May 8, 2015
CapitalPress.com
9
Oregon
Oregon horses diagnosed with equine herpes virus
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
Four Willamette Valley
horses have tested positive for
contagious equine herpes virus,
and veterinarians warn horse
owners to watch for neurologic
symptoms in their animals.
Two of the horses were
treated at Oregon State Uni-
versity’s veterinary hospital.
Horses at Marion County and
Polk County stables and anoth-
er farm have been quarantined.
The first horse to fall ill
showed signs April 28 and a
diagnosis of EHV-1 was con-
firmed the following day. Hors-
es from the Marion County sta-
ble were at events at the Linn
County Fairgrounds in Albany
April 16-19 and at the Oregon
Horse Center in Eugene April
25-26.
Owners who also had hors-
es at the events or have ques-
tions about the virus should
contact their vet, said Dr. Ryan
Scholz, the Oregon Department
of Agriculture’s western district
veterinarian. He said there was
no immediate sign of neurolog-
ic problems among the horses
quarantined at the stable.
EHV-1 is one of the most
common respiratory viruses
among horses; by age 2 most
horses have been exposed to it,
Scholz said. It’s a lifelong in-
fection, but lies dormant most
of the horse’s life. But every
once in a while, triggered by
stress or other factors, it pops
up and attacks the nervous sys-
tem, he said.
The virus in this case is a
common form, Scholz said. It
is not the mutated form of the
virus that caused an outbreak
among horses at a national cut-
ting horse competition several
years ago, he said.
The virus can’t be trans-
mitted to people but spreads
among horses through ani-
mal-to-animal contact or con-
taminated equipment, clothing
or hands.
Symptoms include fever,
decreased coordination, nasal
discharge, dribbled urine, loss
of tail tone, hind limb weakness
and poor balance, according to
an ODA news release. Sick
horses may be unable to rise.
The virus can cause preg-
nant mares to abort. Severe
cases can kill horses. Vaccina-
tions are available, but Scholz
said they are short-lived and
must be combined with good
bio-security management prac-
tices. The department does not
recommend for or against the
vaccine, but encourages horse
owners to discuss it with their
veterinarian, he said.
OSU determining building Researchers warn vineyards
may face increased pest pressure
design values of juniper
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
Eric Mortenson/Capital Press
Scott Leavengood of OSU’s Oregon Wood Innovation Center sits atop juniper timbers that will tested
for design values. Certification may improve the market for juniper wood.
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
CORVALLIS — About
five times a year, architects
call Scott Leavengood at Or-
egon State University to ask
about juniper. Usually they
have a client who wants to use
the beautifully gnarly wood as
an architectural detail such as
exposed beams.
Normally, architects and
engineers can find wood de-
sign values — load-bearing
properties and so on — by
turning to a booklet published
by the West Coast Lumber In-
spection Bureau.
Trouble is, “Juniper is not in
there,” said Leavengood, direc-
tor of OSU’s Oregon Wood In-
novation Center. “It’s a market
barrier right now.”
Work at OSU this year could
change that. Loads of juniper
timbers from Idaho and North
Central Oregon will be cut, bent,
stressed and broken in the cen-
ter’s testing facilities.
The certified results could
strengthen market demand for a
tree that is rooted in greater sage
grouse, ranching and rangeland
health issues.
The thing about juniper is,
it’s native and invasive at the
same time. It controls swaths
of Eastern Oregon and beyond.
It intercepts precious moisture
from sage brush and grasses
and provides hawks and other
predators a place to perch and
spy for prey.
Leavengood of OSU said
juniper logs sometimes show
false growth rings, periods
where the tree basically turned
itself off to wait out a drought.
Eric Mortenson/Capital Press
Students marked knots and other imperfections on juniper timbers,
indicating how difficult it will be to find clear sections to cut and test
for design values.
They hang tough, he said.
“If I was an ecologist, I
think I would study juniper,”
he said. “Because it’s such a
tough species.”
And now agencies and re-
searchers say we should cut
juniper like crazy. They say
removing juniper allows for a
quick comeback of sage and
grasses. This improves habitat
for greater sage grouse, which
hangs on in 11 Western states
and is a candidate for inclusion
on the federal endangered spe-
cies list. U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service will make that call in
September.
A lot of ranchers connect
the dots. Improve habitat, keep
the bird off the list, ease the
worry of increased grazing re-
strictions. Necessary manage-
ment changes are “not oner-
ous” as a Southeast Oregon
rancher put it once.
A market for juniper could
fuel the whole thing, the think-
ing goes. But that’s the problem.
“It’s expensive to harvest, ex-
pensive to cut up, and the yields
are low,” Leavengood said.
He believes juniper is best
Researchers expect this to be a bad year for
bugs in Oregon’s vineyards.
