Shawn Mehlenbacher, the Oregon State University hazelnut breeder who developed varieties resistant to deadly Eastern Filbert Blight, says a Benton County ballot measure to prohibit genetically engineered organisms would restrict his research.

Joseph Beckman, an OSU biochemistry and biophysics professor, believes he is closing in on a treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, the fatal and incurable nervous system disorder more commonly known at Lou Gehrig’s disease. He says the ballot measure would force him to close down his research or somehow move it off campus and out of Benton County.

An OSU evaluation of Measure 2-89, which is on the May 19 ballot in Benton County, says they aren’t alone. The university said the measure might effect 120 or more faculty and stop research projects that have attracted about $18.3 million in outside funding.

Backers of the measure strongly disagree, and describe the measure as protecting the local food system from “international food corporations whose profit motives limit what you eat and the quality of your life.”

Nonetheless, the Oregon State analysis says the measure would stop research on cancer, bioenergy, wood crops, agricultural diseases and any other work that involves genetically engineered material. The Benton County voters’ pamphlet says the measure requires all GE organisms in the county to be harvested, removed or destroyed within 90 days of the measure taking effect. The measure applies to corporations or governmental entities, according to the voters’ pamphlet.

Mehlenbacher, who is credited with saving Oregon’s $120 million hazelnut industry, said his current work uses traditional breeding methods and would not be prohibited under the measure. But research he has proposed — to verify which gene is the filbert blight gene – would not be allowed, he said. Mehlenbacher said he doesn’t plan to develop GMO hazelnuts, but the blight research requires using genetically engineered organisms.

He said the ballot measure is “extreme.”

“And to do it in the county where the state’s land grant university is located is even more extreme,” he said.

Beckman, director of OSU’s Environmental Health Sciences Center and a principal investigator at the Linus Pauling Institute on campus, tells an even starker story.

He and other international researchers are investigating a copper compound treatment that may extend the lives of ALS patients. Beckman uses mice and rats that are genetically modified with human genes that cause them to develop the disease.

Without treatment, the rodents die in four months. But treated rats and mice have survived for 18 months now, and continue to thrive.

“I basically stopped the disease with this compound,” Beckman said. He has prepared a research paper for publication and hopes to begin trials on human patients this summer.

The prospect of the measure passing and being told, “Oh, you have to get rid of it in 90 days” is a disappointing sign of anti-science thinking, Beckman said. Some people may see it as a way to “strike a blow at Monsanto” but haven’t thought through the consequences, he said.

“I’m a huge proponent of supporting small farms and diverse foods, I love the farmer’s market,” he said, “but it’s easy to get wrapped up in emotion.”

Moving the research project out of Benton County while maintaining the research animals in sterile conditions would cost perhaps $30,000 or $40,000, Beckman said.

“I would sue, the best I can,” he said. “Whether I can, as a state employee, I don’t know,” he said.

One of the measure’s chief backers says OSU’s analysis is incorrect. Harry MacCormack,founder of the organic Sunbow Farm, said the measure applies only to organisms that would enter the local food stream.

“What they’ve done is take out of context a line (in the ballot measure text) that says no GMOs are allowed in Benton County,” MacCormack said.

MacCormack, who worked 31 years at OSU’s English and theater departments, said the measure must be interpreted by the intent of its ballot title. “All this covers is GMOs that would interfere in the local food system,” he said.

He said Mehlenbacher, for example, could work with genetically engineered organisms in the lab, and use them to speed up breeding non-GMO hazelnuts with traditional methods. Beckman’s and other medical research using genetically engineered organisms could continue, he said.

The Oregon Legislature in 2013 passed a law that prohibits local jurisdictions from banning GMOs on their own. MacCormack and other backers of Measure 2-89 say a local food system ordinance would pre-empt the state law; others sharply disagree with that legal interpretation.

According to the voters’ pamphlet, the measure would establish a local food system right and a “right to seed heritage,” which would protect seeds from infection, infestation or drift from genetically engineered organisms. “Natural communities” such as soil, plants and water systems would be granted legal rights and would be named as plaintiffs in any legal action brought to enforce the right of natural communities to be free of GE organisms. Natural communities would have a legal right to be free from the patenting, licensing or ownership of their genes.

The measure is opposed by the county commissioners, the Benton County Farm Bureau, the Willamette Valley Specialty Seed Association, many local farmers and many OSU professors and researchers.

Three of them — Philip Mote, Brandon Trelstad and Kevin Ahern — filed a voters’ pamphlet statement calling the measure “an example of a laudable goal taking a significantly wrong turn” and one that “reaches well beyond what its proponents say it will do.”

In regards to GE safety, the three said, “it’s important that research is conducted in the controlled, contained settings provided by a research university.”

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — Federal biologists have agreed to consider changing Endangered Species Act protections for the northern spotted owl from threatened to endangered.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will announce Wednesday there is enough new scientific information in a conservation group’s petition to warrant a hard look, which will take about two years. A notice will be published Friday in the Federal Register.

