10 CapitalPress.com
June 9, 2017
Oregon
Many Oregon farm bills make progress; others in limbo
Regular 2017
legislative session
enters final stretch
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — As Oregon’s
2017 regular legislative ses-
sion enters its final month,
several farm-related bills
have either passed or are mak-
ing significant progress, while
others remain in limbo.
Many proposals that seek
new funding or include a fi-
nancial element are awaiting
action in the Joint Committee
on Ways and Means, which is
not subject to regular legisla-
tive deadlines.
The most controversial
bills dealing with pesticides,
antibiotics and genetic engi-
neering have largely died, but
others — such as a bill impos-
ing liability on biotech patent
holders — have been direct-
ed to committees where they
can survive until the session’s
end.
However, numerous bills
that either faced minimal re-
sistance or were amended to
overcome opposition have re-
cently cleared key committees
or been approved by the full
Legislature, including:
• Wetland rebuilding ex-
emption: Under House Bill
2785, agricultural buildings
destroyed in fires and other
natural disasters could be re-
built without obtaining fill-re-
moval permits, even if state
regulators believe they’re lo-
cated in wetlands.
The proposal was sparked
by the plight of Jesse Bounds,
who tried rebuilding two
burned-down hay barns only
to find out he was subject to
steep wetland mitigation pen-
alties from the Department of
State Lands.
The bill breezed through
the House without a hitch, but
it faced some headwinds in
the Senate Environment and
Natural Resources Commit-
tee.
A couple of Bounds’ neigh-
bors objected to the bill, most-
ly due to complaints about his
hay-compressing operation.
Members of the committee
also expressed some concerns
about language in HB 2785,
requiring the time-consum-
ing drafting of an amendment
clarifying the bill’s purpose
and parameters.
However, the bill is now
headed for a vote on the Sen-
ate floor after obtaining the
committee’s unanimous ap-
proval.
• Historic farm houses:
Concerns about limited hous-
ing availability in Oregon
prompted lawmakers to pro-
pose several bills allowing
“accessory dwelling units,”
or ADUs, on farmland or
otherwise easing land use re-
strictions.
Most of the bills have died,
but one proposal has gained
solid traction: House Bill
3012 allows historic homes
to be used as ADUs instead of
being demolished when a new
house is built in a rural resi-
dential zone.
The bill unanimously
passed the House and now
awaits a vote on the Senate
floor after clearing the Senate
Environment and Natural Re-
sources Committee.
• Hard cider land use: Pro-
ducers of hard cider would
be subject to the same land
use rules as winemakers un-
der Senate Bill 677, which is
awaiting Gov. Kate Brown’s
signature after winning unan-
imous approval in the Senate
and more recently, the House.
The Oregon Farm Bureau
expressed some reserva-
tions about SB 677 without
outright opposing the bill,
which allows cideries to serve
food and offer bed-and-
breakfast lodging, among oth-
er provisions.
• On-farm sewage treat-
ment: Waste from septic
tanks will now be allowed
to be treated on-site in farm
zones, where it’s applied
to fields as fertilizer, under
House Bill 2179.
Researchers: Native sage, grasses handle wildfires better
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
Rangeland scientist Lisa
Ellsworth of Oregon State
University has a thing for fire,
especially how various eco-
systems respond to the wild-
fires that bedevil much of the
rural West.
Ellsworth and research
co-author J. Boone Kauffman,
a senior research professor at
OSU, tracked the recovery of
three areas from “prescribed”
fires in the Lava Beds Na-
tional Monument in Northern
California. They document-
ed a truism: Plants native to
the sagebrush steppe, such
as sage and various bunch-
grasses, recover from fire bet-
ter than invasive or intrusive
species such as cheatgrass and
Western juniper.
Ellsworth said the study
results hold some lessons for
ranchers and for Greater sage
grouse conservation work.
Chief among them is that fire,
often started by lightning, has
long been part of the cycle
in the arid rangelands of the
West. “It’s important we re-
member these are ecosystems
that evolved with fire,” she
said.
