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Festival brings estimated 13,000 to Bandon
Festival brings estimated 13,000 to town
Zinke directs more aggressive approach to prevent wildfires
WASHINGTON (AP) — Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Tuesday directed all land managers and park superintendents to be more aggressive in cutting down small trees and underbrush to prevent wildfires as this year is on track to be among the worst fire seasons in a decade.
In a memo, Zinke said the Trump administration will take a new approach and work proactively to prevent fires “through aggressive and scientific fuels reduction management” to save lives, homes and wildlife habitat.
Wildfires are chewing across dried-out Western forests and grassland. To date, 47,700 wildfires have burned more than 8 million acres across the country, with much of the devastation in California and Montana, Zinke said.
As of Tuesday, 62 large fires were burning across nine Western states, with 20 fires in Montana and 17 in Oregon, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Nearly half the large fires in the West reported zero acreage gains on Monday, helping firefighters across the West make progress toward containing them, the agency said.
The Forest Service and Interior Department have spent more $2.1 billion so far this year fighting fires — about the same as they spent in all of 2015, the most expensive wildfire season on record.
Those figures do not include individual state spending. In Montana, where more than 90 percent of the state is in drought, the state has spent more than $50 million on fire suppression since June, with fires likely to burn well into the fall.
Oregon has spent $28 million, but the state expects to be reimbursed for part of that by the federal government and others.
Exacerbated by drought and thick vegetation, wildfires are “more damaging, more costly and threaten the safety and security of both the public and firefighters,” Zinke said. “I have heard this described as ‘a new normal.’ It is unacceptable that we should be satisfied with the status quo.”
Zinke’s memo did not call for new spending, but he said federal officials “must be innovative” and use all tools available to prevent and fight fires. “Where new authorities are needed,” he added, “we will work with our colleagues in Congress to craft management solutions that will benefit our public lands for generations to come.”
The Interior Department oversees more than 500 million acres supervised by the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies. The Forest Service, a unit of the Agriculture Department, is the nation’s largest firefighting agency, with more than half its budget devoted to wildfires.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and Western lawmakers have long complained that the current funding mechanism makes it hard to budget for and fight wildfires, even as fires burn longer and hotter each year.
“I believe that we have the right processes and the right procedures of attacking and fighting fires,” Perdue said in a speech last week. “But if you don’t have the resources and the means of dependable funding, that’s an issue.”
Perdue called on Congress “to fix the fire-borrowing problem once and for all” so that officials are not forced to tap prevention programs to fight wildfires.
“Fires will always be with us. But when we leave a fuel load out there because we have not been able to get to it because of a lack of funding, or dependable funding, we’re asking for trouble,” Perdue said.
Bandon wins Cranberry Bowl
Win over Riddle is highlight for volleyball team
Hot water holds many opportunities for S. Oregon farms
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — No matter the season, the fish are always jumping.
That’s because Ron Barnes and Tracey Liskey are tossing handfuls of fish food into one of their several fish ponds where they’re raising 2-pound tilapia that are live-trucked to fish markets in Seattle and San Francisco. Some remains local, often sold to Klamath Basin residents who especially enjoy the tasty, white fish.
For the past six-plus years Barnes, with Liskey’s help, has been experimenting with the best of speedily raising tilapias from tiny hatchlings until they’re large enough to be fresh-shipped to commercial markets. Before the year is out, Barnes said he expects his business, Gone Fishing, will ship about 50,000 pounds.
“We’re starting small, but deliberately so,” Barnes said, noting a commercial tilapia farm in Northern California’s Modoc County ships up to 20,000 pounds a week. His goal is raising 2-pound tilapias, admitting, “It was difficult to raise them to that size. We’ve overcome that.”
“We work together and get things done,” said Liskey. “I can fix things. I’m the mechanic, the engineer.”
He and Barnes believe the years of experimenting with feed, water temperatures and other variables have paid off. Barnes said his 80-acre operation south of Klamath Falls and adjacent to Liskey Farms, is “extremely efficient. My water use is a tiny, tiny fraction of what most fish farmers use,” noting the tilapias reach market size in about 90 days.
