Norman Semanko: Practicing Water Law in the Pacific Northwest
Norman Semanko brings more than 30 years of experience with water resources and regulatory issues to his work as the water law practice group leader in the Pacific Northwest Region for Parsons Behle & Latimer. Irrigation Leader spoke with him about his work representing irrigation districts and canal companies in the complex practice of modern water law.
Volume 13 Issue 5 May Washington State Edition
By Kris Polly For this month’s cover story, we speak with Norman Semanko, who brings more than 30 years of experience with water resources and regulatory issues to his work as the water law practice group leader in the Pacific Northwest Region for Parsons Behle & Latimer. He tells us about his work and the trends affecting irrigated agriculture, irrigation districts, and canal companies today. We also learn about several new developments in horticulture. First, we speak with Mathias Levarek, the CEO of Agrotonomy, which manufactures aeroponic tower farms that drizzle plant roots with nutrients and water. Next, we speak with Dr. Trentee Bush, Jill Heemstra, and Richard M. Wright…
Volume 13 Issue 4 April Washington State Edition
By Kris Polly The success and flourishing of an irrigation district depend on many things—weather, funding, upkeep, modernization, and planning, for instance—but perhaps no factor counts as much as does a good manager. A manager must know their district’s distinctive characteristics and challenges, their employees, and their board. And they must have a clear vision of the future and what it will take to bring their district success. This month, we bring you our first Managers Issue since January 2020. In this issue, we interview 21 managers, hailing from across the western United States and even across the world, about their top issues, their training and safety programs, the lessons…
Volume 13 Issue 3 March Washington State Edition
By Kris Polly While this magazine often focuses on central Washington, east of the Cascades, there is also important irrigated agriculture to the west. This month, we speak with Jenna Friebel, the executive director of the Skagit County Drainage and Irrigation Districts Consortium, about how her agency helps support the 12 special purpose districts that provide dike, drainage, and irrigation improvements to growers in Skagit County. This month, we are also pleased to bring you an interview with the 24th commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, Camille Calimlim Touton. Ms. Touton is from Nevada and is a well-known friend of the western water community. She has many years of experience…
Volume 13 Issue 2 February Washington State Edition
By Kris Polly Anna Franz is a Moses Lake–based attorney with a family-farm background and long experience in water law and municipal law, including significant work with irrigation district clients and work as a young attorney with the great Richard Lemargie. In our cover story, she tells us about her background, her current work, and the trends she expects to affect irrigation districts in the future. This year, Nebraska’s national resources districts (NRDs) are celebrating a half-century of achievements in soil and water conservation work with open houses, events, and more, as we learn in our cover interview with Dean Edson, the executive director of the Nebraska Association of Resources…
Futurewise: Enabling Development While Conserving Agricultural Land and Water
Washington State’s population is growing, and a significant part of that growth is occurring in exurban areas where it threatens agricultural land and animal habitats. Futurewise is a Washington State–based organization that focuses on enabling sustainable community development while also protecting the state’s land and water resources. It advocates for long-term development plans and smart laws and regulations that will allow residential and commercial growth to coexist with agriculture. In this interview, Alison Cable and Tim Trohimovich tell us about Futurewise’s origins and current work.
Alex McGregor: An Advocate for Irrigated Ag Informed by 140 Years of Family History
Alex McGregor’s family has been involved in agriculture in the inland Northwest for 140 years. That means that the McGregors have seen central Washington transformed from a dusty wasteland to one of the nation’s most productive farmlands. Meanwhile, they founded the McGregor Land and Livestock Company and the McGregor Company, which provides agronomic supplies and experience to 2,000 farm families in the Northwest. Mr. McGregor has also worked intensively with the Columbia Basin Development League (CBDL) and other stakeholders to support the full development of the Columbia Basin Project (CBP) through the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Project (OGWRP) and to promote Washington’s irrigated agriculture and the many livelihoods it supports.
Volume 13 Issue 1 January Washington State Edition
By Kris Polly Alex McGregor is the chairman of the McGregor Company, a multigenerational agronomic supply company that provides materials and experience to 2,000 farm families in the Northwest. He is a tireless advocate for Washington State’s irrigated agriculture as well as being a tremendous storyteller. I know you will enjoy this month’s cover interview, in which Mr. McGregor tells us about his 140 years of family history in the region and his work today. In this issue, we also talk to a number of Nebraska water professionals. Nebraska-based water lawyer Tom Wilmoth is also a cofounder of Zipline Brewing, which has created 36 jobs with its brewery in Lincoln…
Whooshh Innovations’ Proposal for Fish Passage on the Lower Snake River
Whooshh Innovations, based in Washington State, manufactures innovative fish passage structures that safely move migratory fish through tubes over dams in seconds, rather than the hours or days required by conventional fish ladders. In response to recent multibillion dollar proposals to breach four dams on the lower Snake River, Whooshh has countered with a $67 million plan to install its Passage Portal systems at the dams instead. In this interview, Whooshh Cofounder and CEO Vince Bryan tells us about how Whooshh’s proposal stands to protect fish and free up water while preserving hydropower on the Snake River.
Volume 12 Issue 10 Nov/Dec Washington State Edition
By Kris Polly Since 2011, the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District (ECBID) has played a major role in implementing the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Project (OGWRP), an initiative to build out the Columbia Basin Project to its full dimensions and bring surface water to the Odessa subarea, where groundwater pumping has begun to seriously deplete the local aquifer. In this month’s cover story, we interview ECBID Secretary-Manager Craig Simpson about progress on OGWRP. In the Southwest, long-term drought in the Colorado basin is starting to bite, with automatic cuts in water deliveries kicking in after August’s tier 1 shortage declaration. To learn more, we speak with Tom Buschatzke, the director of…