After the northern spotted owl was listed as a threatened species in 1990, it became a symbol for Endangered Species Act protections that harm local economies. Conservation groups won court-ordered logging cutbacks to protect owl habitat that put many Northwest timber towns into an economic tailspin from which they have yet to fully recover. Political efforts to ramp up logging in the ensuing years have largely failed.

Paul Henson, supervisor for Fish and Wildlife in Oregon, says a lot has changed since the original listing. Back in 1990, the biggest threat to the owl was cutting down the old growth forests where the owls live. Now it is the barred owl, an aggressive cousin from the East Coast that migrated across the Great Plains and invaded spotted owl territory. Those two areas will be the focus of the review, he said.

“The bad news is that the spotted owl population has continued to decline,” despite logging cutbacks of about 90 percent on federal lands in Washington, Oregon and Northern California, Henson said. “The good news is we know why it is declining,” and have begun taking steps to deal with the barred owl.

Spotted owl numbers have continued to decline, and the species is estimated to number less than 4,000. The bird’s status was last reviewed in 2011, when Fish and Wildlife felt it still warranted protection as a threatened species. The agency typically reviews the status of protected species every five years. This review was brought on by a petition from the conservation group Environmental Protection Information Center in Arcata, California. The review is set to be finished by September, 2017.

In addition to protecting and promoting old growth forest habitat for the owl, the agency is conducting an experiment to see if killing barred owls in selected areas in the three states will allow spotted owls to move back into their old habitat. Some barred owls have been killed in Northern California on private timberland and the reservation of the Hoopa Valley Tribe. After surveys for spotted owls and barred owls are finished, killing barred owls is to begin this fall in Oregon and Washington. The experiment should be finished in three years.

An endangered listing would change little on the ground, Henson said. Habitat protections and prohibitions against killing owls would remain the same. No more money would be available for restoration. One difference is that Fish and Wildlife would lose the use of the 4(d) rule, which gives the agency some flexibility to relax protections on threatened species if protections are harmful to people. There are currently no 4(d) rule actions in place on the spotted owl.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A deadly strain of bird flu has reached the Midwest, killing or requiring hundreds of thousands of turkeys to be euthanized. Some questions and answers about the outbreak:

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — Federal hydrologists say the latest numbers reinforce the forecasts: Rivers and streams throughout Oregon will have flows far below normal this summer due to the meager mountain snowpack.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service released its April surface water outlook on Tuesday.

Precipitation has been at or near normal in most basins, but warm temperatures have left the amount of snow in the mountains at record lows, between 8 percent and 32 percent of average across the state.

That means basins with major reservoirs for storage are expected to do relatively well. The Willamette River at Salem, for example, is predicted to have flows 76 percent of average.

But even they will drop far below normal as the summer wears on, due to low flows in streams feeding the reservoirs.

And basins depending on snowpack for most of their water storage are expected to do poorly. The Silvies River at Burns is forecast to be at 17 percent of average.

The water year started off well, with strong storms, even though they came with warm temperatures. The report says the most significant snowfall came in late December, and if temperatures had remained that cold the rest of the winter, snowpack would be near normal. But January was relatively warm and dry, and the precipitation that has fallen since has been mostly rain. March came in warm and sunny, and left with raw cold and some snow in the Cascades.

As of April 1, 76 percent of snow monitoring sites were at their lowest level on record. Though April 1 normally marks the peak snowpack for the year, more than half the monitoring sites reported bare ground.

The U.S. Drought Monitor puts most of Oregon in drought conditions, with the southeastern corner in extreme drought. Inflow to the Owyhee Reservoir is forecast at 24 percent of average.

Inflows to Upper Klamath Lake, the primary reservoir for the Klamath Reclamation Project straddling the Oregon-California border, are forecast at 39 percent of normal.

In southwestern Oregon, the Rogue River at Gold Hill is forecast to be 69 percent of average.

In central Oregon, the Deschutes River south of Bend is forecast at 79 percent of average.

In northeastern Oregon, the Grande Ronde River at Troy is forecast to be 52 percent of average.

BOARDMAN, Ore. — Northeast Oregon farmers have spoken loud and clear against having Idaho Power’s proposed Boardman to Hemingway transmission line cut across their high-value irrigated land.

One local organization is lobbying Salem for help, though lawmakers expect the effort will fall short.

Senate Bill 873, introduced by the Oregon Farm Bureau with support from the Northeast Oregon Water Association, would require developers of overhead transmission lines to seek out alternative routes avoiding the region’s most productive farmland.

The bill would also update the definition of “highly productive farmland” to include what are known as confined animal feeding operations, such as livestock feedlots and dairies.

J.R. Cook, founder and director of NOWA, said the bill is not trying to force a moratorium on energy development, but would protect hundreds of millions of dollars worth of agriculture in Umatilla and Morrow counties alone.

“This is not a new issue,” Cook said. “There’s been legislation attempted multiple times.”

Boardman to Hemingway is also not a new proposal. Idaho Power identified the need for a major overhead transmission line as early as 2006 to swap power between the two regions.

