The Union County District Attorney’s Office in northeast Oregon has dismissed poaching charges against a 58-year-old wildlife trapper who shot and killed a juvenile female wolf caught in one of his traps last December.

David Sanders Jr., of Elgin, Ore., appeared Feb. 26 in Union County Circuit Court where the state agreed to dismiss one count of unlawfully killing a “special game status mammal” stemming from the incident. Sanders did plead guilty to one additional count of using unbranded traps, and was sentenced to 24 months bench probation, 100 hours of community service and a $7,500 fine.

Sanders will also have his hunting and trapping license suspended for 36 months, forfeit his firearm and all trapping-related items seized during the investigation, and pay $1,000 to the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife.

Sanders declined to comment when contacted by the Capital Press.

According to Oregon State Police, a trooper first discovered the trapping site off of Highway 204 west of Elgin on Dec. 10 in the Umatilla National Forest. The trooper observed and identified Sanders as the individual who set the traps.

Eight days later, the trooper returned and found a dead wolf that appeared to have been shot not far from the traps. Sanders later admitted he shot the wolf after he found the animal in his trap, though he insisted he was only attempting to trap bobcats, not wolves.

Wolves were removed from the state endangered species list in Eastern Oregon, though it is still illegal to shoot them except in specific cases, such as if a rancher finds a wolf attacking livestock or in defense of human life.

Sanders was also using unbranded traps, for which he had a previous violation out of Baker County Justice Court in 2016.

Union County District Attorney Kelsie McDaniel said the state did not view the case as an instance of poaching, but rather illegal trapping. Based on the investigation, she said it was clear that Sanders was not out to illegally hunt wolves, but made a bad choice regarding his trapping activities. Sanders should have called ODFW right away, McDaniel said.

The incident further demonstrates the fact that the problem with wolves is not going away, McDaniel added. In October 2017, 38-year-old Brian Scott, of Clackamas, Ore., shot and killed a wolf in Union County during an elk hunting trip, which he told authorities was charging at him. No charges were filed in that case.

“We are seeing more and more incidents of wolf predation and human interaction in Union County,” McDaniel said in a statement. “This issue has long been a challenge for local ranchers, and with the number of wolves in the area more visible, people are engaging in recreation and having dangerous and accidental encounters as well.”

Rob Klavins, northeast Oregon field coordinator for Oregon Wild, said McDaniel’s comments were troubling, and appeared to frame poaching as a wolf problem rather than a human problem.

Klavins, who lives and works in neighboring Wallowa County, also questioned whether the punishment Sanders received was sufficient enough to act as a deterrent in future cases. He said the state needs to get more serious about tackling poaching, especially when it comes to wolves, which he said are often persecuted and misunderstood.

“We know poaching is a serious problem in Oregon,” Klavins said. “For far too long, poachers have been able to escape justice in Oregon.”

While poaching is widely seen as a reprehensible crime, he said the conversation tends to shift in some communities around native carnivores, with the prevailing attitude of “shoot, shovel and shut up.”

“It starts there,” Klavins said. “We see the problem then continue on through underfunded law enforcement, insufficient penalties and decisions left in the hands of local elected officials who see poaching as a wolf problem.”

PROSPECT, Ore. — Ted Birdseye admits he has been fascinated with wolves since he was a kid, but now as a rancher, he’s not interested in feeding them.

That was the case, however, in early January on his Mill-Mar Ranch, a cow-calf and hay operation that is located near the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest on the west side of the Cascade Mountains and is several miles from the small communities of Prospect and Butte Falls, Ore.

Standing on the back deck of his home, Birdseye pointed north toward a couple of open pastures and then to the nearby forest. He said those were the sites of three confirmed wolf kills. They were just over a quarter mile from the deck.

On Jan. 3, a 550-pound calf was killed and when found, all of its internal organs had been eaten or dragged away. On Jan. 10, another calf was killed and on Jan. 11 a third calf was taken down. The latter two calves, both in the 300-pound range, were completely devoured, according to Birdseye.

John Stephenson, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the primary wolf specialist for Oregon, confirmed that wolves were the predators in all three cases. These wolves are suspected to be the Rogue pack. Stephenson said there are seven to 12 wolves in that pack.

“What is the answer? There is none,” said the 65-year-old Birdseye, who studied animal and wolf behavior years ago while attending college.

“I’ve read historical trapping and ranching books and they all say the same thing … wolves are the scourge of stockmen,” the rancher said. “They kill. They are an apex predator. That is what they are programmed to do.”

Birdseye said he knew there were wolves in the area because back in November he heard a commotion outside his house at 4:30 in the morning. He stepped out his back door with a rifle and under a full moon, saw some of his cattle wedged in a corner of fencing and looking in the same direction. Through the scope of his rifle, Birdseye saw two wolves about 30 yards away.

“They were staring at the cattle, waiting for one to break away for the chase,” the rancher said.

Birdseye admitted he considered shooting at the wolves, which would have been an illegal act, but instead he shot over their heads. They instantly disappeared into the dark.

Although not confirmed as wolf kills, Birdseye said he has lost several other animals since moving to the ranch two years ago. Those include six cows, two registered Limonsin bulls, two Doberman Australian shepherd cattle dogs and a McNab-red heeler cross dog. He found one of the bulls and one of the cows dead, but has no evidence regarding their deaths or the disappearance of the other animals.

“It’s a paranoid situation,” he said.

Birdseye said he would like to co-exist with the wolves. But he has 200 mother cows and their calves to protect.

With Stephenson and his agency providing the labor and materials, about 2.5 miles of electric wire with red flagging has been stretched around the ranch’s pastures, with more wire still to be installed.

The wolves have not been back in the pastures since the Jan. 11 kill and the installation of the hot wire.

“We feel like it (wire) has been working,” Stephenson said. “We’re trying to get a permanent electric fence around the ranch. We’ve applied for the funding.”

Because a wolf in the Rogue pack has a radio collar, the animals are being monitored.

“The wolves had been visiting the ranch every eight to 10 days in November, December and early January,” said Stephenson who has kept Birdseye informed of the pack’s movements when it is in the vicinity of the ranch.

The biologist said there is still plenty of wildlife in the woods for the wolves to dine on, “but our experience from other areas show when the pack gets larger it is more likely to prey on livestock because there are more mouths to feed.”

“And younger teenage wolves seem to have a tendency to get into trouble,” he added.

Stephenson said there has been a breeding pair of wolves in the southern Cascades since the spring of 2014. In the fall of 2016, there were a couple calves killed in the Wood River Valley north of Klamath Lake on the east side of the Cascades. Stephenson said it is believed wolves were the predators, but it couldn’t be confirmed.