“There was learning curve learning how to grow them to size,” agrees Liskey. “It’s kind of like raising a beef cow to a size in the shortest amount of time.”
Liskey makes the cattle reference because he manages the family’s 1,500-acre ranch, which is 99 percent leased to others. At age 63, he calls himself semi-retired — “But I haven’t seen the ‘retired’ part yet” — because he remains active in many of the ranch’s day-to-day operations.
He said ranch operations are equally divided between cattle, hay and grain. A smaller area includes geothermal-reliant businesses that which have drawn his interest. Because of plentiful supplies of geothermal water — tests indicate flows of 5,000 gallons of 195- to 199-degree water a minute — he sees fish farming as one arm of a potentially broader operation.
“My main goal here is trying to develop a geothermal park ... to get something in here to make agriculture more productive,” Liskey said.
He envisions “cascading uses,” first using the extremely hot water to generate power. While that hasn’t yet happened, Liskey said he continues to work with power companies. Less hot, re-circulated geothermal water is already being used for three commercial greenhouses while the third tier of cooler, 84-degree “tail water” is used for raising tilapia, which require warm water.
Barnes breeds his own tilapia because, “When you do your own breeding you don’t inherit somebody else’s problems,” such as various diseases. While some believe commercially raised fish aren’t as healthy as wild fish, Barnes said the geothermal water negates the need for chemicals, insisting, “If it’s done correctly it’s better,” noting wild fish are often subject to fouled waters.
While tilapia is their current endeavor, Liskey and Barnes believe the Gone Fishing ponds could be expanded to raise other fish, including shrimp, catfish and sturgeon.
“Oregon has a lot of possibilities in the aqua industry and it’s just being done,” insists Barnes.
While Barnes focuses on tilapia, Liskey also monitors other geothermally related operations, including a trio of 200-foot greenhouses operated the last several years by Rick Walsh of Fresh Green. Certified organic produce — micro-greens, tomatoes, squash and more — grown in the greenhouses is sold regionally, with some going to Whole Foods.
Another adjacent geothermally heated section is used to grow medical marijuana. Medical and recreational marijuana is legal to grow and sell in Oregon, but recreational marijuana is not legal in some counties, including Klamath County.
Although Liskey voted against legalizing recreational marijuana, he believes the county should rescind the ban because, “We’re letting everybody else grow it and saturate the market. Let us grow it, too.”
“Without geothermal you couldn’t afford to have greenhouses or fish ponds,” Liskey said, noting the Klamath Basin typically sees below freezing temperatures and snow during the winter. As he explained while standing alongside the tilapia ponds, “It’s the cheap heat from the water that makes all this possible.”
Study: Puberty delayed in penned heifers
Keeping young beef heifers penned over winter tends to delay puberty compared to letting them out on pasture, according to a new study.
Slowing a cow’s reproductive maturity may impair her ability to get pregnant in the first breeding season, which is economically undesirable for ranchers.
Only 32 percent of heifers kept in pens over winter reached puberty by late spring, compared to 67 percent that remained on pasture, the Oregon State University study found.
Among the cows that did reach puberty, those in pens achieved maturity 33 days later than those on pasture and they were 100 pounds heavier on average.
The stress of being kept penned was likely the reason that fewer heifers timely reached puberty and their maturity was delayed, said Reinaldo Cooke, who co-wrote the study.
“That may be taking a toll on the reproductive development of those females,” he said. “They like to walk around and graze and they don’t have that in the pen.”
Cows kept on pasture got more physical activity, averaging 20,000 steps a week, compared to 3,100 steps for penned heifers. Their hair also had lower levels of cortisol, a hormone associated with stress in cattle.
Pens probably make young heifers uncomfortable because they’ve spent their early lives on rangeland before weaning and are unaccustomed to being confined, said Cooke.
“That abrupt change in environment is pretty stressful,” he said.
Ranchers often keep young heifers in pens over winter because they’re easier to feed and check on, Cooke said. In some cases, cattle producers may not have enough property available to keep them on pasture.
“I’m not saying confinement is bad,” he said. “Many times it’s necessary. It’s the only option.”
