Business AgLife
B
Thursday, February 25, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Taking
the
fight
to
fire
Oregon Senate bill would expand cropland firefighting options
Ziply Fiber’s new
local network
goes live March 4
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — Cropland owners
in Oregon would be eligible to
join rangeland fire protection
associations under a bill that
seeks to improve their access to
equipment and training.
Areas that produce dryland
wheat are prone to wildfire —
as evidenced by the devastating
Substation Fire in 2018, which
burned 78,000 acres in Wasco
and Sherman counties — but
currently cannot be included in
RFPAs.
“During harvest time, ripe
grain crops are a tinder box. A
lightning strike, a spark of any
kind, or chaff falling on a hot
engine can cause a crop fire,”
said Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena,
during a recent legislative
hearing.
Hansell has introduced legis-
lation that would allow RFPAs
to be organized on “land used
for cultivating crops” in addition
to rangeland and undeveloped
areas. Supporters say Senate Bill
590 will enhance firefighting
resources in rural communities.
“Wildfire does not adhere to
boundaries, it does not stop at
fence lines or changes in land-
ownership, or rangeland or crop-
land,” said Amanda Hoey, CEO
of the Oregon Wheat Growers
League.
By forming or joining an
RFPA, farmers could better coor-
dinate with state agencies on
firefighting and acquire surplus
firefighting equipment from the
federal government, Hoey said.
“Though it may be surplus
and at the end of its useful life in
the eyes of particular agencies,
small groups like RFPAs still can
get a lot of use out of some of this
equipment,” said Michael Kelly,
a farmer and volunteer firefighter
in Wasco County.
Perhaps more importantly,
forming an RFPA would allow
cropland owners to establish
a closer relationship with the
Oregon Department of Forestry
and other professional firefighting
organizations, he said.
Zipping
along the net
in La Grande
The Observer
East Oregonian/E.J. Harris, File
Farmers watch as 40-foot flames crest the top of a hill July 31, 2015, as they and area firefighters work to
contain a wheat field fire northwest of Athena. State lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow
cropland owners to join rangeland fire protection associations, which can acquire surplus federal equip-
ment and access state training.
WHAT THE BILL WOULD DO
• Senate Bill 590 would allow rangeland protection associations, RFPAs,
to fight fires on croplands. The bill is in the Senate Committee On Natural
Resources and Wildfire Recovery.
Currently, farmers who volun-
teer to fight fires are often seen as
a liability, he said. “That makes
communication and teamwork all
but impossible during an actual
fire.”
Farmers in RFPAs would
receive training from the ODF,
which would given them “legiti-
macy” among professional orga-
nizations, according to Kelly.
Aside from training, the
agency can help RFPAs apply
for grants, make legal filings
and pay for liability insurance.
Kelly said farmers in his
area have organized into a fire
district, but the structure isn’t
a good fit because they lack
employees, tax revenue support
or professional equipment. Vol-
unteer farmers fight fires with
water tanks attached to pickup
trucks and with tillage imple-
ments on their tractors.
“We are an RFPA, we just
don’t reap any of the benefits,”
he said.
Roger Beyer, a lobbyist for
the Oregon Small Woodlands
Association, said the financial
impacts on the state’s Depart-
ment of Forestry must be con-
sidered as part of the discussion
about SB 590.
While the bill’s benefits out-
weigh any of these concerns, the
legislation should provide added
funding to ODF, Beyer said.
Without adequate funding,
the heavier workload could
detract from the agency’s
existing firefighting duties, he
said.
The ODF has three full-
time employees who support
23 RFPAs that cover about
15 million acres. In the past,
the agency estimated that
expanding RFPAs to include
cropland would require an addi-
tional three employees at a
cost of more than $700,000 per
biennium.
The Oregon Farm Bureau,
which supports SB 590, is dis-
cussing the financial repercus-
sions of the proposal with ODF
and other stakeholders, said
Samantha Bayer, the group’s
policy counsel.
The legislation is important
due to the agriculture indus-
try’s frequent exposure to wild-
fires, she said. “In unprotected
areas, farmers are the first
responders and sometimes the
only responders to wildfire in
their remote communities.”
KIRKLAND, Wash — Ziply
Fiber recently announced it com-
pleted a critical phase of the fiber-
optic network build-out in La
Grande that will deliver gig-speed
fiber internet and an all-new,
state-of-the-art network to area
residents and businesses.
That network is set to go live
beginning Thursday, March 4.
“Nearly 40% of the approxi-
mately 6,600 residential and busi-
ness addresses within our service
area will be ready for fiber service
immediately and the remainder
are scheduled for completion early
this year,” the company stated in a
press release.
The new network will put
La Grande’s internet connec-
tivity “on par with larger met-
ropolitan areas throughout the
nation,” according to Ziply Fiber,
which means benefits such as no
data cap and much faster internet
uploading and downloading
times.