A light system that randomly goes on during the night was used in the Wood River Valley pastures. Stephenson also spent a few nights in those pastures and he did the same in January on Birdseye’s Mill-Mar Ranch.

“We try to give the appearance of human presence in these places where wolves have come into,” the biologist said. “Wolves generally don’t come into pastures if there’s human activity around. They tend to avoid people.”

To co-exist with the wolves and to still make an income, Birdseye said he has considered transitioning to a hay operation only or to having only stocker calves that he would graze through the summer and then ship, limiting younger livestock on his ranch. But he has Forest Service permits that he doesn’t want to lose, and he would if he didn’t use them.

Birdseye also has two Tibetan Mastiff dogs that roam the property and are protective of it. There are also 15 horses, including a couple of mustangs, in the pastures and they also can be a deterrent to wolves.

Stephenson said Birdseye will be compensated for the three calves that the wolves killed. The biologist added that the Mill-Mar Ranch presents a challenge regarding wolves because of its mountainous location and because its livestock is closest to where the predators have been.

“We’ll probably see problems at other ranches over time,” Stephenson said.

Three environmental groups are suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and National Marine Fisheries Service for failing to protect dwindling populations of wild Chinook salmon and winter steelhead in Oregon’s Upper Willamette River.

The complaint, filed March 13 in Portland by WildEarth Guardians, the Native Fish Society and Northwest Environmental Defense Center, accuses the agencies of “missed deadlines, postponed actions and poor communications” over the past decade in managing each of 13 Willamette Project dams for the benefit of fish.

The dams are the primary cause of salmon and steelhead declines in the Upper Willamette Basin, blocking hundreds of miles of spawning habitat and degrading water quality and habitat downstream, according to the lawsuit.

Research conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows that, historically, around 325,000 Chinook salmon and 220,000 winter steelhead swamp up Willamette Falls to spawn in the upper river basin. Last year, the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife counted 822 steelhead at Willamette Falls — a startling decline of 99.7 percent.

ODFW also counted 36,628 spring Chinook and 3,462 fall Chinook in 2017. However, the groups contend that just 5,880 of the fish were wild born, with the rest raised in hatcheries.

Marlies Wierenga, Pacific Northwest conservation manager for WildEarth Guardians, said hatchery-born salmon are different from wild salmon at a genetic level. Hatchery fish are less disease-resistant, don’t reproduce as well and are less adaptable to the environment, she said.

“Basically, their entire resilience is diminished,” Wierenga said.

Both Upper Willamette steelhead and Chinook salmon were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1999. In 2008, the National Marine Fisheries Service issued a biological opinion directing the Corps to make structural and operational changes at the dams to stem fish losses. However, the groups argue the Corps still has not fulfilled many obligations set forth in the BiOp.

“Nearly 10 years ago, NMFS determined the Corps’ operation of the Willamette dams was likely to jeopardize Chinook and steelhead unless significant changes to the Willamette dam operations were made,” said Mark Riskdahl, executive director of the Northwest Environmental Defense Center. “NMFS told the Corps that fish passage was a high priority, yet the Corps has dragged its feet in meeting this requirement and others set by NMFS.”

Spokesmen for the Corps and National Marine Fisheries Service declined to comment on pending litigation.

The Willamette Project also stores 80,431 acre-feet of irrigation water for 42,675 acres of farmland. Changes to the system could have a significant impact on downstream farmers, said Mary Anne Cooper, public policy counsel for the Oregon Farm Bureau.

“ESA lawsuits around federal system management are very terrifying for farmers,” Cooper said. “We know how quickly they can change the status quo if we’re not careful.”

Cooper said the Farm Bureau is keeping a close eye on the litigation, which could have a ripple effect on water allocation. Marion County leads Oregon in total value of agricultural products as of the most recent 2012 Census of Agriculture, at more than $592 million.

While Cooper argues the system is already being managed largely for fish, the lawsuit claims the Corps has “routinely dodged actions, skipped deadlines and sidelined state and federal agencies to avoid improving fish passage at the dams on the Willamette.”

Wierenga, with WildEarth Guardians, said the dramatic declines in historical fish numbers represent a failure in action and the lawsuit is intended to spur meaningful action.

“It would be a heartbreaking loss if we Oregonians let these culturally important fish, which have adapted and thrived here for generations, slip away from existence on our watch,” Wierenga said.

The walls and shelves in Alexis Taylor’s office at the Oregon Department of Agriculture are lined with framed photographs from her earlier career in Washington, D.C.

There’s Taylor with retired congressman Leonard Boswell from her home state of Iowa, whom she served as legislative director for five years. There’s Taylor next to Tom Vilsack, secretary of agriculture under former President Barack Obama. And there’s Taylor smiling alongside the president and first lady Michelle Obama at the White House.

All together, Taylor spent 12 years in the nation’s capital, including the last four years with the USDA, where she oversaw Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services — including the Farm Service Agency, Risk Management Agency and Foreign Agricultural Service.

As her political appointment came to an end in 2016, Taylor began her job search in the Midwest to be closer to her family’s farm outside Holy Cross, Iowa. A friend and co-worker at the USDA then told her about a position in Oregon, leading the state Department of Agriculture in Salem. Taylor had been to Oregon once before, and was intrigued by the wide diversity of farms and ranches.

“That diversity was attractive to me,” said Taylor, reflecting on her first year at ODA. “I thought it would be challenging, but it also opens a lot of exciting opportunities for agriculture in Oregon.”

Despite some initial hesitation, Taylor applied and was appointed by Gov. Kate Brown in November 2016. Taylor arrived the following month for her Senate confirmation, and celebrated her one-year anniversary on Jan. 23.

At ODA, Taylor manages a department with 370 full-time employees and a most recent biennial budget of $114.4 million for 2017-19. The USDA Farm and Foreign Agricultural Service had 14,000 employees across three agencies, with $2 billion in annual salary and expenses.

A big part of Taylor’s first year was simply learning the lay of the land, touring more than 40 farms and ranches across all 36 counties.

“I need that real-life context with farmers and ranchers, so when I’m sitting here in my office with my staff talking about an issue, I’ve gotten to see the people it’s impacting,” she said.

Visiting every county gave Taylor a sense of Oregon’s agricultural landscape, as well as how producers are adapting to remain competitive in the marketplace.

She remembers stopping at Thomas Orchards in Grant County, a tree fruit oasis on the high desert. Another stop in Klamath County revealed how farmers there started growing carrots, something they had never done before, at the request of companies struggling to source the crop from drought-stricken California.

“That willingness to try something new, to be innovative, is pretty unique here in Oregon,” Taylor said. “You don’t find it everywhere.”