The 500-kilovolt line would stretch 305 miles from a substation at Boardman to just southwest of Boise in Melba, Idaho.

The Bureau of Reclamation released its draft environmental report for the project in December 2014, which identified Idaho Power’s preferred route for the line. Farmers were immediately concerned about where the company could to build towers in the Morrow-Umatilla project area: over irrigated fields, dairies and the massive Boardman Tree Farm.

Given the interruption to normal farming practices, Cook said farmers stand to lose $330 million in revenue over 30 years.

“We don’t think that’s in the best value of the state,” he said. “You can’t make any more (of this land).”

If approved, Boardman to Hemingway would cross five Eastern Oregon counties: Morrow, Umatilla, Union, Baker and Malheur. SB873 was introduced March 3 and sponsored by Sens. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, and Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, as well as Reps. Greg Barreto, R-Cove, and Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario.

The bill specifically requires utilities to demonstrate their lines would be built on the least valuable farmland possible before getting the go-ahead from the Energy Facility Siting Council. If a line is built on high-value farmland, it would be up to the developer to show there was no better alternative. Cook said that is in line with land use laws for all other non-farm uses.

But so far, the legislature hasn’t taken up the issue. The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, and has not received a hearing. Bills have until Friday to see some forward-moving action, or they will likely die before making it onto the floor for a vote.

Hansell, who serves on the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee, said he has already been told by the committee’s chairman, Sen. Chris Edwards, D-Eugene, that he will not do anything with the bill.

“The conversations are continuing, but the feeling is this won’t be a bill that moves forward this session,” Hansell said.

In a statement from Idaho Power, spokesman Brad Bowlin said the company does not support legislation that would make it more difficult to site transmission lines.

“By setting a higher bar for transmission lines, SB873 could result in a policy that would impede the development of much-needed critical transmission infrastructure,” Bowlin said.

Cook said he isn’t ready to give up on the bill yet. Private landowners are being forced to rely on a process that offers them few protections, he said, and SB873 would adhere to the state’s goal of prioritizing high-value agriculture.

Legislation that would restrict “non-therapeutic” antibiotic use in livestock production is pitting doctors against veterinarians in Oregon.

The Oregon Medical Association and the Oregon Health & Science University recently came out in favor of Senate Bill 920, which would disallow the use of antibiotics to promote growth or prevent disease in farm animals.

The groups argue that limiting such uses is necessary to prevent resistance to antibiotics among microbial pathogens.

Brian Wong, chair of OHSU’s infectious diseases division, said that treating healthy animals with antibiotics increases the danger that humans will encounter diseases that are immune to these crucial drugs.

Wong testified on behalf of OHSU and OMA during an April 6 hearing before the Senate Committee on Health Care, which is reviewing SB 920.

The Oregon Veterinary Medical Association opposes the bill because its definition of “non-therapeutic” includes antibiotic uses that are necessary to ensure herd health, such as when a disease is “expected or is in the beginning stage.”

Veterinarians use antibiotics to manage populations, unlike doctors who treat individual people, according to testimony submitted by Chuck Meyer, the group’s president.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is already reducing antibiotic use in livestock by ending treatments aimed at weight gain and feed efficiency by the end of 2016, he said.

While drug manufacturers will make the changes voluntarily, the revised labels will make it a federal violation to use antibiotics for growth promotion, Meyer said.

Lawmakers on the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources recently heard testimony on a parallel bill — House Bill 2598 — that would also regulate non-therapeutic antibiotics in livestock.

On the Senate side, however, an amendment to SB 920 would eliminate language that allows private parties to file lawsuits accusing livestock producers of violating the antibiotic restrictions.

The Oregon Farm Bureau and the Northwest Food Processors Association fear this provision will invite “nuisance” litigation against growers while clogging the state’s court system.

SALEM — The controversy over canola has resurfaced in the Oregon Legislature in a bill that would extend limited production of the crop in the Willamette Valley for three years.

In 2013, the legislature approved a moratorium on canola production in the region for six years due to fears that it will interfere in the cultivation of related seed crops.

During three years of the moratorium, Oregon State University was authorized to study canola cultivation on 500 acres annually in the valley.

Under House Bill 3382, farmers would be permitted to continue growing 500 acres of canola for the remaining years of the moratorium.

Carol Mallory Smith, an OSU weed science professor, said research has uncovered no difference between canola and other brassica seed crops such as turnips and radish in terms of pest and disease risks.

While the Willamette Valley has recently faced an outbreak of blackleg disease in brassica crops, there’s no scientific evidence that the pathogen is related to canola production, she said during an April 7 hearing before the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources.

OSU’s research indicates that control practices for “volunteer” canola plants that germinate in fields are the same as for radish and turnips, Mallory-Smith said.

“There’s nothing unique about canola in that system,” she said. “It would not need to be treated differently than other brassica crops.”

Kathy Hadley, who farms near Rickreall and Silverton, said canola has helped “clean” fields of weeds that are difficult to kill in grass seed crops by giving farmers additional herbicide options.

