PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The National Weather Service forecast calls for snow in much of Oregon — a lot of it in some places.

The service issued a winter storm warning for Eastern Oregon, with 4 to 8 inches expected in Pendleton and Hermiston, and up to a foot in cities at higher elevations, such as John Day and Heppner.

Similar foot-deep totals are expected in Central Oregon, where snow was falling at Lava Butte early Wednesday. School districts in that region canceled classes and after-school activities.

Meanwhile, as much as 3 inches of snow is predicted to fall in the Portland metro area. Forecasters say the snow should start early Wednesday afternoon, complicating the ride home from work.

In the southern Willamette Valley, a mix of snow and freezing rain could make Eugene streets treacherous.

Brown proposes paying school fund as alternative to selling forest

By Claire Withycombe

Capital Bureau

KEIZER — As an alternative to a plan to sell a large chunk of coastal state forest, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown proposed Tuesday that the state use up to $100 million of its bonding authority to pay into the Common School Fund and relieve a portion of the Elliott State Forest of some of its fiduciary responsibility to the fund.

The Common School Fund has long provided revenues from state trust lands such as the Elliott State Forest for K-12 education.

The state says that the Elliott has, due to the recent imposition of increased timber harvesting restrictions, become a liability to the fund instead of an asset.

Brown’s proposal followed hours of impassioned public testimony over the proposed sale of 82,500 acres of the Elliott State Forest, which is home to endangered species. She’d previously hinted at the option in a tweet when she released her budget Dec. 1.

The proposed sale of the forest to a timber company and an Oregon Indian tribe mobilized the state’s environmental groups, who wanted to keep the land in public hands.

Over 40 entities formally expressed interest in the land — including some public agencies — but only one acquisition plan was submitted in time for the mid-November deadline.

The governor also directed the Department of State Lands to continue discussions with the prospective buyers — Lone Rock Resources of Roseburg and the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians.

The governor implored those gathered at the meeting to collaborate on a second option that would decouple “both the purpose and the ownership of the Elliott.”

She said she believed that option should keep the land in state or tribal ownership, which could include the aspects of the acquisition proposal submitted by Lone Rock and the Cow Creek Band — including tribal and private forest management.

In remarks at the conclusion of the land board’s meeting Tuesday afternoon, Brown said it is important to preserve the state’s beaches, forests and “open spaces,” but also stated her support for natural resource jobs.

“I am absolutely adamant that we need to continue to create jobs, particularly in Coos and Douglas counties,” where the acreage in question is located, Brown said. “I am adamant that we need to continue to maintain public access, and I think for many of us that looks very different depending on whose, which types of shoes we walk in, and that we preserve our endangered species and our very unique habitats.”

Brown said she expected the department to return to the State Land Board at its next meeting in February before finalizing an offer and purchase and sale agreement with Lone Rock, and implored those gathered at the meeting to work collaboratively to specify an alternative for the State Land Board to consider.

When the State Land Board convenes again in two months to do so, it will have a different composition — Secretary of State Jeanne Atkins and Treasurer Ted Wheeler, both Democrats, are finishing terms.

They will be replaced, respectively, by Republican Dennis Richardson and Democrat Tobias Read, both of whom have served in the Oregon Legislature.

Brown also directed the Department of State Lands to clarify, among other things, how the public benefit requirements under the proposal submitted by Lone Rock and the Cow Creek Band would be enforced under the acquisition plan.

If they acquire the forest, Lone Rock and the Cow Creek Band must maintain public access on half the land, maintain 25 percent of old forest stands and preserve riparian areas; they must also provide 40 direct or indirect jobs for a decade.

The price of the forest was set at $220.8 million by an appraiser in July.

Lone Rock and the Cow Creek Band have said that the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians would hold a conservation easement on the land and receive assistance from a Virginia group, the Conservation Fund, to uphold the public benefits requirements. Environmental groups and individuals have voiced skepticism about the plan.

In a staff report released last week, the Department of State Lands noted that while that plan submitted by Lone Rock and the Cow Creek Band was financially viable, there are outstanding details about the proposal — including firm identification of who would hold the conservation easement — that need to be clarified.

The Harney Soil and Water Conservation District in Eastern Oregon hopes that new sage grouse regulations will be revised under the upcoming Trump administration.

To that end, the district has filed a lawsuit that seeks a court order requiring the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to reconsider the rules, which ranchers see as overly burdensome.

The BLM amended Oregon’s “resource management plan” for federal lands last year as part of a broader push to protect greater sage grouse habitat and prevent further declines in the bird’s population.

The agency unlawfully ignored a “rural community alternative” focused on preventing wildfire and invasive species — the greatest threat to sage grouse — developed by local BLM officials, scientists and ranchers, according to Harney SWCD’s complaint.

Instead, BLM adopted a plan that will likely cause grazing curtailments, the complaint said.

The rural community alternative was disregarded not for scientific reasons, but for expediency, which isn’t a valid reason to ignore the law, said Karen Budd-Falen, the district’s attorney.

“The BLM ignored it because they said they were under court deadlines (from a previous legal settlement) and didn’t have time,” she said.

The U.S. Interior Department, which oversees BLM, doesn’t comment on pending litigation but believes the plan amendment was based on the best available science and was developed collaboratively with state and local partners, an agency spokeswoman said in an email.

“We continue to believe the plans are both balanced and effective — protecting key sage-grouse habitat and providing for sustainable development,” the email said. “The plans are critical to the (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s) determination that the greater sage-grouse does not need the protection of the Endangered Species Act, and we look forward to implementing them in collaboration with states and stakeholders.”

The amended regulations contain unrealistic grass height requirements for cattle to be allowed to graze, Budd-Falen said. “In a lot of areas, the grass doesn’t grow that high no matter what.”

BLM is also adopting a new method of monitoring rangeland health that will require re-training of agency employees, she said.

If resources aren’t sufficient to monitor certain regions with the new method, that will provide environmental groups with fodder for lawsuits to block grazing, Budd-Falen said.

Ranchers depend on grazing allotments on federal land, since they don’t have any ready alternatives for forage while the BLM calibrates its new monitoring strategy, she said. “These grazing allotments are part of these guys’ ranches.”