Innovation extends to new technologies, Taylor added, whether it’s a dairy incorporating computerized milkers or a vineyard flying drones over blocks of wine grapes to pinpoint pest or water stress.

“It’s a lot of fun to work with an industry that is so willing to look at new technologies and push those bounds,” she said.

Taylor’s outreach has already endeared her to producers and industry groups that work closely with the department.

Barry Bushue, who farms in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains and serves as president of the Oregon Farm Bureau, said Taylor has embraced her role at ODA, along with the challenges and complexity of Oregon agriculture.

“This diversity presents a challenge to anyone new to the state and its regulatory programs,” Bushue said via email. “Despite these challenges, Alexis has started to get her legs under her and has embraced her role.”

Jana McKamey, government relations director for the Oregon Winegrowers Association, said Taylor has taken an interest in their industry, and promoting the Oregon wine brand. Taylor was also the keynote speaker at the association’s annual meeting in January.

“She really dove in and wanted to learn more about us,” McKamey said. “We’re interested in helping to develop these markets domestically and internationally to drive more economic development here in the state.”

The interactions Taylor had during her cross-state road show helped to inform the department’s new five-year strategic plan, a collaboration between staff and stakeholders that was officially announced earlier this year.

Wherever she went, Taylor said the number one concern was challenges facing the next generation of farmers and ranchers. She pointed to the state Agricultural Heritage Program, approved by the 2017 Legislature, to develop grants for succession planning and easements. A 12-member commission met for the first time in February to begin writing rules for the program.

Another strategy is outlined under the ODA Strategic Plan under “Key Objective 6,” promoting agriculture as an exciting career choice for students. Taylor calls this the “agriculture is cool” objective.

Citing a 2015 study by the USDA and Purdue University, Taylor said there will be enough college graduates with expertise in food, agriculture, renewable natural resources, or the environment to fill just 61 percent of jobs available in agricultural fields through 2020.

“You don’t just have to farm. You don’t just have to ranch,” Taylor said. “You can work in logistics. You can be a journalist. You can do policymaking. We need the gamut of people.”

The ODA Strategic Plan goes on to describe how ODA can work more closely with partner agencies and review its policies to ensure farmers’ issues are being addressed across the state, such as water quality and availability, labor shortages and the urban-rural divide.

Tami Kerr, executive director of the Oregon Dairy Farmers Association, said they have also had discussions with Taylor about challenges with the confined animal feeding operation, or CAFO, program. With the industry already hurting from low milk prices, Kerr said it is important to maintain a good working relationship with ODA regulators.

So far, Kerr said she has been impressed by Taylor.

“She’s off to a good start,” Kerr said. “It’s nice that she’s invested time in wanting to meet the producers.”

Ivan Maluski, policy director for Friends of Family Farmers, said his organization has tried to underscore the importance of ODA supporting small farms. While it hasn’t gone perfectly — Maluski was critical of the department’s approval of Lost Valley Farm, a 30,000-cow dairy in Morrow County that is now being sued by the state for wastewater violations — he said it is clear the door is open to small farm input.

“I’m hopeful there will continue to be receptiveness on things the agency can do to support small and mid-size farms and local food systems,” Maluski said. “I think the signs are encouraging on the whole.”

With year one under her belt, Taylor is showing no signs of letting up on her travel schedule.

She intends to promote regional tours around the state to continue meeting with farmers and local officials, holding roundtable discussions and building on her relationships.

“I’m by no means an expert on all issues that touch agriculture in all parts of the state,” she said. “Continuing to learn is going to be key, and getting out there.”

Taylor is also planning a trade mission to China in May, bringing representatives of roughly a dozen companies to Shanghai. China is an exciting market, she said, as the country is poised to add roughly 160 million middle-class households over the next decade.

“That’s a lot of purchasing power,” she said.

Taylor acknowledged there is uncertainty swirling around federal trade policy, but said the state can play a role in helping Oregon companies build their reputation among export markets. This, she said, was her forte working with the USDA. In fact, Taylor said she has visited every continent except Antarctica in her lifetime.

Nathan Jackson, president of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association and general manager of sales and administration at K Bar Ranches in Myrtle Creek, Ore., said he is especially encouraged by Taylor’s experience in international trade, which is key for beef producers to earn top dollar for their cattle.

Overseas consumers use more parts of the steer, such as the tongue and offal, that aren’t as desired in the U.S., Jackson said. That value can add up to a little more than $200 per head.

“(Taylor) knows an awful lot about trade and developing trade in those Asian markets,” Jackson said. “I think that’s exactly what Oregon needs in the department.”

Bushue, with the Oregon Farm Bureau, agreed, saying Taylor’s expertise and passion for international trade are “enormously important” to Oregon agriculture.

Jeff Stone, executive director of the Oregon Nurseries Association, said Taylor came in with big shoes to fill, taking over for her predecessor, Katy Coba, who is now the director of the Oregon Department of Administrative Services and chief operating officer of the state.

However, Stone said Taylor has done a terrific job building bridges and reaching out to every corner of the state.

“She has done a really good job of outreach, not only to the nursery and greenhouse industry,” Stone said. “She has gone to every reach of the state to understand the agricultural community and also its people.”

Taylor said ODA is unique in that it functions as both a regulatory agency, as well as an economic agency. Balancing those two roles can cause tension sometimes, but she said it can also drive them to work toward common sense solutions.

“I guess I view part of my role as being an advocate for agriculture within the governor’s cabinet,” she said. “We want our programs to be nimble, to be flexible, to serve the needs of agriculture.”

A recent $6 million gift intends to bolster wine education at Oregon’s Linfield College, but the school won’t compete head-on with other regional wine programs.

The donation from Grace and Ken Evenstad — founders of Domain Serene Winery near Dayton, Ore. — instead means to help Linfield cultivate its niche in “soft skills and leadership skills” for wine students, said Greg Jones, Linfield’s director of wine education.

“We don’t have the intention of becoming the next viticulture and enology school,” Jones said.

The $6 million will endow the college’s chair in wine studies, the wine program’s operations as well as the construction of a wine laboratory at Linfield’s new science complex building.

Viticulture and wine-making programs have already been established at Oregon State University, Chemeketa Community College and Umpqua Community College.

While Linfield’s curriculum doesn’t ignore vineyard and wine fundamentals, its students focus on marketing, hospitality, tourism and other fields that together contribute to wine industry’s $5.5 billion impact on Oregon’s economy, Jones said.

“Most of that is tied to experience,” he said.

Linfield has discussed its wine program with other regional universities to ensure wine studies credits are transferable among the institutions, Jones said.

Attending more than one program can allow students to specialize their education.