While some people are
fearful of fire, many produc-
Courtesy Lisa Ellsworth/Oregon State University
A test plot in the Lava Beds National Monument in Northern Cali-
fornia immediately after a “prescribed” fire. A rangeland scientist at
Oregon State University said an intact sagebrush steppe habitat
with native plants recovers well from wildfires compared to range
taken over by invasive or intrusive plants such as cheatgrass and
Western juniper. Researchers burned three test sites and tracked
the recovery.
ers recognize that if sagebrush
steppe is in good condition,
“Maybe some fire isn’t all
negative,” Ellsworth said.
Overgrazing in some areas
opened the door to non-native
grasses and shrubs that burn
hotter and more frequently.
“They really change
the story,” Ellsworth said.
Cheatgrass
in
particu-
lar favors more frequent
fire.
The research involved three
areas. One was dominated by
native perennial grasses and
sagebrush, and there’d histor-
ically been very little grazing
there. A second site had been
overgrazed and was filled
with cheatgrass. The third was
covered with Western juniper,
a notorious water “thief” that
crowds out sage and native
grasses.
After prescribed burns in
the spring and fall, the site
with native plants fared better.
About 65 percent of the sage-
brush survived the fall fires
and 33 percent survived the
spring fires — important to
land managers who are timing
prescribed burns. Spring burn-
ing does more harm because
the plants are actively growing,
while fall fires burn dead mate-
rial, Ellsworth said.
Courtesy photo
A cinnabar moth larva eats a tansy ragwort plant in a form of weed biocontrol.
Oregon weed biocontrol
spared in budget proposal
Farm industry
feared increased
usage of pesticides
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — Oregon farm
regulators would not lose a bi-
ological control program for
weeds, as feared earlier this
year, under the latest budget
proposal before lawmakers.
The weed biocontrol po-
sition at the Oregon Depart-
ment of Agriculture was set
to be cut under Oregon Gov.
Kate Brown’s proposed bien-
nial budget for the agency.
Under the 2017-2019
ODA budget approved by a
key group of legislators on
May 31, though, the weed
biocontrol program would re-
ceive more than $250,000 for
the biennium.
Weed biocontrol typically
involves deploying insects or
pathogens that prey on spe-
cific undesirable plants, such
as cinnabar moth larvae con-
suming tansy ragwort.
23-4\#04N
The weed biocontrol posi-
tion is now vacant but ODA
could begin recruiting a new
expert if the budget is adopt-
ed by the full Legislature and
a state government hiring
freeze is lifted, said Lauren
Henderson, the agency’s as-
sistant director.
Rural weed control de-
partments worried that end-
ing the biological control
program would ultimately
lead to more money being
spent on increased herbicide
spraying.
“Without this position
being filled, weed depart-
ments are relying on the best
guess to gather, place, and
redistribute the biocontrols,”
said Theodore Orr, Umatilla
County’s weed supervisor, in
written testimony.
Aside from preserving
weed biocontrol, ODA’s bud-
get proposal also contains
good news for dairy farm-
ers and other “confined ani-
mal feeding operations,” or
CAFOs, which are inspected
by state regulators.
Under Brown’s proposal,
$250,000 dedicated to CAFO
inspections would be elimi-
nated from the general fund
portion of ODA’s budget,
with the burden instead shift-
ing to “other funds.”
“If that shift had hap-
pened, we would definitely
have to raise the fees,” said
Henderson.
The Subcommittee on
Natural Resources of the
Joint Ways and Means Com-
mittee has approved a bud-
get that leaves the $250,000
for CAFO inspections in the
general fund category, so
fees won’t be hiked to cover
that gap.
Even so, the subcommit-
tee’s budget does decrease
the general fund portion of
ODA’s budget to $23.3 mil-
lion, down from $24.6 mil-
lion during the previous bi-
ennium.
Much of that reduction
is accomplished by shifting
certain expenses from the
general fund to “other funds”
and federal funds, with the
overall budget growing to
$118 million, up from $112
million during 2015-2017.
For example, nearly $1.4
million for food safety pro-
grams would be shifted from
the general fund to the “oth-
er” category, but ODA be-
lieves it has enough cash on
hand for the next two years to
prevent a fee increase, Hen-
derson said.
Part of ODA’s administra-
tive costs — $300,000 — is
also shifted to “other funds,”
but this change alone won’t
force a fee increase, he said.
“It does put a burden on
the other funded programs,”
Henderson said.