Canola can also be grown without irrigation and with the same equipment as grass seed while generating healthy economic returns, she said.

“Canola has been a very valuable rotation for us.”

If farmers are unable to grow even 500 acres during the final three years of the moratorium, that will bring existing commercial relationships to a “grinding halt,” Hadley said.

Opponents of HB 3382 argue that canola production should not be extended before OSU has even completed its research.

“We’re asking to continue a well-crafted project,” said Greg Loberg, public relations chair of the Willamette Valley Specialty Seed Association and general manager of the West Coast Beet Seed Co.

Changing the law now would have a “chilling effect” on companies that produce brassica seed in the region, causing them to question investments in processing capacity, said Nick Tichinin, president of the Universal Seed Co.

Opponents of the bill claim that another three years of canola production will increase the “seed bank” of potential volunteers by 1,500 acres.

They worry that volunteers from fields and seeds from contaminated equipment will allow canola to spread, potentially cross-pollinating with other brassica crops and weeds to the detriment of seed producers, who have millions of dollars in sales at stake.

Proponents counter that cross-pollination can be prevented by leaving the same “isolation distances” around canola as other brassica crops grown in the valley.

Much of the fear surrounding canola is caused by genetically modified varieties, but Oregon farmers can reap higher profits by growing conventional varieties, according to proponents.

SALEM — A proposal to allow industrial development outside urban areas in several Oregon counties is touted as economically stimulative, but opponents claim it threatens statewide land use planning.

Senate Bill 716 would permit three counties near Portland to designate a “large-lot industrial reserve” of 150-500 acres without having the property within an urban growth boundary, as is currently required.

Proponents say the legislation would allow counties to seize on opportunities for high-tech development that are currently barred by a lack of adequate large industrial sites.

“Generally, we don’t have big blocks of those,” said Sen. Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay, who introduced the bill.

The Oregon Farm Bureau opposes the bill because large tracts would take farmland out of production, changing the character of the surrounding areas.

Such shifts lead to increased development pressures and prompt agribusiness suppliers to leave as they lose their base of farm customers, said Mary Anne Nash, public policy counsel for OFB, during an April 6 hearing before the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.

“We’re not getting more high value farmland in Oregon,” she said. “It’s a limited resource we need to protect judiciously.”

The original version of SB 716 would affect Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties, but a proposed amendment would substitute Columbia County for Washington County in the pilot program.

Tootie Smith, a Clackamas County commissioner, said the bill includes a mitigation component under which the total acreage of urban and rural reserves within each county would remain unchanged despite the new industrial designations.

Making large lots available for development is critical to attract job-creating companies that are seeking to build new facilities, she said.

“By having this tool at our disposal, Clackamas County can better market itself,” Smith said.

However, several opponents disputed whether Portland metropolitan counties face a scarcity of industrial land.

Tim Knapp, mayor of Wilsonville, said there are currently more than 7,800 acres of industrial property available in the metro region, but some portions aren’t adequately supported with roads, sewers, water pipelines and other infrastructure.

“We’re very concerned that adding more acres competes with the scarce resources that already are available,” he said.

Companies seeking to develop large tracts of more than 100 acres are actually rare and considered the “white whale of economic development,” said John Williams, deputy director of planning at the Metro regional government.

Lawmakers who want to spur jobs should instead focus on funding infrastructure within existing industrial parcels, he said. “The real focus in our region is to make them development-ready.”

Opponents also criticized the bill for undermining the land use planning process, which allows for long-term decisions on where industrial zones should be located.

Urban and rural reserves that set out areas for development and farmland preservation were created with public input and were subject to litigation and a legislative settlement last year.

Through that process, it was decided that land south of the Willamette River near Wilsonville, known as French Prairie, should be a rural reserve due to the burdens that development would place on transportation and water, said Charlotte Lehan, a councilor for the city.

Lehan said SB 716 is meant to undermine those decisions to allow for the development of the area.

The “grand bargain” passed by Oregon lawmakers last year, which resolved disputes over urban and rural reserves, should be allowed to stand because it resulted from difficult compromises, said Larry Dyke, a farmer near North Plains, Ore.

“A deal is a deal. Everybody is in, so let’s just leave it alone,” he said.

AURORA — One of the first tasks Oregon State University’s two new agricultural college administrators set for themselves was a tour of research and extension stations. Associate Dean Dan Edge and Sam Angima,assistant dean for outreach and engagement, wanted to hear from OSU staff and the producers who rely on the statewide network of stations for advice and information.

“You don’t want to come into a new office and assume everything’s fine,” Angima said during a stop April 1 at the North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora.

Edge and Angima visited OSU’s Mid-Columbia station in Hood River and the Food Innovation Center in Portland before stopping at North Willamette. The center, about 20 miles south of Portland, is a key contact point for berry farmers, nursery operators, hazelnut orchardists and Christmas tree growers, among others.

Angima said OSU staff quickly made one thing very clear: “They are spread too thin,” he said.

“There are huge demands across all our units,” Edge agreed.