For example, a student with a two-year degree from Chemeketa can then enroll at Linfield to earn a four-year degree that encompasses wine industry management, Jones said. Students also have opportunities to seek advanced degrees at other institutions.

Currently, Linfield offers a minor in wine studies but expects to have a curriculum ready for a major by autumn of 2018.

The college is looking to create unique pathways for students, such as majoring in chemistry and minoring in wine studies, Jones said. That experience would then be useful for a graduate degree.

To obtain a major or minor, Linfield students will be expected to attain a “core knowledge” in wine geography, wine making, wine business operations and sensory analysis, he said.

They’re also encouraged to study abroad, with the possibility of earning credits at schools in the Burgundy, Champagne, Loire and Provence regions of France.

“This will make the broader talent pool the industry needs that much deeper,” Jones said of Linfield’s overall wine program.

Grace and Ken Evenstad were drawn to the broad nature of wine education at Linfield, said Matt Thompson, marketing director for Domaine Serene Winery.

“It covers all bases,” he said. “They really fell in love with the idea of an interdisciplinary look.”

The wine industry requires specialization partly because its sales channels are distinctive, Thompson said. Wine is sold direct-to-consumer as well as through the “three tiered” model of producers, wholesalers and retailers.

“The way you approach these markets is unique,” he said.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A new study says the Portland metropolitan area faces mass casualties and billions of dollars in building damages if a large Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake hits off the West Coast.

The report released Thursday by the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries says as many as 27,000 people could be hurt or killed in a magnitude 9.0 quake, though many injuries would be minor. The study estimates up to 85,000 people would need shelter and building damages could top $30 billion.

Lead investigator John Bauer says the study employs updated building and population statistics along with the latest mapping and modeling techniques. The region had been relying on estimates from 20 years ago.

The report says damage could be even greater if the Portland Hills Fault has a quake. The low-activity fault runs beneath a large section of Portland.

(Family Features) Easter is all about festive family gatherings and good food. Whether you’re celebrating with your closest or hosting a larger crowd in your home, try these simple tips to keep everyone happy and full without blowing your budget.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Environmental groups continue to try to block the expansion of a Columbia River port, the latest in the ongoing debate over natural areas and oil and gas terminals in the state.

With a Wednesday appeal, Columbia River Keeper and another group asked state authorities not to allow the re-classification of 837 acres of farmland near the Port of St. Helens for industrial use, citing both the loss of farmland and the potential for the site to be used for handling crude oil or natural gas.

A port official acknowledged both would be allowed under the broad reclassification, but said commissioners aren’t planning either for the site.

The appeal comes during long-running conflicts between environmentalists and local governments and businesses seeking to take economic advantage of Oregon’s coast and rivers, generally centering around the types of ports where energy companies must build depots to transfer their products to ships.

A 2008 proposal to construct a natural gas terminal in Coos Bay was controversial and earlier proposals for coal facilities at the port of St. Helens garnered objections after emerging in 2012.

The current proposal would only re-classify land, not permit any particular new building - but environmentalists and the port disagree over the potential for it to lead to a gas or oil handling facility.

“Frankly our commissioners have no appetite for getting involved in that,” said Paula Miranda, the port’s deputy executive director. Officials sought the expansion because they need more space, not to allow for any particular use, Miranda said.

Miranda acknowledged oil and gas facilities would theoretically be allowed on the new land, but said the port’s elected commissioners had paid attention to negative community comments about the commodities.

Miranda also said any facility on the re-zoned land would go through its own process, including public comment.

“We don’t approve any lease without an actual public meeting,” Miranda said.

But Jasmine Zimmer-Stucky, a spokesperson for Columbia River Keeper, expressed skepticism that the port would turn away such a development, and said officials’ endorsement of the 2012 coal projects was a sign they’d be open to more.

And Zimmer-Stucky pointed to a Portland Tribune report from 2012, in which Miranda was quoted explaining how port officials, at the time negotiating a proposal for a coal terminal at the site, could avoid the state’s public meetings law.

Along with broader risks that environmentalists say petroleum-based commodities carry, including spills and the likelihood that they will eventually contribute to global warming, Zimmer-Stucky said converting farmland to industry at the Columbia River site would be detrimental to the river’s estuary.

Miranda said the port was sensitive to environmental concerns, but also has a responsibility to make land available to companies that want to do the kind of business that requires access to sea shipping.

“We are one of very few deep water ports in Oregon,” Miranda said.

AgWeb
US Cranberries First Casualty of Trade War
AgWeb
The American cranberry industry is one of the biggest losers so far in the escalating trade dispute between the European Union and the U.S.. Imports of the red fruit from the U.S. were on the list of goods targeted last week by the EU for a 25 percent ...

and more »

BEND, Ore. (AP) — At least 14 animals died when a truck hauling 84 head of cattle crashed on U.S. Highway 26 east of Madras, Oregon.

The Bulletin reports the single-vehicle accident happened Monday afternoon, and the driver of the Washington-licensed truck escaped injury.

Capt. Kasey Skaar of Jefferson County Fire District No. 1 says 14 animals were killed in the crash and it’s unknown how many others died from their injuries.

With the trailer resting on its side, rescuers reached the surviving cattle by cutting holes on the side of the truck.

The nearby Central Oregon Livestock Auction holds its weekly cattle auction on Mondays.

Oregon’s Douglas County has approved a scaled-back plan to allow more rural housing on land currently zoned for farm and forest uses.

The change to the county’s comprehensive land use plan would allow 20-acre home sites to be carved out from 22,500 acres in mixed farm-forest zones, down from the originally proposed 35,000 acres.

It’s unlikely the full 22,500 acres will ever be developed due to limitations on water availability, appropriate septic tank sites and landowner consent to sell or divide property, said Keith Cubic, the county’s planning director.

The most likely scenario would be 25 percent utilization of the available acreage, creating 375 new housing parcels, said Cubic.

Even so, Cubic acknowledges the county’s experiment with the “rural open space” designation is a test case for Oregon.

The county has tried to resolve concerns raised by Oregon’s Department of Land Conservation and Development, which administers the statewide land use planning system, he said.

“I don’t know if we got there,” Cubic said. “We’ll find that out.”

Douglas County will soon formally submit the “rural open space” plan amendment to DLCD for review, then wait until April 21 before rezoning any properties under the new designation.

If the agency or another party objects to the change before Oregon’s Land Use Board of Appeals, proposed zone changes will be put on hold until the challenge is resolved.

A remand from LUBA requiring modifications to the “rural open space” designation could provide a helpful interpretation of the law and make the plan amendment more successful, Cubic said.

