CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Enrollment at Oregon State University is 2.9 percent higher than last year, although Corvallis has only seen a fraction of that growth.

The Corvallis Gazette-Times reports that OSU’s total fall enrollment is 31,303. School officials announced Monday that OSU has 852 students more than the start of the 2015 school year and is the state’s largest university for the third year in a row.

Officials say the increase in students studying at OSU’s main campus in Corvallis is less than one percent. The university’s online enrollment and enrollment at its Bend campus jumped by more than 10 percent each.

OSU officials say the school has grown over the past three years. That sets it apart from other public universities in the state, where enrollment is starting to decline.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Republicans and Democrats are keeping a close eye on the secretary of state’s race in the Tuesday election, because it might be the GOP’s chance for winning its first statewide race in more than a decade.

Polls have indicated it could be a close race Tuesday between Republican Dennis Richardson and Democrat Brad Avakian, Oregon’s labor commissioner.

Polls have also indicated Democratic Gov. Kate Brown has no reason to worry about the challenge from her Republican opponent, Bud Pierce.

No Republican has won a statewide race in Oregon since then-U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith was re-elected in 2002.

Oregonians on Tuesday were also voting for treasurer, attorney general and candidates in federal races.

Brown’s victory would keep her in the governor’s job for another two years. She would be finishing the last two years of the term of Gov. John Kitzhaber, who quit in February 2015 because of an influence-peddling scandal swirling around him and his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes.

Brown, the nation’s first bisexual governor, took over for Kitzhaber because as secretary of state she was next in line.

There will be another gubernatorial election in 2018.

In the run-up to Tuesday’s election, Brown touted achievements such as a deal to incrementally raise the minimum wage to as high as $14.75 by 2022 and passage of pioneering legislation to eliminate the use of coal-fired power by 2035.

Pierce, a Salem oncologist and political newcomer, got into trouble by suggesting during a debate with Brown that successful women aren’t susceptible to domestic abuse and sexual violence. He later apologized.

While the gubernatorial contest is often the marquee race, the rivalry between Richardson and Avakian has been the most heated. Each candidate accused the other of hitting below the belt.

Avakian said Richardson is “extreme, like Trump.” Richardson retorted that Avakian has a history of not paying his bills.

Richardson and Avakian are veteran politicians. In 2003, both came to the state House as freshmen lawmakers. Avakian has been labor commissioner since 2008. Richardson challenged Kitzhaber and lost to him in the 2014 gubernatorial race.

The treasurer’s race featured three candidates: Democratic state Rep. Tobias Read, Republican and Lake Oswego City Councilman Jeff Gudman, and the Independent Party’s Chris Telfer, a certified public accountant and former Republican state lawmaker.

In the race for attorney general, Republican Daniel Zene Crowe challenged Democratic incumbent Ellen Rosenblum, the first woman to hold the position.

In federal races, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and fellow Democratic U.S. Reps. Peter DeFazio, Kurt Schrader, Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici were all facing opponents who were not seen as serious threats. The same held true for Oregon’s sole Republican in Congress, Greg Walden, whose Democratic challenger, Jim Crary, lacks an extensive background in politics.

HERMISTON, Ore. — Whether mashed, baked, scalloped or fried, there should be no shortage of locally grown potatoes to serve up at this year’s Thanksgiving dinner.

As fall potato harvest wraps up around the Columbia Basin, farmers are expecting above-average yield and quality thanks to an exceptional growing season.

Bill Brewer, CEO of the Oregon Potato Commission, said early spring conditions helped to jump-start the crop’s growth, while summer cooled off enough to avoid stifling the plants. Most farms finished harvesting ahead of schedule, Brewer said, with only minimal delays from October’s record rainfall.

“The weather was actually very cooperative,” Brewer said. “It ended up working out well.”

According to the National Weather Service in Pendleton, 1.9 inches of rain fell last month at the Hermiston Municipal Airport, making it the wettest October on record. Downtown Pendleton also received 2.32 inches of rain, making it the third-wettest October there since 1900.

Soggy weather can make for a difficult time harvesting potatoes — especially spuds bound for the storage shed. If there’s too much mud, it could block airflow to the plants and cause them to rot before they can be sold to supermarkets or food processors.

Fortunately, the early start allowed most growers to avoid that issue, Brewer said. The Columbia Basin is also home to sandy, well-drained soils that dry out more quickly, meaning farmers don’t have to wait long after it rains to get back out into the fields.

“I really don’t think it was an issue,” Brewer said. “Most people were done by the time the moisture really started coming.”

Greg Harris, farm manager for Threemile Canyon Farms near Boardman, said they finished harvesting storage potatoes by Oct. 10, which was a few days ahead of schedule. The farm grows 7,000 acres worth of spuds — including several varieties of Russets — which are sold to processors including french fry giant Lamb Weston.

“Because most of the rain came during the second half of October, most people had the bulk of storage done,” Harris said. “Otherwise, it definitely would have been a problem for us.”

Along with storage, Threemile Canyon delivers potatoes directly from the field to customers through early November. That’s where having sandy, absorbent soils comes as a benefit, Harris said. In particular, processing plants around the Tri-Cities leaned heavily on the farm during the late October rains.

“They were almost doubling our output out of here for three or four days to get potatoes to those plants,” he said.

The early season growing conditions have made for an excellent crop, Harris said. He estimates production to be about two tons per acre higher than usual.

“We’re happy with how it turned out,” he said. “Certainly, it was one of our better crops.”

Statewide, Oregon farmers grew nearly 1.22 million tons of potatoes in 2015, worth $176.45 million. Brewer said the region from Hermiston to Boardman averages 30-plus tons per acre, mostly for processing into products like fries, potato chips and potato flakes.

Basin Gold, a cooperative of Oregon and Washington growers, also specializes in producing and marketing fresh market potatoes, like the ones on supermarket shelves. Bud-Rich Potato, of Hermiston, is part of that co-op.

Most farms should be producing at or above average throughout the area, Brewer said.

“Everybody had a pretty good fall harvest,” he said.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — While many of their compatriots will finally have the opportunity to vote in the U.S. elections on Tuesday, over half of Oregon’s registered voters had already cast their ballots.

On Monday, Kevin Cadwallader walked into a grocery store on and put his ballot into an official drop box festooned with American-flag balloons, becoming one of the more than 1.29 million Oregonians who have voted.

