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OVERCAST Temp: 51 °F Wind: WNW at 7 mph Wednesday, February 19, 2003 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend January 12, 2003 Anglers motor back to shore at Lost Creek Lake this week. Water levels in local reservoirs are at normal capacity for this time of year. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Not wet enough yet Lake levels rise, but no one’s willing to say the drought is done By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune Early winter storms that dumped thick snow on Southern Oregon mountains also helped recoup water in the region’s key reservoirs siphoned down during last year’s drought. But the generous snows and swelling lakes have yet to wash away the effects of the Rogue Valley’s 10-month dry spell. "We’re all starting to relax a little bit now," says Jim Pendleton of the Talent Irrigation District, which manages water in Hyatt, Howard Prairie and Emigrant lakes in southeastern Jackson County. "These storms have been really helpful, in terms of putting some water back in the lakes. But I’m not going to say that we’re out of (the drought). "Unless you have a better crystal ball than I have, I wouldn’t make that call." Though most reservoir levels still are hovering at less than 50 percent, water managers see the lakes more as half full than half empty. The region’s two largest reservoirs — Lost Creek and Applegate lakes — have risen enough the past few weeks to be back on their normal winter schedule just two months after dipping to their lowest levels in eight years. Lost Creek Lake has risen 8 feet since bottoming out Nov. 6 at a surface elevation of 1,808 feet above sea level. That’s 4 feet lower than the winter minimum called for in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ operating schedule. The corps began its annual filling of Lost Creek Lake, along the upper Rogue River near Trail, on schedule Jan. 1, and the lake’s outflows are adjusted to ensure it rises 4 inches a day. A similar scenario is playing out at Applegate Lake, the Corps’ smaller reservoir in southwestern Jackson County. The corps does not start filling the lake until Feb. 1, instead holding enough space available to capture runoff from storms that occasionally hammer the lake’s upper watershed. The filling schedules are the Corps’ way of getting its two lakes full by spring, providing enough stored water for the needs of fisheries, irrigation and recreation. "We had a lot of catching up to do and those storms we had really helped," says Jim Buck, who manages both reservoirs for the corps. "If we continue at this rate, I think we can fill." But the picture is less rosy on the county’s southeastern side, where the high Cascades reservoirs of Hyatt and Howard Prairie lakes — which feed TID irrigators through Emigrant Lake — remain below Pendleton’s comfort level. Howard Prairie, whose levels never rose above two-thirds full last year, remains at 30 percent. Nearby Hyatt Lake, about one-third the size of its sister reservoir, was at 39 percent this week. "I’d love to be able to see those at 50 percent now," Pendleton said. "But what we really need is snow. I hope all the precipitation that falls now falls as snow, not rain." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy webmaster feedback A D V E R T I S E R S