In comments submitted on the proposal last year, DLCD worried the county had too narrowly defined agricultural land and set an excessively high productivity standard for livestock and forest land to be protected under the plan.

It’s unclear whether the plan considered the environmental and wildlife benefits of lower-productivity soils, the agency said.

According to DLCD, the county “loosely” concluded that development in rural areas would be economically positive, creating a “discrepancy” with studies that found that added service costs may outweigh any benefits.

The plan refers to accommodating demand for rural housing, which isn’t required under statewide planning goals and may be in “direct conflict” with some of them, the agency said.

Due to these and other concerns, DLCD said the proposal “is not consistent with state statutes and rules.”

Cubic of Douglas County said the revised plan used additional data overlays that exclude higher-quality farm and forestland from acreage available for 20-acre parcels.

Eligible “rural open space” parcels must be within two miles of existing cities and unincorporated rural communities.

However, three towns were disqualified due to the high proportion of surrounding farm and forest zones, inadequate road access, habitat concerns and other issues, he said.

The plan change is also expected to increase housing availability within existing “urban growth boundaries” due to people moving from cities to the rural parcels, Cubic said. “It does provide some rural housing opportunities.”

While the county can approve larger zone changes, most re-designations will occur after requests from individual landowners, he said.

The county didn’t shift all available 22,500 acres into the “rural open space” designation to avoid raising expectations in the event the plan is challenged, he said.

Aside from DLCD, the conservation group 1,000 Friends of Oregon has also been apprehensive about aspects of Douglas County’s proposal.

Greg Holmes, the group’s food systems program director, said he doesn’t yet have the basis to comment on the plan because he hasn’t seen the final adopted version.

Holmes said the public wasn’t able to review details of the revised plan before it was approved, making for a “very opaque process.”

BANDON - The Greater Bandon Association has named the February and March recipients of its Volunteer of the Month award. Steve Pounder is the winner for February while Anthony Zunino has been chosen for March as GBA continues its third…

I love this first picture, as it shows how hard the city crew had to work to keep First Street from being eroded by flood waters. This picture was taken in February of 1961 at the east end of First…

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Tuesday signed a drought declaration for Klamath County, directing the state Department of Agriculture and Water Resources Department to coordinate assistance for water users including farmers and ranchers.

“We know 2018 is shaping up to be a very difficult year for the Klamath Basin, and we’re closely monitoring drought conditions here and statewide,” Brown said in a prepared statement. “I am committed to doing everything possible to make state resources available to provide immediate relief and assistance to water users throughout Klamath County.”

Snowpack is just 45 percent of normal so far this winter in the Klamath Basin, according to the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. The U.S. Drought Monitor lists most of south-central Oregon in “moderate drought,” and conditions are likely expected to worsen heading into summer.

Klamath County commissioners previously declared a drought emergency on Feb. 20 due to low snowpack, low precipitation, low stream flows and higher-than-normal temperatures. Between threats to agriculture, livestock, natural resources and recreation, officials predict conditions could result in economic losses exceeding $557 million and impacting 4,500 jobs.

The Oregon Drought Readiness Council then met and recommended the governor sign off on a state drought declaration to assist the county.

A drought declaration gives the Water Resources Department a few additional tools at its disposal, such as issuing temporary emergency water use permits and temporary water exchanges. Alan Mikkelsen, deputy commissioner of reclamation for the Department of the Interior, also attended Gov. Brown’s meeting with Klamath officials and committed federal assistance to the basin.

“As we brace for another record-breaking drought year, collaboration with our federal partners will also be critical as we work toward locally supported, long-term solutions,” Brown said.

Scott Cheyne, assistant manager of the Klamath Irrigation District, said the declaration is a step in the right direction.

“Now it’s important for the federal government to follow along the lines and declare a drought that may open up some relief for the farmers here through federal programs,” Cheyne said.

The district received early irrigation information on March 9 from the Bureau of Reclamation, which emphasized that low snowpack and dry conditions have resulted in low water inflows to Upper Klamath Lake. The NRCS projects inflow to be about 54 percent of average between March and September.

While an irrigation schedule has not yet been set, Jeff Nettleton, manager of the Bureau of Reclamation’s Klamath Basin Area Office, said they are working to provide more information in the coming weeks.

“We would like nothing more than to be able to provide our Klamath Project contractors with an allocation for the year as soon as possible, and I assure you we are all working hard to get there,” Nettleton said in a statement released by the bureau. “We have been working hard with stakeholders and partner agencies to find a path forward this year despite the dire hydrological conditions.”

The Klamath Irrigation District includes 33,000 acres, with farmers and ranchers growing a variety of crops such as alfalfa hay, potatoes, garlic, onion and mint. Irrigation season usually starts April 15, Cheyne said, but he is not certain exactly how the drought will affect this year’s timing.

“We’re hoping for a miracle March, but we’re in a pretty deep hole right now,” he said.

CENTRAL POINT, Ore. — Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center on March 12 dedicated its first new wine grape planting in 30 years, naming it after Porter Lombard, the Oregon State University researcher who showed Oregon growers how to make vineyards pay off.

Lombard, 88 years old and long retired from his decades at the university, was on hand for the ceremony that drew colleagues and friends from the commercial fruit and wine industry.

Alex Levin, the current OSU viticulturalist assigned to the research center, noted the new grape block is adjacent to the oldest standing research pear plot on the station. Lombard came to Southern Oregon as a pomologist in 1963, working with a booming pear industry.

“All of this,” said Levin, pointing to the new trellis system and neat rows of alternating red and white wine cuttings, “would not have been possible without (the work of) Porter Lombard.”

There are about 160 vineyards and 80 wineries in Southern Oregon, including many established on ground which once supported pear orchards.

Will Brown, an historian specializing in the West Coast wine grape industry, said when Lombard arrived at the Southern Oregon station there were perhaps 100 wineries in California, a handful in Washington and only one in Oregon. Brown said Lombard knew of grape work underway at the time in Washington’s Yakima Valley.

Similar climates between Southern Oregon and Yakima led Lombard to experiment with grapes while doing pear research.

The first research plot, on ground owned by Valley View Winery, went in when that winery was established in 1972. Lombard followed up with an extensive trial at the station concentrating on cultivars from France’s Rhone River Valley. OSU later transferred him to the Corvallis campus as part of a team which advised the fledgling Willamette Valley grape growers.

When Lombard retired, he returned to Southern Oregon, and for many years was a much-sought-after consultant to local growers.

It was before sunrise last September when eight immigration agents approached the family’s sedan.

Lourdes and her husband were parked outside their home on a dark, dead-end street in Woodburn, Oregon, a mostly Latino community about 30 miles south of Portland.

