Managing for Drought

Agriculture drives Jefferson County's culture, economy, and land conditions. How can agriculture stay viable as temperatures rise while water supplies decrease and becomes more erratic? Since 2022, the SWCD has facilitiated a diverse group of over 40 members to develop, update, and implement a long-range plan to help agriculture thrive in spite of these challenges. Come join us!

The first edition of the Plan was finalized December 31, 2023. It will be updated annually.

Drought Plan 2023_Final.pdf

Our Vision: Jefferson County agriculture will thrive by adapting successfully to drought, and will support its people, animals, economy, environment, and culture.

Our Mission: to help agriculture create a sustainable, livable future for Jefferson County by adapting successfully to drought with support from Deschutes Basin stakeholders. We promote innovative solutions to proactively improve watershed health and increase the effective management of water.

Our Members: landowners, agricultural businesses, North Unit Irrigation District, Oregon State University (OSU) and other technical specialists, and other interested parties are all part of the process.

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Contact Ellen at ellen.hammond@jeffswcd.org or call 541-771-8258.

May contain: grass, plant, vegetation, field, land, outdoors, nature, scenery, and sky

Website Accessibility Policy

Jefferson County Soil and Water Conservation District is fully committed to providing accessible facilities, elements and channels of communication to all members of the public. As part of this commitment, Jefferson County Soil and Water Conservation District has a policy of providing an accessible website compatible with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) and commercial screen reading software. All features of the website are coded to allow individuals with vision and other impairments to understand and use the website to the same degree as someone without disabilities. We welcome feedback and can often resolve issues in a timely manner if they arise.

If you need any special assistance or accommodations:

Call us at

Ongoing Compliance Information

Compliance Officer

Jefferson County Soil and Water Conservation District has designated a compliance officer for website disability-related accommodations. The compliance officer has received training in website accessibility and updates the site in accordance with those best practices. Contact our accessibility officer to report an issue.

Compliance Procedures and Reports

In addition to testing with users with a wide range of disabilities and coding our website to WCAG standards, Jefferson County Soil and Water Conservation District regularly scans its website to ensure ongoing compliance, and makes timely changes to any inaccessible changes, if any are found.

Linked Documents and Third Parties

Please note that this site may link out to third-party websites, such as state or federal agencies, that do not have accessible content. This site may also include documents provided by third parties included in our agenda packets, for example. While we cannot control the accessibility of content provided by third parties, we are happy to assist any member of the public with reading and accessing content on our site.

See an opportunity for us to improve? Please contact our accessibility officer or call us at .

Report a Website Accessibility Issue

We are committed to your ability to access all content, and we will respond to all requests as soon as possible.