Podcasts about Yakima River

fWotD Episode 2884: Interstate 182 Welcome to Featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia’s finest articles.The featured article for Friday, 28 March 2025 is Interstate 182.Interstate 182 (I-182) is an east–west auxiliary Interstate Highway in the U. S. state of Washington. It serves as a connector from I-82 to the Tri-Cities region that crosses the Columbia River on the Interstate 182 Bridge between Richland and Pasco. I-182 is 15 miles (24 km) long and entirely concurrent with U. S. Route 12 (US 12); it also intersects State Route 240 (SR 240) and US 395.Business leaders in the Tri-Cities began lobbying for a freeway in 1958 after early alignments for I-82 were routed away from the area. I-182 was created by the federal government in 1969 as a compromise to the routing dispute, which allowed for direct access to the Tri-Cities and a bypass for other traffic. The new freeway would also include construction of a bridge between Richland and Pasco, proposed since the 1940s at the site of an earlier cable ferry that ran until 1931.Construction on I-182 was scheduled to begin in 1971, but was delayed by opposition from conservation groups, disputes over interchange locations, and a federal freeze on highway funding in 1980. The first section to be built, over the Yakima River west of Richland, began construction in late 1980 and opened to traffic three years later. The Interstate 182 Bridge opened in November 1984 and linked to a longer section opened a month earlier in Pasco connecting to the existing US 12 bypass. The final sections of the freeway, between I-82 and Richland, opened to traffic in March 1986.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:30 UTC on Friday, 28 March 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Interstate 182 on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Brian.

