These drive-by photos from the State of Idaho, taken on the same day … and within not very many miles … illustrate what water (here in the form of irrigation) can do. Or perhaps better stated, what farmers cannot do when they lack it.
I don't know much of anything about the politics or ecology of water and irrigation, but it is always a marvel to see how irrigation turns acres of sagebrush into acres of useable farmland.
Water, or the shortage of it, is on our minds now that we have arrived at our summer destination. Our RV Park is on a reservoir which is primarily used for flood-control and farmland irrigation. Recreation on the Lake is (as it should be) a secondary purpose.
Early last Spring (way before we got here) there were heavy rains in this area that filled the Lake to capacity. Anticipating more rain, as is usual here throughout the spring, the Army Corps of Engineers began the slow process of draining the reservoir. (If the water gets let out too fast, it would flood farms downstream.) But the rains didn't arrive as scheduled. (Weather can be funny that way.)
So the Lake is too shallow for boating and parts of it (as in the middle picture above) are even too shallow for birds and fish. But there are still great views in some places and it is still a lovely place to spend the summer.
Linked to NATURE NOTES at Michelle's Rambling Woods.
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