Their 3-month-old daughter was strapped in her car seat in the back. The family waited for Lourdes’ mother, who was still inside with the couple’s 2-year-old daughter.

The plan was to drop the kids at day care before the adults headed to their jobs picking grapes in the Willamette Valley.

The officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn’t initially identify themselves, said Lourdes, who OPB is identifying only by first name because she and her husband both fear being deported.

She could read “police” on their tactical vests, but the agent who spoke first covered his badge with his hand, Lourdes said.

The agents, speaking in Spanish, demanded to know where Lourdes’ father was.

“‘Tell me where he is. If not, I’m going to take you,’” Lourdes said the ICE agents told her. “I was like, ‘Wow, you guys are going to take me even though I haven’t do nothing?’”

Lourdes told the agents she didn’t know where her father was.

“I was talking to them because I didn’t know they were ICE,” she said. Then the agent removed the hand covering his badge.

“I told my mom and my husband, ‘Don’t say any more word.’”

The family tried to move from their car and go back inside their house. The agents, Lourdes later said, blocked their path.

The ICE agents wanted to know the family’s immigration status. They asked to see their IDs. Lourdes refused, she said, because the agents didn’t have a warrant or deportation order.

“I was really scared.”

At one point, Lourdes said an agent tried to guide her husband away.

“He was telling my husband, ‘Let’s go in the car to talk, I need to talk with you,’” Lourdes said. “And I told him, ‘No, you’re not going to take him, because if you take him you’re going to arrest him.’”

Lourdes asked the agents to leave. And then she did something that would be surprising, even unthinkable, in other parts of the country: She called the police.

Advocates say this is Oregon’s sanctuary law at work. The state’s 30-year-old policy limits police from cooperating with federal immigration efforts. A number of cities and counties, including Portland, have their own policies promising immigrants protection.

And that, supporters of such policies say, means immigrants with no criminal record feel comfortable calling law enforcement — even if they’re calling to ask local police to protect them from federal agents.

The Trump administration would have you believe something different. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been touring the country warning that sanctuary policies such as Oregon’s make communities less safe. He’s pushed sanctuary communities to prove their policies don’t violate federal law and threatened to withhold federal grants. The Department of Justice sued California in early March for its new sanctuary laws, which are similar in intent but more sweeping than Oregon’s.

“Whatever the crime rate is in a city, you can be sure it would be higher and will be higher if these policies are followed,” Sessions said during a speech in Portland last fall. “Sanctuary policies endanger us all.”

Policy experts on both ends of the political spectrum say there’s no data to support that. But the lack of statistical proof hasn’t prevented Sessions and other immigration hardliners from stoking fears.

They don’t point to Lourdes and her family. Instead, they cite cases such as Sergio Jose Martinez.

Last July, a 65-year-old woman in Northeast Portland woke up in the middle of the night to find Martinez in her bedroom.

He bound her arms and legs with her own socks and scarves. He blindfolded her, gagged her and wrapped a scarf around her mouth.

Then he forced her to perform oral sex and beat her.

Portland Police arrested Martinez within hours of the attack after he physically assaulted another woman while trying to steal her car at knife-point.

In December, Martinez pleaded guilty to assault, robbery and sodomy. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

According to ICE, Martinez had been deported from and re-entered the United States more than a dozen times before the Portland attacks.

Researchers say Martinez is an extraordinary case. They say there’s no evidence to support the Trump administration’s claims that sanctuary laws create more dangerous communities.

“It’s a rhetorical argument [Sessions is] using, but the facts don’t support him,” said Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration policy analyst at the Libertarian-leaning Cato Institute.

“When you take a look at the totality of crime research on immigrants in the United States, you find that immigrants are either less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans, or about the same,” he said. “And that is a finding that has held since the early 20th Century.”

Last March, Nowrasteh co-authored a study that looked at incarceration rates of immigrants in the country illegally compared to native-born Americans.

“We find that they [illegal immigrants] are about half as likely to be incarcerated in prison compared to natives,” he said.

The U.S. Department of Justice declined interview requests. The DOJ also didn’t respond to requests for what data or research the agency has to support the attorney general’s claims.

A DOJ spokesman did write back in an email that said: “The calculation here is pretty simple: If a murderer or rapist is returned to the streets, the community is more at risk than had the criminal alien been turned over to ICE for deportation.”

Sessions has pointed to some research in his arguments against sanctuary policies. In July, during a speech in Las Vegas, the attorney general cited a study that he said showed sanctuary cities report more violent crime on average compared to cities that don’t have sanctuary laws.

“According to a recent study from the University of California Riverside, cities with these policies have more violent crime on average than those that don’t,” Sessions said during the July 2017 speech in Las Vegas.

But the author of that research says Sessions misrepresented his work.

“Obviously that’s not true because that’s not what our study shows,” said Benjamin Gonzalez O’Brien, a professor of political science at Highline College in Des Moines, Washington.

Gonzalez O’Brien and researchers at the University of California Riverside examined crime rates in more than 50 sanctuary cities and compared them to crime rates in 4,000 non-sanctuary cities.

The researchers found no relationship between sanctuary policies and crime.

Gonzalez O’Brien’s work fails to support aspects of the Trump administration’s immigration agenda. But it also fails to support claims made by some law enforcement agencies that say sanctuary policies make communities safer. Put simply, the study found there is no correlation whatsoever between crime rates and whether a city has some type of sanctuary policy.

Sessions stopped citing the research after Gonzalez O’Brien wrote several op-eds complaining that the DOJ was misstating his study’s findings.

In January, the left-leaning Center for American Progress published research that found a benefit of sanctuary policies to public safety.

Tom Wong, a professor of political science at the University of California San Diego, wrote in his study that there’s also an economic perk to communities that protect all residents.

Wong used data from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement obtained through a public records request. The dataset included 2,494 counties — 608 of which ICE considers sanctuary jurisdictions, according to the study. Using a statistical analysis, Wong matched like counties and incorporated FBI crime data as well as economic details from the 2015 American Community Survey.

“Altogether, the data suggest that when local law enforcement focuses on keeping communities safe, rather than becoming entangled in federal immigration enforcement efforts, communities are safer and community members stay more engaged in the local economy,” Wong wrote.

Absent data and research that bolster its case, the Trump administration points to individual crimes, such as the Martinez case in Portland or the case of Kate Steinle in San Francisco.

In 2015, Steinle was shot and killed while walking along the Embarcadero.

Jose Inez Garcia Zarate, who is in the country illegally, was charged with the 32-year-old woman’s death. His attorneys argued he didn’t intend to kill Steinle, rather Zarate found something wrapped in a shirt on the pier that turned out to be a gun. The weapon discharged after Zarate picked it up. During trial, the defense called experts who said the shooting was accidental, noting that the bullet Zarate shot ricocheted before hitting Steinle in the back. In December, a jury acquitted Zarate of murder.