“I am excited to know that
last-mile fiber will be available
to every residence in the city,”
La Grande Mayor Steve Cle-
ments said in the press release.
“Not only will this infrastruc-
ture improve internet speeds for
entertainment and personal use,
but it will also provide current
and future businesses the connec-
tivity they need for a strong web
presence and active e-commerce
trade. Having fiber available to
home and business also allows
the city to promote work-at-home
opportunities, tapping into the
trend of professionals moving to
smaller communities away from
urban centers.”
The company is investing $500
million and building an advanced
fiber network to smaller towns
and rural communities across the
Northwest that have been under-
See, Ziply/Page 3B
Food groups try to save program
Groups strive to save
one Trump program:
Farmers to Families
food boxes
By SCOTT McFETRIDGE
Associated Press
DES MOINES, Iowa — As
the Biden administration sets
up shop, many policies initiated
by its hard-right predecessor are
being targeted for extinction.
But agricultural groups and anti-
hunger organizations are fighting
to keep one they’ve come to
depend on, which channels food
that might otherwise be plowed
under to people reeling under the
coronavirus pandemic.
The U.S. Department of Agri-
culture began the Farmers to
Families Food Box program last
April after many people were
shocked to see farmers destroy
crops because restaurant and
institutions abruptly cancelled
orders due to the virus even as
food banks were crushed by
demand from people suddenly out
of work.
The USDA hurriedly paid
roughly $3 billion to contractors
who within weeks worked with
food banks to begin handing out
boxes filled with 20 pounds of
produce to motorists who queued
up in lines that would snake
through stadium parking lots and
down suburban streets. Photos
of those lines became among the
most emblematic images of the
suffering inflicted by the virus.
“Hunger is always with us, but
it was more apparent with those
photos,” said Mark Herrick, a
USDA spokesperson.
The food boxes proved well
suited to quickly helping people
Chelcee Mansfield/Contributed Photo
Enterprise FFA Greenhand competitors are, from left, Sydney Hop-
kins, Zach Farr-Roberts, Talia Aase, Harlie Stein, Codi Cunningham,
Alex Rowley, Emily Love, Tanner Kesecker, Jessica Journigan, Lily
Royes, Brandon Charlton (back) Trey Stewart and Zander Flores.
Ag students mark FFA
Week amid pandemic
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press, File
Agricultural groups and anti-hunger organizations are supporting the
U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmers to Families Food Box, which
began under the Trump administration.
who were suddenly in need, com-
pared to the much larger food
stamp program, which has eligi-
bility requirements and paper-
work. Officials say it offers
lessons for how to respond to sig-
nificant disruptions in the future.
After getting the program
started, the USDA under former
President Donald Trump approved
four more phases costing another
$3 billion. After the final round
ends in April, the USDA will
reassess the program.
If the USDA extends it, the
program will be a rare example of
the new administration retaining
rather than dismantling a Trump
initiative as Biden is seeking to do
on issues ranging from immigra-
tion to health care. Unlike some
other programs, the food box ini-
tiative was widely praised from
the start, despite early concerns
about contractors ability to handle
the job.
As the program continued
through last summer, Trump capi-
talized on its popularity by having
a letter with his signature inserted
into boxes, prompting Demo-
crats to charge that officials were
using it to influence elections.
Some also were wary of Trump
daughter Ivanka’s involvement in
the program.
See, Food/Page 3B
WALLOWA COUNTY —
FFA students in Wallowa
County are celebrating National
FFA Week this week by sharing
the successes of their chap-
ters and modifying their activi-
ties to cope with the COVID-19
pandemic, according to a press
release.
A majority of the events
during the Feb. 20-27 week have
been forced to change during
the past school year because of
the pandemic. Those changes
included how meetings are held,
community service and career
development events. Despite the
changes, students in FFA — for-
merly known as Future Farmers
of America — have found ways
to live and thrive in school and
in the FFA events, the release
stated.
“We work to keep our stu-
dents in their assigned cohorts,
all students wear masks and we
keep our distance,” the release
stated.
In the fall, FFA chapters held
their soils competition, largely
with the help of Stangel Bison
Ranch providing a pit and Dave
Yost for officiating. Also held
were competitions in crops and
weeds via Google Forms, rituals
via Zoom and members partici-
pated in virtual workshops with
the state FFA officers.
As winter approached, the
students participated virtually
in an agricultural sales competi-
tion and the FFA district hosted
the annual career development
events, with the Enterprise and
Joseph chapters excelling.
Aside from competitions,
another honor in FFA is to earn
the highest award the state can
bestow upon its members, the
State FFA Degree. To receive
this honor members must have
earned or invested $1,500 or
See, FFA/Page 3B