However, ranchers should keep in mind that pens may prevent timely puberty, so they can try to reduce negative effects by avoiding overcrowding.
The half-year study compared 30 Angus and Hereford cows kept in pens with 30 heifers of the same breeds left out on pasture, with all the animals being fed the same diet.
Cooke was an animal scientist at OSU when the research was conducted in late 2015 and early 2016 but was recently hired as an associate professor of beef cattle production at Texas A&M University.
Researchers decided to conduct the study after noticing that penned heifers generally had poorer reproductive performance compared to those on pasture, Cooke said.
“Wow, maybe there’s something going on here,” he said.
Oregon agricultural attorney John Albert dies at 66
An Oregon attorney known for advocating on behalf of farmers, John Albert, passed away last month at the age of 66.
Albert died suddenly in Salem, Ore., on Aug. 27 from what’s believed to be a massive heart attack. A memorial service was held Sept. 8.
After graduating from law school in 1976, Albert initially took a job with the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office and then held positions in Klamath Falls and The Dalles.
His became acquainted with the financial challenges faced by farmers upon joining the Churchill Leonard law firm in 1981, where he specialized in agricultural liens and bankruptcy law.
“Ag law was not his only area of expertise, but it was a primary area of expertise,” said Stephen Tweet, Albert’s friend and longtime law partner.
Among his most notable cases was the bankruptcy of the seed company AgriBioTech in 2000, which threatened to leave many grass seed farmers unpaid for their crops.
While his farmer clients initially feared huge losses, Albert was able to recover a “fair hunk” of what they were owed, Tweet said. “There were still losses but I believe a fair percentage of the growers’ claims were paid.”
Agricultural liens are a crucial tool for farmers who deliver crops to companies that go bankrupt, since they secure collateral in the buyer’s assets that can be used to compensate growers.
In such cases, Albert would often battle with banks that claimed to have the top priority for repayment, said Tweet. “The bank is competing with the farmer over who gets paid first, so that was a huge fight.”
After a decade at Churchill Leonard, Albert struck out on his own, forming two law firms with Tweet in the 1990s. He joined the firm of Sherman, Sherman, Johnnie & Hoyt after Tweet retired in 2014.
Aside from courtroom disputes, Albert also fought for farmers in the Oregon Legislature, where he was instrumental in the passage of a law strengthening their contract protections in 2011.
Among other provisions, House Bill 2159 established a mandatory payment date for delivered grass seed and a mechanism for resolving disagreements over price.
When he wasn’t delving into legal issues, Albert led an active lifestyle in his free time as a soccer referee, gardener and marathon runner.
“I couldn’t have been more shocked,” Tweet said of his friend’s death.
Oregon hunters file lawsuit, seek to protect elk habitat
BEND, Ore. (AP) — The Oregon Hunters Association has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service, claiming its plan to build more than 130 miles of off-highway vehicle trails in the Ochoco National Forest could hurt elk habitat.
The Bend Bulletin reported last week that the association, which has more than 10,000 members, filed the lawsuit in the Pendleton Division of the United States District Court on Aug. 31. The association claims that the decision to approve the trails is not supported by scientific wildlife research and is in violation of the National Forest Management Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
Patrick Lair, a spokesman for the Ochoco National Forest, said the Forest Service will continue moving forward with planning the trail project.
Pollinator seed mix may contain Palmer amaranth weed, WSU warns
Washington State University officials are recommending Northwest farmers be cautious after reports that some pollinator seed mixes elsewhere were found to be contaminated with the weed Palmer amaranth.
“As far as we know, we don’t have Palmer amaranth, and that’s the fear, that these packets of seed will bring it here,” said Drew Lyon, weed science professor at WSU.
A Weed Science Society of America survey has labeled Palmer amaranth “the most troublesome weed in the U.S.” According to the society, some native seed mixes designed to foster habitat for honeybees and other pollinators in the Midwest were found to contain the weed. Seed mixes should be tested to make sure they are free of the weed.
“There’s a big push for pollinator health, and so a lot of people want to plant these things,” Lyon said. “It doesn’t sound like maybe quality control on the end of these companies is great. And that seed is really tiny. It’d be an easy mistake to make, but it could be a costly mistake to make.”