It would be more difficult for ranchers to build rangeland improvements due to restrictions on possible perches for predators that would hunt the sage grouse, she said.

In the best case scenario for the lawsuit, a judge would remand the amended plan to BLM, which would then incorporate recommendations in the rural community alternative that are less onerous to ranchers, Budd-Falen said.

“The Trump administration can’t predetermine a decision,” but it can re-start the process, she said.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. government will push forward with conspiracy charges against the remaining seven people who helped take over a national wildlife refuge in Oregon, just weeks after the stunning acquittal of the first group of defendants.

Prosecutors said they also would proceed with firearms charges against six of the defendants and planned to add lesser counts that could include trespassing or destruction of property.

That would give jurors the option of a less serious conviction that wasn’t available in the earlier case.

Monday’s filing in U.S. District Court in Portland indicates that the government is not backing down despite the Oct. 27 acquittal of the occupation’s leaders, brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy, and five others.

Both groups faced the same charges: felony conspiracy to impede federal officers from doing their job and possession of a firearm in a federal facility.

But prosecutors appear to be padding their luck with the misdemeanor counts. Those plans make sense, legal experts said, particularly in light of how the first jury saw the case.

“I think one of the difficulties of this case always was that the actual felony charges didn’t exactly fit what the government theory was and, in an odd way, the misdemeanor charges might,” said Laurie Levenson, a law professor and former federal prosecutor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

“It gives the jury more options and room to compromise — and it still sets them up for a conviction,” she said.

Those charges also would allow the government to seize any property used in the crimes if the defendants are convicted, said Tung Yin, a criminal law professor at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland. The provision is more commonly used in drug cases to go after property purchased with drug proceeds, he said.

In this case, the property could include guns, personal vehicles and other belongings the defendants used during the takeover, said Andrew M. Kohlmetz, lawyer for defendant Jason Patrick.

The government also asked for a 60-day delay for the trial, which was to begin in February, a request opposed by all the defense attorneys, Kohlmetz said.

The heavily armed occupiers seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2 to protest the imprisonment of two Oregon ranchers convicted for setting fires on public land and demand the federal government turn over public lands to local control.

The Bundys and other key figures were arrested in a Jan. 26 traffic stop outside the refuge that ended with police fatally shooting Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, an occupation spokesman. Most occupiers left after his death, but four holdouts remained until Feb. 11, when they surrendered following a lengthy negotiation.

Federal prosecutors took two weeks to present their case against the first seven defendants, finishing with a display of more than 30 guns seized after the standoff.

During trial, Ammon Bundy testified that the plan was to take ownership of the refuge by occupying it for a period of time and then turn it over to local officials to use as they saw fit.

He also said the occupiers carried guns because they would have been arrested immediately otherwise and to protect themselves against possible government attack.

Washington and Oregon agriculture departments will not spray for gypsy moths next spring, one year after mounting high-profile and so far successful aerial campaigns to stop the destructive pest.

Combined, the states in April and May sprayed 19,250 acres, including over Portland, Seattle, Tacoma and Vancouver. In the following months, gypsy moths were trapped elsewhere in both states, but none were caught in the areas that had been treated.

State officials say two more years must pass before they can declare the missions successful.

“This spring’s treatment results are very encouraging,” Washington State Department of Agriculture Director Derek Sandison said Monday in a written statement.

Western states have taken a hard line toward gypsy moths. The leaf-eating pests are established in Midwestern and Eastern states and have defoliated tens of millions of acres, according to USDA.

The egg masses of European gypsy moths come West attached to belongings, while Asian gypsy moths are introduced by ocean going vessels. Washington and Oregon have sprayed for gypsy moths most springs since 1979 as caterpillars hatch.

The states were especially alarmed in 2015 by the detection that summer of Asian gypsy moths, rarer and more mobile than European gypsy moths.

Washington sprayed a total of 10,450 acres in seven locations, while Oregon sprayed 8,800 acres in North Portland. Both states conducted extensive public campaigns to explain their plans and assure residents that the pesticide did not pose a risk to humans or animals.

Following the spraying, Washington trapped 25 European gypsy moths in Clark, Cowlitz, King, Kitsap, Kittitas, Mason, Pierce, Spokane and Thurston counties. The widespread detections were not enough to warrant spraying, according to WSDA.

New England suffered its worst gypsy moth outbreak in 30 years last summer, said Jim Marra, WSDA’s pest program manager. “With outbreaks in other areas, we expect to see more catches in our state,” he said.

Oregon trapped four European gypsy moths in Grants Pass and two east of Springfield in Lane County.

Although gypsy moths have been trapped for several years in Grants Pass, the numbers are declining, ODA spokesman Bruce Pokarney said. “It makes us think it’s not a breeding population of concern,” he said.

AMITY, Ore. — Perrydale High School FFA Chapter’s Food For All Program winds up this month with the lofty goal of distributing over 130 tons of locally collected agricultural produce to needy families in Oregon.

The program, now in its 19th year, was started by former long-time Perrydale FFA Chapter Adviser Kirk Hutchinson. It’s now headed by second-year adviser Christina Lorenz, but “Hutch” takes an active role in each year’s collection and distribution efforts.

Students from all of Perrydale’s three public schools help the high school FFA chapter’s members gather, package and distribute the donated vegetables and other produce — from onions to squash, beets and other items — to needy people up and down the Willamette Valley. The efforts extend to the central Oregon Coast and Eastern Oregon as well.

“Each year, I am beyond impressed with the pride that my students take in this project,” Lorenz said. “It’s inspiring to see that tomorrow’s leaders are selfless and generous people who want to make their world a better place for everyone.”

Lorenz is also Perrydale High’s agriculture curriculum instructor.

The busload of kids, accompanied by Hutch and a large flatbed truck, made stops at several donor plants and warehouses to collect food and chat with the businesses’ representatives during a collection stop on Dec. 1. The route wound up the Willamette Valley from Perrydale along Highway 99E through Salem, Canby and farther northeast.