Winegrowing regions in Washington State have many unique challenges from salty soils, to low organic matter, to nematodes. Devin Rippner, Research Viticulture Soil Scientist with USDA-ARS and his colleagues at Washington State University are developing a research vineyard to study soil health building practices. They are testing a variety of management strategies including adjusting irrigation volume to correct for salt build-up, mowing for weed management, compost applications and synthetic fertilizers, and different cover crops. The team is tracking the cost of each practice and will ultimately evaluate wine quality in the coming years. Taking a deeper dive into the future of soil sampling, Devin explains X-ray CT imagery. He has used this technology to evaluate the structure and organic matter from soil columns and aggregates. X-ray CT imagery has also been used to evaluate the impact grape seeds have on tannin flavor profiles. Resources:         80: (Rebroadcast) The Goldilocks Principle & Powdery Mildew Management 90: Nematode Management for Washington Grapes A workflow for segmenting soil and plant X-ray CT images with deep learning in Google's Colaboratory Devin Rippner, USDA ARS Functional Soil Health Healthy Soils Playlist Red Wine Fermentation Alters Grape Seed Morphology and Internal Porosity Soil Health in Washington Vineyards Vineyard soil texture and pH effects on Meloidogyne hapla and Mesocriconema xenoplax Washington Soil Health Initiative Vineyard Team Programs: Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship - Donate SIP Certified – Show your care for the people and planet   Sustainable Ag Expo – The premiere winegrowing event of the year Vineyard Team – Become a Member Get More Subscribe wherever you listen so you never miss an episode on the latest science and research with the Sustainable Winegrowing Podcast. Since 1994, Vineyard Team has been your resource for workshops and field demonstrations, research, and events dedicated to the stewardship of our natural resources. Learn more at www.vineyardteam.org.   Transcript [00:00:00] Beth Vukmanic: Wine growing regions in Washington State have many unique challenges from salty soils to low organic matter to nematodes. [00:00:13] Welcome to Sustainable Wine Growing with the Vineyard Team, where we bring you the latest in science and research for the wine industry. I'm Beth Vukmanic, Executive Director. [00:00:23] In today's podcast, Craig McMillan, Critical Resource Manager at Niner Wine Estates, with longtime SIP certified vineyard and the first ever SIP certified winery, speaks with Devin Rippner, Research Viticulture Soil Scientist with USDA ARS. [00:00:41] Devin and his colleagues at Washington State University are developing a research vineyard to study soil health building practices. [00:00:49] They are testing a variety of management strategies, including adjusting irrigation volume to correct for salt buildup, mowing for weed management, Compost applications and synthetic fertilizers and different cover crops. The team is tracking the cost of each practice and will ultimately evaluate wine quality in the coming years. [00:01:08] Taking a deeper dive into the future of soil sampling. Devin explains X ray CT imagery. He has used this technology to evaluate the structure in organic matter from soil columns and soil aggregates. X ray CT imagery has also been used to evaluate the impact that grape seeds have on tannin flavor profiles. [00:01:28] Now let's listen in. [00:01:29] Craig Macmillan: Our guest today is Devin Rippner. He is a research soil scientist with the USDA agricultural research service. He's based out of Prosser, Washington, and he's also an adjunct in the department of crop and soil sciences with Washington state university. [00:01:46] Devin, thanks for being here. [00:01:48] Devin Rippner: Absolutely. Pleasure to be here, Craig. [00:01:50] Craig Macmillan: You are on the leadership team of the Washington State Soil Health Initiative. I think it's a pretty cool little program. Tell us what it is and what it's all about. [00:01:59] Devin Rippner: Yeah, absolutely. So the Washington State Legislature allocated funding to study soil health and soil health building practices in a variety of agricultural systems and so to access that money a number of groups put in competitive proposals at the Prosser Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center, we put in a proposal to study soil health in wine grape systems. [00:02:24] Originally, we actually had it in juice grapes as well, but we were not able to get enough funding for both. Juice grapes are actually a big product out of Washington. [00:02:32] Craig Macmillan: I did not know that. That's interesting. What varieties? [00:02:34] Devin Rippner: Mostly Concord? [00:02:36] I'm less familiar with it. It's something I would, I would like to work in cause they have different constraints than wine grapes. [00:02:41] Ours is focused on wine grapes, but there are systems looking at tree fruit, at potatoes, at small crane cropping systems. There are a variety of systems that are being evaluated. [00:02:54] Craig Macmillan: I looked at a flyer that kind of outlined some of the ideas and issues around , the Wine Grape part. Can you tell us a little bit about that? [00:03:01] Devin Rippner: we have fairly unique soils. We have pretty alkaline soils here in Washington. We're on the arid side of the Cascades. So think Reno rather than like Seattle. we tend to accumulate salts. We also have very coarse textured soils. So a lot of sands to sandy loams or loamy sands. Very little clay. [00:03:23] We have typically under 10 percent clay in a lot of the grape growing regions of washington. we also have low organic matter, because it doesn't rain much here. There has never been a chance for a lot of plants to grow. And so we just have never really built up organic matter. So we typically have about, let's say, maybe 1 percent to 2 percent organic matter in our soils. [00:03:44] That's about half a percent carbon to 1 percent carbon, which is typically it's pretty low for a lot of soils. [00:03:50] Craig Macmillan: It is. [00:03:51] Devin Rippner: those are some of, some of the like unique challenges around soil health. There's also problems with pests. Haven't had too much of an issue with Phylloxera. That's changing. [00:04:01] There are a variety of nematode pests that cause problems in grapes here. When you plant a vineyard into an old vineyard, you're basically putting baby vines into a place that might have a bunch of pests that aren't a big deal for really mature vines. [00:04:14] But as soon as you put a baby in that environment, it does not thrive. [00:04:18] Finding ways to deal with nematode pests, things like that over time , is really important. So those are kind of the things that we are, we are looking at, at our site. [00:04:27] Craig Macmillan: What kind of practices are you investigating to address these things? I hadn't really thought of that about it till now, but nematode is a good one. that's a tough pest. [00:04:37] Devin Rippner: funny thing is this is a long term site, right? So, so our practices for those will really come later. I had a nematologist that worked for me. And she evaluated our soils for for the pathogenic nematodes for wine grapes, and we don't really have them but the thing is they build over time, right? [00:04:52] Just because there might be a few in that soil But when they start colonizing the grape roots over time, they can become problematic We functionally have a rootstock trial at the end of all of our experimental rows and, and rootstocks have been found to be very effective at preventing nematode problems or decreasing the severity of nematode problems. [00:05:13] We will be able to kind of look at that with our rootstock trial. [00:05:17] Craig Macmillan: Do you have any of the GRN stocks in that? [00:05:19] Devin Rippner: We don't, so we have own rooted vines and then we have Telekey 5c 1103p 110r. Let's see then I think St. George [00:05:30] I'm trying to remember what, what the last one is. It's escaping me right now. I apologize. [00:05:34] Craig Macmillan: Well, no, it's all right. Some of the more common root stocks, basically the ones that are very popular. [00:05:39] Devin Rippner: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. [00:05:41] The reality is that a lot of the like vitis rupestris, vitis riparia, , they are less prone to nematode parasitism. Than Vinifera. , that's the reality of it. [00:05:50] Craig Macmillan: Yeah. Less susceptible. I think it's probably the best way to put it. Nothing's bulletproof when it comes to this, this problem. [00:05:57] Devin Rippner: And Michelle Moyer in Washington has been doing a lot of work with this, with Inga Zasada, who's a USDA scientist. And their, their results are really cool. They're finding that when you try to fumigate, it helps for a little while, but the rebound is bad, and it's just easier to just use rootstocks. [00:06:15] Craig Macmillan: Yeah. Talk to me a little bit more about, you said salinity can be an issue [00:06:19] Devin Rippner: Yeah, [00:06:20] Craig Macmillan: So here's the, the back and forth on that. You would think that a, a coser, your textured soil salinity would be less of an issue, but you don't get the rain to take advantage of that. Is that , the issue here? [00:06:30] Devin Rippner: 100%. That's exactly it. We build up layers called caliche layers, which are evidence of a lack of water moving downward. [00:06:38] So it's, it's really evidence of water moving down and then back up due to evaporation. We get big buildups of carbonates in our soils and carbonates are a type of salt. [00:06:48] So as you apply other chemicals, Salts, a salty irrigation water , we tend to build up salts in our soils. A lot of our irrigation water comes from the Yakima River or other rivers in the area, columbia River. But there are places where people are on deeper wells and they are seeing salt accumulation in their vineyards. [00:07:06] And it's, it's really challenging to deal with. [00:07:09] Craig Macmillan: Do you have any strategies that you're looking at? Anything you're trying out? [00:07:13] Devin Rippner: at our site over time, we're going to look at higher irrigation volumes versus lower irrigation volumes and seeing if that will change the accumulation of salt at our site. , that's kind of the main experiment around that with our soil health vineyard. [00:07:27] Craig Macmillan: Obviously you're doing this with some pretty salty irrigation water and you're comparing that to less salty water. At one site, you're only gonna have one type of water, right? [00:07:36] Devin Rippner: Right. That's not something that we'll be able to do, but one of the interesting things is we are applying compost and. Our compost can be pretty salty. [00:07:45] So we'll, we'll be getting compost. That'll be kind of four decisiemen per meter. I I'm sorry to use those units and so that, so that is salty. [00:07:54] Craig Macmillan: Yeah, it's salty. [00:07:55] Devin Rippner: Young grapevines, if they grew only in that, they would really struggle. It's over the, the two deciSiemen per meter kind of threshold for grapevines. That's something where we're, you know, we are using clean irrigation water, but some of our amendments coming in can be saltier. [00:08:10] When we have kind of a, a low and high irrigation treatment, we can evaluate the salt accumulation in the root zone. From that particular amendment, right? [00:08:19] Craig Macmillan: What about other types of fertilizer? Are there organic fertilizers or something like that that might be less of a salt contributor than let's say a traditional nitrate based fertilizer? [00:08:28] Devin Rippner: As it turns out, at least for us, we don't apply. a massive amount of nitrogen to our grapevines, so we're often applying between 20 and say 60 pounds of N per year which is not a lot compared to say corn or, tree fruit or, or hops or things like that. [00:08:45] And so we, we don't, Exactly. Expect to see a buildup of, of those salts over time. Honestly, some of the organic amendments end up being saltier than our fertilizer. [00:08:55] That's something when we do a high and low for irrigation, we will be able to look at the accumulation of, of nitrates and things like that. [00:09:02] Cause in our arid environment, you do get accumulations of nitrate, which is kind of funny. [00:09:06] Craig Macmillan: Yeah, that's interesting. You also mentioned the soil pH, alkalinity. What, what's going on there? How bad is it in different spots? What can you do about it? I, I'm fascinated by this because like when you look at viticulture, you have like a lot of knobs on the mixing board, right? You got a lot of sliders and, Soil , you can't slide it very well. It's like very hard to make changes to soil over time. [00:09:33] Devin Rippner: it is. [00:09:33] Craig Macmillan: very slow and very difficult. So I'm very interested in , this issue here. [00:09:39] Devin Rippner: It's funny at our site, the soil pH isn't too bad. It's about 8. Across the board, from the, from the top that so, so we've been measuring from the top of the soil down to about 90 centimeters. About three feet. We do see a pH tick up in our sub soil, but still it's, it's around the eights. [00:09:56] We actually have a lot of carbonates in our soil. There's only more organic carbon in the top six inches of our soil. And from that point on, most of our carbon is in the form of carbonates. [00:10:06] Which is kind of unique. And so once you get down to like 60 to 90 centimeters, so two to three feet in the soil, functionally, 90 percent of the soil carbon is carbon from carbonate. [00:10:16] So dealing with that in the region there's wide variation, so people that are planting into old wheat ground where they've used a lot of ammonium based fertilizers or urea, the pH can be in the fives. And then I, I mean, I've measured soil pH is up to about 9. 8 around here. So, so quite high. [00:10:35] Those soils are hard to deal with. So these are carbonate buffered systems. So to try to lower the pH, you basically have to get rid of all the carbonates. And that is not really feasible. We do see in some of the vineyards that we work in. And again, a lot of this data is preliminary. [00:10:51] I'm trying to get stuff out right now. Getting the vineyard set up has been a massive undertaking. And I've been lucky to work with a great team to, to get it done, but it has taken a lot of my time. [00:11:01] Um, but we, we do see seasonal fluctuations with irrigation. So soils might start off with a pH around eight drop over the course of the growing season into the sixes and then as they dry down for winter time. So we cut irrigation. The pH will start to rise back up as the carbonates move from the subsoil to the surface. [00:11:21] Craig Macmillan: Interesting. Interesting. Let's talk about your vineyard. If I understand correctly, you have a research vineyard there in Prosser that you are building from scratch or have built from scratch. Is that true? [00:11:30] Devin Rippner: Yes. . It is a new vineyard to study soil health building practices. We just finished our second season. And we were very lucky. Vina Matos which is a company out of Portugal. They mechanically planted it for us. [00:11:45] Scientist, so it's, it was, yeah, it was a bit of an undertaking. Even now I've gotten a lot better on a tractor than I was. And, you know, I like to run, like, I'd like to do x ray stuff. And then I'm out there on a tractor, like, yeah, doing stuff. It's a unique challenge. [00:11:59] So we do have a vineyard manager Dr. Liz Gillespie is the vineyard manager. , she honestly does most of the tracker work. I only sub in when she's down with an illness or something like that. [00:12:09] It's been a team effort for the last couple of years. [00:12:12] Craig Macmillan: What are you doing in there? You've talked about a couple of topics, but, and how big is this, this vineyard? [00:12:17] Devin Rippner: It's not that big. It's about 4. 1 acres. , [00:12:20] Craig Macmillan: that's, you know, for research, that's good. [00:12:22] Devin Rippner: yeah, yeah, it is good. We functionally have a business as usual. So we call it our Washington 2021 standard. So it's kind of what growers just do. So that's spraying undervined for weed control and then just let resident vegetation pop up where it may and mow it down. [00:12:39] Most people don't spray or till , their tractor rows. They just. Kind of let it go. We don't get that much rain. You end up selecting for annual grasses it's actually a pretty good weed composition for a tractor row. So then we start building from there. [00:12:52] One of our treatments is what if you just mowed everywhere, right? The goal is to select for annual grasses everywhere over time. [00:12:59] And then we have another treatment where we're mowing everywhere. But we're applying compost for fertilization. Our other treatments get synthetic fertilizers for fertilization, and then we have our compost treatment where we're mowing. [00:13:12] Then we have an undervined cover crop, so that's like our cover crop treatment. [00:13:16] We're curious about undervine legume cover crops. So we have a short subterranean clover that , we've seated in to hopefully eventually start adding nitrogen to the system and, and hopefully we'll be able to back off on more of the synthetic fertilizers over time in that system, but we'll let the vines guide us, right? [00:13:35] Craig Macmillan: What species of clover is that? [00:13:37] Devin Rippner: I'm not sure the exact, so it would be like Dalkey. [00:13:39] it's a clover that basically has low flowers and shoots seed downward. And so , that allows it to replant itself really effectively. [00:13:47] The flowers tend to be below the foliage. So we won't have to worry about mowing them down too badly. , they stay low. And so that's why we selected that. just to try to keep the flowers low and keep foliage away from our vines. [00:14:01] Craig Macmillan: Anything else? [00:14:03] Devin Rippner: Yeah, so then we have our aspirational treatment, which is kind of a mix of the subterranean clover cover crop. And then we have compost fertilization and then kind of breaking the full factorial. We're actually changing what's in , , the tractor row. We're planting an intermediate wheatgrass. [00:14:20] We started with crusted wheatgrass. It's so funny with these experiments. , we seeded in crusted wheatgrass a couple of times and just did not take it's not very effective for competing against other weeds, and it's not very good with traffic. And so now , we're seeding in intermediate wheatgrass. [00:14:35] , it is more traffic tolerant and is more weed tolerant. So we're hoping that we'll be able to outcompete all the other annual grasses and just have kind of a perennial grass cover crop. [00:14:46] Craig Macmillan: Is it on these courses? So is this camp is compaction less of a problem? I would think. [00:14:53] Devin Rippner: We do have some compaction. That we've seen out there. Certainly mechanical planting can cause some extra compaction. It, it takes a lot of force to, you know, rip a giant hole in the ground to drop the vines into. And so we do see some compaction from that. [00:15:06] We have taken bulk density cores from all over the vineyard. And we're hoping to see changes over time in that compaction. So we've done bulk density course from under vine and then in the tractor row. And so we're hoping that over time, these various practices will alter the bulk density, hopefully lower the bulk density in the tractor row. [00:15:27] Craig Macmillan: And then I'm assuming that you're also keeping track of costs for these things. [00:15:32] Devin Rippner: yes, we have been keeping track of costs. We are keeping track of the hourly labor , for mowing. Honestly, we've, we've purchased some undervine mowers and , we have really struggled to find a good solution for our young vines. [00:15:45] We're going to, Purchase another one soon. The biggest thing is that if you have a swing arm on it, it's got to be gentle enough that it, it'll push out of the way , with a bamboo stake in the ground. [00:15:55] And a lot of the existing swing arm mowers for orchards and vineyards it takes a lot of force to move that swing arm. [00:16:03] It's been a real challenge for us. So, so we ended up having people go out with weed eaters, which is super expensive and is actually something that some vineyards do either biodynamic vineyards in the area that they'll send people out with weed eaters to go control the weeds under vine. [00:16:17] I don't want this to be just like a hyper specialized science experiment. If we're sending people out with weed eaters, it sounds a little bit ridiculous, but there are folks in the industry that do it. So it's not. It's not that ridiculous. [00:16:28] Craig Macmillan: It's not that ridiculous. It's legitimate. [00:16:31] Whatever tool that you can make work, depending on the size of your vineyard and depending on what your conditions are. But yeah, you're in row mode. That's going to be an issue until these vines are mature to no doubt about that. I hope you still have a vineyard after knocking down these bamboo stakes. [00:16:44] You don't have like real results yet. You've only just gotten started. [00:16:47] Devin Rippner: We've only just gotten started you know, some of the results that we got were prior to our planting, there were no differences among our treatment blocks for our treatments across the site. So that's nice kind of starting at a, a pretty even baseline. [00:17:03] We're going to track the changes over time. Honestly. I hate to speculate, we don't have the data for it yet, but we've been applying, our synthetic fertilizers based on our like compost mineralization rate. And one of the things that's pretty obvious when you walk out there is that weed competition is brutal for young vines. [00:17:23] So where we're spraying with herbicide under the vines, there's less weed competition. Those vines are just bigger., [00:17:28] we're going to up the amount of fertilizer that we apply next year to try to, like, get around that. And it's one of the challenges at our site is that for long term research, we have to manage our vineyard in a way that kind of limits how many comparisons that we can make. Functionally, two out of our three rows are buffers. It just eats up an enormous amount of space and I'm, I'm hesitant to start putting other treatments into those areas. Like, oh, what if we vary the fertilizer rate to see what the effect is with relation to mowing, right? [00:18:01] So can we get over the weed pressure by, Applying more fertilizer. One of my main takeaways is that a lot of the recommendations that you might get for like, for conventional management won't necessarily work if you're trying to change your system [00:18:16] That's where, you know, growers are going to have to play around and understand that if they're mowing under vine, there is going to be more weed pressure and those weeds take up nitrogen. [00:18:27] You may have to fertilize more. I mean, that, that's just a consequence of, of weed competition. [00:18:32] Craig Macmillan: yeah, yeah, yeah. That's interesting. And in irrigation water too, [00:18:37] Devin Rippner: Oh yeah. Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. They use a lot of water. There's no doubt about it. [00:18:42] Craig Macmillan: Which actually brings me back to the clover. I planted crimson clover in my yard once and I irrigated it and it was really pretty and I actually put two and a half foot, three foot high risers off of my lawn sprinklers to get a sprinkler high enough that I could keep growing it. And I was able to grow it up to about three feet tall and it was gorgeous. It was absolutely amazing. But it does make me wonder if, what's a subterranean clover? It's a low growing clover, but how much effect does irrigation have on it in terms of making it taller or taller? [00:19:13] Devin Rippner: That's a good question. I haven't looked into it that much. I consulted with some colleagues here. Who've done work with a variety of cover crops, and they were the ones that recommended the subterranean clover. It has a short stature and part of it is because of how it flowers and seeds, it can't get that tall because it's, it pushes its seeds into the ground. [00:19:32] And so there's no real benefit for it getting taller because then it will be farther away from where it needs to put its seeds. [00:19:39] That's a real concern. I mean, I've learned so much by , having a vineyard gophers, voles, rats, mice, they can be problematic. Right. And if you have a tall cover crop, that's getting into your vines, like that's an easy pathway up. [00:19:52] Keeping the, those undervine weeds and cover crops short is really important. [00:19:58] Craig Macmillan: Yeah. It's also really important for the success of your predators. [00:20:01] Your barn nows and whatnot. They can't really do much when things are tall. So keep going, keep good luck. You're in it. You're in it now, Devon, [00:20:09] Devin Rippner: Oh, yeah. No, that's what it feels like. I feel like I jumped into the deep end of a pool, but didn't realize it was so deep. And so, yeah, I'm learning. [00:20:17] Craig Macmillan: Because prior to a few years back, cause you were, you were at Davis and you were at the Oakville station. Is that right? For a little while. [00:20:24] Devin Rippner: I pulled some samples from Oakville, but no, I was mostly on main campus. I'm a soil chemist by training. Grapevines are relatively new for me. I worked for Andrew McElrone, who , does some great work a lot of my previous work did not involve grapes, and it was mainly, like, tomatoes or other annual crops, and often, like, pretty lab based stuff. [00:20:47] And so this has been a real deep dive for me to do something different. [00:20:53] Craig Macmillan: which is an excellent transition to some of your work which you did at other crops, but you also did some other interesting things related to vines and to soil. And that is x ray CT imagery. You were the first person to introduce me to this concept. I I had no idea I guess I should say X ray micro CT imagery. What, what are the exact terminology? What is it? What can it do? What can we learn? [00:21:20] Devin Rippner: Thanks for bringing this up. Let me just try to keep it simple and I'll build out from there. Just like a doctor's office where you can get an X ray you can actually X ray soils. And plants and look inside of them. X ray computed tomography is where instead of just taking one x ray, maybe you take 1000 x rays as the sample is slowly moving. And what you end up with is the ability to make a three D reconstruction of that sample. Where you're able to look inside of it. [00:21:50] Materials that absorb x rays look different than materials that don't absorb x rays. And so you're able to start Teasing apart structures that are inside of plants and soils [00:22:01] There's different levels to that. Humans have X ray computed tomography done on them, right? You can go in and have that procedure done to look inside of you. It's very much like an MRI there are some tools that it. look at very big volumes. And then there are some tools that look at very small volumes. [00:22:19] That's where there's the x ray microcomputed tomography is looking at very small volumes. And a lot of times those instruments they're low often located. With synchrotrons. So a synchrotron is a particle accelerator that moves electrons at about the speed of light. And then as they're going at the speed of light, , it bends them, it shifts the path of the electrons. [00:22:43] And in doing so , Theory of relativity says that when you have a big shift , in the direction of these electrons they must lose energy. And so they lose energy as the brightest light that we know of in the known universe. And so some of that light are x rays and those x rays are very tunable, and there's a lot of them. [00:23:03] And so we can basically focus on a really tiny area. And still have a lot of x rays. That lets us look at really small things and still have like good contrast and be able to image them relatively quickly. This field is advancing quickly. I know it sounds pretty crazy to talk about x raying soils and plants and things like that. [00:23:23] But the reality is these x rays can also be used to identify elements. And so you can do elemental speciation. So you can be like, Oh, all of the phosphorus there is as phosphate rather than some other form or it's calcium phosphate, not magnesium phosphate. That's called x ray adsorption, near edge structures. [00:23:42] That's how people do that. A long time ago, these instruments used to be unique. You do like a tomography and then you do like these Zains do elemental information, but those things are converging. Now it's possible to do like x ray CT and also do elemental analysis and speciation on the same sample. [00:24:01] in 100 years, that may be how we do our soil testing is you literally have one of these instruments on the back of a tractor. You pull a soil core. You do a quick scan and you say, here's our structure. We can also see the organic matter inside of the soil column. And then by inference from the outer edge of the soil column, we can get What elements are there and what form they're in and then make predictions on their availability. [00:24:27] Were very far from that, but that's like the vision that I have in my head is that at some point, , these will be sensors that people can just use in the field. Will they use an enormous amount of energy? Absolutely. Technology has, shifted in my lifetime and a lot of things that have seemed absurd in the past are now commonplace. [00:24:47] Craig Macmillan: What kinds of things, and it can be other crops as well, but in particular, there was one you did with, I think, grape seeds. Those are the things that can do what, what have you actually. Zapped [00:24:59] Devin Rippner: Yeah. [00:24:59] Craig Macmillan: a better word. [00:25:01] Devin Rippner: You know. [00:25:01] Craig Macmillan: mind here. Okay. So [00:25:03] Devin Rippner: Yeah. So I work with a lot of folks at different national labs. So the Pacific Northwest National Lab is a lab I work at a lot. And we've done a lot of imaging of soil cores and they're big soil cores. So three inches by 12 inch soil cores and to look at soil structure and we're working on segmenting out organic matter from them. [00:25:22] That's something that was not previously possible, but with modern neural networks and deep learning, we can actually train. Neural networks to identify specific compounds in the soil and identify them. We've done it with soil columns. I've done some work with soil aggregates. [00:25:38] So we can look at very small things as well. I've looked at grape seeds, so we had a little study where working with some folks at Davis they pulled out grape seeds, before, during and after fermentation, functionally, and we looked at how the structures of the seeds were changing. [00:25:58] The idea here is that grapeseeds provide a lot of tannins and they're not necessarily like the best tannins for wine, but they do provide a lot of tannins. [00:26:07] People have always wondered like, why do grapeseeds kind of supply a constant amount of tannins during the fermentation process? And as it turns out, it's because the structure of the seeds is changing during fermentation, [00:26:18] They start cracking. And so the internal structures become more accessible during fermentation. [00:26:23] And so that's what we were seeing using x ray tomography is these internal changes that were happening inside of the grape seeds that could potentially promote tannin extraction. [00:26:32] Craig Macmillan: That is fascinating. That explains a lot. I'm just thinking through, Tannin management. The date currently is in the beginning of November 2024. So we're just wrapping up a harvest here in the Paso Robles, central coast area. And so I've been thinking a lot about tannin management last couple of months on behalf of my friends who make wine, not myself. That's not entirely true. Is there a practical application to that in terms of like timing or conditions or things that would contribute to the, the cracking breakdown of these seeds that you identified? [00:27:05] Devin Rippner: We weren't able to go like that in depth and it's some, it's an area that I would like to build on. But the idea is that. The fermentation is a pretty harsh environment. You have a massive change in pH. Microbes are working hard. You have the production of ethanol, which allows the extraction of different compounds. [00:27:24] The seeds are seemingly being modified during fermentation. There needs to be more work done in this area in terms of seed tanning management. We now have kind of a, the more physical. Explanation for why those cannons are coming out of the seeds. [00:27:39] If you are able to pull your seeds earlier from fermentation, I mean, that's like a ridiculous thing to say, but you know, [00:27:45] Craig Macmillan: no, I mean, winemakers are very clever there's a lot of techniques that have become more prominent, I think, in the last 10, 15 years in terms of things like pressing off early, so getting your extraction fast and then finishing out the fermentation off of skins, off of seeds, you know, that's one way that you can do it really using seed maturity as a major variable in your pick decision is another one that I've seen people really draw to. [00:28:09] I remember people crunching on seeds and going, yeah, that's mature. Now I'm seeing people reject a pick date based on that. [00:28:17] Like we were going to wait for these seeds to mature fully before we pull because of, because of these issues with a seed tannin. So just knowing that I think is fascinating. [00:28:28] And if we can put some time and pH things on that, that would be really cool. Are you going to be using this technology with the with the research plot for anything? [00:28:36] Devin Rippner: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, we [00:28:39] already have started that. We've already started down that route. Shortly after planting we collected soil cores from, , the vine row. And then from where the, the planter tires were functionally running just to look at changes in bulk density. So like kind of how compressed the soil is and then trying to get at changes in porosity. [00:28:58] We looked at these cores relative to , a field next door. That has had very relatively little disturbance in the past, like 4 to 10 years. It's kind of variable but has had less disturbance than say, like, right after planting a vineyard mechanically. Some of the things we see are you know, when you mechanically plant a vineyard, the bulk density , in the vine row is much lower than where the tractor tires are running that intrinsically makes sense. [00:29:26] And they're kind of both different than a place that's been no till or low disturbance for four to 10 years. Some of the things that are most interesting, and, and again, this is preliminary, it's got to go through peer review. . But when we look at the CT scans, you can actually see where worms have been moving, [00:29:45] In these, like, low till and no till plots or this field that has just not really been disturbed. [00:29:51] , so worms are actually making sizable holes in the ground, and those holes contribute to the porosity in these, like, low disturbance soils compared to these very disturbed soils. And that was a really interesting thing to visually see. You can see the worm castings in the scan. [00:30:10] I don't know if you've ever seen worm castings before, but they kind of, they're these little, like, kind of football shaped Things that are all clumped together our soils don't really aggregate. [00:30:20] We don't have enough organic matter and we don't have enough clay. And so that's like driving force behind aggregation in our soil seemingly is worm castings. For me, that was just mind blowing. [00:30:31] I was not expecting to see that. I think I was expecting to see a lot of roots or like root channels and they're there, but the worms are like following these roots and root channels around. [00:30:41] I'm a very visual person. And so when I do CT stuff, it's like, Oh, wow. Like I can see it with my eyes. If I can't see it with my eyes, it's hard for me to believe. But when I see it with my eyes, , it's believable. [00:30:52] Craig Macmillan: We've done a number of interviews recently around so the microbiome and just soil biology kind of in general, , is that gonna be part of your analysis as some of these projects go forward? [00:31:03] Devin Rippner: Yeah, absolutely. So we've done something called phospholipid fatty acid analysis. [00:31:09] So that gives us an idea of kind of, The microbial consortium that's there right when we sample phospholipids don't really stick around in soils. They're quickly degraded. We would like to do some sequencing challenges. We don't have a microbiologist on the team. And, and so we would, we would have to pay for the sequencing. [00:31:28] And even then sequencing is really interesting because, you could be like, oh, we did say 16 S-R-R-N-A sequencing. And that's like, that's a particular like region or a particular type of sequencing that is, that only picks up on say bacteria. [00:31:47] Whereas if you want to see fungi, maybe you need to do something called ITS sequencing. And so unless you do like all of the sequencing, you can get an idea of what's happening to the bacterial communities or the fungal communities. But unless you do all of them, it's really hard to get a more holistic picture. [00:32:05] And then, a lot of the sequencing that we do or is done we're missing things. If the regions analyzed aren't big enough, like we can be blind to specific things that we know are there. And so things like my understanding is that fungal mycorrhizae can actually be hard to detect by sequencing. [00:32:21] And so even if you visually see them in the roots by staining, you may not pick them up by sequencing. It is a challenge. Now, I, you know, I think that certainly studying the microbiome and understanding its relationship , with vine performance and soil health is, is crucial and is really, you know, one of the things that it's kind of the Holy grail [00:32:41] Craig Macmillan: Yeah. [00:32:43] Devin Rippner: We're trying to get there. [00:32:44] Craig Macmillan: We're trying to get there. That is definitely the message, but it also, there's definitely the potential. I think that there's a lot of people working on this. I think we're going to get there. It's, genomics is so big. I've talked to people that are like, at some point we, we, we will probably be able to get down to species, so we will know the bad actors from the good actors, we'll get a sense of what the real ecology is. [00:33:05] That's a decade plus away still, but we're going there. Right? We're we're gonna figure it out. We're gonna figure it out at some point. We're gonna get there. [00:33:14] Devin Rippner: Yeah, I agree. And there's, there are some techniques. There's some really cool techniques. So Jennifer Petridge at Lawrence Livermore lab does a lot Carbon 13 labeling of root exudates. So she basically gives plants, she treats them with carbon 13, enriched CO2. And then she looks at how much of the carbon 13 is then incorporated into the DNA of microbes to try to get at how well associated they are with plants. [00:33:41] I think that work is just incredible. And there's some folks at Davis that are, are working that in that area as well. That's kind of the stuff that gets me really excited to seeing when people are trying to really tie it into what's feeding on root carbon, , who's getting these exudates, things like that. [00:33:59] , that to me is one of the, One of the ways that we'll be able to, like, get at these questions is to, to start differentiating, the bulk soil microbiome from like the, the real rhizosphere associated microbiome. [00:34:11] Craig Macmillan: so you got a lot going on. You got , you got a bunch of different things happening. What's the path ahead look like for you? [00:34:17] Devin Rippner: Sure. So, and with with the soil health vineyard. I mean, I'm very excited to keep that going. We'll do another large sampling event in 2027 or 2028. We'll start making wine from our grapes. Not next year, but the year after that. So we'll be excited to see how our different management strategies influence our wine. [00:34:40] The wines that come out of the vineyard, or the wines made, made from the grapes that come out of the vineyard. So those are some of the things , I'm most excited about with regard to the vineyard. [00:34:50] Otherwise, I have a lot of data that I need to process and get out. That's something that's next. [00:34:56] I, I'm collaborating with some folks from the University of Illinois in Berkeley lab to look at changes to the Moro plots in Illinois over time. So that's the oldest agricultural experiment in the United States. The plots there have been in experimental treatments for 149 years. [00:35:15] And the reason I'm involved is because vineyards can be very long lived things, right? I mean, there are vines in California 100 years old. [00:35:23] This is one of the few experiments to me that's like comparable to what we see in vineyards. And so I'm really curious about, you know, how do, how do management practices influence soil structure, microbiome, the metagenome, the metabolome, things like that, on these century long timelines. [00:35:43] That to me is like some of the really interesting questions. If you have a vineyard for, for a century, or if you want a vineyard for a century, what do you need to do? How do you make that work? Knowing that it's going to take 20 years to have your vineyard be profitable. [00:35:57] I mean, you're already on a different timescale than annual crops, right? yeah. And so it's just like, how, how do we make our, our vineyards as sustainable and long lived as possible? Because , that, that initial investment is huge. It is so much money. [00:36:13] Craig Macmillan: I think that's really great. I think coming up with findings on other crops, but with practices that could be transferable is really great. You know, we don't need to be in our little grape silo. All the time. And in fact some of the soil microbiome stuff have been with interviews with people that had no connection to vineyards whatsoever. And it was great. The things that they were learning, they were absolutely transferable to this crop as well. That hasn't gotten that kind of attention. Grapevines are tough little suckers, really from an evolutionary standpoint, they're pretty rugged and so we can kind of get away with a lot just because of that. [00:36:48] And now I think the margin for error is less and less, especially when we get into tougher and tougher sites like you're talking about and different conditions, especially if you've farmed it for a while and things have changed. Being able to look at other, other systems and see what's there. [00:37:03] What is one thing that you would tell growers around this topic of research? [00:37:09] Devin Rippner: vineyard is very informed by grower practices. We have a grower board that like helps us make decisions. A message that I will say is like science is science and science is often pretty, you know, Like straight laced and rigid because it must be. know, We're going to find things and those results hopefully will be interesting. [00:37:27] But it's not the be all and end all . of science and research. Growers continuing to try innovative things push the boundaries of what they think is possible is really how we get progress. And I am hopeful , once this vineyard is more established to start going back out and working with growers. [00:37:48] When I first started in Prosser, I sampled from probably 40 different vineyards around the state just to get an idea of what the soil properties were like. And we've done some, some experiments with that. Some of our results are that permanganate oxidize oxidizable carbon. So this POC C classically it's been called active carbon. [00:38:08] There's some new research that suggests that it's, that's maybe a misnomer and it's really, often plant derived carbon. [00:38:15] It seems like there are some effects from that, that suppress disease. And I think that , that's an area where growers can really kind of play around and see if there's , waste from their vineyard and applying it to their vines trying to look at what that does to their, POC C values and also try, just getting in trying to look at some of the past issues that those vines may have and see if there's any decreases. [00:38:41] A lot of observational science is really important. I like hearing from growers that, yeah, I did this thing and it looks like it made a difference. There's a lot of value in that and, and I don't discount like grower knowledge in any way, shape, or form. Like it is deep knowledge growers know things that I don't, and I find that out all the time. [00:39:02] I value those observations. They they give me guidance on how I want to do my work. And we do try to incorporate that stuff into the soil health vineyard. Over time we are going to have to figure out like, You know, can we sustain funding for a vineyard for, say, 50 years if all we're doing is like a cover crop, some compost, and then a mix? [00:39:23] That seems like it's maybe not the most sustainable thing. Science requires that type of stuff, but it's just not that sustainable. So finding ways to make use of our, border rows and stuff like that is going to be important. And a lot of the research that we do is going to be informed by grower observations. [00:39:39] Craig Macmillan: Yep. Yep. Exactly. Where can people find out more about you and your work? [00:39:44] Devin Rippner: Sure. So you can look me up online. Devin Rippner a lot of stuff will pop up. There's a USDA website that has a listing of my publications and things like that. I also have a personal website. So those are some places to, to check out my work. [00:40:00] I try to make sure that my stuff is open access and usable. So, like the deep learning code, the image segmentation code that I co developed for X ray ct work is now being applied to like other types of imaging on. So people are using it at hops and a variety of other things on. [00:40:18] So that code is online. Like you can find it it's associated with my papers. You can play around with it and try it with your own stuff. Mhm. And, and, and that's a big thing for me is like open data. I, I love sharing a lot of the, the data that I have and the code that I have so that people can, repeat what I did. [00:40:35] Look me up online and yeah, you'll be, you can find that, find those resources. [00:40:40] Craig Macmillan: we will have links to a lot of that on the show page. So please visit the show page and check this stuff out. I was really happy to hear you use the word repeatability. [00:40:49] Devin Rippner: Yeah, [00:40:50] Craig Macmillan: Yeah. And I also was really, it's hard. it's very, very hard and it's often overlooked. You know, the, , the scientific methods we know today was all built around the idea of repeatability. That's how you demonstrate whether something's real, real, or if it's only real under certain conditions, blah, blah, blah, blah. So that's really great. I'm glad you're doing that. [00:41:08] Well, I want to thank you for being on the podcast. This is a Devin Rippner. He is a research soil scientist with USDA agricultural research service and an adjunct position with the crop and soil science department at Washington state university. Really fun conversation, Devin, lots to think about. I will be following this closely. Or annually, probably [00:41:31] Devin Rippner: Cool. [00:41:31] Yeah. [00:41:32] Craig Macmillan: these things are slow. I'm not going to be checking every week. But I just think it's really cool project and is real inspiration. And I would love to see the same kind of thing replicated in other places. [00:41:41] Devin Rippner: Great. Thanks Craig. That was really fun. [00:41:43] Beth Vukmanic: Thank you for listening. [00:41:49] If you enjoyed this podcast, Vineyard Team has a couple of in field tailgate meetings coming up this year that you won't want to miss. [00:41:56] The first is on February 20th in Paso Robles, and it is a dry farming grower around table. Now you don't need to be a dry farmer to enjoy this event. There'll be a number of different growers here talking about their experiences, trials, challenges, and successes. [00:42:13] The second event is on March 12th, and it is Grazing as a Sustainable Practice for Vineyards, taking place in Los Olivos, and we hope to have some adorable sheep on site. [00:42:24] Make sure you check out the show notes for links to Dev lots of research articles, plus, sustainable wine growing podcast episodes, 80. The Goldilocks principle and powdery mildew management, 90 nematode management for Washington grapes, plus a whole healthy soils playlist. [00:42:42] Now for the fine print, the views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker's own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the USDA ARS. As such, the views, thoughts, and opinions. Presented by the speaker do not constitute an official endorsement or approval by the United States Department of Agriculture or the Agricultural Research Service of any product or service to the exclusion of others that may be suitable. The material and information presented here is for general information purposes only. [00:43:14] If you liked this show, do us a big favor by sharing it with a friend, subscribing, and leaving us a review. You can find all of the podcasts at vineyardteam.org/podcast. And you can reach us at podcast@vineyardteam. org. [00:43:28] Until next time, this is Sustainable Wine Growing with the Vineyard Team.   Nearly perfect transcription by Descript