President Trump has cited the Steinle case repeatedly, during the campaign and since taking office, in arguing for tougher immigration enforcement. After the Zarate acquittal, Trump called the verdict “disgraceful” and Sessions urged communities to abandon sanctuary policies.

A disgraceful verdict in the Kate Steinle case! No wonder the people of our Country are so angry with Illegal Immigration.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 1, 2017

The president has called the case a “travesty of justice.” But Christopher Lasch, a law professor at the University of Denver, said it’s telling Trump and Sessions didn’t point to any facts that arose in the trial as proof of their beliefs.

The administration isn’t saying, “‘Here’s why our whole premise that immigrants cause crime in cities is, in fact, true, despite that the case we relied on for the last two years has come out as an acquittal with no criminal conduct,’” Lasch said.

Yet, Lasch said, the rhetoric that sanctuary policies pose a public safety threat has taken hold as part of the larger national debate surrounding immigration — despite the lack of research to back up those claims.

“It’s a story that people will believe, and they’ll believe it whether or not the facts bear it out,” Lasch said.

“There’s some deep-seated belief here about immigrant criminality that [Trump and Sessions] won’t let go of. People are inclined to believe that immigrants bring crime, and a lot of that is packaged up with our ideas about race.”

Back in September, Lourdes actually called the Woodburn Police twice about the eight ICE agents outside her home. The second time was to ask what was taking police officers so long.

Lourdes said she handed her baby to her husband in an effort to stop agents who were trying to lead him away.

“I give her to my husband so they couldn’t take him,” she said.

In the 911 call, Lourdes told the dispatcher that an ICE officer was trying to take the baby out of her husband’s arms.

“Tell them to hurry up, because they want to touch my daughter, and I told them I don’t want them to touch my daughter,” Lourdes said on the call, according to audio obtained through a public records request.  

“Who wants to touch your daughter?” the dispatcher responded.

“The ICE—” she said, before being interrupted by the dispatcher.

In the background of the 911 call, a baby cried.

A spokeswoman for ICE said she couldn’t confirm the incident and also couldn’t speak to the specific actions of individual agents.

“During targeted enforcement operations, ICE officers frequently encounter other aliens illegally present in the United States,” the spokeswoman said in a follow-up email. “These aliens are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and, when appropriate, they are arrested by ICE officers.”

Lourdes later said that when she called the police, the only thing she was thinking about was her daughter’s safety.

“I trust the police,” she said.

That’s important to Jim Ferraris, who has been chief of the Woodburn Police Department since December 2015.

The city of about 30,000 is arguably the most diverse in Oregon with a population that’s 65 percent Latino, 10 percent Russian, with a growing number of Somali residents and a community of mostly white retirees centered around a golf course.

Even before Trump took office, Ferraris said, he’s made improving relations between the police and immigrant populations a priority.

“As I moved around the community to become acquainted, I heard very clearly that there was a sense of fear with law enforcement, that often times local law enforcement was confused with federal immigration authorities,” Ferraris said. “It’s no secret that it’s very likely that some of our Latino population is undocumented. So there was a clear message back to me that people were fearful of the police.”

Ferraris began a public relations campaign of sorts, writing newspaper editorials, appearing on Spanish-language radio and speaking at community meetings.

He’s also made efforts to diversify the police force. Today, about 35 percent of Woodburn’s sworn officers are Latino or speak Spanish.

“The only people that need to fear us are criminals,” Ferraris said. “People who may have issues with the federal government over their immigration status are not our issue.”

Back in September, two officers responded to Lourdes’ call, Ferraris said.

Lourdes and her family allowed them to search their home and confirm to ICE agents that her father wasn’t there.

After the incident, Ferraris received two calls: One was from Ramon Ramirez, with the area farmworkers union, complimenting the Woodburn officers. The second call was from ICE’s acting field officer, Elizabeth Godfrey, also praising how police handled the situation.

“What that exemplifies or demonstrates is that people in our community are not fearing us as they did,” Ferraris said. “And that they trust enough to call us and ask for our help.”

GENEVA (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to slap tariffs on imports of aluminum and steel has drawn scorn and concern from around the world, and nowhere less than in the stately lakeside offices of the World Trade Organization…

Increased logging of old-growth forests is threatening the survival of a unique species of salamander that lives in the Klamath-Siskiyou region of southern Oregon and northern California, according to a federal petition filed Monday by four environmental groups.

The organizations, including Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center and Environmental Protection Information Center, are asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to add the Siskiyou Mountains salamander to the endangered species list, which would trigger protections for the amphibians and their habitat.

“This highly specialized animal can’t adapt to logging, so it will be pushed to the brink of extinction without Endangered Species Act protections,” said Jeff Miller, conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. “The salamander is a unique indicator species of forest health in the Siskiyou Mountains. It deserves immediate protection in the face of accelerated logging.”

The Siskiyou Mountains salamander is described as a long-bodied, short-limbed terrestrial salamander and is brown with white speckles. It lives only in isolated locations along the Klamath River, on stabilized rock talus in old-growth forests covered with thick moss.

Conservationists previously petitioned for ESA protections for the salamander in 2004. While the species was not listed, the USFWS did conduct a status review in 2006 and later developed a conservation strategy working with the Bureau of Land Management, which was intended to protect habitat for 110 salamander sub-populations on federal lands in the Applegate River watershed in southwest Oregon.

However, the BLM adopted its Western Oregon Plan Revision for 2.5 million acres of forestland in 2016, which environmental groups argue will substantially increase logging in the region and undermine protections for the salamander.

Josh Laughlin, executive director of Cascadia Wildlands based in Eugene, Ore., said the BLM’s decision shrinks buffers in half for logging along streams, and does away with the policy of “survey and manage,” which required timber planners to look for salamanders before cutting in their habitat.

“It’s clearly going to have a detrimental effect on the remaining population of Siskiyou salamanders,” Laughlin said.

Cascadia Wildlands, along with five other groups, already filed a complaint in late summer 2016 against the BLM, asking for an injunction against the agency’s Western Oregon Plan Revision. Laughlin said he expects oral arguments in the case this summer.

The ESA petition filed Monday claims the survival of the salamander depends less on overall abundance than it does on habitat protections. The groups go on to argue that “very few populations are secure from habitat destruction and alteration” related to increased logging.

The Oregon Forest Industries Council and American Forest Resource Council, meanwhile, issued a joint statement against the petition, calling it politically motivated and accusing the groups of overwhelming federal agencies with petitions and litigation instead of working collaboratively with scientists and stakeholders to produce supportive research.