Stops at places such as EZ Orchards and Schlecter Farms were intended to introduce the FFA students to the donor’s plants and warehouses, watch the loading activities and chat with owners and managers.

EZ Orchards was the first stop, and the bus then headed up the corridor to NW Onion Co. in Brooks.

Duane Olson, NW Onion’s sales manager, had a big grin on his face and was clearly enjoying giving away 400 sacks (10 tons) of yellow onions to the FFA program’s “ambassadors” that gathered at the company’s warehouse.

Both Kevin Zielinski, Olson and principals of the other warehouse stops along the way received an FFA award “For Outstanding Service and Contributions” from Perrydale FFA Chapter President Sierra Starr and handshakes from all the kids.

“This project allows students build valuable partnerships with business and industry professionals, which leads to a strong professional network upon graduation,” Lorenz said. “(The project) also allows them to build employability skills while serving their community.”

Food For All gathered one tote of potatoes from Salem’s Kettle Foods when the program began in 1998. Since then, totals have risen each year from 10,000 pounds of food to 211,000 pounds in 2010 and over 260,000 pounds last year.

Federal prosecutors must decide by Monday, Dec. 12, whether to move forward with a second trial in February for those who occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns earlier this year.

The trial of the seven remaining defendants is scheduled to begin in February. They’ve been charged with a felony: conspiracy to prevent federal employees from doing their jobs at the refuge.

It’s the same charge occupation leaders Ammon Bundy, his brother Ryan Bundy and five others beat in October when a jury acquitted them for their roles in the armed protest that played out along eastern Oregon’s high desert.

The shocking verdict was a win for the patriot movement and others who believe the federal government doesn’t have the authority to own land.

Now the government must decide how — or whether — to proceed with a second trial.

Prosecutors have a few options: they can move forward with the conspiracy charge, bring new charges — likely misdemeanors — or drop the charges entirely, meaning there wouldn’t be a second Oregon trial at all.

Wes Williams, a criminal defense attorney in La Grande, said it’s likely the government will move forward with a trial for this second set of defendants.

“It would be wise, however, for the prosecutors to allege claims they know they can prove instead of biting off more than they can chew,” Williams said. “A good trial lawyer never shoots the moon. A good trial lawyer pleads what he or she knows they can prove.”

The defendants in the February trial include Duane Ehmer, of Irrigon, Ore. Ehmer gained notoriety during the occupation because he rode his horse, Hellboy, around the refuge, while waving an American flag. The images were published by news organizations around the world.

Another defendant, Jason Patrick of Bonaire, Ga., is currently acting as his own attorney. Video played during the trial this fall showed Patrick at the cutting of a refuge fence back in January with the Bundy brothers and other occupiers.

Sean and Sandy Anderson of Riggins, Idaho, are also slated to go to trial next year. The married couple were among the final four hold outs at the refuge as the occupation ended.

Others scheduled to go trial include Dylan Anderson of Provo, Utah; Darryl Thorn, of Marysville, Wash.; and Jake Ryan of Plains, Mont.

Unlike the occupation leaders, these defendants were, and have remained, largely unknown.

Given the higher profile trial this fall resulted in acquittals, prosecutors run the risk of appearing punitive should they move forward with a February trial, said Susan Mandiberg, a professor of criminal law at Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland.

“The optics aren’t great,” she said.

Mandiberg said she’s interested to see if the government alters the charges in some way.

“If they go ahead with the same charges, I would certainly be looking to see if they had a different strategy for dealing with the arguments and the testimony that seemed to go against them the first time,” Mandiberg said.

Even if the charges are the same and many of the government’s witnesses and evidence remains the same that doesn’t guarantee the outcome will be the same, Mandiberg said. It’s a different jury and a different set of defendants, she said.

There are other risks, though, if prosecutors move forward with a second trial.

Defense attorneys have the benefit of reviewing testimony from government witnesses in court transcripts, meaning they can better prepare their cross examinations of FBI agents and others.

Martin Estrada, a former assistant U.S. Attorney in the Los Angeles area, said prosecutors could be concerned about this trial because it involves less culpable members of the alleged conspiracy.

“The jury is often going to wonder about that,” Estrada said. “They’re going to know that this was a larger act and incident. And they’re going to wonder where these other individuals, including the leaders, are and that can often be a detriment to the prosecution.”

Estrada said that’s an even larger issue for the government in this case because it received so much media coverage. He’s confident that just about every potential juror in Oregon knows about this case.

“It’s not something that’s going to be able to be concealed from the jury,” Estrada said. “They’re going to know about this. And it’s going to be a problem and a consideration the government’s going to have to take into account.”

At the same time, Estrada said, there’s a risk if the government just drops the charges. Part of what prosecutors are trying to do is send a message and, in this case, deter future occupations that target federal lands in the west.

“You want to send a message that this type of crime won’t be tolerated,” he said. “What you’re dealing with in a situation like this one, with the publicity it received, the controversy it created in the community, there’s certainly an important dynamic of deterrents that the government has to be considering at this point.”

Harney County residents remain divided about the 41-day occupation. Many locals supported it. Others said they agreed with the Bundy’s, but felt the occupation itself had gone too far. Still, many others deeply opposed it and say a second trial is an opportunity at justice and preventing future incidents.

“They should have a second trial because these guys committed crimes,” said Liz Appleman, a former Bureau of Land Management employee who was just elected to the Burns City Council.

“By just letting them off it means they did nothing wrong,” she said. “They need to be punished for what they did as far as I’m concerned.”

So far, 11 of the 26 who were indicted for their role in the occupation have pleaded guilty. Three of the defendants are trying to reverse their guilty pleas.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Arizona man is the latest Oregon standoff figure to ask for his guilty plea to be withdrawn.

Joseph O’Shaughnessy pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge nearly three months before a jury acquitted seven of his co-defendants, including standoff leader Ammon Bundy.

O’Shaughnessy is awaiting trial on accusations stemming from a 2014 standoff with government authorities at the Bundy ranch near Bunkerville, Nev.

Defense attorney Tony Schwartz wrote Sunday that O’Shaughnessy had a plea deal in Nevada, but it was contingent on him pleading guilty in Oregon. Because the plea offer fell apart, his client should be able to withdraw his Oregon plea.