When the battered body of Shawna Yandell is found floating in Washington State's Yakima River in 1993, detectives first suspect those closest to her. The case grew cold until new DNA technology revealed a callous killer that no one suspected. Gabb - Check out Gabb today, just go to Gabb.com/coldcase to get started! Progressive: Progressive.com

On This Weeks Episode, Bill Herzog Joins Host Duane Inglin In-Studio for an action-Packed Show The fella's recap their morning outing on the river, in pursuit of Coho. Also, Bill breaks down the ABC's of hardware for Coho and.... Fall time is Go-Time for large Rainbows and Cutties on the Yakima River. Bill brings you all the info on chasing these incredible fish with jigs and spinners. Finally, Duane recaps his recent Elk Muzzleloader hunt, this past week...

Headed to fish on the Yakima? Here you go. Get up to date with Keaton and Keegan on whats happening on the Yakima River! -Ellensburg Angler Guides- Coloradans for Responsible Wildlife Management: ⁠https://savethehuntcolorado.com/⁠ Enter to Win a Colorado Mountain Lion Hunt or Gunwerks Nexus Rifle, All Proceeds Go To CRWM: ⁠https://raffles.scicolorado.org/⁠ Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://theyoungguidespodcast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Alaska Rod Co.: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.alaskarodco.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ShellART Studio: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.shellartstudio.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Slay J's: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.slayjtackle.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ NWTF South Sound Strutters: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.nwtf.org/chapters/south-sound-stutters-wa⁠⁠⁠⁠

In Yakima County, the City of Moxee is situated between the Rattle Snake and Yakima mountains to the east of the Yakima River. A Catholic mission to the Yakamas was temporarily located in the Moxee area, which has long been a part of the Yakama Tribe's homeland. The 1860s saw the start of permanent non-Native settlement, and Moxee was established in 1867. Moxee's growth was aided by the Northern Pacific Railway's arrival in the Yakima Valley and the building of irrigation ditches, such as the Selah-Moxee Canal, which used water from the Yakima River to cultivate acres of land. Before 1930, Moxee—which incorporated in 1921—became the world's hops capital. Listen now to learn more about the fascinating history of this eastern Washington town!A special thank you goes out to Al Hirsch for providing the music for the podcast, check him out on YouTube.Find merchandise for the podcast now available at:     https://washington-history-by-jon-c.creator-spring.comIf you enjoy the podcast and would like to contribute, please visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/EvergreenpodIf you have any questions, episode ideas you'd like to see explored, or just have a general comment, please reach out at Historyoftheevergreenstatepod@gmail.comTo keep up on news for the podcast and other related announcements, please like and follow:https://www.facebook.com/HistoryoftheevergreenstatepodcastFind the podcast over on Instagram as well: @HISTORY_EVERGREENSTATEPODCASTYou can also find the podcast over on YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/@historyoftheevergreenstatepodThank you for listening to another episode of the History of the Evergreen State Podcast!

Cedar River clean up is near, sign up by going to the eventbrite and typing in Cedar River Cleanup. Reach out to Ellensburg angler to book a Yakima trip and the evening hatch has a amazing selection of flies to get you in the right direction!

Episode 69 is Boo WalkerBestselling author Boo Walker initially tapped his creative muse as a songwriter and banjoist in Nashville before working his way west to Washington State, where he bought a gentleman's farm on the Yakima River. It was there amongst the grapevines and wine barrels that he fell in love with telling high-impact stories that now resonate with book clubs around the world. Rich with colorful characters and boundless soul, his novels will leave you with an open heart and a lifted spirit.Always a wanderer, Boo currently lives in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, with his wife and son. He also writes thrillers under the pen name Benjamin Blackmore. You can find him at boowalker.com and benjaminblackmore.com.In this episode, we talked about his research and time in Spain during the quarantine, the experience of writing a location that he's not native to, and the health benefits of good olive oil. We also discussed his nomadic life, his journey as a musician to writer and meeting his dark night of the soul. We also delved into how to describe his fiction, the intensity of deadlines, and challenging oneself as an author.Links discussedOliveoillovers.comIntuitive Editing by Tiffany Yates MartinThe Nightingale We Begin at the End by Chris WhitackerAsk Again, YesStation Eleven War of Art*** WHEN JASMINE BLOOMS, a contemporary fiction inspired by Marmee of Little Women, about a woman who suffers a great tragedy, wonders 'what if' and it comes true is here!Note: some links are affiliate linksContact Tif at tif@tifmarcelo.comPlease check out her website for podcast submissions

On this episode, we discuss developing a two-pronged approach switching between streamers and nymphs. When, why, and how. I share a short update about my Moose hunt that is ongoing, and fishing here on the Yakima River.