“I wanted to see if there was going to be anything else that comes out in the press,” Cadwallader said, explaining why he waited until the penultimate day to vote. There was a lot of “he said, she said” in the U.S. presidential race, Cadwallader noted, but nothing that changed his vote.

A total of 50.3 percent of Oregon’s 2,567,282 registered voters had cast ballots by mail or in drop boxes by Monday morning, a day before election day on Tuesday, the Oregon secretary of state’s office said. That’s a slightly smaller percentage than in the 2008 and 2012 elections.

Just a couple of blocks from the Oregon State Capitol, Marion County Clerk Bill Burgess’ office was a hive of activity.

Burgess had about 100 part-time workers sitting at rows of tables and standing at counters, going through stacks of incoming ballots that are enclosed in envelopes with each voter’s signature.

Those ballots that seemed to have more than one vote for a candidate or for a measure, or a write-in candidate, received extra scrutiny in another room.

“We cherish the idea that everyone’s vote is important and sacred,” Burgess, who was wearing an American-flag tie, told a visiting mother and her four young children, who were staring goggle-eyed at all the activity.

In a backroom, the shelves were laden with ballots, whose results have been digitally tabulated by his people but not yet counted. The results will be added up by computer after polls closed. He said there were about 80,000 ballots in the room already, available to be hand-counted in case a recount is ordered.

Similar activities were being done in all of Oregon’s 36 counties.

Grant County, in Eastern Oregon, has the highest return rate as of Monday on ballots, with 62.7 percent. Columbia County had only 43.6 percent.

Oregonians vote by mail. While it’s too late to mail in a ballot for it to be counted, voters can take them to drop boxes as long as they do so by 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Cadwallader, a construction worker with six children, said a lot is resting on the outcome. “It comes down to, what kind of country do I want my kids growing up in?” he said.

A Beaverton, Ore., company received a $600,000 USDA grant to continue research and development of a wind energy system they will first market to farmers.

The company, eWind Solutions Inc., is developing a tethered, rigid-wing kite that spins an electrical generator as it deploys in a corkscrew pattern 300 to 500 feet in the air. The system can be programmed to continuously deploy and retract the kite, generating electricity the landowner can sell back to the utility grid or use on-farm. Company partners say a system will provide enough energy to power five homes or one small to mid-size farm.

Once the kite reaches its maximum altitude — no more than 500 feet to conform with FAA regulations — it brings itself down, said Katie Schaefer, eWind’s director of strategic partnerships. The device uses 4 percent of the power it created on launch to retract itself to a lower altitude, then rises again to continue energy production.

If the wind isn’t right, the kite comes all the way down and docks itself. The station required is about the size of a small shipping container or a large pickup truck, Schaefer said.

The concept has previously won funding from Oregon BEST, a spinoff of the state business department that connects clean-tech entrepreneurs with money and with university researchers who can help with technical aspects. In 2015, eWind was granted a $100,000 startup grant from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The new grant also is from NIFA.

Schaefer said the company is pursuing development grants from the U.S. Department of Energy. The company is about nine months away from being ready to approach private investors; she estimated the company will need $3 million to $5 million to gear up for commercial production, possibly in 2018. Schaefer’s husband, David, is the company founder and CEO.

The company chose agriculture as its first niche for the technology because farmers generally have uncluttered air space above their farm, Katie Schaefer said.

“We don’t need their land, we just need the space above it,” she said.

She said dairies or other operations with high power requirements might be a good market. Wineries have shown early interest, she said, in part for branding purposes and the “wow” factor, and also for potential side benefits such as bird deterrence.

Schaefer estimated a system would cost $45,000 to $50,000. She said an airborne system provides more electricity than solar panels and takes less room. Wind turbines are larger, more ponderous and aren’t built high enough to catch wind all the time, she said, while eWind’s device would operate at higher altitudes where wind is more consistent. Unlike solar, they also can operate at night.

The company’s long range vision is to take the technology worldwide after getting established with farmers, Schaefer said,

The system could be used to provide emergency electrical power in disaster relief cases, or where the power grid has been compromised or doesn’t exist, she said.

SALEM — Three candidates seeking to become the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s next director met in Salem, Ore., with a panel of interviewers on Nov. 2.

The state’s Department of Administrative Services, which is overseeing the hiring process, refused to disclose two of the candidates’ identities because it could damage their relationships with current employers.

The third candidate, Lisa Hanson, has served as ODA’s interim director since early October and before that was the agency’s deputy director for 11 years.

The Department of Administrative Services did release the names of the 10 panelists — drawn primarily from state government and the farm industry — as well as the criteria upon which the candidates would be evaluated.

Among the representatives from state government are Katy Coba, the ODA’s former director and current chief of DAS, as well as Madilyn Zike, Oregon’s chief human resources officer, and Lauri Aunan, a natural resources policy adviser to Gov. Kate Brown.

Panelists from the farm industry include Pete Brentano, nurseryman and chairman of the Oregon Board of Agriculture; Lynn Youngbar, board president of the organic certifier Oregon Tilth; Bryan Ostlund, executive director of multiple commodity commissions; and Jenny Dresler, state public policy director for the Oregon Farm Bureau.

Jas Adams, an adjunct law professor at Willamette University; Michelle Delepine, member of the Oregon Invasive Species Council; and Shawn Miller, president of the Northwest Grocers Association, are also on the panel.

Each applicant rotated through 45-minute interviews with three groups of panelists, who evaluated the candidates on the following criteria:

• A “depth of understanding” of how to work with diverse “stakeholders” representing the farm industry, the environmental community and other interests.

• Experience working with legislators and representing farm, ranch and natural resource issues while working for a state governor or federal official.

• Filling a “leadership role” at a state agency or other entity “similar to the scope and complexity” of ODA for at least 10 years.

It’s possible there will be a consensus of support for one candidate, or the panel members may be divided in their recommendations, said Matt Shelby, communications strategist for DAS.

The ultimate hiring decision will be up to Gov. Brown, he said.

Ostlund, the executive director of multiple commodity commissions, said he’s looking for a candidate who can provide “creativity in leadership” in conflicts over pesticides, water quality and similar concerns — particularly when urban and rural interests collide.

“The Willamette Valley is becoming a tighter and tighter neighborhood all the time,” Ostlund said, adding that other communities face similar situations. “It is just a big cauldron of complicated issues.”

