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WATER UTILITY TEAMS UP WITH FARMERS TO FIGHT HAZELNUT WORMS Page 3 Capital Press The West s Weekly FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2015 Area in detail Lake Chelan WENATCHEE NAT’L FOR. Chelan Alt 97 By DAN WHEAT Capital Press i a 97 VOLUME 88, NUMBER 27 Col u m b Approximate site of Sleepy Hollow Fire 2 DOUGLAS 2 East Wenatchee Wenatchee CHELAN 28 N KITTITAS 5 miles Alan Kenaga/Capital Press More shutoff notices issued San Francisco among latest batch of senior water right holders to receive stop- diversion orders WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM $2.00 Wenatchee wildfi re losses reach $100 million R i ve r WASH. WENATCHEE, Wash. — More than two dozen homes, two major tree fruit pack- ing plants and two other tree fruit businesses were heavily damaged or destroyed when wind blew a wildfi re into Wenatchee the evening of June 28. Losses “easily total $100 million” and hundreds of workers employed by the companies will be out of work, said Brian Moore, a fi re spokesman and Washington State Patrol trooper. About 24 to 28 residenc- es were destroyed, mainly in Wenatchee’s Broadview sub- division at the north end of town, Moore said. Some were million-dollar homes, he said. Blue Bird’s Wenatchee packing plant is probably a $30 million loss, said Ron Gonsalves, general manager of Blue Bird Inc. of Peshastin. “We had an organic apple line and multiple cherry lines A structure is shown in the Horse Lake Road area on the north edge of Wenatchee, Wash., at 8:12 p.m. June 28, shortly before fi re surrounded it. The fi re destroyed many homes and agricultural businesses. Dan Wheat Capital Press Turn to FIRE, Page 12 BUYING LOCAL By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press SACRAMENTO — As the hot, dry summer wears on, shutoff notices to Califor- nia’s most longstanding water right holders could occur on a weekly or even daily basis, state offi - cials and DROUGHT farm groups STORIES warn. • Hydropower W a t e r challenge regulators could impact “ p r e t t y irrigators much are • Drought looking at reduces water sup- hydroelectric ply versus output d e m a n d • Drought every day,” conditions said George take hold Western Kostyrko, in Washington spokesman PAGE 4 for the State Water Re- sources Control Board. The warming comes as the city of San Francisco was among the latest batch of se- nior water right holders south of the Sacramento-San Joa- quin River Delta to receive stop-diversion orders. The Turn to SHUTOFF, Page 12 Photos by Eric Mortenson/Capital Press Fernando Divina, executive chef at Oregon Health & Science University, heads a staff that feeds hospital patients 1,200 meals a day, plus many more for staff, students and visitors. Increased institutional food purchasing could bolster local farms By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press P ORTLAND — At Oregon Health & Science Uni- versity recently, the lunch offerings included sand- wiches made with organic chicken breast — locally sourced — on focaccia bread, baked locally and delivered daily. Plus salad made from local greens. Not a pre-packaged, mass-produced item in sight. This is hospital food? Providing minimally processed, nutritious food at a hospital, where the clientele includes patients, doc- tors and nurses, medical students and visitors, seems like a solid idea. And OHSU, the teaching hospital that employs 13,700 people and has one of Oregon’s biggest economic foot- prints, was an early adopter of the practice. The greater impact, however, could be to what a recent study re- ferred to as “Ag of the Middle.” That is, the farmers, ranchers and proces- sors who are too big to make a living selling solely at farmers’ markets and CSAs, but too small to compete at the commodity level. The study by Ecotrust, a Portland Eecole Copen, OHSU’s sustainable foods program coordinator. Ecotrust report said. Ranchers benefi t Purchasing agent Scott Cochrane, who buys food for Oregon Health & Science University, checks vegetables and herbs planted in new planter boxes on the hospital campus in Portland. nonprofi t, identifi ed institutions as a prime market opportunity for mid- dle-sized producers. Ecotrust estimated Oregon’s hos- pitals, schools, prisons, assisted liv- ing facilities and other institutions serve 40 million meals a year. Institutional food service de- partments have immense buying power and purchase large quanti- ties, the report pointed out. Even a relatively small tweak toward buying more Oregon grown and processed products would have a “significant ripple effect across the domestic food system,” the It paid off for a pair of North- east Oregon cattle ranches. Carman Ranch in Wallowa, in partnership with McClaren Ranch, sells about 1,000 pounds of beef and bones a week to OHSU. The ranches take about fi ve cows a week to a proces- sor in Brownsville, 90 miles south of Portland, and sell the hospital 500 pounds of ground beef, 200 pounds of Turn to LOCAL, Page 12 “You have to commit to being OK with dealing with multiple vendors. The whole system is based on willingness.” Eecole Copen, OHSU’s sustainable foods program coordinator 27-7/#5