Our destination is the Yakima River in central Washington with fly fishing guide, outfitter, and instructor Joe Rotter, Reds Fly Shop, Ellensburg, WA.  The Yakima has it all--big western hatches, wild fish that fight like steelhead, beautiful scenery, and cold water all summer long.   It's a technical fishery that requires casts to teacup-sized targets.  Joe gives a master class on technical fly fishing.  Stick around to the very end for a great story about an unwanted cliff diver who dropped in on Joe's boat. With host, Steve Haigh Pictures of the Yakima River and Joe's top fly picks: @DestinationAnglerPodcast on Instagram and Facebook About Joe Rotter and Red's Fly Shop Red's Fly Shop  https://redsflyfishing.com/ Email:   Joe@Redsflyfshop.com   Facebook, Instagram - great technical tips @RedsFlyShop YouTube - Joe does an amazing job with technical skills: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYCS7rft1xY6wvONblIpYdA  Please check out our Sponsors: Angler's Coffee - elevating the coffee experience for the fly-fishing community & anglers everywhere with small-batch coffee delivered to your doorstep.  https://anglerscoffee.com/   | Facebook & Instagram @anglerscoffeeco    Trout Routes - the #1 Trout Fishing app, helping you find new trout water so you spend less time on the road and more time fishing.  https://troutinsights.com/ | Facebook @troutinsights Instagram @TroutRoutes  Outfishers.com - The trusted source for pre-owned fly rods.  https://outfishers.com/  Instagram @outfishers Facebook @OutfishersUsedFlyRods Destination Angler: The Destination Angler Website and Show Notes:   http://destinationangler.libsyn.com/ Get updates and pictures of destinations covered on each podcast: @DestinationAnglerPodcast on Instagram and Facebook Join in the conversation with the @DestinationAnglerConnection group on Facebook. Comments & Suggestions:  host, Steve Haigh, email shaigh50@gmail.com Available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts Recorded Aug 4, 2022.  Episode 72 Music on the show by A Brother's Fountain, “Hitch Hike-Man”.    Podcast edited by Podcast Volume  https://www.podcastvolume.com/  

The young city of Ellensburg caught fire around 10:30 p.m. on July 4th, 1889, and by the time the flames were put out four hours later, ten downtown blocks and the residences of 200 people had been destroyed.While the location of the fire, what happened, and how the community rebuilt the city in four months are all known, the cause has never been established.Ellensburg, the county seat of Kittitas County, is three miles from the Yakima River and Wilson Creek confluence, at Washington's geographic center. The Kittitas band of Yakama Indians, as well as other Columbia plateau tribes, gathered at the site. The town was created in 1871 by John Shoudy and Mary Ellen Stewart Shoudy, and the first streets were laid out in 1875. Ellensburg became a city in 1884. The Northern Pacific Railroad came in 1886, and the town grew, becoming a banking and commercial center as well as a social focus for the Kittitas Valley's farming and ranching communities. Ellensburg was able to quickly rebuild following the fire on July 4, 1889, because to its prosperity.The Washington State Normal School (now Central Washington University) was founded in 1891 and quickly grew into a major employer. The downtown district was designated as a National Historic District on July 1st, 1977, and it is an excellent example of Western pioneer architecture. The annual Kittitas County Fair and Ellensburg Rodeo attracts world-class rodeo competitors and guests from all across the region every Labor Day weekend.Listen now to learn more about this central Washington town and the fire that left it devastated in July of 1889!A special thank you goes out to Al Hirsch for providing the music for the podcast, check him out on YouTube.Find merchandise for the podcast now available at:     https://washington-history-by-jon-c.creator-spring.comIf you enjoy the podcast and would like to contribute, please visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/EvergreenpodIf you have any questions, episode ideas you'd like to see explored, or just have a general comment, please reach out at Historyoftheevergreenstatepod@gmail.comTo keep up on news for the podcast and other related announcements, please like and follow:https://www.facebook.com/HistoryoftheevergreenstatepodcastThank you for listening!

Join me as I squeeze on a dry suit, don a snorkel, and jump into an icy mountain river.“That's what I'm amazed by, that a little tiny stream, not even knee deep, is a whole world if you get under there with it.,” that's what CWU professor Paul James told me as we snorkeled our way through the fast moving current.Dr. James is surveying the number of fish in the river after a recent restoration project. Gold Creek is an important tributary to the Yakima River and serves as a breeding ground for many fish that are important to the Yakama Nation.Joe Blodgett learned how to fish from his father. He mastered the technique of dipnetting a fish out of the Yakima River, the traditional kind of fishing for the Yakama Nation.“We were directed by our leadership to make it like it was before we started destroying their habitat and before we started destroying the flows,” Joe told me. “Make it like it was as a directive from our tribal council years ago.”Easier said than done when you are facing a generation of infrastructure changes to the landscape and waterways. But this story is about just that, the mission to restore a watershed -  starting with a single river - to truly ‘make it like it was.'The WILD is a joint production of myself and KUOW Public Radio. One way to support this vital work and become part of THE WILD community is through small monthly contributions to my wildlife organization, Chris Morgan Wildlife. You can find more information at Patreon. Thank you!Follow us on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife 

Toppenish is the largest city on the Yakama Indian Reservation and an agricultural powerhouse in the rich Yakima Valley. It's roughly two miles from the Yakima River's south bank, nestled among orchards and farmland. The Yakama Indians and other Plateau Tribes inhabited the area for generations, and it was included in the Yakama Reservation, which was formed in 1855. In 1884, a Northern Pacific Railway depot was erected on the location, and the station was given the name Toppenish, which comes from a Yakama word that means "sloping downhill and spreading."In 1887, five Indian households claimed allotments near the depot. When some of the main allotments were divided into lots and sold in 1905, the town began to flourish. The town was formed in 1907 when it had grown to a population of a few hundred people. Farmers and ranchers leased or bought the irrigated farmland around it, and the population grew to 1,598 by 1910. Toppenish was soon shipping hops, fruit, potatoes, and cattle out on freight cars. Hispanic farm workers assisted in the harvesting of crops and subsequently became residents.Toppenish had become a majority Hispanic city by the 1990s. With the Yakama Nation Museum and Cultural Heritage Center and the Yakama Nation Legends Casino, the Yakama Tribe has a strong presence in and around Toppenish. Toppenish has a particularly strong historical presence. It also houses the American Hop Museum and the Northern Pacific Railway Museum, as well as 75 outdoor murals depicting scenes from the region's history as part of the Toppenish Mural Society initiative.Listen now to learn more about this wonderful central Washington town!A special thank you goes out to Al Hirsch for providing the music for the podcast, check him out on YouTube.Find merchandise for the podcast now available at:     https://washington-history-by-jon-c.creator-spring.comIf you enjoy the podcast and would like to contribute, please visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/EvergreenpodIf you have any questions, episode ideas you'd like to see explored, or just have a general comment, please reach out at Historyoftheevergreenstatepod@gmail.comTo keep up on news for the podcast and other related announcements, please like and follow:https://www.facebook.com/HistoryoftheevergreenstatepodcastThank you for listening!

On this episode of The Young Guides Podcast, Keaton and Kyle talk with Canon Racanelli of RAX Guide Service. Canon talks about his first year guiding on the Yakima River and what it takes to become a guide and business owner. Canon also shares some of his future plans guiding in Alaska and on the Columbia River. We also dabble in hunting and wild game cooking. This is an episode for the young guide looking to get started! Our Website: theyoungguidespodcast.com Canon's Website: https://rax-guide-service.square.site Heather's Choice: Use our code "THEYOUNGGUIDES15" at checkout to save some dough (ha, punny) or follow our link at: lddy.no/12lzd Lucky Bug Lures: Use our code "THEYOUNGGUIDES15" at checkout to save 15% on their website at: luckybuglures.com Alaska Rod Co.: alaskarodco.com Northern Knits: instagram.com/northern._.knits/

On this episode of The Young Guides Podcast, Keaton and Kyle chat with Rich Connelly, owner and operator at The Evening Hatch Fly Shop. Rich manages the shop and a crew of guides on the Yakima River. Rich has played a huge role in both Kyle's and Keaton's evolution as fishermen and guides. Rich is an awesome dude with great insight on what it's truly like to own a fly shop. This is one you don't want to miss! Our Website: theyoungguidespodcast.com The Evening Hatch Website: theeveninghatch.com Heather's Choice: Use our code "THEYOUNGGUIDES15" at checkout to save some dough (ha, punny) or follow our link at: lddy.no/12lzd Lucky Bug Lures: Use our code "THEYOUNGGUIDES15" at checkout to save 15% on their website at: luckybuglures.com Alaska Rod Co.: alaskarodco.com Northern Knits: instagram.com/northern._.knits/

On this episode of The Young Guides Podcast, Keaton and Kyle chat with owner of Ellensburg Angler, Todd Fuchigami. Todd shares his story on how he was introduced to fly fishing during his time in the military and how he ended up on the Yakima River. Todd shares some great knowledge on how he began guiding and later taking over as an owner of an outfitting service. This was a great episode to catch up with Todd and learn more about what goes on behind the scenes that most clients never see. Our Website: theyoungguidespodcast.com Ellensburg Angler Website: ellensburgangler.com Heather's Choice: Use our code "THEYOUNGGUIDES15" at checkout to save some dough (ha, punny) or follow our link at: lddy.no/12lzd Lucky Bug Lures: Use our code "THEYOUNGGUIDES15" at checkout to save 15% on their website, luckybuglures.com Alaska Rod Co.: alaskarodco.com Northern Knits: instagram.com/northern._.knits/

Bestselling author Boo Walker initially tapped his creative muse as a songwriter and banjoist in Nashville before working his way west to Washington State, where he bought a gentleman's farm on the Yakima River. It was there amongst the grapevines and wine barrels that he fell in love with telling high-impact stories that now resonate with book clubs around the world. Rich with colorful characters and boundless soul, his novels will leave you with an open heart and a lifted spirit.Always a wanderer, Boo currently lives in Valencia, Spain with his wife and son.

 What's Trending: Pierce County announces a mask mandate countywide, Matt Barker from San Diego goes off on Board of Supervisors calling them all Nazis, Man arrested in Chicago for selling false vaccination cards, // Big Local: Yakima man drives his SUV into the Yakima River to fill his radiator, Fred Meyer in Burien evacuated after a disturbance, Everett man was hit by a drunk driver in 1995 and his lawyer stole $300,000 of a 1 million dollar settlement to pay their mortgage, // Naomi Ishisaka is not a real person, Dramatic reading of her piece See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to Ellensburg, Washington, where "it's a pleasure to host you"!  The town was founded in 1871 along the Yakima River in the Kittitas Valley.  The town grew rapidly in the 1880s after the Northern Pacific Railway arrived.  In 1889, the town made a bid to be the capital of the newly formed state of Washington.  The bid was stymied when a major fire destroyed the downtown area on July 4th that year.  The town was never able to recover it's footing in the race, and Olympia became the state capital.  Ellensburg hosts a number of different festivals including Dachsunds on Parade, which includes a parade, races, pet tricks and a costume contest.  We hope you enjoy our first double episode of a town.  We will wrap up our visit to Ellensburg with next week's episode.