The ideal candidate will display a solid understanding of the business side of running a state agency and interacting with the Legislature, said Brentano, nurseryman and Board of Ag chairman.

“They all have experience with agriculture,” Brentano said of the candidates.

The next ODA director should recognize the effects of climate change on agriculture and how the industry can conserve natural resources, said Youngbar, of Oregon Tilth.

The agency’s chief walks a fine line in advocating for farmers while also regulating them, Youngbar said.

“I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it requires someone in the leadership position to be really attuned to that tension,” she said. “It’s a big job.”

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Some of the biggest names in Oregon’s renewable energy and forest products industries landed on a list of suspicious state giveaways during an investigative audit of Oregon’s Business Energy Tax Credit Program.

The list included tax credits large and small, subsidizing everything from gigantic wind farms to a fat-rendering technology that was supposed to make biodiesel from meat scraps. It never worked and only operated briefly, but still collected more than $1.1 million in taxpayer subsidies for equipment that was left piled in a parking lot.

The forensic audit was conducted by Marsh Minick, a financial crime consulting service hired last summer by Oregon Secretary of State Jeanne Atkins. The audit identified 165 projects with $347 million in tax credits as potentially concerning.

Marsh Minick delivered its results to the secretary of state in late August. Separately, it forwarded a report to the Oregon Department of Justice detailing projects it red-flagged during its investigation through the use of fraud detection technology, its review of project files, interviews and other research.

The firm’s findings weren’t conclusive. It noted, for example, that it didn’t complete a full inquiry of the tax credits in question, and that its list of questionable deals, culled from more than 14,000 the department processed from 2006 to 2014, was not comprehensive. But it’s another embarrassing coda to a program that some Oregon lawmakers would love to forget.

The audit details ongoing and costly failures by staff at the Oregon Department of Energy in applying the most fundamental rules of the program or performing basic due diligence to ensure tax credit applicants qualified for the money and used it as intended.

Its release comes as a joint oversight committee appointed to look at restructuring the department meets Friday to discuss its recommendations for the Legislature. It also leaves the open question of whether Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum will pursue her own investigation of the questionable credits.

A spokeswoman, Kristina Edmunson, said the Justice Department was “still reviewing for any potential criminal or civil violations.”

Neither the Energy Department nor any of the companies on the list contacted by The Oregonian/OregonLive have heard from Rosenblum’s office in the two months since the report was forwarded.

“I would hope the DOJ has several people investigating those allegations in depth,” said Sen. Doug Whitsett, R-Klamath Falls and a member of the oversight committee. “These are serious allegations of misuse of public funds ... and I think the people deserve to know where that money got spent.”

Marsh Minick divided its list of questionable tax credits into two buckets: large projects in which the costs and resulting tax credit exceeded program limits; and “projects of concern.”

The former is tied to qualifying expenditures. State law sets a maximum tax credit for each facility, per year, of $10 million, or 50 percent of eligible project costs up to $20 million. But Marsh Minick found that a variety of applicants exceeded their maximum eligible program costs, and had requested multiple credits for the same project in the same calendar year. Among those companies:

Klondike Wind Farm: The Sherman County wind farm was developed by the Portland-based developer Iberdrola Renewables, now known as Avangrid. The project was developed in four phases, and Klondike III alone applied for and received three separate $11 million tax credits in the same year.

Art Sasse, a spokesman for Avangrid, says the company’s projects are separate and distinct and that it will cooperate with the Justice Department if contacted.

SolarWorld: Marsh Minick said the Hillsboro solar manufacturer applied for multiple credits on separate projects and may have violated the program’s separate and distinct facilities. It ultimately received tax credits with a face value of $42 million. The report said the company’s applications exceeded maximum allowable costs.

The company sent a statement: “SolarWorld operates in conformance to the highest legal and ethical standards. Regarding this investigation, we have not been approached with any questions.”

Pacific Ethanol: This company built an ethanol production plant and distribution facilities in Boardman, aided in part by two tax credits worth $18.2 million. Both projects were completed in September 2007. Marsh Minick said there were possible violations of the separate and distinct facilities standard and that they exceeded maximum allowed costs.

Paul Koehler, a vice president for Pacific Ethanol, said the California-based company simply followed instructions from program managers at the Department of Energy when applying for tax credits. He maintains the two projects were separate, remain operational and represent a success for the program.

Marsh Minick labeled its second bucket of questionable tax credits as “projects of concern,” which were flagged for multiple reasons.

They included a series of solar projects built by SunEdison and SolarCity. Both companies used highly complex financial arrangements that resulted in opaque project costs and ownership shared among multiple subsidiaries. In the case of Missouri-based SunEdison, Marsh Minick said it was unclear who owned the physical assets subsidized by Oregon taxpayers.

As for SolarCity, Marsh Minick pointed to cost reporting problems, and allegations that false documents and invoices had been used to make the case for tax credits. It also said there was a possibility that the California-based company generated positive net proceeds through state and federal subsidies.

Forest products companies were heavy users of the Business Energy Tax Credit Program to upgrade their facilities, and a number of them were flagged as dubious, including Bear Mountain Forest Products, Boise Paper, Rough & Ready Lumber Co., and Douglas County Forest Products.

Marsh Minick found projects undertaken at the same facility with conflicting goals. In some cases, tax credits were finalized before projects were inspected. Some facilities closed or were sold soon after tax credits were granted; in one case, the equipment subsidized by taxpayers was found sitting in shipping containers, uninstalled and non operational.

There was the Team Estrogen Warehouse Project, an online retailer of fitness apparel that received $23,493 to build what Marsh Minick determined was an illogical bike commuter room, at its warehouse along a country road in Hillsboro. The credit was justified by its projected 15-year energy savings, but the company moved after three years.

Clear Edge Power Projects, another Hillsboro firm, received $8.6 million to help develop and manufacture fuel cells. The company ultimately moved its operations to California, filed for bankruptcy, then was purchased by a South Korean firm that sold its assets in an auction.

There’s no record of what became of the equipment funded by Oregon taxpayers.

HERMISTON, Ore. — It took a little push to get Red, a six-month-old miniature Jersey calf, into the back of a trailer bound for Woodland Park Zoo near downtown Seattle.

“I’m so excited he gets to live out his life on the zoo,” said Belinda Smith, who has raised Red from birth on her 10-acre property in Hermiston. Woodland Park staff arrived Tuesday morning to pick up the animal, which will be featured in the zoo’s “Family Farm” exhibit where kids can get up close with cows, chickens, donkeys, goats, sheep and pigs.