When he pleaded guilty in Portland, O’Shaughnessy said he didn’t participate in the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, but felt a duty to provide security for the protesters.

Two other defendants have sought to withdraw their pleas. The judge has yet to rule on their requests.

PORTLAND — Coyotes are a fairly common sight in rural areas of the Pacific Northwest and Northern California, and landowners might instinctively reach for the rifle if they see one in the pasture or sniffing around the barn.

Put a coyote in a city, however, and residents are more likely to react in a way that ranges from trying to feed them to panicking over their pets and children. Coyotes sometimes lose their heads as well, becoming so habituated to people and urban environments that they trot down streets in broad daylight and snack on garbage or the occasional cat.

Many cities, Portland among them, now are home to thriving coyote populations. Researchers in Chicago a few years ago estimated Cook County there had 1,500 to 2,000 coyotes.

Zuriel Rasmussen, a student at Portland State University, is trying to learn more about how coyotes and humans coexist in cities. Rasmussen is a researcher and director of the Portland Urban Coyote Project, which maps coyote sightings and provides information in collaboration with the Audubon Society of Portland.

Rasmussen is pursuing a Ph.D in Earth, Environment and Society, a program offered through PSU’s Geography Department. She’s interested in science communication and public engagement, and the coyote project offers opportunities for both.

She comes at it from a rural perspective. She lived in Weston, near Pendleton in Eastern Oregon, until she was 12. Coyotes were part of the landscape there, and she was startled the first time she saw one in Portland.

“I was one of those East Oregonians surprised to see a coyote,” she said. “I thought it was pretty cool. I was fascinated with how they were living in the city and how that’s even possible.”

The possible now is commonplace. Residents of the Portland metro area have reported 1,916 coyote sightings to Rasmussen’s project website just this year. Coyote calls keep USDA’s APHIS Wildlife Services hopping as well: From 2012 through 2015, officers responded to an average of 373 coyote “conflict” complaints in Clackamas County, which borders Portland, and killed an average of 30 a year, according to statistics provided by Kevin Christensen, of the Wildlife Services office in Portland.

Wildlife Services responded to an average of 222 coyote conflicts a year in Washington County, on Portland’s westside, and killed an average of 15 a year during the same time frame. Wildlife Services does not have a cooperative service agreement with Multnomah County, which covers most of Portland, but killed three coyotes that were acting aggressively toward people and pets.

Of the Clackamas County coyote complaints, 56 percent involved damage or threat of damage to agriculture. In Washington County, 54 percent of the coyote conflicts involved agriculture, according to statistics provided by Christensen.

At PSU, Rasmussen’s studies over the past couple years have shown the urban and rural divide plays out with coyotes as it does with many other issues. Some Eastern Oregon residents have posted graphic YouTube videos about hunting coyotes, complete with slow-motion replays of bullets hitting coyotes at long range.

Portlanders’ reaction to the presence of coyotes appears to range from neutral to positive, Rasmussen said. Although concerned about coyotes attacking pets, they’re generally supportive of coyotes and opposed to lethal control.

“One of the big things I’ve found is that the impact coyotes have on your life bears a lot on your attitude,” she said. In rural areas, they’ve been vilified — along with wolves — as something that threatens people’s livelihoods, particularly with livestock, she said.

In cities, they’re not seen as a threat to the way people make a living. Instead, they are “a glimpse of the wild in an urban environment, which is a different experience than seeing a coyote near your sheep pasture.”

Analysis of urban coyote scat shows their diet is primarily rats, mice, squirrels and rabbits, “pretty similar to a rural coyote,” Rasmussen said. They eat more garbage than their rural cousins, and about 1 to 2 percent of their diet is cats.

“They’re super opportunistic,” she said.

Part of her work involves advising city residents what to do when they see a coyote. She said urban coyotes can become habituated to humans, and people should “retrain” them to be wary. She recommends “hazing” them by yelling, using an air horn, shaking a coffee can full of rocks or other methods. People obviously shouldn’t feed coyotes, either directly or by leaving pet food or garbage accessible, and should keep a close eye on pets, she said.

“When they get used to being around people, those are the coyotes that cause problems,” she said.

Capital Press

Starker Forests Inc., the Corvallis-based company that began with an Oregon State University forestry professor who saw the value of buying cut-over timberland in the wake of the Depression, is looking for a new CEO.

Bond Starker, president and chairman and one of the founder’s grandsons, said he will retire in April, when he turns 70. The company is advertising for a CEO, most likely to bridge the gap until the next generation of Starkers — potentially his children and those of his brother, Barte — is in position to assume control. Barte Starker retired in 2015.

In a prepared statement, Bond Starker said he’s looking forward to seeing the next generation continue to implement the vision, values and ingenuity that made the company successful.

“That’s a value that our family has maintained for decades — from our forestry practice to our commitment to this community — we’re in it for the long haul, and that won’t change,” he said.

The company owns 87,000 acres of timber in Benton, Lane, Lincoln, Linn and Polk counties and survived Oregon’s timber wars with its reputation intact. The company didn’t venture into the more volatile milling side of the business, instead focusing on growing and selling timber as logging on public forests was restricted by environmental decisions and lawsuits.

The company developed from the foresight of T.J. Starker, Bond and Barte’s grandfather, who in 1910 was one of the first four graduates from the forestry program at Oregon Agricultural College, now OSU. T.J. Starker returned to the college as a forestry professor in 1922 and taught for 20 years. He began buying second-growth timberland in 1936, specifically seeking land with no snags on the ridges, gentle terrain and good drainage, according to an online family history. At the time, few in the timber industry realized that Oregon’s old-growth timber would become a reduced commodity.

T.J.’s son, Bruce Starker, also an OSU forestry grad, took over the company but died in a plane crash in 1975.

“Barte and I were accelerated into positions of responsibility,” Bond Starker said in an interview.

Rather than operate mills and deal with a large workforce, the company has remained a streamlined timber-growing operation. It has about 20 full-time employees, many of whom have worked for Starker Forests for decades, and typically takes on 10 to 12 summer interns.