The weed is common in fields across the South and the Southeast, and has been traveling north for several decades. Its small seeds are easily spread by birds and farm equipment, and in birdseed, livestock feed and manure.
Lyon said it’s possible someone could unknowingly order contaminated seed mix online.
The warm-season, broadleaf weed could pose the most risk for irrigated production in the Columbia Basin. The crops growing in July and August would be most affected, Lyon said.
“It’s a very prolific seed producer,” he said. “It’s glyphosate resistant, and ... we use a lot of glyphosate in our ag systems. If we have a weed like Palmer amaranth that’s so prolific and can spread so quickly, and we can’t use Roundup to help us control it, it’s going to become a bit problematic.”
Lyon also advises growers to keep an eye out and be aware of what Palmer amaranth looks like.
“If you see it, pull it before it can set any seed,” he said.
Growers should also alert the university. Researchers would try to confirm the weed and the source of the seed mix and spread the word, Lyon said.
WSU researchers will wait and see if any Palmer amaranth is reported.
“I don’t know if it’s inevitable that it will get here some day, but it seems like things move pretty good,” Lyon said. “As far as I know, we don’t have it in the state right now. And that’s the best situation to be in.”
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As I See It for Sept. 13: Skywatch building
Craft beer sales slow, and industry changes may be on the way
A bubble in Oregon’s revered craft beer industry? Sales have slowed and some breweries have closed, but the state Office of Economic Analysis isn’t going on a bender about it.
Senior Economist Josh Lehner, who has written extensively about the economic impact of the state’s “alcohol cluster,” said it’s likely the industry is maturing. Some shakeout is not unexpected.
In a post on the department website, Lehner said making good local beer, as breweries and brewpubs around the state do, is no longer enough to assure success.
“In a mature market, good business decisions and strategies matter more,” Lehner wrote.
The Economist reported that U.S. craft beer sales in a three-month period ending June 17 declined 0.7 percent compared to the same period in 2016.
“It may be that craft beer has reached its natural limit,” the magazine opined on its website. Competition for shelf space, buyouts by big brewers and consumers’ turn to wine, hard cider and spirits are cited as additional possibilities.
Lehner said in-state beer sales have slowed or declined at many of Oregon’s breweries. Some have closed, including Medford’s Southern Oregon Brewing in 2016 and The Commons this year in Portland. Others sold to larger companies.
But Lehner said four or five Oregon breweries fold per year, a failure rate of about 2 percent. That’s compared to an 8 percent failure rate for all Oregon industries combined. Leisure and hospitality closures nationally are about 9 percent, Lehner said.
As craft beer sales slow, however, more breweries will struggle to retain market share, he said.
“I do think the brewery closure rate will increase in the coming years,” Lehner reported. “It is likely to converge toward the rates seen in other industries.
“Currently, the growing and largely successful beer industry is enticing even more breweries to enter,” he said. “Eventually this will lead to (over)saturation and for closures to rise as a result.”
Meacham Pack wolf killed in Northeast Oregon
ODFW said a wolf from the Meacham Pack was legally shot to death Sept. 7 in Umatilla County, the fifth wolf killed in Oregon since August.
The wildlife agency authorized killing two adult wolves after depredation investigations confirmed the pack attacked cattle four times in August. All of the attacks involved the same herd grazing on a 4,000 acre private, forested pasture in the Sheep Creek area.
The lethal control permit allowed either ODFW staff or the producer or an employee to kill two adult wolves. Department spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy said an adult, non-breeding female was shot by the livestock owner or an employee.
In August, ODFW killed four wolves from the Harl Butte Pack in Wallowa County, which had attacked livestock eight times in the past year.
In issuing the Meacham Pack kill permit, ODFW said the producer had taken proper action to deter attacks. The producer removed livestock carcasses the same day they were discovered, removed cattle that were weak and might be targeted by wolves, monitored and removed animals that were weak or could be a target of wolves and employed a range rider five days a week to monitor wolves and maintain a human presence on the range. The producer also delayed pasture turnout for 30 days so the calves grazing there would be bigger and perhaps better able to fend off wolves.