Good Morning it's Tuesday June 1st and this is Slices of Wenatchee. We're excited to bring you a closer look at one of our top stories and other announcements every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.    Today - After one of the driest springs on record the state Department of Ecology has issued a drought advisory. But what does this mean for wildfires?   Today's episode is brought to you by Equilus Group Incorporated. Equilus Group, Inc is a Registered Investment Advisory Firm in the states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Equilus Group, Inc- Building Your Financial Success. Learn more at Equilusfinancial.com. Member SIPC and FINRA.   --   Now our feature story…    The state Department of Ecology is warning of a possible drought for all of Eastern Washington.   The department issued a drought advisory on Thursday.   Why? They have growing concerns for farmers and ranchers in Eastern Washington.   With little rainfall in the past few months conditions have grown worse.   In fact, March through April was the fourth driest early spring period in Washington state since 1895.    And ZERO precipitation was recorded in the Tri-Cities in April. March had just 0.12 of an inch   Unfortunately, May is not looking much better with 0.19 inch. This is well below normal precipitation for May.   Jeff Marti, Ecology's water resources planner, said there are reports of crop stress and reduced yields. He's heard anecdotal accounts of problems from wheat farmers and hay producers already.   But, Tri-Cities area residents and farmers who use Kennewick Irrigation District water appear to be in good shape, at least for now.   K.I.D depends on snowpack in the Eastern Cascades and up-river reservoirs to fill the Yakima River.   And as of May it seems like the water supply for the Yakima Basin should be adequate to meet water rights.   That's despite March and April precipitation at the Yakima Project's reservoirs at only 40% of average.   Chuck Garner, Yakima Project River Operations supervisor for the Bureau of Reclamation noted that the basin snowpack is holding up well and remains above normal in spite of the low precipitation and the reservoirs have near normal storage.   However, in the Walla Walla and Snake watersheds, early snowmelt is leaving less than average levels. In part because April temperatures were higher than normal.   So the outlook for the wildfire season is mixed.   Chief Mike Harris of Franklin County Fire District 3 said it's already rated as “moderate” for the greater Tri-Cities area - far earlier than usual.   But there is one silver lining - the dry spring has limited the fuel available to feed wildfires. Annual grasses like cheatgrass are not as tall and thick as they would be in a wetter spring. So that could reduce the intensity of wildfires.   Stay safe, and stay up to date on the conditions at wenatcheeworld.com   -   Here's what else you need to know about today…   Central Washington Hospital was pushed to its absolute limit recently after experiencing a surge of hospitalizations. But they were not related to COVID-19.   According to Andrew Canning, spokesperson for Confluence Health - during this critical moment, capacity hit 98% with beds available only in pediatrics, the labor delivery unit, and the mother baby unit.   Seven people ended up having to wait to be admitted into the hospital's emergency department.   Canning also said that medical facilities in the state and North Central Washington region are also close to full, partially due to COVID-19, but largely because of other chronic medical conditions requiring attention like cancer, heart disease, stroke and infections.   The region has very little surge capacity for patients.   As of May 27, about 70% of staffed acute care beds were being occupied by patients in North Central Washington. And around 84% of acute care beds across the state were occupied by patients.   So what does this mean?   Well, according to the “Healthy Washington” COVID-19 reopening plan, the state would begin to rollback phases if the statewide ICU capacity ever reached 90%.    And in North Central Washington, about 89% of ICU beds were occupied. Canning emphasized that we're on a good, downward path, but we are not quite out of the woods yet.   He also said that Central Washington Hospital continues to see severe cases of COVID-19. It's important to note that more than 97% of these severe COVID-19 hospital admissions came from unvaccinated individuals.   So what can you do to help? The Chelan-Douglas Health District is asking that the community be cautious. Stay safe and healthy to help give local health providers a break.   - Before we continue, a special thanks to our friends and sponsors at Confluence Health. The team at Confluence Health is grateful for the trust the community puts in them every single day. They are diligently working to improve the health and quality of life for our friends and neighbors. They are Grateful | They are Confluence Health.  Learn more by visiting them at ConfluenceHealth.com -   Next    Liberty Orchards, the makers of Aplets & Cotlets, announced on Friday that they won't be closing the company after all! The announcement came after negotiations with a prospective buyer.   For now, no other details are available. The company originally set June 1 as a final operating date, but that's no longer the case.   Normal operations at Liberty Orchards will remain in place until the negotiations with this prospective buyer are finished. So you can still visit the candy factory and even take a tour!   Three years ago Liberty Orchards President Greg Taylor put the company up for sale.    It was decided at that time that if they couldn't sell the business, they would ultimately close it. And in March, Taylor said they hadn't been able to find a buyer and the time had come to close shop.   So this is certainly an unexpected turn of events - but we're excited for it!   The company was founded in 1920 by Armenian immigrants Mark Balaban and Armen Tertsagian, who owned a small orchard and developed the Aplets & Cotlets candies which became the staples of the company.   To stay up to date on what's going on at Liberty Orchards visit us at wenatcheeworld.com   The Gorge Amphitheater is an hour outside of Wenatchee. It was originally owned and operated by Dr. Vincent Bryan and Carol Bryan, along with the adjoining winery, Champs de Brionne, for which it was named.    It opened in 1986 and seated 3,000 people, but was later expanded after MCA purchased the venue in 1993. Later, The Gorge Amphitheater was acquired by Live Nation.   The venue has majestic views of the Columbia River.    Apart from drawing big name performers, The Gorge has also played host to an array of popular music festivals, like Area Festival, Creation Festival, Dave Matthews Band Caravan, Honda Civic Tour, Identity Festival, and much more.   Brooks & Dunn's "Only in America" video was also filmed here in 2001.   -   Thanks for listening. We'd also like to thank our sponsor again, Equilus Group, Inc, a Registered Investment Advisory Firm in the states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.   The Wenatchee World has been engaging, informing and inspiring North Central Washington Communities since 1905. We encourage you to subscribe today to keep your heart and mind connected to what matters most in North Central Washington. Thank you for starting your morning with us and don't forget to tune in again on Thursday!   Support the show: https://www.wenatcheeworld.com/site/forms/subscription_services/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tom, Rob, and Joey recount the tale of a possibly record breaking 84 inch Halibut, and they discuss the Yakima River and the 25 on the Fly event with Joe Rotter.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of The Ellensburg Angler Podcast, Kyle breaks down how the Yakima River has been fishing lately. The Skwala fishing is ON right now and temperatures are starting to warm up!

On this episode of The Ellensburg Angler Podcast, Kyle speaks with CWU graduate student Aimee Taylor. Aimee is conducting research on bull trout in the Upper Yakima River, with a focus on tagging and tracking populations in Lake Kachess. This is an awesome conversation and one you will definitely not want to miss.

Show Notes: https://wetflyswing.com/186 Sponsors: Stonefly Nets: http://wetflyswing.com/stonefly Anglers Coffee: https://anglerscoffee.com/ I sat down with Joe Rotter from Reds Fly Shop to dig into some tips on fishing the mayfly hatch with a focus on the blue-winged olive.  Joe has a serious passion for teaching and breaks down his good stuff today.  We find out what technical dry fly fishing is all about on the Yakima River.  Joe is a wealth of knowledge and shares his best tips on dry fly fishing.  We find out what gear you need and what makes a great dry fly fisherman. Reds Fly Shop Show Notes with Joe Rotter - The Mend is the podcast that Joe puts together for Red's is another great resource online. - The shadow cast in a River Runs Through It is one of the most impactful scenes in the movie. I interviewed the right-hand man for the movie here. - I noted the couple of entomologists I've had on.  Rick Hafele was on the podcast in episode 37 and shared a general rundown on aquatic entomology. Peter Sticher from Ascent Fly Fishing was on the show in episode 51 and shared some killer tips on matching the hatch. - The Sage Foundation is a great dry fly rod for $325 to $350.  You can find the Sage Foundation here from our podcast sponsor, the Gorge Fly Shop. (If you purchase through this link from the Gorge, this podcast gets a small commission at no extra cost to you). - The Redington zero and the Scientific Anglers amplitude smooth are two great choices for mid range gear for the reel and the fly line respectively. - Lune aquel or loon lochsa are both great dry fly floatants to use. - Antonio Gonzales has some comp flies that are killer. - I noted the Tom Rowland podcast and the lack of balance as a guide.  Tom was on our podcast and I was a guest on Tom's show. - The Gary Borger book on presentation is Joe's most recommended resource and Gary was on the podcast here. You can find joe at RedsFlyShop.com Reds Fly Shop Conclusion with Joe Rotter Joe Rotter brings his A game today as we dig into dry fly fishing with a focus on mayflies on the Yakima River in Washington.  Find out why a lighter 3 weight rod is the goto stick for most dry fly fishing. We also find out why its important to put on a new tapered leader at the start of each trip you are on.  Joe also breaks down the top gear and brands to get you started for a mid range setup. Show Notes: https://wetflyswing.com/186 Sponsors: Stonefly Nets: http://wetflyswing.com/stonefly Anglers Coffee: https://anglerscoffee.com/

On this episode of The Ellensburg Angler Podcast, Kyle talks through his winter fishing strategies for the Yakima River.

On this episode of The Ellensburg Angler Podcast, Kyle provides a quick overview of the fishing prospects for the Yakima River and Rocky Ford Spring Creek. Grab the rain gear and let's hit the water!

In this episode of The Ellensburg Angler Podcast, Kyle sits down to talk about how winter fishing has been on the Yakima River. Kyle discusses streamer tactics, winter holding water and tips on how to stay warm while out for a day of cold-weather fishing.

Tom, Rob, and Joey look at all the local fishing and hunting opportunities, and they discuss December on the Yakima River with Steve Joyce of Red's Fly Shop.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of The Ellensburg Angler Podcast, Kyle sits down to tie some flies and go over the tactics and techniques we are using to find fish on the Yakima River right now. Take notes, grab your gloves, pack an extra pair of socks and let's hit the water this weekend!

On this episode of The Ellensburg Angler Podcast, Kyle talks about fall fishing on the Yakima River.

On this episode we Wadeoutthere with Todd Fuchigami from Ellensburg Washington.  Todd is the owner of the Ellensburg Angler fly fishing outfitter, a fly fishing guide, and a veteran who served as a combat medic.  We discuss the Yakima River in Central Washington (00:17:43), fighting big fish from a drift boat (00:39:53), and techniques for targeting trout with terrestrials (00:49:43).  To plan a trip or learn more about fly fishing in Central Washington visit the Ellensburg Angler at: https://ellensburgangler.com/Look for water flows on the Yakima here: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/wa/nwis/uv/?site_no=12484500For more fly fishing stories, lessons learned, and artwork check out my blog and online gallery at: https://wadeoutthere.com/

In this episode of The Ellensburg Angler Podcast, Kyle breaks down his evening fishing for the Yakima River.

On this episode of The Ellensburg Angler Podcast, Kyle provides a quick fishing report for the Yakima River. Kyle also touches on river safety and the water-related accidents we have been experiencing lately.

In this episode of The Ellensburg Angler Podcast, Keegan and Kyle talk about some of the things that we have been experiencing on the Yakima River in the past couple of weeks.

In this episode of Bobber Talk, Keegan and Kyle talk about recent news on the Yakima River, including a fishing report, tips for casting and answering some of YOUR questions.

On this episode of Bobber Talk, Kyle and Alex break down their day of fishing on some of the upper stretches of the Yakima River.

In our first episode of The Ellensburg Angler Podcast, Kyle talks about how he determines what depth to fish during a walk-and-wade trip. Kyle also provides a river report on what you can expect on the Yakima River this week.

In this episode of The Ellensburg Angler Podcast, Keegan and Kyle sit down to talk with Central Washington University Professor Nick Zentner about the geology of the Yakima River. The three don't talk a ton of fishing, but they do dive into some of the other interesting aspects of the fly fishing experience that Ellensburg Angler provides for its guests. Keep your eye open for some of the geologic features they discuss the next time that you visit the Yakima River and Kittitas Valley. Show notes can be found on our website, https://ellensburgangler.com/blog. 

Kyle hosts solo today to give anglers a quick fishing report for the Yakima River.

In this episode of The Ellensburg Angler Podcast, Keegan and Kyle talk with owner of Ellensburg Angler, Todd Fuchigami. Todd talks about how he got started in the fly fishing industry and explains how his military career eventually brought him to the Yakima River. Todd has great success while nymphing with his clients, so Keegan and Kyle ask him a few questions on how anglers can be more efficient the next time that they hit the water. Todd drops some great information in this episode, so make sure you tune in and take notes. You can find show notes to the episode at https://ellensburgangler.com/blog.

On this episode of the Ellensburg Angler Podcast, Kyle and Keegan sit down to talk about spring fishing on the Yakima River. They discuss tips, tactics and hatches that you need to be aware of if you are making your way to the Yakima in the spring. They answer some of YOUR questions at the end of the show so make sure that you listen until the end! Show notes for this episode can be found at our website, ellensburgangler.com. Make sure to leave a rating and review for us on Apple Podcasts.

On this episode, Keegan and Kyle provide a brief background on the Yakima River. The guys share a variety of tips, tactics and information on the Yakima for both the drift boat and bank angler. Make sure to check the show notes on our website, https://ellensburgangler.com/blog. If you have a question for the podcast, send them via our social media and we will try to answer them on the next episode.

