Wy'East Resource Conservation & Development

Wy'East is looking for a few new Council Members. Wy'East is a 501(C)3 Non-Profit and has a board of directors or "Council Members" that oversee the organization. Are you interested in rural energy....clean tech....innovation....this may be the spot for you.

The Wy'East Council meets once per quarter. Our programs focus to support Rural Oregon. Check out our website to learn more about Wy'East.

www.wyeast-rcd.org

Wy'East worked together with Monarch tractor to demonstrate our E-Farms Monarch electric tractor operating fully autonomy at this years Pre-Harvest Cherry Tour in The Dalles/Dallesport. This annual tour is hosted by Ashley Thompson at Oregon State University Extension.

Take a listen to the full podcast. This includes several interviews with folks from Monarch, WyEast, Forth, and orchardist from the tour.

GROUNDED PODCAST: EPISODE 41 - Oregon Cherries and Tractor Tech — Energy Info It’s June, which means it is cherry season in Oregon! In fact, cherry and fruit production is a big deal for Oregon . Our lands along the Willamette Valley, as well as Hood River and the Columbia River Gorge, are renowned for their idyllic conditions that have supported a thriving fruit industry i...

Join us this afternoon at The Dalles Chamber. Lean about and test drive a variety of electric vehicles. We are scheduled to have 13 Electric Cars and a number of off-road vehicles. All battery electric.

2PM to 6PM
@ The Dalles Chamber

🚗✨ Get ready to electrify your day! Take part in the 2nd Ride and Drive event, hosted by Wy'East RC&D & Forth, on May 9th from 2pm to 6pm at The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce. Experience the future of transportation as you test drive popular electric vehicles, check out electric farm equipment, and have fun on electric cargo bikes.

Utility experts will be on hand to answer all your EV questions and inform you about available financial incentives. Don’t miss this opportunity to satisfy your curiosity and share your thoughts!

Juicing up @ Sage Center in Boardman-OR. Getting a little fast charge on the way to Regards to Rural (RDI).

Electric Vehicle Ride and Drive - WyEast is co-hosting this event in The Dalles-OR along with Forth. This is your opportunity to check out a variety of different vehicles. Including electric tractors, pickup trucks, side-by-sides, vans, and a variety of different electric cars. Take a spin...learn about the latest technology.

The Dalles’ first EV Ride & Drive - Try out electric cars, trucks, bikes and more — Columbia Community Connection News Mid-Columbia Region It’s all things electric at the Ride & Drive on May 9 in The Dalles. Electric cars, trucks, vans, motorcycles, bikes even tractors will be on hand for a test run. Or learn about the electric car share program in The Dalles? It’s happening from 2-6 pm at The Dalles Area Chamber.

Oregon Snow Water Equivalent - % of Normal (based upon the last 30 years). The warm weather over the past few weeks has melted out some of the higher elevation snows.

We have out fingers crossed for more snow in the higher elevations over the next 30 days.

Our team at WyEast have provided technical support to the Duncan's over the past few years. They have made great progress on upgrading their irrigation system with some of the most efficient pump and sprinkler systems available, this is resulting in saved water, saved energy, and improved farm production for these Klamath County Farmers.

Southern Oregon Farmers See Drastic Savings from Irrigation Upgrades - Energy Trust Blog Cameron and Garrett Duncan, owners of Duncan Livestock and Hay, have lived in Klamath County for...

We are Hiring at WyEast. Full and Part-Time positions available. Please send an email expressing interest with a copy of your resume to [email protected]

Recent Winter Storms help significantly with snow pack throughout Oregon. Late December 2023 several of the regions were at 30% of normal snowpack. Today we are in excess of 100% throughout the majority of Oregon.

Below is an infographic showing Oregon Current Snow Water Equivalent % of Normal - As of January 19th 2024.

Been out plowing snow with the Solectrac CET Electric Tractor. Temps have been ranging between -10 to +10 degrees F. Had about 18" of snow over the past few days.

The CET performed well. Hydraulics were a bit slow because of the extreme cold. Power (strength) from the tractor was good. We did use the battery faster than normal in these extreme cold conditions. Overall everything worked well.

As winter weather activity is now increasing. We are in desperate need for snow in the mountains...this is a direct impact to the available irrigation water for the 2024 irrigation season.

Below is a current Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) % of Normal. We are currently sitting in the 20% to 30% of normal snowpack in the Cascade Mountain Range.

Active winter weather is on the way for the Pacific NW mountains. Whether or not you are a fan of snow, this is good news for the snowpack that is well below normal for this time of year.

Two of our electric tractor entries at the annual Dufur Lighted Tractor Christmas Parade. No generators here....we have output power from the main batteries to power our lights.

Michael Kluz, the Rural Energy Project Manager for Wy'East and a RARE AmeriCorps Alumni was featured in the Energy Trust Blog last month.

RARE’s Michael Kluz on making an impact through relationships, storytelling - Energy Trust Blog This post is part of a series featuring 2023 members of the University of Oregon’s Resource...