Smith and her husband, Bob, began raising Jersey cattle about seven or eight years ago. Jerseys are smaller than Holsteins, and known for their high butterfat content in milk. Calves like Red typically sell for at least $500, Smith said, and she was happy for the zoo to make the 250-mile trip.

As for the rest of the heifers, they will provide milk for the Smiths’ new creamery dubbed Smith’s Tiny Farm, or STF. Belinda said they could be making cheese by January, if all goes according to schedule.

Bob, a sixth-grade teacher at Sandstone Elementary School and retired Navy hull technician, began building the structure for a small cheesemaking facility in June. The couple currently has five milking cows, and Belinda said they will eventually end up with eight, milking three every day and processing cheese with 30 gallons of milk at a time.

“There’s just not a lot of creameries around,” Smith said. “It seemed totally reasonable and practical to us.”

The Smiths will sell STF Creamery cheese at local farmers markets and stores, though that could take some time. It takes at least 60 days of aging before soft, raw milk cheeses are ready for market. Belinda Smith said they will use whole cream milk to make their cheese, which could be pasteurized or not, depending on the style.

Making cheese is a science, Smith insists. Her initial trials included making Colby, Gouda, pepper jack and cheddar in small batches in her kitchen last winter. She and Bob taste tested each one with their prayer group at New Hope Church, to rave reviews.

“We begged them to be honest,” Smith remembers. “We had a Gouda with garlic in it that everybody just loved.”

Smith said she and her husband take pride in being largely self-sufficient making their own food. In addition to their cows, they also raise chickens and run a commercial greenhouse, growing a variety of vegetables such as tomatoes, onions and peppers.

The inspiration for STF Creamery came from Yvonne Carroll, who owns and operates the Umapine Creamery in Milton-Freewater with her husband, Brent. Smith said they met last year through Carroll’s daughter-in-law, Erica Turner-Carroll, and spent a day together making 180 pounds of cheese up at the Umapine farm.

Throughout the process, Carroll said the Smiths came to realize that cheesemaking would be doable, that it would be OK to make mistakes and OK to experiment.

“You could tell they were getting excited,” Carroll said. “It’s about thinking and relaxing and enjoying the process.”

Smith said they have ordered cheesemaking equipment, including a 60-gallon vat, cheese press and vacuum sealer, through a company based in Maryland. The machinery should be delivered sometime in the next three weeks. Until then, Smith said they are wrapping up their permit for a confined animal feeding operation through the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

Carroll said getting that CAFO permit is the hardest part of starting any creamery.

“It’s all the regulations,” she said. “You have to have a CAFO permit that dictates how your waste is going to be used.”

The payoff, however, is being able to set up at farmers markets and meeting people from throughout the region, she added.

“It’s just a fun place to be,” Carroll said. “I think they’ll have a blast, and I think they’ll be well received.”

There are still finishing touches to be done on their milking parlor and building, but Belinda Smith said she and Bob are looking forward to getting their new business off the ground.

“This is the lifestyle we’ve chosen,” Belinda Smith said. “It just seems like the right thing to do. And it’s fun.”.

Forty organizations, including Oregon State University and the Oregon Food Bank, have teamed up to strengthen local food systems and connect growers who struggle to find markets with buyers who struggle to obtain healthful food.

People involved with the new entity, which is called the Oregon Community Food Systems Network, or OCFSN, believe strong local and regional food systems can improve economic, social, health and environmental conditions throughout the state.

The network formed from the realization that many nonprofit organizations were working on aspects of food, farming, health, poverty and economic development issues, but were coming at it in a disconnected way. They would benefit by collaborating, said Lauren Gwin, associate director of OSU’s Center for Small Farms and Community Food Systems and a member of the new network’s leadership team.

Jump-started with funding from the Meyer Memorial Trust, network members settled on four primary initiatives:

• Obtain money to match SNAP vouchers, formerly called food stamps, spent at farmers’ markets and rural grocery stores. The move would double the purchasing power of SNAP recipients choosing to buy fresh and local food.

• Establish a “Veggie Rx” program, in which doctors could write a prescription for healthful food as they would for medicine. A program in Hood River, Ore., initiated by Gorge Grown, allows doctors to give patients $30 vouchers that can only be used to buy fresh fruit and vegetables. In the past year, the program helped 6,500 people buy food.

• Provide new and beginning farmers with access to farmland and capital by supporting various transition programs. With many farmers approaching retirement, analysts estimate two-thirds of Oregon farmland will change ownership in the coming years.

• Help producers scale-up and sell more to retail and institutional food buyers. One of the ideas is to establish food hubs that aggregate, process and store production from small farms to provide the large volume needed by big buyers.

The network’s vision statement is ambitious: All Oregonians will have access to healthful, affordable food that is grown and processed regionally. This will happen in a food system that is environmentally and economically resilient and that “provides entrepreneurial opportunity and fulfilling livelihoods for employees throughout the supply chain.”

Gwin, of OSU, said farmers should understand the group is not saying the existing food system is bad. It does keep people fed, she said, but serious health disparities exist.

The network also is “not just about small farms,” she said, but about mid-size and large farms as well. The food they produce, the way it’s produced and the impact on rural economic vitality are all part of the discussion, she said.

“Farmers need to know how to support that without losing their shirts,” Gwin said. “It’s important for ag to see themselves in this.”

The network’s website is at http://ocfsn.net

BEND, Ore. (AP) — Wildlife officials in Oregon are looking for ways to prevent pneumonia in bighorn sheep.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has placed monitoring collars on dozens of wild sheep and will collar more in the coming months, reported The Bulletin. The department is keeping track of the animals’ deaths and completing blood and genetic testing.

Bacteria picked up from domestic sheep and goats can lead to pneumonia in bighorn sheep, a disease that has killed a large number of the animals in the West in the past few years. The respiratory pathogen doesn’t cause the domestic animals to get sick.

“When wild sheep get it, it’s pretty devastating,” said Autumn Larkins, assistant district wildlife biologist and sheep capture boss for ODFW. “We’re trying to figure out what’s going on.”

Larkins said researching the bacterial species is a priority because it has the potential to wipe out the entire state’s bighorn population. Just last year, it caused a herd of 150 in Malheur County’s Leslie Gulch to drop to only 30.

