[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 27 (Monday, March 6, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1783-S1784]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   THREE DECADES OF WATER LEADERSHIP

  Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, today is a significant day in the 
agriculture industry in southeast Idaho. Effective and judicious water 
management is critical to communities in Idaho. Allocation of this 
scarce resource, particularly in the extended drought over much of the 
last decade, requires a vision of the future, application of valuable 
experience and lessons learned in the past, and an appreciation of the 
wide spectrum of water users. Today, Ron Carlson, Snake River 
Watermaster of District No. 1, is retiring after over 30 years of 
service to southeast Idaho.
  Ron revolutionized irrigated agriculture in Idaho, bringing it into 
the 20th century with the introduction of computerized accounting and 
data collection in 1978 and the creation of the Water Bank, a formal 
water renting process. Ron ushered in technological advances into 
irrigated agriculture that gave water administrators the capability to 
create a model of river flows and reservoir capacity that compares 
baselines of yearly conditions. This system allowed for unprecedented 
river management and water supply projections for the Snake River 
system in Idaho. Ron's extensive knowledge and wisdom has helped 
maintain a critical balance between the multiple demands on this system 
by all legitimate

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water users, from tribes to the State to local entities.
  Ron not only has dedicated his life to managing critical natural 
resources in southeast Idaho, he has also carried on the tradition of 
his parents in reaching out caring arms to disadvantaged youth. It is 
this calling that he intends to pursue in retirement, managing the 
Pearl House Project in Idaho Falls, a full-service residential youth 
center for children in crisis. I am certain that his vast management 
knowledge gained from years as watermaster will serve him well in this 
endeavor. I congratulate Ron and his family on his retirement and wish 
him well. Idaho's agriculture community's loss is the youth of 
southeastern Idaho's gain.

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