March 13, 2015 SEED & ROW CROPS s Capital A Pres g The West’s Weekly SEE THE ANNUAL SEED & ROW CROPS SPECIAL SECTION INSIDE Capital Press The West s Weekly  FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2015 VOLUME 88, NUMBER 11 WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM $2.00 Wash. preps case for drought advisory BREEDING FOR A DIFFERENT Turn to BREEDERS, Page 12 Turn to DROUGHT, Page 12 Breeders work on malting barleys specifi cally for craft brewers By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press 200 million barrels 150 15.6 million: Up 17.7% from 2012 U.S. craft brewery production * , 25 years (31-gallon craft barrels) 100 *Includes brewpubs, contract, regional and microbreweries. 50 491,394 0 1989 ’91 Photo submitted Dan Carey, brewmaster with New Glarus Brewing in Wisonsin, brews a batch of beer. Carey recently tested some barley varieties developed in Aberdeen, Idaho, for all-malt brewing. ing industry. As the number of craft breweries continues to grow, barley breeders are placing a greater emphasis on meeting their needs. Chief among them is developing low-protein variet- ies of barley. “We’re asking that there be a fork in the road,” Carey said. “It’s great that they continue to breed for the large brewers, but we also need a second (malt) type for small brewers.” ’93 ’95 ’97 ’99 Source: Brewers Association ’01 ’03 ’05 ’07 ’09 ’11 2013 Alan Kenaga/Capital Press Barley guidelines In early 2014, the American Malting Barley Association and the Brewers As- sociation adopted guidelines for all-malt brewing, also called all-grain brewing. The guidelines, which provide targets for barley breeders and malting compa- nies, call for malted barley with protein levels a percentage point lower than that of malt developed for blending with rice and corn and with up to one-third less free amino nitrogen. The free amino ni- trogen supports vigorous fermentation but at excessive levels may contribute to spoilage or off fl avors. Capital Press “Crafts have grown and have be- come part of our organization, and they are having input,” said AMBA President Mike Davis. The Idaho Barley Commission ac- knowledged the increasing importance of the craft industry when it led its fi rst craft brewery-specifi c tour of southeast Idaho barley country in 2014. Barley breeding programs, includ- ing those at the USDA Agricultural Research Service facility in Aberdeen, Idaho, and at Oregon State University, Photo submitted Idaho Falls grower Matt Gellings loads malt barley on March 5 for transport to Anheuser-Busch to use as seed. Gellings would be interested in planting all-grain malt varieties, which are a recent emphasis of barley breeding programs, if there’s a market and a slight premium. D By DON JENKINS LACEY, Wash. — Washing- ton offi cials are preparing to de- clare a drought emergency, re- viewing water supply forecasts and lining up money to make the most of every drop. Offi cials from state agen- cies, cities, tribes and irrigation districts met Tuesday for a com- prehensive review of 62 water- sheds. More than half, 33, were marked down as likely this sum- mer to have less than 75 percent of their normal water supplies, the benchmark for a drought declaration. Only seven watersheds, all in the northeast, were chalked down as, for now, safe from drought. They are the Methow, Lower Lake Roosevelt, Upper Lake Roosevelt, Middle Lake Roosevelt, Upper Lake Roos- evelt, Kettle and Pend Oreille. The other watersheds went down as too close to call — ei- ther because of a lack of infor- mation about snow and river fl ows or because conditions were hovering around the 75 percent mark. Many watersheds facing drought have received above average rainfall over the winter, but warm temperatures have made snowpacks a fraction of their normal levels. “We have a lot of areas in the state, based on snowpack condi- tions, forecast to have fl ows sig- nifi cantly below normal, even in some places reaching extreme conditions,” the Department of Ecology’s drought response co- ordinator, Jeff Marti, said. Marti presided over Tues- day’s meeting of the Water Sup- ply Availability Committee. He planned to present the review Wednesday to state agency di- rectors. The directors will talk about the hardships a drought might bring and make a recom- mendation to Gov. Jay Inslee. BREW omestic malt barley va- rieties just weren’t bred with small craft brewer- ies such as New Glarus in mind. Like most craft brewers, Dan Carey, brewmaster at the microbrewery near Madison, Wisconsin, uses only malted barley, also known as malt, as a carbo- hydrate source for his recipes. But the vast majority of the malt available was developed to meet the specifi cations of the mass-production brewing giants that dominate the do- mestic beer market. Their beers, mainly Pilsner lagers, typically involve adding carbohydrates from rice or corn to sup- plement the malt — a practice known as adjunct brewing. Because most U.S. malts were developed to be mixed with those non-barley starches, their charac- teristics pose challenges for craft brew- ers, who use only malted barley in their all-grain process. For example, a slightly higher pro- tein level in the malt aids in the fermen- tation of the mass-produced adjunct beers, but in malt-only brewing the extra protein can make fermentation too vig- orous and hurt the taste. In addition to lower-protein malts, craft brewers also prefer malts that lend a richer fl avor to their beer. No longer, however, will the craft beer sector be overlooked by the malt- Most watersheds falling below drought benchmark County in Washington may sue to stop grizzly restoration By DAN WHEAT Capital Press OKANOGAN, Wash. — Okanogan County commissioners are exploring the possibility of a lawsuit to prevent the U.S. Department of Interior from restor- ing grizzly bears to the North Cascades. “We think we have uncovered enough of where they did not follow pro- cedure and process. They’re no different than their commander in D.C. running rogue with his pencil and phone. Yes, Obama,” said Jim DeTro, Okanogan County commissioner. The county was talking to state legis- lators in Olympia about its options after the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service held open houses in Winthrop on March 3 and in Okano- gan on March 4 to help them determine whether to take an active role in grizzly restoration. It could include moving griz- zlies into the North Cascades from other places in the U.S. and Canada. Commissioners strongly oppose res- toration and say a majority of county res- idents do. Ranchers, back country horse- men, ATV users, hobby farmers and rural residents don’t want another apex predator to worry about, DeTro said. About 100 people attended the open house in Okanogan, he said. “It’s a very, very disgruntled public. They’re not happy with the process. It was set up so you really couldn’t com- ment. It’s divide and conquer. They dif- fuse the situation as best they can so they can check the box when they go back to wherever they go and say, ‘Yes we had a meeting in Okanogan County,’” DeTro said. There was no general forum for oral presentations by federal employees or Turn to BEARS, Page 12 Dan Wheat/Capital Press Monte and Judy Olson, East Wenatchee, at right, listen to Hilary Cooley of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service talk about grizzlies at the agency open house in Wenatchee, Wash., March 5. 11-2/#5