The company has made a point of reducing financial risk by “mostly using our own money,” Bond Starker said. “It’s kept us slow and steady, I guess.”

The company has deep social, charitable and professional ties in Corvallis, Philomath and at Oregon State University, where among other gifts it supports the College of Forestry’s annual Starker Lecture Series. The community has been “awfully good” to the company, Starker said, and the company wants to return the favor.

He said the next CEO should, “Do your best to stay current on the issues, be knowledgeable on subject areas you deal with, share information among the team and listen for other ideas.”

Online

The Starker Forests job posting: http://www.starkerforests.com/jobs/ceo/

ONTARIO, Ore. — The Center for Food Safety has blasted a final environmental impact statement that recommends deregulation of a genetically engineered creeping bentgrass that escaped field trials in 2003 and has taken root in Malheur and Jefferson counties in Oregon.

It was being developed by Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. and Monsanto Corp. for use mainly on golf courses. Since the escapes, Scotts has been responsible for controlling and eradicating it where possible.

Scotts and Monsanto petitioned USDA to deregulate the bentgrass, which was genetically engineered to withstand applications of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s popular Roundup weed killer.

A final EIS released by USDA Dec. 7 recommends deregulation of the genetically engineered creeping bentgrass because it “is unlikely to pose a plant pest risk....”

Some farmers and water manages in the affected counties worry that because the bentgrass is resistant to glyphosate and difficult to kill, it could clog irrigation ditches and affect shipments of hay and other crops to nations that don’t accept traces of genetically modified organisms.

The Center for Food Safety criticized the final EIS, saying it will result in USDA relinquishing all authority over the GE grass and lay the burden for controlling it on farmers and other landowners.

“USDA’s approval of this genetically engineered grass is as dangerous as it is unlawful,” CFS Senior Attorney George Kimbrell said in a news release. “The agency is giving Monsanto and Scotts a free pass for the harm their product has already caused farmers and the environment and is irresponsibly gambling future harm on nothing more than their empty promises.”

Sid Abel, assistant deputy director of USDA’s Biotechnology Regulatory Services, said a final decision has not been made on the petition for deregulation. A 30-day public viewing period follows release of the EIS and a final determination by the secretary of agriculture won’t be made until that time has passed.

He said it is incorrect to state that commercial approval of the bentgrass has been granted, as is stated in the CFS news release.

“That is an incorrect statement,” Abel said. “This process has not been completed.”

Kimbrell said it’s a technicality to say a final decision hasn’t been made.

“It’s called a final EIS because it’s final,” he said. “For all intents and purposes, the decision was made yesterday. That’s not going to change.”

Scotts reached a 10-year agreement with USDA last October that critics say allows the company to essentially walk away from any responsibility for controlling the plant in a few years.

As part of the agreement, Scotts and Monsanto agreed not to commercialize or further propagate the plant in the future.

Farmer Jerry Erstrom, chairman of the Malheur County Weed Board and one of the most vocal critics of the agreement, said deregulation of the creeping bentgrass will shift the onus for controlling it from Scotts to landowners.

“This smells so bad,” he said about the final EIS. “They just dumped it all on the landowner.”

Both Scotts and USDA officials have told Capital Press the 10-year agreement does not allow the company to walk away from its responsibility, and Abel said deregulation of the plant would have no impact on the agreement.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A proposed fuel break system in southwest Idaho, southeast Oregon and northern Nevada will limit the size of destructive rangeland wildfires and protect habitat for sage grouse, say officials with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

The agency on Tuesday released a plan called the Tri-State Fuel Break Project, which would create gaps in combustible vegetation along existing roads on public lands in the three states by reducing fuel next to the roads, using either machines or chemical treatments, and maintained with a long-term schedule.

Fuel breaks would be developed on about 5,600 square miles in Idaho and Oregon that could be tied in with fuel breaks in Nevada. The agency said it has identified about 1,600 miles of roads that could be part of the fuel break system.

The agency is preparing an environmental impact statement, and is taking public comments on the plan through Feb. 3

The area contains one of the largest intact strongholds for greater sage grouse in the northern Great Basin, officials said, but faces wildfire threats from invasive annual grasses, notably fire-prone cheatgrass.

Officials say the region is prone to summer lightning storms that cause simultaneous wildfires that can use up limited wildfire fighting resources, increasing the chances that some wildfires will get out of control. Such a wildfire in 2015 scorched about 436 square miles of sagebrush steppe in Idaho and Oregon that supports cattle grazing and some 350 species of wildlife, including sage grouse. The burned area is now the focus of a 5-year, $67 million rehabilitation effort.

“The mega-fires, it’s the new normal,” said Larry Moore, a BLM spokesman for Oregon’s Vale District. “Longer fire season, extended drought in many of the most vulnerable areas. We’re very much hoping to mitigate the size and severity of these fires.”

Ken Cole of Idaho-based Western Watersheds Project said the environmental group hadn’t had time to fully go over the plan but had some initial concerns. Among them is that the fuel breaks would be planted with forage grasses for cattle instead of native plants, that improvements to roads would increase the number of human visitors and result in more wildfires, and that the federal agency would have to use herbicide to maintain the fuel breaks.

“They’re going to have a lot of problems to deal with once they start down this road,” he said.

Sage grouse are ground-dwelling, chicken-sized birds found in 11 Western states, where between 200,000 to 500,000 remain, down from a peak population of about 16 million. They depend on sagebrush for food year-round, and hens nest underneath the plants. Tall native grasses help screen the hens and their eggs and chicks from predators.

The federal government has been working to protect that habitat to avoid an Endangered Species Act listing for the greater sage grouse, and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell issued a secretarial order in early 2015 calling for a “science-based” approach to safeguard the bird.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declined to list the bird last year, noting ongoing conservation efforts, but will review the bird’s status within five years.

John Freemuth, a public lands policy expert and Boise State University professor, said there’s an urgency to the fuel break plan with a new administration coming in under President-elect Donald Trump that might not be as concerned about a potential sage grouse listing.