The statewides, as they’re called, haven’t regained full staffing from cuts imposed during the recession, but OSU officials believe they’ve now got the Legislature’s attention and may receive budget help. Edge, noting OSU’s ag and forestry programs were ranked seventh best in the world, said the university provides the best “pound for pound” return on the state’s investment.

Edge was head of OSU’s Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Science before moving to the associate dean position Feb. 1. Angima was regional administrator of OSU Extension on the North Coast, based in Newport. He moved to the Corvallis campus job March 1.

Angima said one of his goals is to break down barriers between the College of Ag and other departments. In some cases, researchers from other OSU departments do field outreach that the Extension program can help with, he said.

“We can’t sit in an ivory tower and expect things to happen,” he said.

A group meeting with Angima and Edge offered some thoughts on their interaction with the North Willamette and other extension and research centers.

One of them, Bill Sabol of Arbor Grove Nursery in St. Paul, said on-line advice and information has its place, but personal interaction with Extension experts is more valuable. Without it, “You lose contact with your customers,” he said.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has declared drought emergencies in three more counties — Crook, Harney and Klamath — due to low water levels and record low snowpack.

Brown declared a drought emergency in Malheur and Lake counties last month. She added the latest three on Monday.

The counties asked the state to take action, and the Oregon Drought Council considered the requests in light of water conditions, future climatic forecasts and agricultural impacts.

The drought continues to have significant impacts on agriculture, livestock and natural resources in each of the counties.

In the governor’s words, “Oregon’s unusually warm and dry winter has potentially dire consequences.” The declaration allows increased flexibility in how water is managed to ensure that limited supplies are used as efficiently as possible.

A nonprofit organization founded by blueberry farmers is launching a campaign April 11 to raise awareness of Type 2 diabetes and its effects on child health.

The Blueberry Family Health Foundation is timing the launch of its first campaign with the April 11 opening of the Florida Blueberry Festival in Brookesville, Fla. Located near Tampa, the area is one of two communities serving as pilot-project sites for the campaign. The other is Portland, where the Blueberry Family Health Foundation campaign will be featured at the LifeWise Oregon Berry Festival, July 17 and 18 at the Ecotrust Event Space, 721 NW Ninth Ave.

Blueberry farmers from across the nation were behind the formation of the foundation in September 2013, including Fall Creek Farm and Nursery in Lowell, Ore.; Homegrown Organic Farms in Porterville, Calif.; Thomas Creek Farms, also in Porterville; HBF International in McMinnville, Ore.; Agricare in Jefferson, Ore.; Naturipe, Family Tree Farms and Driscoll’s, all from California; several farms from Florida; a Michigan farm; a British Columbia farm; Atlantic Blueberry Co. from Hammonton, N.J.; and farms in Georgia, North Carolina and elsewhere.

The organization’s board of directors includes Amelie Aust, owner and board member for Fall Creek Farm and Nursery; Karen M. Avinelis, president of Thomas Creek Farms and representatives of the financial and diabetes medical professions.

Kari Rosenfeld, sister of Fall Creek Farm and Nursery President Dave Brazelton, serves as executive director of the foundation.

Rosenfeld has been active in the diabetes community since 1993, when her 7-year-old daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Rosenfeld has extensive management experience in for-profit and nonprofit organizations and has created and led national and international health-awareness programs and campaigns, including the American Diabetes Association Youth Advocacy Program.

The foundation’s Activate the Awareness Campaign includes messaging through Florida Blueberry Festival advertisements, which are being broadcast across four regional television stations and will air approximately 800 times. It will include message-sharing with upwards of 60,000 festival attendees over the course of the two-day festival, and it will include distribution of coloring activity sheets to help kids learn about eating a “healthy rainbow of fruits and vegetables.”

Rosenfeld said the organization developed its campaign materials with help from leading pediatric endocrinologists and nutritionists.

“The plan is to leverage our relationships in the local health-care and community organizations to post and distribute these materials in the venues where those most at risk have access to help, while at the same time engaging local media to raise awareness among care providers and the general public,” Rosenfeld said.

Rosenfeld characterized the foundation’s work as “a multi-year philanthropic strategic plan to raise awareness of children’s risk of Type 2 diabetes.”

“Because a key barrier to prevention of Type 2 diabetes in children is lack of awareness, we have created a campaign to raise awareness that 1 in 3 children are now facing Type 2 diabetes, and that it is preventable,” Rosenfeld said.

The foundation is inviting people to join and get involved in its effort, especially healthy food and produce organizations.

“This organization is open and eager to work with all individuals and companies,” Rosenfeld said. “If you want to help shine a spotlight on a newly brewing health epidemic where your products are part of the solution, we are eager to talk about how to scale the program and impact your community,” she said.

Online

www.bbfamilyhealth.org

IN THE TOBEATIC WILDERNESS, Nova Scotia (AP) — Into the forest we went with a mushroom hunter and guide, in search of edibles in the speckled light of a summer afternoon. The finds: golden cha…

BOARDMAN, Ore. — As a potential source of renewable energy, giant cane could be the answer to saving Portland General Electric’s coal-fired power plant in Boardman long after the facility quits using coal by 2020.

