuff. And we kind of collectively decide when we think it’s time for me to carry this information to the larger board of commissioners for possible adoption of a drought.

Miller: And then what are those conversations like? You’ve done this a couple times since that first one. I’m wondering if those county commission level conversations have changed?

Jacobson: I think they have changed. This is my second one that I’ve done since being a commissioner. They’re always pretty easy conversations because unfortunately the data is pretty clear. We’re using data and river flows and information to make those decisions. So when it gets to the commission level, Commissioner Hall and Commissioner Miller [are] pretty smart people, so they can see the data just like I do. But I think we also all recognize that this is something we have to be on top of. This is something we need to get better at. This is something that is going to be an ongoing issue, and something that requires ongoing monitoring, and maybe even earlier and earlier.

This was something we kind of learned in this last process. We as a committee taking it to the larger board always waited till we felt like, “yeah, things are bad.” And what we’ve learned both talking to water resources but also other commissioners from other counties that, as you put it, have more muscle memory in this, actually declaring earlier might be better.

Miller: Why is that?

Jacobson: Because apparently it takes time. So we declared a while ago. It takes time for the governor to maybe adopt that. It takes time for people with water rights to go through the process of seeing if they can change those over. The process can be a little slow. And so the county is the first part of that process, so us starting earlier might be more helpful. And that’s a lesson we learned this year. I think the conversations at the commission level are always very good. And I think there’s recognition there, not just in declaring this particular drought, but recognition that we are gonna have to get better at doing this.

Miller: You mentioned that it was a rancher and blueberry farmer who first brought this to the county’s attention back in 2018. What else have you heard from county residents from your constituents about how they’re being impacted by ongoing drought?

Jacobson: Besides just the landowners and increased risk of fire, which back in 2020 Lincoln County had the Echo Mountain Fire which burned 300 homes in Lincoln County, wildfire is also one of those things we’re not super used to around here, and unfortunately part of our new normal. But a lot of comments from residents on recreation. We have several large rivers in Lincoln County. We have the Salmon River, the Yaquina, the Siletz, and the Alsea. Lots of summertime enjoyment around floating these rivers, and lots of comments that this year when people went to do their annual floating trip down the Siletz was more like a walking trip down the Siletz, because there just wasn’t enough water to float. So lots of that kind of information coming from community partners and from residents.

Miller: What will this drought declaration from the governor mean?

Jacobson: I think it means a few different things. For one, at a basic level, we at least feel seen. There’s kind of an emotional component as well that we are in a changing climate, things are getting really different here, the coast is drier, it’s not as wet as it used to be. And so for the governor to adopt that is kind of recognizing what we are all experiencing. There’s an importance just to that.

What it means for our residents, and what it means for agriculture producers and others kind of depends. So the drought in itself doesn’t mean that water curtailment has to happen. That’s up to each individual water provider, like cities or water districts. There are some voluntary curtailments already happening in Lincoln County. The city of Newport residents, there’s a little thing in your water bill that the county has declared a drought, we’re asking people to take curtailment measures. So what exactly happens next has a lot to do with what happens next in our environment with rainfall and that sort of thing. But it does provide some extra tools if needed.

Miller: I know that you have focused heavily on recovery from the Echo Mountain Fire. How is that going? I ask because all these issues are related, the chance of wildfires is greater because of climate change. Droughts are more likely because of climate change. How is that recovery going?

Jacobson: Well, thanks. I really appreciate the question because recovery is really, really hard and ongoing, and just kind of relentless, and super frustrating, and it just goes on and on and on, and nothing is fast enough. You always have people still unhoused to this day, three years later.

I do feel like we have had great progress. We have many of our homes rebuilt. We have additional housing projects that were funded by both state and federal dollars that are being constructed right now as we speak. So there certainly has been progress. But recovery is extremely challenging, not just to survivors, of course it is challenging to be a survivor, absolutely. But it’s also very hard on local governments, on long term recovery groups, on nonprofits, on counties and cities and those that are in the trenches trying to get the recovery process going and sustained. So, it’s been really long and really hard and we’re still not there yet.

But I find hope in the positive. We just were able to purchase a couple of homes and donate those homes to Habitat for Humanity, which has since picked wildfire survivor families to purchase those homes from Habitat. So it’s those types of things that keep us all going.

Miller: You mentioned it early on that you describe yourself as someone who “absolutely believes in climate change.” The implication, at least what I heard there, is a recognition that that’s not true for everybody. But I’m wondering if you get the sense that most residents there, most of your constituents, are on the same page about the changing risks that they’re now facing?

Jacobson: Yeah, absolutely. I would agree with that statement. The thing about increased drought or increased wildfire is that when those risks start actualizing and you see them, there’s kind of no doubting it anymore. When an entire community like Lincoln City is evacuated because of a wildfire and 300 homes burned down, it’s really hard to say “wildfire doesn’t happen here.” When the county has to declare a drought a couple of times in the last several years, it’s really difficult to say “we don’t have drought on the coast” because we do. Which is unfortunate. The thing I think that’s getting people to understand what is happening is what’s happening.

Miller: Kaety Jacobson, thanks very much for your time.

Jacobson: Thank you. Appreciate it.

Miller: Kaety Jacobson is one of the members of the Lincoln County commision.

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