“The concern is that so much stuff gets burned up we have a listing and that changes the politics and relationships people have here in the West,” Freemuth said.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Federal officials are considering creating a fuel break system in southwest Idaho, southeast Oregon and northern Nevada to limit the size of destructive rangeland wildfires and protect habitat for sage grouse.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced Tuesday the 5,600-square-mile Tri-State Fuel Break Project proposed to create gaps in combustible vegetation along existing roads on public lands in the three states.

Officials say the area contains one of the largest intact strongholds for greater sage grouse in the northern Great Basin but faces wildfire threats from invasive annual grasses, notably fire-prone cheatgrass.

Sage grouse are ground-dwelling, chicken-sized birds found in 11 Western states, where between 200,000 to 500,000 remain, down from a peak population of about 16 million.

Comments on the plan are being taken through Feb. 3.

BURNS, Ore. — Mark and Susan Doverspike and their son Steven run a cow-calf and yearling operation on a ranch that has been in the family for 128 years.

“Steven makes the fifth generation and we have a sixth generation coming on,” said Susan Doverspike.

“My great-great-grandfather and his two sons came to California from the East, then rode horseback through Oregon to Washington,” she said. “They picked out places near Burns and Lakeview to settle. Our side of the family ended up in Burns.”

The ranch sells some calves in the fall and holds some to sell as yearlings in July when the price is usually better, Mark Doverspike said. The cattle are Hereford-Angus crosses.

The region has good summer grass but winters are long. Native meadow grass is baled for winter feed, and regrowth provides fall pasture. In March the cattle go to sagebrush hills for calving, a healthier environment for the calves than wet meadows.

In late April the cattle go to Bureau of Land Management pastures that weren’t grazed the year before.

“We rotate between pastures every other year and are allowed to stock these pastures a little heavier because there’s more feed with a combination of the new grass and the old,” said Steven Doverspike.

“After that the cattle go up into forest pastures until late fall. Then we use a mountain ranch with native meadows where we rake-bunch hay for fall feed,” he said.

“When we rake-bunch hay into piles it preserves the protein level,” Susan said. “It’s more like a bale of hay than a windrow and not as subject to weathering.”

The cattle have the pastures and rake-bunch piles eaten by the time it snows, she said.

“Down at Burns we generally get about 2 feet of snow,” said Steven. “On the higher mountains the fences are covered. Usually we are feeding hay from December until late April.”

In spring, the yearlings are sent to one of their ranches near Riley, about 40 miles west of Burns, to graze and are ready to market in July. The good feed and genetics make it work.

“Susan does a great job with the genetics, picking out bulls that are growthy with good carcass and maternal traits,” said Mark. Most of the calves are crossbred.

It’s an interesting challenge, selecting genetics to fit environmental conditions.

“In this high desert we can’t have cows too big, or too high on milk production or they won’t stay in the herd,” Susan said. They may raise big calves but won’t breed back.

“This is a harsh environment. Our range pastures are rated as about 15 acres per cow per month,” Steven said.

Cattle move from pasture to pasture to higher elevation as summer progresses. The ranch meadows are over 4,000 feet and the range pastures go up to 6,000 feet.

The calves are sold through niche markets such as Country Natural Beef.

“Our oldest son, Donald, works for Western Video Market and Shasta Livestock Auction, so he helps with the marketing,” Susan said. “Our youngest son, Daniel, went to college at Eastern Oregon University, majoring in ag business.”

The Doverspikes value education and experience.

“One of the rules Mom and Dad set up for us boys was that in order to come back to the ranch we had to get an education — bachelor’s degree or higher,” Steven said, “The second rule is that we have to go work for somebody else for at least two years, to see if we really want to come back to the ranch or have a job we like better someplace else.”

He worked for JBS Five Rivers Feeding Co. and brought back a lot of feeding knowledge and experience.

“We’ve tweaked our feeds, and tried different things to see if we can do a better job of feeding the calves when we wean them, until they are shipped,” he said.

It’s been beneficial to expand their horizons and take advantage of additional knowledge, they agreed.

PORTLAND – Van Havig, co-owner of Gigantic Brewing Co. on the city’s hipster-heavy east side, has an app on his phone that provides instantly updated currency exchange rates. The company, formed by Havig and Ben Love five years ago, sells 5 to 7 percent of its beer outside the country, primarily to Canada but a bit to Japan, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The strong U.S. dollar makes Gigantic something of an expensive choice overseas.

Nonetheless, Gigantic is exactly the size of craft brewery — producing 4,000 to 5,000 barrels a year — that a state economic analyst says ought to be pushing hard on the export market to assure continued growth.

In remarks at the Oregon Brewers Guild’s annual meeting in Portland Nov. 30, analyst Josh Lehner said Oregon’s craft beer industry is slowing down after a decade in which the number of Oregon breweries grew from 76 in 2006 to 218 in 2016.

The beer market outlook has implications up and down the economic chain, from hops and barley farmers and malt producers to stainless steel fermentation tank manufacturers, tourism and dining.

Prospects remain good for neighborhood microbreweries, said Lehner, who works for the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis.

“For these smaller breweries, I think the outlook is bright,” Lehner told brewery guild members. “The brewpub model works.”

He said demand is strong and there are still many parts of the state and country that are “under supplied” when it comes to neighborhood brewpubs. Maybe not on Portland’s east side, he added, but certainly in the suburbs.

Slightly bigger producers, however, are in fierce competition for a limited number of in-state tap handles and shelf space.

“Flagship” Oregon beers such as Deschutes’ Black Butte Porter, Widmer’s Hefeweisen and Ninkasi’s Total Domination can be found in bars and restaurants all over the state, Lehner said. The state’s five largest breweries now sell only 20 percent of their beer in Oregon, he said.

For medium- to large-size Oregon breweries, sales outside the state are a must, Lehner said. That’s complicated by the fact that the Pacific Northwest no longer has the market cornered on tasty, locally-sourced and locally-made microbrews. Good local beer can now be found all over the country, and consumers often prefer to support local businesses rather than out-of-state breweries.

International exports are a relatively untapped market, Lehner said.