Nevada officials killed about two dozen wild sheep earlier this year as a way to keep the disease from spreading. Similar kills have taken place in Washington, Utah and Canada in the past to protect healthy herds.

Bighorn sheep didn’t evolve with the bacteria, which can cause pneumonia with infected lungs, coughing and runny eyes and noses. Female sheep that survive the illness can also pass it on to babies that can’t survive it, said state wildlife veterinarian Colin Gillin.

“They cannot handle this disease at all,” Larkins said.

For the first time in the 75-year history of the American Tree Farm System, an Eastern Oregon tree farmer has been named the National Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year. And it comes from the unlikely site of a valley more famous for gold dredges than tree farming.

Hailing from Baker County’s Sumpter Valley, site of three historic gold dredges, the Defrees family will receive the award at a reception Dec. 6 on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

The American Tree Farm System announced the winner Nov. 1, culminating a 16-month process for the family that started with being named Baker County Tree Farmer of the Year in June of 2015.

“It was a long process and it kept us on pins and needles,” said Dean Defrees, who co-manages the farm with other family members.

Defrees said the family was “extremely humbled and thrilled” to hear they won the award. “Especially because we knew what kind of competition we were up against,” he said.

The award annually honors exceptional sustainable forest management and leadership qualities within the forestry industry.

Oregon State University Baker County Extension Forester Bob Parker, who nominated the Defrees family, said Dean and his father, Lyle, and the rest of the family exemplify the award’s qualifications.

“Lyle was really active in running the small woodland chapter here and provided a lot of assistance for me in developing programming,” Parker said. “I’ve spent a lot of time on his property. They do a superb job of managing their lands.”

The Defrees family has also been active on Oregon Department of Forestry regional committees, said Jamie Knight, a department spokeswoman based in La Grande. Between them, Lyle and Dean have served on the Northeast Oregon District Budget Committee, on the Eastern Oregon Forest Protection Association, on the Baker County Forestland Classification Committee, among other boards and committees.

“They are a big part of our success in the Northeast Oregon District, with their volunteer efforts,” Knight said.

Asked why the participation, Dean Defrees said, “We like to put some of our personal input into those committees, and we feel like we really need to give back to the community.”

He added: “It has been a real partnership for us, because we don’t have all the answers, and the Oregon Department of Forestry, OSU Extension and Oregon Small Woodlands Association have been really helpful, as far as technical advice.”

The Defrees family’s legacy of sustainable land management dates back to Dean’s great grandparents, who settled on the land in 1904. In the 1930s, when other ranchers in the Sumpter Valley sold land to gold mining companies to be dredged, Albert and Ellen Defrees, Dean’s grandparents, refused.

“They were one of the few that would not sell to the dredge, because they saw the value of the land, rather than it being churned up for gold mining,” Dean Defrees said. “And those tailings are still here. That land has been unproductive now for 60 years.”

The Defrees family grows primarily Ponderosa pine, along with a smattering of Douglas fir and Western Larch. The farm also raises cattle. Its cattle production is third-party certified for good agricultural practices.

“We are really concerned about being sustainable,” Dean Defrees said. “And I think we’ve proven that, in that we’ve been here for over a hundred years.

“And our goal, and I think our children’s goal, is to keep the ranch in the family and prosperous and still here for the next 100 years,” he said.

The Defrees are the first National Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year winner from Oregon since Bob and Margaret Kintigh of Lane County won the award in 2006. Previous to that, Ron and Barbara Bentz of Linn County won the award in 2002.

Other Oregon winners include Wayne and Colleen Krieger of Curry County, in 1993; and Bert and Betty Udell of Linn County, in 1982.

Cattle and timber industry representatives say the proposed expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument will lead to lost grazing lands and timber production and injure the area’s economy.

In October, Oregon Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, both Democrats, asked the U.S. Department of the Interior to expand the monument’s border by about 50,000 acres, much of which would involve Bureau of Land Management lands. The existing 62,000-acre monument in Southern Oregon was designated by then-president Bill Clinton in 2000.

A loss of cattle grazing in the area that abuts the Oregon-California state line would result in increased wildfire fodder in an already dry, hot and fire-prone area, the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association asserts.

Moreover, adjacent private landowners could lose access to their properties if roads are not maintained or gates become permanently locked, said Jerome Rosa, the OCA’s executive director.

“Quite a bit of it is really, really prime grazing ground,” said Rosa, who recently toured the area.

“This is prime land that also is very, very susceptible to fire and lightning strikes hitting that area,” he said. “We saw knee high oats in the area. It’s drier than dry.”

The designation would be “potentially devastating” to the timber industry, taking “a lot of volume off the table,” said Travis Joseph, president of the American Forest Resource Council.

Existing timber sales on the land “could be grandfathered in,” he said, “but we’ve seen with other monument proposals that timber sales that are grandfathered in don’t actually get implemented.”

The move could have an impact on Southern Oregon and Northern California mills that purchase timber, noted Mark Pawlicki, Sierra Pacific Industries’ director of corporate affairs and sustainability.

Merkley held a hastily scheduled meeting Oct. 14 in Ashland to gather input on the proposal, and about 100 people showed up. He is taking written comments through Nov. 20 and plans to give them to President Barack Obama.

“It’s important to Senator Merkley that all interested Oregonians are able to weigh in on” the proposal, “including the agricultural community and especially any producers who believe their operations may be affected,” spokeswoman Martina McLennan told the Capital Press in an email.

If the monument is expanded, there will be opportunities for input on how the area would be managed, she said.

But critics say many in opposition to the proposal didn’t know about Merkley’s meeting or didn’t have time to prepare. A town-hall meeting by Jackson County commissioners on Oct. 27 to discuss the monument drew about 400 people, and Klamath County commissioners were set to hold their own hearing on the proposal on Nov. 1.

They also argue that some of the lands in the planned monument are covered by the O&C Lands Act of 1937, which aimed to provide a future source of timber to contribute to local economic stability and required that half the revenue generated be returned to 18 affected counties, according to the BLM’s website.

“It was a contract between the local jurisdictions and the federal government, that they would maintain a sustained amount of timber cutting every year on all that land,” Klamath County Commissioner Tom Mallams said. “If they designate it as a monument ... there won’t be any timber cut on this land.”

Any grazing allotments that are allowed to continue on monument land often aren’t transferable, so they often go away when a son or daughter takes over the ranch or even if a new ranch manager is hired, Rosa said.