PORTLAND — While a growing push to link consumers with their food has become the norm, one Oregon agritourism business is stretching the local food movement further by sharing its proceeds with the hungry.

Every summer since 2003 Plate and Pitchfork has offered on-farm, gourmet meals around Oregon featuring tours of the land the meal was harvested and an opportunity to interact with the host farmers. Since its inception, Plate and Pitchfork has shared a portion of its profits.

“Plate and Pitchfork has always supported hunger relief — in the beginning we divided our support between hunger and environmental causes,” founder Erika Polmar said.

As her business grew and the message of eating locally produced food became well known, Polmar said she wanted to make a more dramatic impact by sharing her profits with those who don’t get enough to eat.

“One-in-five Oregonians is food insecure,” Polmar said.

For the past six years a portion of ticket sales and profits from merchandise were sent to Farmers Ending Hunger, a group that solicits crop donations from farmers for the Oregon Food Bank. In 2016 those donations added up to more than $22,000.

A donation of $150 to Farmers Ending Hunger is a year’s supply of fresh vegetables for a family of four, providing Polmar a way to make the dramatic impact she sought.

“I wanted to work with them because they are so cost efficient with so little overhead,” Polmar said.

John Burt has served as Farmers Ending Hunger’s executive director for 10 of its 11 years. The retired Oregon State University extension agent said in 2015 his group helped get more than four million pounds of donated food to the Oregon Food Bank and 3.5 million pounds last year.

“We help get food from point A to the food box,” Burt said.

Potatoes and onions make up half of the fresh food that Farmers Ending Hunger steers to the food bank, totaling one million pounds each. A major cherry producer in the Columbia Gorge is donating nearly 100,000 pounds, delivering bins every week during the season a large cattle farm donates hamburger.

A lot of the crops, such as carrots, green beans, carrots or beets, are frozen or canned at Norpac. At planting time Burt said Norpac knows how many acres of crop to expect.

Three years ago a wall-size display featuring Farmers Ending Hunger was installed at SAGE Center in Boardman, a sustainable agriculture and energy interpretive center. The center’s interactive displays describe the food and energy businesses at the Port of Morrow and their impact on the region.

“To be asked to have space on the wall felt like we’d arrived,” Burt said.

For Polmar, finding worthy causes to share her profits was easy, but collecting more than 100 donations from each of Plate and Pitchfork’s events was generating an administrative nightmare for nonprofits with small staffs like Farmers Ending Hunger where Burt is part-time, running an entire program on roughly $125,000 year.

To alleviate the paperwork burden for the organizations she supports, Polmar started the Plate & Pitchfork Fund to End Hunger in 2017, under the umbrella of the McKenzie River Gathering, a community foundation. The donations go into the fund throughout the summer months and at the end of the year checks are cut to different organizations.

“This was the first year we awarded $15,000 to Farmers Ending Hunger, $1,000 to Lower Columbia School Gardens and $3,500 to Community Connection of Northeast Oregon’s food bank,” Polmar said.

Polmar is preparing her 2018 Plate and Pitchfork calendar, on-farm meals with a story and a mission.

“When guests come to dinner this year a portion of their ticket and merchandise purchases will benefit the fund and awarded to Farmers Ending Hunger and other organizations finding creative ways to solve Oregon’s hunger crisis,” Polmar said.

To learn more about Plate and Pitchfork’s fund visit www.plateandpitchfork.com. For more information on Farmers Ending Hunger, visit www.farmersendinghunger.com.

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — The 77 bulls that walked through the auction ring on Feb. 25 during the 27th annual Buchanan Bull Sale had some similar traits.

They were all registered black Angus, they were 12 to 15 months old and they all had genetics and lineage that could be traced back to the Bob and Kathleen Buchanan ranch. Just over half the bulls were from the Buchanan ranch and the rest were from ranches that had purchased Buchanan bulls in the past and used them in their breeding programs.

The bids for this year’s lineup of bulls ranged from a high of $11,000 down to $2,000.

“I did like how the bulls looked,” said Buchanan, who has been in the Angus business for about 50 years. “We had some well-bred bulls in the sale.”

Steve and Jill Stoltenberg of Willows, Calif., purchased four bulls, including the one that went for $11,000. They said they have been following and using the Buchanan bloodline for a long time and have had success with it in their cattle operation.

“These were good looking bulls with good balance and good EPDs (expected progeny differences,” Steve Stoltenberg said. EPDs forecast the genetic value of an animal as a parent.

Jake Troutt, the American Angus Association field representative for Oregon, Idaho and Washington, attended the bull sale. He said he thought the quality of the bulls was outstanding.

“Bob and Kathleen have their bulls tuned in to what you want them to be,” Troutt said. “They are salt-of-the-earth people and they produce quality bulls.”

Gary McManus of Lakeview, Ore., added that the Buchanan Angus genetics are “second to nobody.” He purchased one bull for his purebred Angus operation.

The Buchanans visit several Angus bull operations in the Billings, Montana, area each year and look for traits in bulls that fit their program.

“If they fit our program, our criteria, our EPD, our phenotype, our soundness, our disposition, the things you can’t see in a photo, then we buy their semen,” Bob Buchanan.

Back at their ranch, the Buchanans’ Angus cows are all bred through artificial insemination. About 170 cows were bred in the last year.

The Buchanans note that some of the key traits of the calves are moderate birth weights, rapid growth and natural muscling. They also emphasize that there is not a creep feeder on their ranch and that the growing calves get their weight from milk and native pasture. The bull calves are weaned and conditioned on a steep juniper-covered hillside overlooking Klamath Lake, giving the animals sound feet and legs.

“We have bred our Angus to be the most trouble-free animals they can be,” Bob Buchanan said. “Cattlemen realize that advantage. There are a number of branded beef programs based on the Angus breed that increases the value of Angus and Angus cross calves.”

For the first 10 years of their bull sale, the Buchanans included only their own bulls. But as the Buchanan Angus genetics became more prominent at other operations, those ranchers were invited to be guest consigners and to bring their bulls to this annual sale.

In addition to the sale, the Buchanans, their family and friends, and the consigners host a tri-tip dinner with live music the night before the sale and then a breakfast the next day before the bulls enter the ring and bids are made.

“We probably wouldn’t be able to take on a project like this sale and the meals without the additional help,” said Bob Buchanan, noting that Steve Stoltenberg has been cooking the tri-tip for many years.

Don Santos, a Glide, Ore., area rancher attended the sale. He said the Angus breed and the Buchanan bull genetics are highly acclaimed because they produce certified beef that grades as choice.