“The path forward is really about reversing the Oregon Trail,” he said. “There is just too much competition and market saturation to be able to reach large production numbers by relying solely on Oregon consumers.”

Lehner said Pacific Rim nations are a good target market for Oregon beer, as they are for many other crops and food products.

About half of Oregon beer exports now go to Canada, 17 percent to Japan and about 5 percent each to China and South Korea, Lehner said. He acknowledged the strong U.S. dollar hurts sales: A $10 six-pack here costs $13 overseas. But Lehner said currency exchange rates often fluctuate, and a devalued dollar may serve as a market “tailwind” of Oregon beer.

Love, the Gigantic Brewing co-owner, agreed that targeting exports is a potentially good business model. Canada used to buy more when the exchange rate made Gigantic’s beer less expensive, he said.

In other remarks to the brewers’ guild, Lehner said job gains in the state’s alcohol cluster — beer, wine, hard cider and spirits — have outperformed the software sector, although the latter gets more media attention.

He said the Oregon brewing industry is important because it is value-added processing with good growth potential, money invested in it returns to state, and it is geographically more spread out than other industries.

Lehner said the Oregon Legislature increased the state lodging tax, and there will be $10 million more available annually for tourism and related activites. He said brewers should tap some of that to market their business.

He said “chatter” about the decline of national chain casual-dining restaurants doesn’t apply to brewpubs.

“I think it just means people don’t want to overpay for mediocre chain food,” he said. “I can get much better food at a lower price point from my neighborhood brewery.

“And of course you can’t even compare the tap lists,” he added.

Funding for weed biocontrol and predator control is on the chopping block at the Oregon Department of Agriculture as the state prepares for a budget shortfall.

The agency plans to eliminate state funding for USDA’s Wildlife Services program, which kills coyotes and other predators that prey on livestock. The move would save more than $460,000.

The Wildlife Services program would still be administered by USDA in Oregon, but counties and landowners would need to pay more to maintain the current service level, said Lauren Henderson, assistant director at ODA.

A biocontrol staff position aimed at finding insects that consume invasive weeds would also be eliminated under ODA’s 2017-2019 biennial budget recently recommended by Gov. Kate Brown.

That position was vacated when the ODA’s previous biocontrol expert retired several months ago, so leaving it unfilled would save more than $250,000, said Henderson.

“We left that vacant in anticipation this might happen,” he said.

Dairies and other “confined animal feeding operations” would also face higher fees to compensate for a $250,000 cut to ODA’s CAFO inspection program.

The ODA and other state agencies are planning for program cuts because Oregon government is facing a budget deficit of more than $1.8 billion due to increasing pension and healthcare costs for state employees.

The changes were discussed at the Oregon Board of Agriculture’s Dec. 1 meeting in Wilsonville, Ore.

Under Brown’s recommendation, ODA’s total biennial budget would increase from about $111 million to $117 million.

However, the portion of ODA’s budget that comes from the general fund, which pays for specific programs, would drop about 5 percent, to $23.4 million.

Because the agency would need $25.8 million to maintain its current service level — due to increases in wages, pensions and healthcare costs — that leaves the ODA $2.4 million short of what’s needed to pay for the general fund programs.

While several agency programs are facing cuts, ODA expects to pay for others — including food safety and pesticide response programs — from fees it collects for services, rather than from the general fund.

The agency also plans to shift some programs from general fund dollars to money it receives from the federal government, though this scenario assumes the new presidential administration will provide the support, Henderson said.

ODA’s recommended budget is also contingent on lawmakers approving several new revenue sources proposed by Brown, he said.

Realistically, the recommended 2017-2019 budget is really a starting point for negotiations with lawmakers during the upcoming legislative session, said Lisa Hanson, ODA’s interim director.

“There’s a long road ahead,” she said.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon has been elected to serve as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in Washington, D.C.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the appointment will give Walden oversight of federal departments in charge of consumer protections, food and drug safety, public health, environmental quality and energy policy, among others.

The post also means Walden will be a key player in the debate over the fate of the Affordable Care Act, which President-elect Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans have said will be repealed and replaced in the next Congressional session.

Walden said in a statement he’ll “focus on what’s best for consumers, on creating better paying jobs and providing patient-centered health care” in his new role.

Walden represents Oregon’s expansive 2nd Congressional District, which includes much of the electorate east of the Cascades as well as much of Southern Oregon.

BOISE — Breaching four dams on the lower Snake River would cause significant harm to the Pacific Northwest agricultural industry, Idaho wheat industry leaders said Nov. 29 during a public meeting.

The meeting is one of 15 being held around the region by federal agencies to get input on the operation of the hydropower dams on the Columbia-Snake River system, a process initiated by a federal judge handling a lawsuit brought by dam removal supporters.

It’s critical that agriculture, especially the wheat industry, makes its concerns known during the public comment period, said Idaho Wheat Commission Executive Director Blaine Jacobson.

“The dams are absolutely crucial to the health of the Idaho wheat industry,” he said. “Wheat is a global market and it’s a very competitive market and if we have to rail it to Portland, it would make a number of the growers uncompetitive on the world market.”

The U.S. district court judge earlier this year ordered the federal agencies that operate the Columbia-Snake River hydropower system to review all reasonable options for operating it in order to minimize the impact on endangered salmon.

That decision came in response to a lawsuit by conservation groups in favor of breaching the dams to improve salmon runs. They challenged the biological opinion for operating the system and the judge required the agencies to update the environmental impact statement on how the system is operated.

The agencies are holding scoping meetings around the Pacific Northwest to gather public comment and a draft environmental impact statement on the system’s operation is expected to be published for public comment in 2020.

Breaching those dams would make the rivers unnavigable for barges that move wheat and other products to port for export.

According to the Port of Lewiston and Northwest River Partners, about 10 percent of all U.S. wheat exports move through the lower Snake River dams and more than 50 percent of Idaho’s wheat is exported through the Columbia-Snake River system.

In addition, more than 42 million tons of commercial cargo valued at more than $20 billion moves through the system each year and 60 percent of the energy produced in Idaho, Oregon, Montana and Washington is generated by the rivers’ dams.