“The ranches will be told they can continue their normal practices on it, but what happens is if there’s any change in management or change in ownership, then that agreement is no longer viable,” he said. “Over the course of time, eventually all these grazing opportunities will be lost.”

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The leader of a federal wildlife refuge takeover in Oregon says his group will “continue to stand” after he and six others were acquitted last week of charges in the case.

Ammon Bundy told The Oregonian/OregonLive in a phone call from the Multnomah County Detention Center on Monday that it was their duty to stand.

“We did it peacefully,” Bundy said. “We did it legally, and the jury’s verdicts confirmed that.”

Bundy said the trial ended in “another example of the government not following the law” when U.S. marshals arrested his attorney for challenging the judge’s order to keep him in custody.

Bundy remains in jail because he still faces charges in the 2014 standoff at his father’s Nevada ranch. Bundy said he expects he and brother Ryan Bundy will be moved to Nevada on Tuesday morning.

He said he wasn’t allowed any contact with his brother on Halloween, Ryan Bundy’s 44th birthday.

“It’s par for the course,” he said.

Bundy, 41, of Emmett, Idaho, testified that he proposed the armed takeover to draw attention to the case of two Oregon ranchers that he believes were unjustly imprisoned for setting fire to public land and to protest federal mismanagement of vast tracts of lands in the West.

He called for prosecutors to drop charges against other occupiers set for February trial on the same conspiracy charge.

Prosecutors have not said whether they will drop charges against the remaining defendants. Eleven people previously pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge.

“There was no conspiracy,” Bundy said. “It would be a waste of court time and resources.”

Designating a new national monument in the Owyhee Canyonlands would “inflame and deepen divisions in our communities” in the wake of the surprise not-guilty verdicts in the Malheur occupiers trial, a Southeast Oregon group said.

In an open letter to President Obama, who has authority to declare a new monument and has done so several times in recent months, the Owyhee Basin Stewardship Coalition said the verdict “does little to heal the wounds created in our state and nation by the unfortunate events of the past year.”

A U.S. District Court jury in Portland acquitted seven defendants Oct. 27 of conspiring to keep federal employees from doing their jobs during the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters outside of Burns, Ore.

The occupation touched off a heated debate about federal land management. The possibility that Obama would designate the Owyhee Canyonlands monument is seen as a continuation of that argument. Local residents have asked him not to do it in what has become a “troubling and volatile atmosphere.”

The stewardship coalition’s letter said the president’s authority to designate a monument without congressional approval “should be exercised with caution and careful consideration.” The group urged Obama to consult with Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, Sen. Ron Wyden, Sen. Jeff Merkley, and U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, who represents Eastern Oregon in Congress.

The Bend-based environmental group Oregon Natural Desert Association, backed by the Keen Footwear, has proposed a 2.5 million acre Owyhee Canyonlands wilderness and conservation area. Critics say the area is bigger than the Yellowstone, Yosemite or Grand Canyon national parks and would cover 40 percent of Oregon’s Malheur County.

Local opposition is strong. Opponents believe designation would prohibit or severely restrict grazing, mining, hunting and other recreation. Proponents have said traditional land uses will be allowed, but opposition leaders doubt it.

“In the case of a potential Owyhee Canyonlands monument, the issues go far deeper than merely a question of how to best protect and manage the public lands we all care about and love,” the stewardship coalition said in its letter to Obama. “We know you will do the right thing.”

Environmentalists have agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused Central Oregon irrigators of violating the Endangered Species Act by harming the Oregon spotted frog.

The Center for Biological Diversity and Waterwatch of Oregon filed two complaints against the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and five irrigation districts — Arnold, Central Oregon, Lone Pine, North Unit and Tumalo — that were consolidated earlier this year.

The environmental groups asked U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken for an injunction that would drastically alter the operation of the Crane Prairie, Wickiup and Crescent Lake reservoirs, which the districts depend on.

In March, Aiken denied that request, holding they did not meet the high burden of proving such an injunction was necessary, which led to months of settlement discussions.

Under the deal submitted to Aiken on Oct. 28, the irrigation districts have agreed to keep minimum flows in the Upper Deschutes River at 100 cubic feet per second in autumn and winter, up from 20 cubic feet per second in some past years.

The increased flow level is intended to provide a more stable water supply for the frogs, which were declared a threatened species in 2014.

The Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the dams that regulate water flows, has also agreed to complete an already-underway “consultation” on irrigation system impacts to Oregon spotted frogs. The irrigation districts formally committed to other changes they’ve voluntarily implemented this year.

The deal requires approval from Aiken to become final.

Irrigators hope the settlement will give them some breathing room until more permanent plans to conserve water and improve conditions for the frog are implemented.

“It’s a step in the right direction. It doesn’t solve the long-term problem,” said ShanRae Hawkins, spokeswoman for the irrigation districts.

By the time the settlement expires on July 31, 2017, the irrigation districts and the Bureau of Reclamation expect to have completed a “habitat conservation plan” for the frog, which would provide irrigators protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Conservation measures will require heavy investment in piping and lining canals, reducing seepage and allowing water to be distributed more efficiently, she said.

The Tumalo Irrigation District expects the settlement will cause it to forgo 42 percent of the water it stores in Crescent Lake, according to a letter sent to irrigators by Kenneth Rieck, the district manager.

However, if the region experiences an adequate water year over winter, the district should still be able to deliver 70 percent of normal flows, he said.

“This was not an easy choice, but the (district) board believes this settlement is in the best interest of the district,” Rieck said.

The Central Oregon Irrigation District voluntary left 35,000 acre-feet of water in the Crane Prairie reservoir this year for frog habitat instead of pulling water for irrigation and reducing the level to about 20,000-25,000 acre-feet, said Craig Horrell, its district manager.

Because the district left all of its stored water in the reservoir, it was forced to reduce deliveries by 20 percent, Horrell said. The district also owns in-stream water rights, which provided water for irrigators.

If the coming winter again results in insufficient water supplies, the district may need to cut deliveries short again in 2017, he said.

In an average water year, though, the settlement terms should not impact deliveries, Horrell said.

Now that the district anticipates more stored water will be released, it can also adjust its management of the reservoirs to mitigate negative effects, he said. “Knowing what we know now, we can plan for it better.”

Ending a long hiring drought, Oregon State University is advertising for a vegetable and vegetable seed specialist to work at its North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora, Ore.

