Running dry

In ordinary times, the request by Maine’s largest blueberry grower for an expanded irrigation permit would be controversial, the impact of the increased drawdowns on lakes, rivers, aquifers and wetlands in Hancock and Washington counties surely would be met with questions, concerns and downright opposition.

In these extraordinary times, with the threat of an endangered species listing for Atlantic salmon hanging over Maine’s head, the request by Cherryfield Foods borders on oblivious. The Canadian company may have impeccable plans to limit its drawdowns from the 23 bodies of water in the watersheds of three of the eight rivers being considered for listing and to ensure that salmon habitat is not harmed, but the timing could hardly be worse.

Reducing the impact of irrigation drawdowns from the eight Downeast rivers was a central element of the state conservation plan accepted by federal wildlife agencies in lieu of an ESA listing more than two years ago. The lack of progress on that issue was a central element in the federal agencies’ decision last fall to proceed with the listing.

Anyone wanting to make the case that Maine has not followed through on the state plan with sufficient energy and diligence — and there are plenty of such folks out there — would make irrigation Exhibit A. During the summer of 1998, the first blueberry season under the state plan, the drawdown in the salmon rivers was alarming. A draft water-use management plan is due to be released next month, after more than a year in the making, more than two years after the state plan was accepted, roughly five years after state and federal negotiations began on the salmon issue. Although there are numerous factors to consider in determining how much water can be withdrawn without damaging habitat, irrigation is hardly rocket science. The locations of the blueberry barrens are well mapped, the short mid-summer irrigation season is well documented — the when, where and how much of the industry’s needs are hardly a mystery.

The King administration is sensitive to any suggestion that it has not implemented the salmon plan with the necessary commitment, and it certainly can document the expenditure of a lot of staff time for planning and studies, not to mention a substantial amount of heated rhetoric directed at the feds. But it also has produced mixed messages.

Back in December, the governor spoke at a rural development conference and cited irrigation as the key to Maine’s agricultural future, in particular its potential to increase blueberry yields four to five times. Yet when a bill was submitted this session to provide matching grants to help blueberry growers develop salmon-friendly irrigation methods, the administration’s response, at least as expressed by the State Planning Office, has been to worry that helping one industry might mean other industries would ask for help, too.

Given that, it’s easy to understand why Cherryfield Foods and Atlantic salmon seem to be working at cross purposes. And to its credit, the company recently worked out with the Land Use Regulation Commission an irrigation plan for the Sam Hill Barrens near Wesley that includes an extraordinary amount of monitoring and oversight. But when the state has bigger fish to fry than an enhanced blueberry harvest, this request for an expanded irrigation permit is in the wrong place at the wrong time.