Nicks asks about the age of the Yakima River Canyon.

Nicks asks about the age of the Yakima River Canyon.

Mark and Ashley fix travel trailer, go fishing on Yakima River, and drink!

It’s getting droughty up in here!Have you felt like there just wasn’t as much water around lately…? From lower precipitation to less snow accumulation in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest…it’s getting dry in here!Droughts can be caused by a number of circumstances, but typically the droughts of the Pacific Northwest are impacted by low precipitation coupled with warmer temperatures (El Nino events). Winter snowpack plays an important role in ensuring that we have sufficient stream flows throughout the summer. What we are experiencing in Western Washington this year is a low precipitation drought. The low snowpack coupled with hot temperatures in April melted more snow, earlier than normal. In western Washington, we depend on the slow melt of snow in the higher elevations to keep streams and rivers flowing throughout the summer, when we typically do not see much additional precipitation. Even in May, which is typically still considered part of our rainy season, our area continued to see low monthly accumulations and higher than normal temperatures. In May, Olympia, WA only had 0.9 of an inch of rain, which is only 39% of the average of 2.33 inches of rain.Most of Western Washington is under the Severe Drought classification from the US Drought Monitor. In addition, the Governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, in 2019, has already declared a Drought Emergency in 27 counties!In Washington State, drought is defined in statute (RCW 43.83B) as conditions where water supply is anticipated to be less than 75 percent of normal and there is anticipated hardship to water users and uses.The US Drought Monitor is a federal program created in 2000. They classify the entire US into 6 categories of drought intensity from normal (non-drought) to exceptional drought. With each level of intensity comes additional associated water conservation actions that range from voluntary water use restrictions to widespread water shortages leading to a water emergency.The U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) has an on-line map, which shows the location and intensity of drought across the country. The data is updated each Tuesday and released on Thursday. See the GIS section below for links!Oregon DroughtWashington DroughtU.S. Drought Monitor also evaluates different drought impact categories, which includes agriculture, business and industry, energy, fire, plants and wildlife, public health, tourism and recreation, and water supply.According to the US Drought Monitor: There are over 5 million people in Washington that are experiencing drought conditions currently and almost 2 million in Oregon. Western Washington is the only area that is experiencing severe drought currently.According to the Department of Ecology, here's the latest conditions as of June 19, 2019:Looking at the 7-day average, more than half of the rivers in the state are showing stream flows in the bottom 10 percent of flows measured for this time of year.Daytime temperatures in the Yakima River are reaching 80 degrees F., which becomes a thermal block for fish movement.How can you help? You can report any drought conditions to the Department of Ecology, and water conservation is always important.Many streams in Western Washington are already below normal volumes for this time of year. Likely these conditions will continue through the summer without additional precipitation. Check out some of the following websites for more information on stream flows.Northwest River Forecast WebsiteEcology Stream Flow WebsiteWhat is the forecast for the summer weather?NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center has forecast warmer and drier conditions for the westside of Washington state from June to August. In addition, weak El Nino conditions still exist and there is a 70% chance they will continue through the summer.Typically areas that are classified by the US Drought Monitor as being under severe drought classification can expect to experience crop or pasture loss, common water shortages and see water restrictions imposed.What are the expected climate change impacts to the Pacific Northwest Droughts?As one may be able to assume, climate change is predicted to increase droughts in some areas, by both increasing the temperature and changing the precipitation cycle.In Western Washington, for example, the total annual accumulation of precipitation is not expected to change drastically. However, the time of year that we see the precipitation will play a critical role in precipitation cycle. Currently, we get precipitation about 9 months out of the year, with the bulk of that coming down as snow in the mountains during the winter. The forecasted precipitation is projected to show up later in the year, when it’s warmer, meaning less snow and less snowpack accumulation in the winter, which will result in lower summertime in-stream flows. This will be compounded by warmer temperatures, which will exacerbate future drought conditions.What does a drought mean for the Pacific Northwest?According to the Department of Ecology’s website:Drought conditions expose different populations and communities to different levels of vulnerabilities.By declaring a drought emergency, the Department of Ecology can offer vital support to these communities. This designation allows Ecology to expedite emergency water right permitting. For instance, one farmer may lease water to another farmer and Ecology can expedite that transfer.It also allows them to make funds available to address hardships caused by drought conditions. On June 4, Ecology announced a grant program to help with drought response.Drought can result in water shortages for agriculture, energy, people and ecosystem services:AgricultureWater rights can be impacted, with senior water rights, including in-stream flow, having the “first dibs” on water and then if there is not enough water left in the streams, junior water right holders may not be able to access the water.EnergyHydroelectric power can be impacted by lower snowpack.PeopleIncreases in water use due to summer irrigation and increased water use around people’s homes. Water withdrawal from surface and groundwater can be impacted by less precipitation and an increased demand for water from multiple sources.Ecosystem ServicesFish - low flows and subsurface flows, increased temperatures, decreased dissolved oxygen (DO), and increased biological activity (growth) can all have a negative impact on fish survival and in some cases can lead to fish kills.Stressed plant communities - Western Washington has recently seen an increase in plant impacts from multiple years of higher heats and less precipitation; these include iconic northwest trees such as madrona, cedar, big leaf maple and other plants such as salal, which has seen a huge die back on Vancouver Island.Increased fire risk due to lower precipitation and higher temperatures. Low soil moisture content and low humidity also contribute to increased risk of wildfire.OSU-extension developed a cool handout that shows some best practices to recover from a wildfire.To learn about fire and wildfire preparedness, listen to Episode 9: Fire Must BURN!Learn more about how the City of Port Orchard stopped any further construction in the new McCormick Woods development due to concerns of having insufficient drinking water supplies. This is a big deal for a local municipality, since permitting is an important revenue source. Check out this interview with KOMO news or this article in the Kitsap Sun Newspaper to learn more about the City’s plans. The City is continuing to work with the developer and the City of Bremerton to find a solution.What can you do to minimize the impacts of a drought?As an individual, conserving water is the best way to mitigate for the impacts of drought.We suggest you start with a water audit to calculate your water use footprint. We used the www.watercalculator.org website to calculate our average water footprint per day. Basically you answer a series of questions about your typical indoor, outdoor and virtual water use.Some interesting things discussed in the calculator include the virtual water use items. For example:It takes an enormous amount of water to produce animal products like meat and dairy, because livestock and poultry in the US eat large amounts of water-intensive feed – usually corn and soybeans. Agricultural withdrawals account for 70% of water use around the world.Because irrigation-related water consumption is so high, it’s important to make water-wise food and textile purchases!Cotton takes a lot of water because it is typically grown in arid regions, which require irrigation.It’s good to think about how goods are moved around the planet and consider how much water is moved and consumed in the process, even though it’s hidden from sight!Things like smart phones take over 3,000 gallons of water to produce, which is associated with both their manufacturing and disposal of wastewater that is diluted with freshwater to meet water quality standards.Did you know that it takes 22 gallons of water to make one pound of plastic? This means it takes twice as much water to produce a plastic water bottle as the water that is contained in it!How can you save water?According to the water calculator website, these 5 simple steps can help you save water:STEP 1: Change your dietIt takes water – a lot of it – to grow, process and transport your food. When you eat lower on the food chain, eat more whole foods and waste less food, you also save water.STEP 2: Cut indoor water useEvery day, you rely on water for a wide variety of uses around the house. There are lots of opportunities to cut back on water use in the kitchen, bathroom and laundry room and even by fixing leaks.Toilets are the largest water consumers in da house! Typically they account for about 30% of overall household water use. Using a low flow toilet, fixing any toilet leaks and considering letting it mellow are all ways to minimize water use. A leaking toilet can waste 200 gallons per day!Fix leaks! Leaks just waste water and even a small drip can add up to a lot of water over time.Turn off the water when you are brushing your teeth or lathering your hands.Keep showers short and consider skipping a day every once in a while, in the name of water conservation, of course! Replace shower heads that have a flow rate greater than 2.5 gallons (9.5 liters) per minute (the current national energy policy act standard).If the shower head is not labeled, the flow rate can be checked by catching the water in a 1-gallon (3.8 liters) bucket. If it takes less than 24 seconds to fill up, the shower head flow rate is more than 2.5 gallons (9.5 liters) per minute. The U.S. EPA WaterSense program labels efficient shower heads that use a maximum 2.0 gallons (7.6 liters) per minute.High Efficiency dishwashers typically use less water than doing dishes by hand, but make sure to do full loads. The same goes for the laundry; having a high efficiency washer can save a lot of water.STEP 3: Use less water outdoorsOf all the residential water we use in the US, on average we use about a quarter outdoors. In some western states it’s half to three-quarters, primarily for lawns and gardens. A few simple steps can reduce your outdoor water consumption, so tighten those taps, eliminate those leaks and use water wisely.Outdoor water use accounts for 30% of the average daily water use in the United States! In hot summer months or dry areas, outdoor water use can account for up to 70%.Choose drought tolerant plant species and minimize turf and lawn areas. WSU-extension has some great resources for drought tolerant plants.Use a timer to prevent over-watering; most lawns need 1” of water per week. Watering longer promotes deeper root growth, which makes the grass more resilient.STEP 4: Save energy, save waterWater and energy are linked. It takes water to make energy (electricity and transportation fuels) and it takes energy to move, heat and treat water. When you save energy you also save water.STEP 5: Change buying habitsPractically everything you buy, use and consume has a water footprint because it took water to process and transport it. Being thoughtful about purchases, reusing where you can and recycling can reduce your water footprint.Try to consider the water footprint of various products that you purchase; remember that bottle of water took a lot more water to produce than just the water inside of it! Meat and textile production are very water intensive.Also, you can become a water detective, by paying attention to your water bill. Do you see an unexpected increase in water use? If so, check for leaks! Knowing how much water you typically use will help you determine if there is a concern or you have been able to reduce your water use!Still want to know more?!Ya, cool cats usually do…check out these links for lots more information!Department of Ecology’s Water Conservation PageThe Alliance for Water Efficiency Drought and Drought Response, Business and Industry tips and Water Conservation TipsEPA’s WaterSenseWashington State Department of Health Drinking Water and DroughtGIS Time! How do they make that cool US Drought Monitor Map?The information for this segment of the podcast comes from a slide show given by Eric Luebehusen, a meteorologist and one of the authors of the US Drought Monitor (USDM) Map. He does a fabulous job of explaining the history of the map and how it’s created today, so I won’t repeat it all here, and we won’t have a separate GIS Tools blog this week.The USDM map started out as a really pixelated drawing back in August of 1999, but eventually moved over to GIS and uses a lot of science-based layers today. They still create all of the drought shapes by hand, which takes 10-20 volunteer hours per week! See the whole slide deck here.Citizen Science: Drought Reporting and Weather Stations!Are you being affected by drought? You can submit a report about how lack of water is affecting you through the Drought Impact Reporter from the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska. The format of the report is a Survey123 app, which the Magical Mapper has mentioned before on the podcast. You can also attach photos and report on any and all of the questions they ask about, which include agriculture, municipal water supply, and fish and wildlife habitat impacts. You can then see the reports in an awesome story map! This is just a starting point for interested parties to see what’s going on, and is based solely on media reports and subjective volunteer reports.Want to have a bit more impact? You can become a CoCoRaHS reporter! CoCoRaHS stands for Community Collaborative Rain Hail and Snow Network. This network of volunteers have purchased high quality rain gauges that cost around $35 and report precipitation amounts each day. You do need to commit to reading and emptying your rain gauge at the same time every day. These reports are then used by a wide variety of people, including the National Weather Service, climatologists, researchers, insurance industry, forensic detectives, and the US Drought Monitor, just to name a few. Even readings of 0 rain are very important and help researchers study and identify drought conditions.Thanks for joining us!As always, please rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please let us know what you think at outalivepodcast.com or facebook.com/WillWeMakeItOutAlive. If you like the podcast, please tell all of your friends! And family! And co-workers! And strangers!See you next month!

