Snow or no? Northwest’s water outlook gets murky with federal cuts

Federal cutbacks are threatening the Pacific Northwest’s ability to manage its water supplies and keep people safe from floods.

Agencies that keep tabs on Northwest rivers and snowpack have been shedding scientists under the Trump administration’s push to shrink the federal government.

Scientists and affected industries know, in almost real time, how the Northwest’s mountain snowpack is faring because of a network of 307 snow-monitoring stations scattered throughout the region’s higher elevations.

As of Tuesday morning, snowpack in Washington state was 20% below normal. In Oregon, it was 15% above normal.

“Snowpack is a natural reservoir and accounts for something like 50% of our total water supply in both states [Oregon and Washington],” said Oregon state climatologist Larry O’Neill.

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The Portland office that runs the Northwest’s network of remote snow-telemetry or SNOTEL sites has lost more than half its staff.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office in Portland has shrunken from a staff of 12 to just five. Three probationary employees were fired as part of a government-wide purge of newer employees, and a hiring freeze prevented filling four open positions, according to O’Neill.

He works closely with hydrologists in the conservation service’s Portland office.

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“They're just basically taking a hammer and smashing everything up, and maybe it'll decrease costs for a short time, but their service will be significantly degraded,” O’Neill said.

The SNOTEL network collects data on snowpack, mountain weather, and soil moisture at 178 sites in Oregon and 129 in Washington.

“This is the only existing mountain observing network with reliable measurements of this kind in the Pacific Northwest,” Oregon’s Legislative Water Caucus, a bipartisan group of state legislators, told Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins in a Feb. 28 letter urging her to restore funding for the snowpack network.

“That has traditionally been a government service,” John Stuhlmiller with the Washington State Water Resources Association, which represents the irrigation industry, said by email. “Knowing how much snow is on the ground and how much more precipitation can be expected is a critical planning tool.”

“We believe these cuts could have significant impacts on NRCS’ ability to monitor snowpack and water levels,” Washington Department of Ecology spokesperson Jimmy Norris said by email. “We’re very concerned that would affect our ability to protect Washington’s water supplies, which could threaten Washington’s multi-billion agricultural industry.”

O’Neill said the understaffed conservation service no longer has enough people to maintain high-tech snow gauges in remote locations. He said the hard-to-reach stations need to be repaired, re-calibrated, and have their antifreeze, solar panels, and batteries checked every year.

“Without any of this maintenance, basically the SNOTEL stations, one by one, by next winter will start dying,” he said.

U.S. Department of Agriculture spokespeople did not respond to interview requests.

In a statement to trade publication AgriPulse, a spokesperson said Agriculture Secretary Rollins "fully supports President Trump's directive to improve government, eliminate inefficiencies, and strengthen USDA's many services to the American people."

AgriPulse reports that many local Natural Resources Conservation Service offices have been “effectively shuttered.”

RELATED: Nearly 6,000 USDA workers fired by Trump ordered back to work for now

A federal appeals board on March 5 ordered nearly 6,000 fired Department of Agriculture employees to be reinstated for 45 days while an investigation into the legality of their firings continues.

Federal agencies including USDA are under Trump administration orders to come up with deeper staff reductions by March 13.

“They're very worried that they will lose quite a few more positions with that, which will make things a lot worse,” O’Neill said.

Flood forecasting takes a hit

Staff cutbacks and other restrictions have also hit other federal agencies that help local communities handle weather-related disasters such as floods and droughts.

At the Federal Emergency Management Agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, Trump administration officials have ordered employees to “eliminate all climate change activities and use of climate change terminology” by March 5.

By accelerating the atmosphere’s hydrological cycle of precipitation and evaporation, climate change amplifies the severity of both floods and droughts.

An internal Homeland Security list of forbidden terminology viewed by KUOW includes such terms as “climate adaptation,” “water conservation,” and “high performance buildings.”

The National Weather Service office that monitors Northwest rivers for flood and drought lost at least two hydrologists in the February purge of new employees, according to federal employees who asked to remain anonymous to avoid retribution.

The Northwest River Forecast Center website lists four of its eight hydrologist positions as “vacant.”

The Portland-based regional center, one of 13 nationwide, makes stream and river flow forecasts for the Pacific Northwest. When floods are imminent, the center issues forecasts for the height and timing of rivers overrunning their banks—information that can save lives.

On March 6, the center held its monthly water supply briefing for the Northwest. Senior hydrologist Amy Burke summarized snowpack, runoff, and water supplies for Washington, Oregon, and the entire Columbia River basin.

“Washington, for the most part, is projected to have lower than normal April through September volumes,” Burke told attendees.

“There are a lot of people who tune into our forecasts and into this briefing who are interested in the hydropower and the markets that it drives,” Burke said. “We also, of course, work to help folks in flood control.”

A reporter’s question about the impacts of staff cuts on the river forecast center’s services went unanswered.

“We are limited to answering questions about the content of the webinar,” Burke later emailed.

“Per long-standing practice, we are not discussing internal personnel and management matters,” National Weather Service spokesperson Susan Buchanan said by email in response to a KUOW interview request. “We continue to provide weather information, forecasts and warnings pursuant to our public safety mission. Should the NWRFC need to make service changes to account for staffing reductions, they will make a public announcement about the changes.”

Federal agencies including the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the parent agency of the National Weather Service, are under Trump administration orders to make deeper cuts by Thursday.

According to a former employee who requested anonymity to avoid retribution, NOAA managers have been told to eliminate at least 1,000 staff on top of the 1,200 or more employees who have left the agency voluntarily or otherwise since January.

In all, firings and resignations could total up to one-fifth of NOAA’s 12,000-person workforce.

National Weather Service director Ken Graham has scheduled an agency-wide virtual meeting on Thursday to discuss the severe turbulence the weather service is facing.