Recap: Bandon wins Cranberry Bowl
Wildfire may delay Capital Press delivery
The closure of I-84 through the Columbia Gorge because of the Eagle Creek fire could cause delays in the delivery of the Sept. 8 edition of the Capital Press.
We apologize for any inconvenience this causes readers and advertisers.
Crosby hangs with rookies as Penguins prep for Cup defense
Bank seeks dismissal of radish seed lawsuit
EUGENE, Ore. — A bank accused of interfering with radish seed sales is asking a federal judge to throw out the lawsuit filed against it by Oregon farmers.
A group of Oregon radish seed growers filed a complaint earlier this year against Northwest Bank of Warren, Pa., seeking $6.7 million in lost seed value and additional storage costs.
The farmers had grown the radish seed in 2014 for Cover Crop Solutions, but the company became financially defunct before paying them for the crop.
To make matters worse for the growers, Northwest Bank filed a lawsuit against them seeking to seize the radish seed as collateral for a $7 million loan it issued to Cover Crop Solutions.
The farmers prevailed against the Northwest Bank last year, when a judge dismissed the case, and then filed their own lawsuit accusing the bank of unlawfully filing meritless liens and threatening potential buyers to prevent them from selling the radish seed.
During oral arguments in Eugene, Ore., on Sept. 7, Northwest Bank asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Jolie Russo to dismiss the lawsuit by the Radish Seed Growers’ Association and two independent farms.
The growers can’t plausibly claim the bank engaged in bad faith or improper means by trying to recover the crop, according to its motion to dismiss.
The bank has an “absolute litigation privilege” to try to collect on its loan, even if the lawsuit was unsuccessful, said Peter Hawkes, its attorney.
“It’s clear the bank had a good faith basis to assert a security interest in the seed,” Hawkes said. “They had a right to go to court and have that adjudicated.”
A federal judge held a trial to determine whether the bank held collateral in the seed and said it was not an “easy call,” he said.
While the judge ultimately ruled that farmers had a higher priority security interest in the seed, “that does not mean the bank’s argument was frivolous,” Hawkes said.
Paul Conable, attorney for the farmers, said the bank doesn’t need to be a “mustache-twisting villain” to be held liable for damages to the growers.
Rather, the bank behaved recklessly by filing invalid liens on the radish seed without conducting a rudimentary investigation of Oregon laws governing a farmer’s priority security interest in crops, Conable said.
“It didn’t bother to look before it filed those liens,” he said.
The bank admits it failed to conduct a reasonable analysis of Oregon law in a malpractice complaint it has filed against attorneys who advised on the loan, Conable said.
Even if it was the attorneys who made the mistake, that doesn’t excuse the bank from liability, he said.
“They’re responsible for the actions of their lawyers,” he said.
Similarly, people cannot avoid punishment for stealing property or committing assault because the actions were advised by a lawyer, Conable said.
“It’s a remarkable argument and also an argument that has no support in law,” he said.
The bank isn’t protected by the “absolute litigation privilege” because it hindered seed sales regardless of its lawsuit, he said.
“The interference was accomplished by filing an improper lien and sending letters to known customers,” Conable said.
Those threats and liens were not legitimized because the bank went to court against the growers, he said.
“You don’t immunize yourself from the effects of your actions by later filing a lawsuit,” he said. “There is no support for extending litigation privilege that far.”
Bandon Cranberry Festival is this weekend
Web blight emerges as concern in Christmas trees
A disease that infects Christmas trees erupted in some Pacific Northwest tree plantations last year, leading to tree loss and triggering a renewed round of research into better understanding the disease.
The disease, web blight, has been a sporadic, but relatively minor problem in Christmas trees since it was first identified in the Northwest in the late 1990s.
“I suspect that one of the reasons it was so severe this past year was because of all of the wet weather that we’ve had,” said Washington State University plant pathologist Gary Chastagner. “That provides an environment that is super conducive for spread of the pathogen.
“You need cool, moist conditions for it to spread from needle to needle,” he said.