Show Notes:  https://wetflyswing.com/38 Editor of the FlyFish Journal, Steve Duda is on the podcast today to talk about how he became the editor of a unique fly fishing magazine, his passion for banjo and punk rock and why it's all about the experience for him. We talk about the Burning Pram Party, the Swallow Story, woman in fly fishing, conservation and politics.  We pretty much cover it all and is now a pleasure to share this one with you.   Show Notes with Steve Duda ay Nicholas was on the podcast in episode 3 and talked about fly fishing for chinook salmon in the estuary. Steve plays banjo in a punk rock band.  Here's a clip from a show. I note that April Vokey is on the podcast next month and we talk about how amazing it is to see a new woman's movement in fly fishing. The FlyFish Journal publishes a conservation piece in every edition of the magazine.  Here's a link to a recent example. The swallow story that Steve reads on the Fly Tapes Podcast.  Here's a link to the reading. The Babine fish story that I noted as told on the Tell Tale Fisherman at this link. I interviewed Tim Rawlins, the Line Speed Jedi in episode 27 here. Steve has written for the Boise Weekly, Rolling Stone, the Huffington Post and interviewed bands and has generally just been writing. South Sound Tug and Barge is a 3 piece folk and punk band is Steve's band where he tours throughout the year. Jay Johnson notes the biggest difference between a good nympher and a great nympher is another piece of weight. John Gierach in fly fishing, Sparse Grey Hackle, Mary Oliver, Jim Harrison were other writers that influenced Steve. Trout Bum may have been one of the big books that really grabbed Steve.  Just 2 days ago John Gierach just sent Steve an article for the 10th anniversary. The Burning Pram on the Yakima River in October is a great desert party and something I hope to attend this year.  This also includes the all breed dog race for a chance at glory. The best flies when fishing rainbows for Steve is a quigley cripple off of the back of a caddis, the beadhead pheasant tail. Episode 39 of the podcast is all about Tenkara and is one technique that is a little controversial within fly fishing. I noted Fly Fish TV old timer Gene Hering, who is still selling fishing DVD's but in the middle of a media world that is transitioning. Oman GT's is in a new episode of the Journal. Steve will be focusing on their vimeo channel which you can find here. You can reach Steve at Steveduda@TheFlyFishJournal.com here or on instagram here or at the South Sound Tug and Barge where he plays punk-folk music. Conclusion with Steve Duda I want to give a big Thank You to Steve for coming on the show and sharing his perspective on fly fishing.  The the Burning Pram to punk rock to swallows, Steve takes us into the mind of someone who has made a career out of writing. You can get all of the Show Notes at the link below: https://wetflyswing.com/wfs-038-flyfish-journal-editor-steve-duda-on-punk-rock-surf-fly-fishing

Tonight I will be speaking to Rob and he shares two encounters with us tonight. Both encounters he had something thrown at him. The second encounter he describes seeing a “Hairy man” after having a boulder thrown at him. I will also be speaking to Tony Merkel from The Confessionals podcast. With the upcoming International Bigfoot Conference coming up and Travis Walton will be a guest we discuss the "fire in the sky" incident. I will also be playing a clip of Travis talking about his encounter while on the ship to bring everyone up to speed before I interview him at the end of August. Rob writes “My name is Rob and I started listening to your show in August of 2015 while I was stationed at Fort Lee, Virginia for a 4 month leadership course. I found it very interesting, some of the behaviors people were reporting, mostly because of 2 occurrences I had, one in fall of 2011 and the other in the summer of 2014. I say occurrences because I was, and Still am not 100% what exactly happened in 2011 and what I saw in 2014. I am born and raised in Enumclaw Washington. I spent my life going river fishing with my dad. We would not even waste time with se river access and preferred and still do prefer solitude while fishing. So we would leave early in the mornings and head for mounting river fishing wherever we felt like we could make a good hike and be left alone. In 2011 I had just returned back to Washington from attending college in Ohio. For the 2 years I was out there finishing my degree I never quite had the time or opportunity to come home often, to spend much time with family, or fish. Once I graduated and came home, that fall my dad and I left early on a Saturday morning and headed over Snoqualmie to the head waters of the Yakima river just outside of Easton. We took the exit and drove in until we came to a bridge over the river. We crossed it, hoping that the road on the other side might follow the river a little further down stream, mostly just so we didn’t risk being in the first spot any other fisherman might come to. However, once we crossed the bridge and drove for a little while, we found out that the road didn’t follow the river hardly at all, so we turned back, crossed the bridge again and parked. We took our poles and headed down to the bank just upstream of the bridge. While we were talking about the best ways to fish that particular area, a pine cone came out of nowhere and landed just at our feet, about 3 feet from the water of the bank we were standing on. The bank was about 45 feet wide, and while there were pine trees up hill from where we were standing, they were in no way reaching anywhere close to over us. Not even close enough for a generous bounce and roll to reach us. We thought it was odd but kept talking and then pulled out the lures and began fishing. My dad walked upriver from me about 120 feet from me, completely visible to me. It was not even 3 minutes with my lure in the water before another pinecone landed to my left about 2 feet away. I never saw the arc of the fall of the pine cone. It just landed there. Pretty soon my dad called out saying that a pine cone hit him. At this point we started looking around to see if there was anyone, anything, a tree, and how they were flying in to judge where they might be coming from. It was so eerie, and I instantly became uncomfortable, but it didn’t seem to bother my dad too much. So we went back to fishing, but again not even 3 minutes and pinecone started falling so close, one bounced and hit my shoe. At that instant I called up to my dad and told him I had an uneasy feeling about what was happening, and that I was ready to go. He assured me it was alright, but said he was willing to head back to the car and try to work our way down river to find another spot, he just needed to use the wood line to “drop off a package”. So while he headed for the brush, I walked back up to the car to put the gear away. I was seated, just waiting for him, when he finally got back, he seemed pretty hasty, but I just assumed he was eager to get to a peaceful spot on the river and get to fishing ( This becomes important in 2017). So we headed back to I-90 and started to work our way down toward Ellensburg, trying to find spots along the river to fish. The rest of the trip was uneventful. In 2012 I joined the Army Reserve and met my finance, in 2013 I was married, and in 2014 I got divorced. When I got married I moved to Spokane and really didn’t have the chance to fish or spend time with my dad, so when I was divorced and moved back to Enumclaw, we decided that a Sunday on the Ohanapecosh would help get my mind off of things. So we took off, headed for Green Water, entered Mt. Rainier National park and headed over Cayuse pass toward Randall and Packwood. We had stopped along that road once before and walked down to the river to do some fishing, well that day we stopped in the same place only the river had moved. From the time we parked the car and actually got to where the river was at that time took 15 minutes, and we crossed 4 dry river beds with large patches of forest growing back up between them. Once we found the river, it had worked its way along a cliff. Like there had been the foot of a hill there until the water eroded it away. The cliff face was a good 25’ high which really didn’t mean to much, apart from the fact that where we arrived at the river, upstream was an enormous log jam. The log jam was so high that it reached to the top off the cliff wall. The log jam stretched from the cliff face, across the river, and was anchored in the forest of the last dry river bed we had come to. Like I said, it was enormous. The other thing that really didn’t mean much at the time was that the Jam had at some point collected enough sediment that a few small deciduous bushes were growing on the top. Well, my dad headed down stream, out of sight and I stayed there where we had come out to the river, I would guess about 200 feet away from the base of the log jam. I had been fishing about 10 minutes when I heard what sounded like a tree break. I looked up at the log jam but didn’t see anything. So I went back to fishing. About 5 minutes later though, a rock, easily the size of a beach ball hit the face of the log jam, making a breaking sound as it bounced, and then came to a stop in the river bank. As I looked over, having heard the branches it broke, then watching it thud to the ground, I saw movement on top the log jam. Honestly Wes, I don’t know what I saw, but to me, it looked like a furry human backside, up right, had run behind the bushes on top the jam. I saw what looked like a trailing thigh, knee, ass, and foot, ALL BLACK and FURRY or Hairy I guess, disappear into the bushes up top. I was horrified. And for a minute thought maybe it was a black bear. Any way. I turned by face back straight, keeping my eyes right and upstream while I calmly reeled in my line. Once I had my line in, I turned down stream to walk to my dad, all the time, not looking directly back, but keeping my head turned one direction or the other to keep my peripheral vision on the jam. When I found my dad I just told him that I wasn’t feeling too good and that the stress of the divorce was too much and I really wanted to go home and lay down. He was very sympathetic and reeled in his line and we headed back through the forest and dry river beds back to the truck. It was the most heightened state of alert in my life, every time we would cross a river bed and have to forge through the forest growing back in. We got back to the truck and headed home. I never told him what I had seen. Mostly because as terrified as I was I thought maybe there was a chance, in fright and panic, that I misidentified and it was just some normal animal. Fast forward to 2015, I was at Fort Lee, VA for an extended training course and had a lot of free time on m hands. There is not a whole lot to do there, and not a whole lot just off post. However there was a bookstore and I spent a lot of free time just browsing. One day I wandered through the Occult/ mystery / alien/ etc. etc. etc. section, and just perused some books on the subjects. When I got back to the fort that day I just happened to start looking at related videos on YouTube and stumbled across your show. Episode 11. Siege of Honobia. I listened to it, and I listened to more, and then all of the fishing events came back. I spent the rest of my time there reading and listening. I read David Paulides books religiously and listened to your show. When I got home after I started talking to my dad about bigfoot and other fringe topics, and he instantly brought up the Yakima occurrence. He told me that while he was in the wood line, another pinecone hit him, hard, while he was squatted in there, he said he absolutely had no Idea where it came from, and that he was actually pretty disturbed by it. So we started listening to your show when we would get together. We have even made 2 drives out to Yacolt, hoping to see something that would completely confirm the tiny bit of what I saw. We drove up Mt. Yacolt, just off the main road before you come into town by the school. That is an eerie feeling driving that road. The woods seem so claustrophobic and dark, even on the sunny day we went. The second trip down, we drove to Sunset falls, and drove all the way up to ( I believe FSR 50) and the feeling is much the same. Still no confirmation for me though. I don’t really know how to word it. I saw something. That much I know. I know what it kind of looked like. But it was just a 1 second glance. I do believe now, after listening to your show that there is something out there. I just cant say for certain that is what I really saw. But I would like to see one. I also don’t know about the pinecone throwing. That is not one I have heard on your show, or anywhere else, but maybe that is something someone has shared with you privately before? Lastly, I just wonder if you have gotten any reports off the Ohanapecosh or Yakima River in the Easton area?”  

On this week’s episode: Chris brought in his friend Joe as a guest host, They tell a story about them floating on the Yakima River, We read a story about how Turtle got his name, Sal tells a story with a twist, Sal talks to an old friend and they re-live some old stories. Email […]

The Yakama Nation is asking Washington Governor Jay Inslee to declare a state of emergency for the Rattlesnake Ridge landslide. That’s the steep slope outside of Yakima that is moving slowly and clings above a small community, a railroad corridor, Interstate 82 and the Yakima River. As Anna King explains, the tribes have a lot to lose if it goes down. And as the Pacific Northwest booms, it’s using a lot of concrete to build buildings, roads, and other infrastructure -- and making all that concrete is a big part of our carbon footprint. Reporting for EarthFix, Eilis O’Neill set out to see what concrete production would look like in a low-carbon world.

In this podcast Stefan Woodruff, Orvis-endorsed guide with Ellensburg Anglers in Washington State, reveals (some of) his secrets to catching steelhead, plus an overview of ths steelhead opportunities in his state. Trout anglers will also enjoy his tips on fishing the Yakima River, tips that should work anywhere. In The Fly Box we range from tying gel-spun backing to fly line, how to fish with a friend and really fish together, what to do if you get snagged on a small stream, hooking fish on fiberglass rods, identifying jumping fish, what materials to save for fly tying from hunting trips, how to avoid drag when fishing to fish in a slow pocket on the other side of fast current. I also decline to give marital advice to one listener.