Capital
Press
The West s
Weekly
FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015
VOLUME 88, NUMBER 28
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
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OREGON.GOV
THE WATER ‘THIEF’
In Central Oregon, landscape benefi ts from removing juniper trees
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
P
RINEVILLE, Ore. — Removing
intrusive Western juniper trees
from the landscape is the buzz
among researchers, ranchers and
government land managers.
Cutting juniper can improve greater sage
grouse habitat, restore rangeland for grazing
cattle and even provide jobs in struggling rural
communities, the experts say.
John and Lynne Breese have a 30-year
jump on them. In the draws and slopes outside
Prineville, the Breeses have been cutting juni-
per since the late 1980s.
Walking a section of what’s called the
Stump Puller Pasture, John Breese explains
the rapid impact of cutting juniper. Trees
on a 16-acre parcel of the pasture were
cut a year-and-a-half ago and the branches
trimmed and scattered as part of an on-going
experiment.
Turn to TREES, Page 12
Eric Mortenson/Capital Press
John and Lynne Breese of Prineville, Ore., have advocated juniper removal as a way to improve
stream, soil and range health. They’ve been at it since the late 1980s, and policymakers have come
around to their way of thinking.
Eric Mortenson/Capital Press
A mature juniper tree lies where it was
cut. While the tree might have supplied
marketable lumber, hauling it to a
sawmill is problematic.
Idaho aquifer agreement fi nalized
Capital Press
TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Idaho
surface and groundwater irrigators
have fi nalized terms of an agreement
aiming to reverse declining Eastern
Snake Plain Aquifer levels.
The agreement, reached on July 1,
provides a potential longterm solu-
tion to a water call fi led a decade
ago by irrigation companies with
the Surface Water Coalition against
junior well irrigators with Idaho
Ground Water Appropriators, Inc.
Surface users say they’ve been
injured by declining spring fl ows
into the Snake River from Blackfoot
THIS WEEK IN
THE CAPITAL PRESS
to Milner Dam, due to the increase in
junior well use.
The sides now have until Aug.
1 to convince member districts to
participate, or continue facing the
risk of curtailment during future dry
years.
The agreement seeks to stabi-
lize the aquifer within the next fi ve
years and meet its longterm goal of
restoring levels to the average fi ll
from 1991-2001 by 2026, accord-
ing to IGWA attorney Randy Budge.
Aquifer levels during the target pe-
riod were roughly between current
lows and peak levels from the early
1960s.
“We were struggling to work out
the recovery goal over the last few
days,” Budge said. “The experts
looked at it and concluded trying to
look at one year is probably not the
way to do it.”
Under the fi nal terms sheet, well
users will be expected to reduce their
Washington vet sees chance for worse bird fl u season
WSDA prepares for second season with virus deadly to poultry
A goose fl aps its wings last
winter in the Coweeman
River in Washington.
Migratory birds brought
bird fl u to Washington in
mid-December 2014. State
Veterinarian Joe Baker
says offi cials need to be
prepared for another out-
break this coming winter.
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
DROUGHT
Grass seed suffers
from drought, heat
Page 3
Packers assess
damage in massive
Wenatchee wildfi re
Page 5
Turn to IDAHO, Page 12
OLYMPIA — Bird fl u
could return next winter with
new strains that are more prev-
alent in wild birds and more
deadly for chickens, Washing-
ton State Veterinarian Joe Bak-
er said Monday.
“We have to be ready for
the worsening scenario,” he
said.
The Washington State De-
partment of Agriculture has
been reviewing last year’s out-
break and planning to prevent
and respond to a reoccurrence.
One lesson from last year:
It could have been worse.
The virus in Washington
was limited to a small per-
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
centage of wild ducks and
raptors, four mixed-bird back-
yard fl ocks and a game bird
farm of mostly pheasants. The
outbreaks were spaced apart
geographically and chrono-
logically, keeping WSDA
and the U.S. Department
of Agriculture from being
overwhelmed as they quar-
antined infected premises.
“Frankly, compared to
what happened in the Missis-
sippi Flyway, we got off pretty
easy,” Baker said. “We can’t
necessarily count on that good
fortune the next time it hits.”
The fi rst U.S. detection of
highly pathogenic bird fl u was
in mid-December at a lake in
northwest Washington. The
disease appeared over the
next two months throughout
the West, including at two
commercial poultry farms in
California.
The Western outbreaks
stopped in mid-February, but
the virus resurfaced in early
March in the Midwest, with
much more disastrous conse-
quences. More than 48 mil-
lion birds in 15 states have
been culled, according to the
USDA. The last case was con-
fi rmed June 17 in Iowa.
The USDA investigated
outbreaks at more than 80
commercial farms and con-
cluded that while migratory
birds introduced the virus,
biosecurity lapses spread it.
Turn to FLU, Page 12
28-2/#5
By JOHN O’CONNELL