The web blight pathogen is a type of Rhizoctonia, Chastagner said, but not the one that causes root rot or damping-off of seedlings. The disease primarily infects Douglas-fir, but this past year also showed up on noble, grand, Nordmann and Turkish fir.
Outside of some research into web blight in forest situations conducted through Oregon State University, little research has been done on the disease since preliminary studies on Christmas trees were conducted at Washington State University in the late 1990s. Chastagner said he now is revisiting that work.
“We are looking at the optimum temperature for the growth of the pathogen and development of the disease and, in collaboration with (OSU Extension Christmas Tree Specialist) Chal Landgren, we are looking at the ability of the pathogen to survive over the summer and cause problems again in the fall,” he said. “We don’t know whether those same trees that are damaged in a planting are likely to be damaged the next year, or whether new infections from the spread of inoculum from other sources, such as nearby forest trees, result in new infections.
“We don’t fully understand the sources of inoculum, what the types of inoculum are and the optimal conditions for the development of the problem,” Chastagner said. “Nor do we fully understand the extent of the susceptibility of some of the species of Christmas trees that we are growing.”
According to the Pacific Northwest Plant Disease Management Handbook, web blight first appears on trees as a browning of outer foliage in roughly circular areas. Chastagner described a typical symptom as volleyball- or basketball-sized patches of brown needles, often connected by a web that can hold infected needles in place.
“What happens is this pathogen is basically growing as a web of mycelia that you can see over the surface of the needle, and it just kind of spreads from one needle to the next,” he said.
According to the handbook, under moist conditions, the fine fungal webbing may be visible. The disease, which can spread to affect as much as half the side of a tree, can be distinguished from Botrytis, or gray mold, in that the latter affects only current-year needles and shoots, and symptoms initially appear on the new growth in the spring.
In cases where trees are marginally infected, new shoots the next year will likely cover up the damage, and trees can still be brought to market. In more severe cases, growers tend to cut out trees.
“This past year there were some Douglas-fir where I would say half the tree didn’t have any needles on it anymore,” Chastagner said. The infection tended to be directional, he added. “In other words, infection was most severe on sides of the tree that were up against a forested area, or the north sides of the trees, where you might expect it to be cooler and moist longer.”
Among questions Chastagner is hoping to answer in his research is how the disease is spreading from tree to tree. “It could be doing so by spores, but that has not been demonstrated. There is a spore stage to this pathogen, but it is not clear what role that stage plays in the development of the disease, and we don’t know when the pathogen would actually be producing those spores. It could be a limited time period, or a long period of time,” he said.
“But there are other ways it can spread,” he said. “If I have trees that have the disease and I was doing culture work on the trees, I could have some of those colonized needles transferred from one tree to the next on, let’s say, a shearing knife. Or, just by walking through a planting, sometimes the needles can fall off and get on your clothes, and the next time you walk by a tree, maybe you transfer the colonized needles to another tree.
“We don’t have a good sense on how it is spreading, but there are a number of ways it could potentially spread, including the wind. If you had a windstorm, it could possibly blow needles from nearby timber into the edges of a Christmas tree planting,” he said.
Researchers also don’t know whether the pathogen survives over the summer on needles on the ground and produces a spore stage that re-enters trees, or whether it is the needles that get hung up in the tree that are able to cause infections the following year.
Chastagner and his team have collected foliage samples from several fields and are looking at the survival of the pathogen on several different types of trees, including Douglas-fir, Turkish fir, Nordmann fir, grand fir and noble fir.
“We want to see whether there is any difference (in survival of the pathogen on different hosts), so we are monitoring those (samples),” he said. “But this is the first year that we’ve done some of those types of studies.”
Among past findings from research Chastagner conducted in the late 1990s, it was shown the pathogen is sensitive to some fungicides, including Bravo, or chlorothalonil. But, Chastagner said, sprays applied in the spring to control a disease such as Swiss needle cast are unlikely to affect web blight, which appears in the fall.
Among cultural control methods identified by Chastagner and the Pacific Northwest Plant Disease Management Handbook are to avoid planting trees in low-lying areas with poor air drainage and avoid planting near native stands of Douglas-fir that appear to have the disease.