Pepin Corso-Harris is a District No. 45 water user. She lives south of Bellevue.
By PEPIN CORSO-HARRIS
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a weed as "a plant that is not valued where it is growing and is usually of vigorous growth." For an irrigation district, cottonwood trees growing along its canals or ditches would fall into that category.
Idaho state laws task irrigation districts with the delivery of water rights. An irrigation district is termed negligent if it does not fulfill that responsibility. Cottonwoods along ditches are not a natural growth in the Bellevue Triangle because they wouldn't survive without the canals' water source to artificially sustain them. The skeletal remains of cottonwood trees along abandoned ditches can be seen up and down this entire valley.
Wood River Valley Irrigation District No. 45 is a "working" system. My family has had surface water delivered for crop irrigation by the district for more than 30 years. Its canals, ditches and laterals were authorized to be built, carry and deliver water rights to working farms in and around the Bellevue Triangle at the turn of the 20th century. They were not built to provide habitat and shade from vegetation that grows along its banks. The district's canals deliver the water that makes it possible for water-right holders, who pay water assessments for their water delivery, to grow the crops in the wide, open spaces south of Bellevue. Without this surface water delivery, the agriculture efforts in the south county will truly dry up and blow away.
As trees have been cut and ditch maintenance done, some property owners on the north end of the system have not been happy, while others tell of property damage from cottonwood trees falling on their buildings and vehicles and how they can't let the kids out in the yard on a windy day. They say they will be glad to see them gone.
With the valley's population explosion, more people are vying for this public resource. We've seen a stepped-up increase in illegal water use north of the District 45 system, which means there is less water for the system. Continued declining snowpack means less overall water in the river. There is a tremendous amount of delivery loss between where water is turned into the District 45 system and the field headgates, due to the gravel nature of the land. Add to that the University of Idaho's ag extension service info that on a hot, breezy day, one cottonwood can "evapotranspire" hundreds of gallons of water from a continuous water source and I'd say this might be a place to start making a difference. One may now understand why Twin Falls, Shoshone, Rupert and Burley irrigation ditches are grass.
Way back, when there was plenty of water and a fraction of the people, there was no need for extensive vegetation control along the District 45 banks. The water was reaching the water users. In today's world, I would guess that anything the irrigation district can do to help continue water delivery for as long into the season as possible will be sought.