Jacobson said it’s almost inconceivable that the dams would be removed but a vocal minority that supports that is making their voices heard and it’s important the agricultural industry also weigh in on the issue.

“I think the facts are on the side of keeping the (system) the way it is,” he said. “But if the silent majority doesn’t turn out and lets the vocal minority rule the day, then it will be bad for the entire PNW.”

North Idaho farmer Eric Hasselstrom said that without the ability to use the river system to transport wheat to port, his transportation costs would likely double.

“If we lost the dams, I don’t think we’d be competitive and in business any more,” he said. “We have to have our voices heard because there are going to be a lot of comments against (the dams).”

Comments must be received by Jan. 17 and can be submitted by email to: comment@crso.info

HERMISTON, Ore. — The 43rd annual Hermiston Farm Fair debuted Wednesday at its new home at the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center with a series of lectures on potato research in the Columbia Basin. And despite setting out more than 200 chairs in two meeting rooms, space was still limited to standing room only.

It is a testament to how much the event and trade show has grown over the decades. When the Farm Fair was created in 1974, its original location was at Thompson Hall before moving into the larger Hermiston Conference Center. Now, the agricultural showcase has moved once again to EOTEC in search of expansion.

Phil Hamm, director of the Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center and member of the Farm Fair Committee, said having a bigger building means they can host more vendors and presentations, which in turn draws more people to learn about Eastern Oregon’s farm industries.

“This is a great place,” Hamm said of EOTEC. “We have more sessions and more opportunities for learning.”

One of those additions included Wednesday’s first-ever seminar targeted specifically to small farmers. The lineup featured talks on beekeeping, how to apply pesticides without harming pollinators and integrating chickens onto a small farm.

Colleen Sanders, who coordinates the Umatilla County Master Gardener Program for Oregon State University Extension Service, organized the session and said she was impressed by the turnout. In particular, she said there has been a growing interest in bees over the past few years, both as pollinators and for making honey and beeswax.

Likewise, chickens can help out small farmers not only by producing eggs and meat, but by naturally tilling the ground and controlling garden pests such as slugs and snails. Chris Schachtschneider, livestock extension agent for OSU in Umatilla and Morrow counties, led the discussion on poultry while Andony Melathopoulos, with OSU’s Pollinator Health Extension Program, talked about basic beekeeping with the group.

The overall goal of the small farm seminar, Sanders said, was to provide something for people who may have felt left out of the Farm Fair in the past.

“A lot of the aim of the Farm Fair is those large producers,” she said. “We wanted to target those people with smaller acreages and more diverse production.”

Other additions to this year’s Farm Fair lineup include a livestock management seminar led by Schachtschneider, and a second session on growing cereal crops such as wheat and canola. Both are slated for Thursday afternoon from 1-5 p.m.

Along with more room for experts to share research, EOTEC has made way for more vendors to showcase their wares at the trade show. Sixty businesses are on hand to discuss the latest in farm technology, and tools to increase yield.

Richard Scott, with Elmer’s Irrigation in Hermiston, said it seemed like more people were checking out the booths than in previous years.

“It’s been pretty positive,” Scott said. “I think they’ve done a nice job on this building. It fits the bill quite nicely.”

Kalie Davis, manager of the SAGE Center in Boardman, noticed that with more space, people were more inclined to stop and have longer conversations without feeling like they were in the way or being herded around the room.

“It’s definitely easier to navigate in here,” Davis said.

Kevin Cochrane, retail account manager for DuPont in Kennewick, said this is his first year attending the Farm Fair. And though he never experienced the event in the Hermiston Conference Center, he said plenty of people were excited about the new setup.

“It’s a comfortable spot to be,” Cochrane said. “It’s a lot larger, with room to grow.”

The Hermiston Farm Fair continues Thursday and Friday. EOTEC is located 1705 E. Airport Road.

PORTLAND — A national conference of Women in Sustainable Agriculture wasn’t the place to go looking for traditional farm wives. Try farm operators, owners and ag researchers, brokers, marketers and educators instead.

The conference, to be held Nov. 30-Dec. 2 in Portland, attracted 400 women from across the country, and two dozen speakers and panelists. The event, held this year for the first time on the West Coast, provided extensive networking and education opportunities, said Maud Powell, a small farms specialist with Oregon State University Extension in Jackson and Josephine counties.

“Women are increasingly important in agriculture across the country,” Powell said. Once marginalized as farm wives, she said, women can now be found in every agricultural sector.

Oregon saw the early formation of two women farmers networks, one in Southern Oregon and one in the Willamette Valley, Powell said. Similar organizations developed in Iowa, Pennsylvania, Vermont and elsewhere, and the national organization of Women in Sustainable Agriculture grew from there.

Within the organization, “sustainable” means farm operations that support long-term success in economic, environmental and social aspects, Powell said. That includes supporting the local community and local businesses, she said.

“For me it’s always fascinating to see how the issues of sustainable agriculture are similar, with local flavor,” she said.

The conference began with tours of farms in the Columbia River Gorge, Willamette Valley and the Portland area.

Other events included a “Trailblazers Panel” in which three women who assumed leading roles in ag early on described their experiences.

Among the scheduled panel speakers was Jeanne Carver, who with her husband, Dan, operates the historic Imperial Stock Ranch in North Central Oregon. Wool produced by the ranch took the spotlight when the Ralph Lauren clothing line found them while looking for American yarn with which to make USA uniforms for the opening ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia.

Other speakers were to be Diane Green of Greentree Naturals, a small acreage and CSA farm near Sandpoint, Idaho; and Joan Thorndike of Le Mera Gardens, a fresh-cut flowers operation in Southern Oregon’s Rogue River Valley.

Thirty percent of U.S. farmers are women, according to the USDA’s 2012 Census of Agriculture, but the number has been in flux. The census counted 969,672 women farmers in 2012, a 2 percent decrease from 2007. The reason for that is unclear, but some in ag speculate that the deep recession that hit in 2009 forced some new farmers out of the profession.

Women made up 14 percent of principal operators in the 2012 census, but they tend to be older than principal operators overall. Only 4 percent of women principal operators were under 35, according to census.