The position is part of a continued expansion of OSU Extension staff statewide and at the North Willamette center in particular, much of it made possible by increased funding approved by the Legislature in 2015.

In the past year, NWREC alone has hired Nik Wiman, an orchard crops specialist; Lloyd Nackley, a nursery production and management faculty member; and is negotiating to hire a pesticide registration specialist. The vegetable extension agent position has been vacant since Bob McReynolds, who was highly regarded by growers, retired in 2012.

Canby, Ore., grower Ed Montecucco said hiring a vegetable specialist will be most welcome by vegetable and vegetable seed farmers. Growers several years ago formed an endowment fund to help pay for the position, and the fund has reached $330,000.

Montecucco said McReynolds helped assemble data to win approval for chemicals that improve yield and control pests, and advised growers on farming practices.

The new person will need to be knowledgeable about raising organic and conventional vegetables and controlling pests in both, Montecucco said. He grows conventional and organic fresh market root crops, rhubarb and corn and beans.

NWREC administrator Michael Bondi said growers need help with pest control, irrigation efficiency, soil health and food safety regulations, among other things.

“There are a lot of unmet needs, that’s for sure,” he said.

Oregon’s fresh and processed vegetable industry has an annual farm gate value of $100 million, and the Willamette Valley is one of the nation’s primary vegetable, flower and herb seed production areas, Bondi noted in a news release.

Applicants must have a Ph.D. in horticulture or a related field. The closing date for applications is Nov. 20. A job description is at https://jobs.oregonstate.edu/postings/34112

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Changes in how dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers are operated are needed to improve migratory conditions for protected runs of Snake River chinook salmon and steelhead, federal officials said.

A proposed recovery plan released Thursday by the National Marine Fisheries Service also said habitat needs to be improved in tributaries where fish spawn and in the Columbia River estuary where young fish transition to ocean life.

The Snake River and its tributaries in Idaho, Oregon and Washington state at one time supported more than half of the Columbia River basin’s summer steelhead and more than 40 percent of the spring and summer chinook salmon.

But in the 1990s the two runs were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The 262-page recovery plan is described as a roadmap for federal agencies, state governments, tribes and private entities to use for possible action that could boost the two runs.

The plan sets goals before delisting can be attained. The goals, which include the number of returning fish, are broken down into the various streams that make up the Snake River Basin, with some streams in better shape than others.

For some populations “we may see substantial and quick movement in productivity, and in others it may take longer,” said Ritchie Graves of the National Marine Fisheries Service during a news conference Thursday.

Scientists acknowledged gaps in knowledge in creating the plan. The reason for losses of young fish in tributaries is not clear, for example. And what young fish do when exiting the Columbia River into the Pacific Ocean in what is recognized as a unique ecosystem called the plume is also not clear.

“The importance of understanding how fish survive and don’t survive in the plume has become increasingly important,” said Rosemary Furfey, recovery coordinator for the Fisheries Service.

The ultimate goal, managers say, is to have self-sustaining populations so the fish can be delisted. The federal agency estimates that could take 50 to 100 years. It estimates the cost over the next 10 years for just habitat work will be $139 million.

Comments on the proposed plan that also includes hatchery strategies, angler harvest, predator problems, climate change and more are being taken through Dec. 27, with those comments being used to create a final plan expected sometime in mid-2017.

The recovery plan takes into account a much larger legal battle involving all 13 endangered and threatened salmon and steelhead runs in the Columbia Basin.

In May, a federal judge in Portland, Oregon, ruled that the massive habitat restoration effort by the U.S. government doesn’t do nearly enough to improve Northwest salmon runs, handing a major victory to conservationists, anglers and others who hope to someday see the four dams on the Snake River breached to make way for the fish. The judge ordered the government to come up with a new plan by March 2018.

The recovery plan released Thursday doesn’t include removing the Snake River dams, but has language that would allow it to be modified to bring it in line with whatever comes out in the court-ordered 2018 plan.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A jury delivered an extraordinary blow to the government in a long-running battle over the use of public lands when it acquitted all seven defendants involved in the armed occupation of a national wildlife refuge in rural southeastern Oregon.

Tumult erupted in the courtroom Thursday after the verdicts were read when an attorney for group leader Ammon Bundy demanded his client be immediately released and repeatedly yelled at the judge. U.S. marshals tackled attorney Marcus Mumford to the ground, used a stun gun on him several times and arrested him.

U.S. District Judge Anna Brown said she could not release Bundy because he still faces charges in Nevada stemming from an armed standoff at his father Cliven Bundy’s ranch two years ago.

The Portland jury acquitted Bundy, his brother Ryan Bundy and five others of conspiring to impede federal workers from their jobs at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, 300 miles southeast of Portland. The jury could not reach a verdict on a single count of theft for Ryan Bundy.

Even attorneys for the defendants were surprised by the acquittals.

“It’s stunning. It’s a stunning victory for the defense,” said Robert Salisbury, attorney for defendant Jeff Banta. “I’m speechless.”

The U.S Attorney in Oregon, Billy J. Williams, issued a statement defending the decision to bring charges against the seven defendants: “We strongly believe that this case needed to be brought before a Court, publicly tried, and decided by a jury.”

The Oregon case is a continuation of the tense standoff with federal officials at Cliven Bundy’s ranch in 2014. Cliven, Ammon and Ryan Bundy are among those who are to go on trial in Nevada early next year for that standoff.

While the charges in Oregon accused defendants of preventing federal workers from getting to their workplace, the case in Nevada revolves around allegations of a more direct threat: An armed standoff involving dozens of Bundy backers accused of pointing weapons, including assault-style rifles, at federal Bureau of Land Management agents and contract cowboys rounding up cattle near the Bundy ranch outside Bunkerville.

Daniel Hill, attorney for Ammon Bundy in the Nevada case, said he believed the acquittal in Oregon bodes well for his client and the other defendants facing felony weapon, conspiracy and other charges.

“When the jury here hears the whole story, I expect the same result,” Hill told The Associated Press in Las Vegas. Hill also said he’ll seek his client’s release from federal custody pending trial in Nevada.

U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden in Nevada, however, said the acquittals in Portland should have no effect in the Las Vegas case. “The Oregon case and charges are separate and unrelated to the Nevada case and charges,” Bogden said.