Energy Trust of Oregon features the RARE AmeriCorps Program. WyEast has the honor of hosting Lanier Fussell this year as our RARE Fellow!!

2023-24 RARE members bring clean energy support to rural Oregon - Energy Trust Blog Top row from left: Nolan Cochran, Ryan Taylor and Lanier Fussell. Bottom row: Alice Weston, left,...

Robert Wallace, Executive Director of Wy'East, received the 2023 Energy Professional of the Year award from the Oregon Association of Professional Energy Managers.
"In recognition of his role in fostering partnerships across the state, dedication to advancing energy efficiency in rural communities and exemplary dedication to improving rural productivity, energy and water use efficiency."

Wy'East would like to introduce the newest member to our team, Lanier Fussell, a member of the RARE AmeriCorps program through University of Oregon.

Lanier is originally from Little Rock, Arkansas. In 2022, she graduated from Louisiana State University with a B.A. in International Studies accompanied by a concentration in Environment and Development. She intends to spend her career mitigating the effects of climate change on agriculture and food systems.

North Unit Irrigation District (Madras-OR) test out hydro turbine units in the irrigation canals.

“It was a success,” said Emrgy representative Mike Cavanaugh. “The canal was at only half its usual flows, and it still generated power.”

The company suspended a hydrokinetic turbine at the headworks of the canal in Bend where the system diverts water from the Deschutes River. The water turns the turbine in eggbeater fashion, generating electricity to load onto the grid and sell to power customers.

Cavanaugh says in the first phase of the project the turbines could generate enough electricity to power about 500 homes.

Hydropower in canals may earn money for irrigators North Unit explores business opportunity with Atlanta-based Emrgy

OSU Extension continues to study the benefits of soil moisture monitoring. WyEast has worked with Farmer and soil moisture monitoring for about 15 years. Knowing what the current soil moisture levels are helps both with making the most of every drop....but also can increase yields and crop quality.

Western Innovator: Research focuses on soil moisture Supercharged sensors: Wireless networks add value, versatility to measuring soil moisture

Sustainable Northwest has been a long time conservation partner of WyEast. Their annual Making Energy Work event is coming up in Corvallis. Consider joining us at this event for clean energy and cutting-edge information about energy related programs and efforts in our region.

2023 Fall Energy Symposium - Benton County Join us Nov. 2nd - 3rd in Benton County for the 8th Annual Fall Energy Symposium feat. field tours, expert panelists, networking, and more.

Case and New Holland release their new fully electric farm tractors. We hope to include one of these units with our E-Farms program.

New fully electric tractor from Case IH: Farmall 75C Electric - Future Farming Machine manufacturer Case IH recently presented its all-new electric tractor Farmall 75C Electric.

Electric Vehicle Ride and Drive in Mosier this Friday (9/15) from 3PM to 7PM. We will have several different electric vehicles there for folks to see and test drive.

Ride and Drive in Wasco County Sponsored by Pacific Power Join Forth for an electric vehicle ride and drive in Mosier, OR sponsored by Pacific Power.

Irrigation Efficiency upgrades in Central Oregon save both water and energy....helping our farms do more with less.

Conserving Water and Energy in the Deschutes Basin The Three Sisters Irrigation District On-Farm and Renewable Energy project is funded through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). This partn...

We'd like to announce that Michael Kluz has officially joined the Wy'East team as our Rural Energy Program Manager. Michael served as our RARE Americorps Member for the 2022-2023 service year.

Dan Mahr, the Senior Labor Advisor and Field Representative for US Senator Jeff Merkley, and Brianna Iddings Mattox, a legislative fellow for Senator Merkley recently visited Dufur last week. They were able to check out the Monarch MK-V and learn more about the E-FARMS program.

Marty and Kevin Richards of Fox Hollow Ranch - Madras, OR hosted a farm tour on July 12th to share on farm conservation practices with the public. Our WyEast Team was in attendance.

Matt Higgins of Bend got to hear a part of the water story he hadn’t heard before. “We hear that water is going to farmers and then the story drops off. We don’t hear how the farmers are using it. I don’t know how many other farmers share (the Richards') water-focused philosophy.”

Jefferson County farm efficiency impresses city tour goers "They should be a template, a beacon to other districts." Makensy Venneri, Realtor

LESA pivot conversions help with irrigation efficiency in Lake County. Save Water Save Energy.

LESA spells more efficiency for Oregon irrigators CHRISTMAS VALLEY, Ore. — Concern for the slowly decreasing aquifer water level in the Fort Rock Basin has led a few hay growers to transition their irrigation systems to low

Cattle Ranch in Eastern Oregon generates solar energy amongst the cows with Agrivoltaic project. This project is working with Chad Higgins at OSU Extension to design and operate this agrivoltaic system using best practices.

Beef cattle agrivoltaics on an Oregon family ranch Bear Valley Solar will deploy 240 kW of the 1.5 MW cattle-sited solar field pasture this year, with the first phase of construction ramping up this summer, developer David McFeeters-Krone tells pv …

New Monarch electric tractor arrives for E-Farms program.

We didn't leave this new tractor clean for long, we put it to work right away.