On the other hand, as an invasive species, giant cane could spread wild across the Columbia Basin, choking out native vegetation and undoing years of work by local tribes to restore river habitat.

A proposed bill in Salem attempts to strike a balance between the competing environmental interests. House Bill 2183 would require farmers who grow giant cane for biomass or other commercial uses to post a $1 million surety bond with the Oregon Invasive Species Council. The money would pay for costly eradication efforts, should the crop escape from the field.

Not surprisingly, PGE is opposed to the measure while continuing research into alternative fuels that could be used to power the Boardman Coal Plant. In 2010, the state’s largest utility decided to phase out coal at Boardman instead of paying for hundreds of millions of dollars in new emissions controls. The plant is relatively young — it opened in 1977 — and employs 122 people.

One possible biomass fuel is giant cane, formally known as Arundo donax, which PGE has spent several years growing in small test plots.

HB2183 not only calls for a $1 million bond for growing giant cane in 400 acres or less, but an additional $25,000 for every acre above 400 acres. PGE has estimated it would take 8,000 tons of biomass every day to keep the Boardman Coal Plant humming, and scientists initially anticipated they could grow 25 tons per acre of Arundo donax locally.

At that rate, it would take 320 acres of giant cane just to power the plant for a single day. Brendan McCarthy, government affairs specialist for PGE, said there are still too many unknowns about whether HB2183 would make Arundo donax unfeasible on a large scale.

McCarthy did say the bill is “unnecessary,” especially considering the Oregon Department of Agriculture already has rules in place for growing giant cane — which includes a $1 million bond, along with numerous stipulations on where and how to grow.

“Arundo donax is invasive in other parts of the country,” McCarthy said. “The concerns are valid, and we took those into consideration for the stringent growing conditions we have.”

The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation also opposes HB2183, but for a very different reason. The tribes would rather ban the cane in Oregon, which they say is as alarming a noxious weed as it is promising as a biofuel.

In a letter sent March 2 to the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources, Gary Burke, chairman of the CTUIR Board of Trustees, said HB2183 would essentially give the legislature’s approval to grow a highly invasive species with minimal controls to prevent escape.

“The CTUIR supports the use of biofuels, but does not support the introduction and use of invasive, noxious weeds as biofuel,” Burke said.

Arundo donax is a perennial bamboo-like cane native to eastern and southern Asia, as well as the Mediterranean Basin, parts of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. At maturity, the plants can grow more than 20 feet tall and form in dense stands around water.

An analysis done by the tribes in 2012 suggests the cane’s rhizomes, or reproductive stems, could be easily spread by natural factors such as flooding and high winds, as well as by humans and animals. If the plants took hold in a riparian area, they would out-compete native species that otherwise provide habitat for cultural First Foods, including salmon, deer and elk.

The same analysis also shows growing the cane on the farm would take roughly the same amount of irrigation as alfalfa, which the tribes say is bound to displace some food crops or drive increased demand for Columbia River water.

“The CTUIR, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife and Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, as well as various federal and state partners, have spent millions of dollars to restore habitat and flows in the basins, efforts that are threatened by introduction of a crop that has a potential to escape and destroy the ecosystems we’ve sought to protect,” Burke said.

Stopping giant cane after it has escaped is an expensive proposition, since weed control officers can’t use the same treatments and herbicides so close to waterways. That’s why ODA calls for a surety bond in its rules, and continues monitoring for infestations three years after a grower’s permit has expired.

Morrow County gave PGE permission to grow up to 300 acres of giant cane for its trials in 2011. Helmuth Rogg, director of plant protections and conservation program areas for ODA, said the agency will re-evaluate their rules should the utility decide to grow on a larger, commercial-size scale.

“We worked on this for quite some time with the Invasive Weed Council,” Rogg said. “We have the county weed folks checking constantly in areas downstream to see if there’s Arundo donax that has escaped one way or another.”

Other than at Boardman and a small feral population in southwest Oregon, Rogg said the cane is not grown anywhere else in the state.

Giant cane is far from the only biofuel considered at Boardman. PGE is also testing 17-18 other materials, including wheat straw, wood chips and sawdust. Before the material can be fed into the plant, it must go through a process known as torrefaction, where it is burned in the absence of oxygen to create something similar to a charcoal briquette.

A test burning of biomass at the plant is scheduled for sometime later this spring.

SALEM — The prospect of transferring federal land to state ownership roused sharply differing opinions in the Oregon Capitol recently, but the controversy may be legally moot.

Concerns over federal mismanagement of forest and range lands in Oregon serve as the impetus for House Bill 3444, which would require the U.S. government to cede most of its public lands to the state.

Oregon lawmakers are also considering House Bill 3240, which would form a task force on the subject, as well as House Joint Memorial 13, which would urge the U.S. President and Congress to make such a transfer.

However, legal experts say that Oregon and other states likely face insurmountable challenges in trying to gain ownership of federal property.