Oregon State University’s Wine Research
Institute issued a warning saying wine grape
growers can expect increased pressure from
brown marmorated stinkbugs in particular and
spotted wing drosophila to a lesser degree.
A warmer-than-average growing season last
year and a mild winter set the stage for high
populations of both, according to OSU.
The pair are two of agriculture’s most dam-
aging pests; both feed on tree fruit and berries,
including cherries, raspberries, blackberries
and blueberries.
For wine grape growers, the highest risk
areas for stinkbug damage are the Che-
halem Mountains, Dundee Hills, Eola-Am-
ity Hills, and McMinnville American Viti-
cultural Areas, or AVAs. Southern Oregon
and Columbia Gorge AVAs are at somewhat
reduced risk.
Brown marmorated stinkbugs eat plant
tissue and the grape berries, potentially con-
taminating the grapes and hurting wine qual-
ity. They apparently move into vineyards
late in the season after other crops have been
picked.
An OSU news release said they engage in
“hill topping” behavior, meaning they over-
winter at higher elevations. Many vineyards
are planted on rolling slopes, putting them
in favored stinkbug habitat. Wineries have
found them in buildings and dead bugs have
been found in fermenting wine, according to
OSU.
Vaughn Walton, a professor and horticultur-
al entomologist at OSU, is researching the use
Courtesy of USDA
Brown marmorated stink bugs such as these
may pose a threat to Oregon vineyards, re-
searcher warn.
of tiny parasites to control the stinkbugs.
Spotted wing drosophila prefer other crops,
particularly berries. It saws a hole in berries
and lays an egg inside, which hatches and
feeds on the host from the inside, causing it to
collapse in a gooey mess.
The tiny flies may be drawn to grapes dam-
aged by rain, birds or fungus, according to the
Wine Research Institute.
suited for minimally processed
uses such as sign posts and
guardrails, and for the high-
end niche market such as cab-
inets and flooring. It’s pretty,
smells good and is naturally
rot resistant.
And juniper has that range-
land “restoration” message that
frankly plays well with urban
buyers.
“Juniper’s got a story behind
it,” Leavengood said.
“I don’t think it’s ever go-
ing to be Doug fir or Ponderosa
pine,” he said. “But that’s not the
point.”
Some landowners now cut
juniper and leave it on the land-
scape or burn it. Leavengood
and others hope to convince
them juniper should be hauled
to small mills operating in East-
ern Oregon.
Efforts to establish a juni-
per logging, hauling and mill-
ing infrastructure have come
and gone for a couple decades.
Leavengood believes establish-
ing its design values, as OSU
will do, could help the market. A
USDA grant is helping pay for
the research.
Water regulators seek to close funding loophole
circumvent this requirement.
Resources Congress, urged the
Bill would also
House Bill 2400 would clar- committee to pass the bill be-
that water storage projects cause the reports are now fin-
extend deadlines ify
that receive state funding must ished and being used to write
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Oregon water regulators
are aiming to close a loop-
hole in the rules governing the
state’s $10 million water sup-
ply development fund.
The legislature created the
fund in 2013 with the goal of
funding water projects that
meet certain environmental
conditions.
For example, storage res-
ervoirs must comply with a
“seasonally varying flows”
requirement to ensure that
enough water is left in-stream
outside the irrigation season to
ensure the proper functioning
of watersheds.
While developing regula-
tions for the fund, the Oregon
Water Resources Department
noticed that project developers
who get a water right permit be-
fore applying for money could
comply with the “seasonally
varying flow” conditions re-
gardless of when the permit
was obtained.
The bill has already passed
the House 47-10 and is now
being considered by the Senate
Committee on Environment and
Natural Resources.
During a May 4 hearing,
some lawmakers said they were
concerned about provisions in
the bill that extend deadlines for
the completion of key reports on
the fund’s operations.
Sen. Alan Olsen, R-Canby,
said he was concerned why the
work wasn’t done in the time
frame set by lawmakers.
Racquel Rancier, senior pol-
icy coordinator for OWRD, said
the delay was caused by the un-
timely appointment of two task
forces that were charged with
writing the reports last year.
April Snell, executive di-
rector of the Oregon Water
regulations for the water fund.
As for the permit loophole,
Snell said the intention of law-
makers all along was to condi-
tion funding on environmental
requirements being met, and
HB 2400 simply corrects the
statutory language.
“We want to see it up and run-
ning and we want to see it work-
able,” she said of the water fund.
The committee also heard
testimony on other bills that
have already passed the House:
• House Bill 2445, which
provides farm regulators with
additional ways to notify people
of agricultural quarantines be-
yond newspaper ads.
• House Bill 2474, which
creates licenses for veterinary
facilities that are owned by
non-veterinarians.
• House Bill 2047, which
corrects map boundary mistakes
made in a previous bill dealing
with urban and rural reserves.
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