Ammon Bundy and his followers took over the Oregon bird sanctuary on Jan. 2. They objected to prison sentences handed down to Dwight and Steven Hammond, two local ranchers convicted of setting fires. They demanded the government free the father and son and relinquish control of public lands to local officials.

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, finishing with a display of more than 30 guns seized after the standoff. An FBI agent testified that 16,636 live rounds and nearly 1,700 spent casings were found.

During trial, 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.

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

The bird sanctuary takeover drew sympathizers from around the West.

It also drew a few protesters who were upset that the armed occupation was preventing others from using the land. They included Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, who called the acquittals disturbing.

“The Bundy clan and their followers peddle a dangerous brand of radicalism aimed at taking over lands owned by all of us. I worry this verdict only emboldens the kind of intimidation and right-wing violence that underpins their movement,” Suckling said.

One of Ammon Bundy’s attorneys, Morgan Philpot, had a different perspective after watching Mumford get tackled by marshals. “His liberty was just assaulted by the very government that was supposed to protect it, by the very government that just prosecuted his client — unjustly as the jury found.”

There’s another Oregon trial coming up over the wildlife refuge.

Authorities had charged 26 occupiers with conspiracy. Eleven pleaded guilty, and another had the charge dropped. Seven defendants chose not to be tried at this time. Their trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 14.

Associated Press Writers Andrew Selsky in Salem, Oregon, and Ken Ritter in Las Vegas contributed.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The leaders of an armed group who seized a national wildlife refuge in rural Oregon were acquitted Thursday in the 41-day standoff that brought new attention to a long-running dispute over control of federal lands in the U.S. West.

A jury found brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy not guilty a firearm in a federal facility and conspiring to impede federal workers from their jobs at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, 300 miles southeast of Portland where the trial took place. Five co-defendants also were tried one or both of the charges.

Despite the acquittal, the Bundys were expected to stand trial in Nevada early next year on charges stemming from another high-profile standoff with federal agents. Authorities rounding up cattle at their father Cliven Bundy’s ranch in 2014 because of unpaid grazing fees released the animals as they faced armed protesters.

The brothers are part of a Nevada ranching family embroiled in a lengthy fight over the use of public range, and their occupation drew an international spotlight to a uniquely American West dispute: federal restrictions on ranching, mining and logging to protect the environment. The U.S. government, which controls much of the land in the West, says it tries to balance industry, recreation and wildlife concerns to benefit all.

The armed occupiers were allowed to come and go for several weeks as authorities tried to avoid bloodshed seen in past standoffs.

The confrontations reignited clashes dating to the so-called Sagebrush Rebellion of the late 1970s, when Western states such as Nevada tried to win more control of vast federal land holdings.

The group began occupying the bird sanctuary in remote southeastern Oregon on Jan. 2. They objected to prison sentences handed down to Dwight and Steven Hammond, two local ranchers convicted of setting fires. They demanded the government free the father and son and relinquish control of public lands to local officials.

Ammon Bundy gave frequent news conferences and the group used social media in a mostly unsuccessful effort to get others to join them.

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 after a lengthy negotiation.

At trial, the case was seemingly open-and-shut. There was no dispute the group seized the refuge, established armed patrols and vetted those who visited.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this case is not a whodunit,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Knight said in his closing argument, arguing that the group decided to take over a federal workplace that didn’t belong to them.

On technical grounds, the defendants said they never discussed stopping individual workers from accessing their offices but merely wanted the land and the buildings. On emotional grounds, Ammon Bundy and other defendants argued that the takeover was an act of civil disobedience against an out-of-control federal government that has crippled the rural West.

Federal prosecutors took two weeks to present their case, finishing with a display of more than 30 guns seized after the standoff. An FBI agent testified that 16,636 live rounds and nearly 1,700 spent casings were found.

Bundy testified in his defense, spending three days amplifying his belief that government overreach is destroying Western communities that rely on the land.

He said 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.

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

Ryan Bundy, who acted his own attorney, did not testify.

Authorities had charged 26 occupiers with conspiracy. Eleven pleaded guilty, and another had the charge dropped. Seven defendants chose not to be tried at this time. Their trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 14.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Federal authorities want to add more hatchery-raised fish to the 28 Pacific Coast salmon and steelhead stocks listed under the Endangered Species Act.

The National Marine Fisheries Service in a document made public Friday said 23 hatchery programs could produce fish genetically similar to their wild but struggling cousins and should have the option of receiving federal protections.

The agency recently completed a five-year review required for listed species and plans no changes to the threatened or endangered status for the salmon and steelhead populations found in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

The review included 330 hatchery programs. About half of those are already involved in boosting listed salmon and steelhead populations. Other hatchery programs are intended to produce large numbers of fish for anglers.

The document released Friday proposes eliminating five of the hatchery programs from ESA listings, meaning there’s a net increase of 18 programs.

The 23 proposed programs are mostly in Oregon and Washington, but there are some in Idaho and one in California that involves the Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery and its efforts with winter-run chinook salmon in the Sacramento River.

Scientists say the net increase of 18 programs is part of a trend among fisheries managers of using locally adapted fish with the goal of producing fish more able to survive in the wild.

“There’s been considerable research on this and we generally understand that hatchery fish do not survive in the wild as well as wild fish,” said Rob Jones of the National Marine Fisheries Service. “But we have gotten much better at understanding how to narrow that gap and produce hatchery fish that have a better and better chance at surviving in the wild.”

Several watchdog environmental groups involved with salmon and steelhead and watershed ecosystems declined to immediately comment, citing the complexity of the federal proposal.

But Sara LaBorde, executive vice president of the Wild Salmon Center, gave an initial assessment.

“It seems like some of this language is housekeeping and some of it may have long-term policy implications,” she said in a statement to The Associated Press. “At this point, it’s important for all of us to read the notice and understand it fully.”

Conservation groups, in general, are concerned that an overreliance on hatchery fish could cause further declines in wild fish runs and additional degradation to the watersheds wild fish need to survive.

The watersheds themselves include dams needed to produce energy, control floods and provide irrigation. Other activities such as timber harvest and road construction can also are cause problems for migrating salmon, Jones said, and the hatcheries are intended to mitigate for those losses.

Salmon and steelhead runs are a fraction of what they were before modern settlement. Of the salmon and steelhead that now return, experts say, about 70 to 90 percent originated in hatcheries.

Public comments on the federal proposal are being taken through Dec. 20.