Such proposals generally reflect dissatisfaction with federal agencies but don’t have solid legal footing, said Robert Keiter, a law professor and director of the University of Utah’s Wallace Stegner Center of Land, Resources and the Environment.

“My guess is it has much more political salience given antipathy toward the federal government rather than any serious legal credibility,” he said.

During a April 2 hearing on the legislation, Sen. Doug Whitsett, R-Klamath Falls, blasted the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management for sequestering employees in cubicles while forests grow overstocked and weeds overtake the landscape.

“The bloated bureaucracies that control these lands seem incapable of change,” Whitsett testified before the House Committee on Rural Communities, Land Use and Water.

Supporters of the bills claimed that the U.S. government’s ownership of more than half of Oregon’s land mass effectively starves county governments of property tax revenues, leading to insufficient funds for law enforcement and other crucial services.

Federal agencies are also hindered by environmental laws that prevent logging and other practices that generate revenues and mitigate fire risks, proponents said.

“Rather than focusing on the symptoms, we should be concentrating on the root of the problem,” said Tootie Smith, a Clackamas County commissioner.

Environmental groups testified against the legislation, arguing that federal management is necessary to protect species and water quality.

Federal lands belong to the public and should be valued for wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities, not just “extractive purposes” such as logging, mining and grazing, said Rhett Lawrence, conservation director for the Oregon Chapter Sierra Club.

If federal land were transferred to state ownership, the property would still be subject to the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act, Lawrence said.

The National Environmental Policy Act would no longer apply to the lands, however, which would shut out the public from decisions on how its managed, he said.

NEPA requires federal agencies to study the environmental consequences of their actions and is frequently the basis for lawsuits seeking to block grazing and logging.

Representatives of Trout Unlimited and the Native Fish Society also spoke against the bills, arguing that the state would face a huge burden in maintaining the ecological work that’s currently done by federal scientists.

The committee hearing focused on the merits of the legislation, but the state’s authority to require the transfer of federal land likely poses a major obstacle for supporters.

Lawmakers in Utah successfully passed similar legislation in 2012, but the state’s own legislative attorneys came to the conclusion that it has a “high probability of being declared unconstitutional.”

Under legal precedent established by the U.S. Supreme Court, the federal government has broad authority to retain ownership of public lands, said Keiter of the University of Utah.

Land transfer proponents rely on language in state enabling laws that refer to the disposal of federal lands, but these provisions are taken out of context since the U.S. government retains discretion whether to actually sell property, he said.

Arguments for land transfers that cite the “equal footing doctrine” — under which new states are treated equal to the first 13 — have also failed in court, since the doctrine applies to political rights and not land ownership, Keiter said.

“It’s a very difficult argument for proponents of transfer to make,” he said.

SALEM — A bill that would create standards for residential beekeeping in Oregon is one step closer to becoming law after proponents defused an earlier controversy.

During the initial public hearing for House Bill 2653 in February, beekeeper groups testified against the legislation due to fears of burdensome new fees and regulations.

“We’re really terrified of this,” Joe Maresh, president of the Portland Metro Beekeepers Association, said at the time.

Rep. Chris Gorsek, D-Troutdale, said the bill’s intent was to set a baseline for residential beekeeping rules, which currently vary greatly depending on the city.

Some cities ban beekeeping, while others have no rules to ensure safety and prevent conflicts, he said.

Since then, Gorsek has consulted with concerned beekeepers to overhaul HB 2653’s language and overcome their objections to the bill.

The original legislation simply directed the Oregon Department of Agriculture to “establish standards by rule” for residential beekeeping.

Under the new version, ODA will consult with Oregon State University to write “best practices” for residential beekeeping, including recommendations for avoiding nuisance problems.

Those best practices will then be disseminated to cities and counties, which may adopt ordinances consistent with the recommendations.

“I think we came to a good compromise,” said Gorsek, noting that the amended version of HB 2653 emphasizes voluntary action by municipalities.

The revised bill faced no opposition during an April 2 work session of the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources and was unanimously referred to the House floor with a “do pass” recommendation.

After that vote, OSU came up with an “exceptionally large fiscal impact” of $300,000 to implement the bill, though that funding may be included other pollinator-related bills, said Gorsek.

Due to the fiscal impact, however, the legislation was referred to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, which handles funding requests.

The House Ag Committee also approved a package of bills to fund bee diagnostics and pollinator health outreach at OSU during an April 7 work session.

Committee Chair Brad Witt, D-Clatskanie, said the bill was innovative and commended Gorsek on resolving the differences of opinion “without getting stung.”

Several other bills were also approved by the committee during the work session:

• House Bill 2474, which requires veterinary facilities to register with the Oregon State Veterinary Medical Examining Board.

• House Bill 2184, which directs the Oregon Department of Transportation to provide an online link to day use pass information at state parks.

• House Bill 2209, which creates a task force on shellfish to study environmental problems facing the industry.

Legislation to prohibit unsecured dogs from traveling on truck beds except in farm vehicles — House Bill 2687 — was not approved by the committee after Rep. Greg Barreto, R-Cove, said he opposed the bill. Witt asked Barreto and Rep. Susan McLain, D-Hillsboro, to propose an amendment to the legislation.

