SALEM - Oregon is on the verge of a statewide drought, the state's Drought Council announced Tuesday.

"We're not going to recover to the point where we have normal conditions," said Dave Cassel of the Drought Council.

Cassel said drought conditions exist in all 14 basins measured.

But many areas within those basins do not meet conditions.

As a result, state officials have decided to hold off for now on recommending that a statewide drought emergency be declared.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski will consider the board's recommendation later this week when he decides whether or not to formally declare a drought.

Cassel said counties can continue to request that the council declare their particular area in drought, which opens the door to more flexibility in using emergency water supplies.

Kulongoski has already declared emergencies in Klamath County in Southern Oregon and Baker County in Eastern Oregon.

The council will reconsider the state classification at their regular meeting next month, but Cassel said there's "basically no chance" to avoid a statewide drought down the road.

Cassel said Eastern Oregon has already suffered long-reaching effects of the drought because residents depend on winter snowpack for water throughout the summer.

Earlier in the day at a drought forum, Pendleton dryland wheat grower Sherman Reese told U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden that he expects to lose 75 percent of his usual crop yields due to this year's dry spell.

And because many dryland fields are fallow every other year so as to collect enough moisture in the soil for crops, next year's crops could suffer as well, he said.

Wyden pledged to have a list of all the resources and programs available to those whose livelihood is affected by the drought on his Web site within 10 days.

Steve Todd of the National Weather Service said unusually dry conditions and low snowpack exist throughout the state this year - a state of affairs that is likely beyond the point of recovery, even with the recent spate of rain.

"If we do come up with rains that would bring us back to normal, we're probably going to experience flooding problems," Todd said.

Panelists at the forum said that this year's drought conditions could also cause declines in fish numbers, increase in power rates, more wildland fires in a longer fire season, and problems for municipal water suppliers and ports.