COQUILLE — A former Coquille resident will be among those honored in Washington, D.C., at the national American Ambulance Association's Stars of Life event on April 13-15.

Friday, April 3 — "Backdraft" (1991) R — 7:30 p.m. Meet Coos Bay Volunteer Fire Fighters. Admission is two cans of food to be donated to the Salvation Army.

On behalf of the entire Board of Directors and our new program manager, Bailey Rienmiller, I would like to thank the community for helping us pull off a successful “2015 Bite of Bandon” annual…

The Portland City Council may ban the use of neonicioinoid pesticides, which the city currently uses at the International Rose Test Garden in Washington Park and at Peninsula Park.

Parks Commissioner Amanda Fritz introduced the ordinance last Wednesday and the council is set to vote on it this morning.

Neonicotinoids are one of the most widely used pesticides in the world. The Oregon Department of Agriculture documented seven bumble bee death incidents related to the application of neonicotinoids on trees since June 2013, six of which happened in the Portland metro area.

Portland Parks & Recreation currently relies on neonicotinoids to control the pest known as the rose midge, found only in the Rose Test Garden and Peninsula Park.

The neonicotinoid used to control the pest is called “imidacloprid,” and applied in a granular form to the top layer of the soil.

The ordinance calls for a phased elimination of the neonicotinoid pesticide at these locations over time, while alternative pest control methods are developed.

In the meantime, the city will continue “limited and judicial use” of the pesticide.

The ordinance calls for some immediate action:

• Parks staff will provide a plan to Fritz within four months to phase out all purchase of commercial nursery stock, trees and other plants treated with neonicotinoids.

• City bureaus and offices will purchase plants that are neonicotinoid-free.

• Parks staff will develop a phase-out plan with goal for complete phase-out by Dec. 1, 2017 unless otherwise justified.

In the meantime, the search for alternative methods begins.

“Neonicotinoids kill more than pollinators — they kill beneficial insects in the garden and the soil that help manage pest outbreaks,” the ordinance reads.

Parks still will evaluate alternatives to address pests, including organic methods such as mulches, non-toxic sprays.

They’ll also develop a management plan for the rose midge, not just for successful rose management “but as guidance to the general public, showing that successful pest management is possible with practices that protect bees and other pollinators.”

A pilot project will test the viability of using alternatives to neonicotinoids to manage the rose midge and other pests in the park system.

The pilot will include test beds at Peninsula Park or other locations with rose gardens will include consultation from experts at Oregon State University, businesses, nonprofit groups, government agencies and others.

Parks staff will monitor the test plots and report back two years after planting. If it’s successful in combating the rose midge and other pests, staff will do a cost-benefit analysis.

If the pilot is successful, Parks will convert all city rose garden beds to neonicotinoid-free methods, requesting increased funding for the new method in the city budget if necessary.

If the pilot is unsuccessful, neonicotinoid pesticide use may continue on a site-by-site basis as the ordinance allows.

PORTLAND — Containerized farm exports from the Port of Portland are unlikely to revive without a reconciliation between the longshoremen’s union and the container facility’s operator, a port official says.

The Hanjin shipping line stopped calling at the facility last month due to low productivity, but the port hopes to eventually restore direct container service to Asia.

While other carriers still use the port, Hanjin handled most of the container volume. Agricultural exporters who relied on Portland must now ship to Asia through more distant terminals.

However, ocean carriers will be reluctant to take over for Hanjin in Portland until a longstanding dispute is resolved between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and ICTSI Oregon, the container terminal’s operator, said Sebastian Degens, general manager of marine and terminal business development at the port.

It’s possible the relationship must still “hit rock bottom” before such a truce can occur, Degens told Capital Press at an April 1 panel discussion on agricultural trade in Portland.

ICTSI and ILWU are mired in several lawsuits that also involve the port and the National Labor Relations Board.

The union was recently ordered to pay $60,000 for contempt of court after a federal judge found longshoremen had violated an order not to engage in work slowdowns.

Meanwhile, ICTSI is challenging another ruling in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that dismissed some of its claims against the union.

If the two sides can bury the hatchet and vow to cooperate, that would help overcome the container terminal’s “inconsistent and unreliable” reputation — perhaps convincing Hanjin to return or another major carrier to replace the company, Degens said.

“We have to work our way out of that hole,” he said.

Apart from the specific conflict between longshoremen and ICTSI, ocean carriers are awaiting a broader labor agreement between the union and West Coast container terminals, Degens said.

The ILWU’s leaders recently struck a tentative deal with the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents operators, but the contract must still be ratified by the union’s rank and file this spring, he said.

Until the agreement is finalized, longshoremen are working without a contract that spells out how disputes are arbitrated.

Such grievance procedures are a necessary first step toward resuming normal operations at the port, Degens said. Otherwise, allegations of safety violations can drag on for extended periods of time while ships wait to be loaded and unloaded.

“The arbitration mechanism is really important,” Degens said.