October 23, 2015
Livestock and
wildlife experts
sought
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Washington wildlife offi-
cials are recruiting livestock
experts and conservationists
to advise the state on compen-
sating ranchers for lost pro-
duction caused by wolves.
The Department of Fish
and Wildlife plans to appoint
up to five volunteers to serve
on the new committee.
The panel will review
WDFW’s approval or denial
of claims for reduced weight
gain, low pregnancy rates and
higher-than-normal losses.
The department will make
the final call on payments, but
the panel will bring additional
expertise and transparency to
the process, WDFW wolf pol-
icy coordinator Donny Mar-
torello said.
He said WDFW wants a
variety of viewpoints repre-
sented. “Diversity is import-
ant. If it were all like-minded
people, we’d need only one
person,” he said.
WDFW pays ranchers the
market value for livestock
killed by wolves. The state’s
wolf recovery plan also calls
for WDFW to develop a sys-
tem to compensate ranchers
for livestock losses where
there is no direct evidence
wolves caused the damage.
Martorello said WDFW
has not made any payments
for indirect losses, but two
ranchers have filed claims.
Volunteers will serve stag-
gered one- or two-year terms.
The committee may start
meeting as early as mid-No-
vember and will likely meet
about four times a year, ac-
cording to WDFW.
Committee members will
be reimbursed for travel ex-
penses.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
A Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife file photo shows a
member of the Teanaway wolf pack. Washington wildlife officials
are recruiting livestock experts and conservationists to advise the
state on compensating ranchers for lost production caused by
wolves.
Wolf shooting probed
in Columbia County
Predator activities
increasing in
portions of state
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
A lone wolf that had been
fitted with a radio collar in
Oregon was shot and killed in
Columbia County by a man
who said he was protecting his
dogs, according to the Wash-
ington Department of Fish and
Wildlife.
WDFW is investing the
shooting, which occurred after
dark Oct. 11 on Eckler Moun-
tain in the Blue Mountains.
The resident reported the inci-
dent, WDFW Capt. Dan Rahn
said.
Rahn said Monday that
WDFW investigators were
working on a report to submit
to the Columbia County Pros-
ecutor’s Office. Wolves are
a state endangered species in
southeast Washington. Harm-
ing a state-protected animal is
a gross misdemeanor punish-
able by up to a year in jail and
a $5,000 fine.
“People still have the right
to protect their property, but it
has to be under the right cir-
cumstances and that’s what
we’re investigating,” Rahn
said. “This is a priority to get it
done.”
The Blue Mountains strad-
dle the Washington-Oregon
border. Both states have doc-
umented wolf packs and lone
wolves in the region. A WDFW
weekly summary of wolf activ-
ities in late September reported
that a collared male wolf from
Oregon was “spooking” cat-
tle on Eckler Mountain. The
shooter was apparently not a
livestock producer, Rahn said.
At least three other wolves
have been killed or injured in
shooting incidents in Washing-
ton in the past year.
A wolf was shot and killed
Oct. 12, 2014, in Whitman
County in southeast Washing-
ton. A resident was charged
with taking an endangered spe-
cies. The prosecutor’s office
dropped the charge after the de-
fendant agreed to pay $100 for
administrative costs.
A female in the Teanaway
pack in Central Washington
was found shot to death Oct.
28.
A wolf that was struck and
killed by a vehicle in April on
Interstate 90 in eastern King
County had also been healing
from a gunshot wound to her
rear leg.
In another wolf incident,
WDFW confirmed Oct. 14
that a calf on private land was
injured by a wolf in the Smack-
out pack in northeast Washing-
ton, WDFW wolf policy coor-
dinator Donny Martorello said
today.
The calf is expected to sur-
vive, he said.
WDFW counted five wolves
in the Smackout pack as of the
end of 2014, and the pack has
likely produced pups this year,
according to the department.
5
Industry responds to
‘Toxic Taters’ campaign
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
A small group of Minneso-
ta residents concerned about
possible health effects of liv-
ing near potato fields is wag-
ing a campaign against spuds,
with financial backing from a
national organization that op-
poses pesticide use.
Toxic Taters, which uses
the Pesticide Action Net-
work’s nonprofit status for
fundraising, has protested
McDonald’s restaurants and
a large Minnesota farm, R.D.
Offutt.
Industry sources note Of-
futt is among the most en-
vironmentally progressive
farms in the country and say
the protesters are making an
emotional appeal devoid of
facts.
Toxic Taters coordinator
Amy Mondloch said the or-
ganization, which has about
15 core members, organized
40 protests of McDonald’s
restaurants throughout the
country on Oct. 6 and has
obtained 30,000 signatures
on petitions asking McDon-
ald’s to demand reduced
pesticide use from its sup-
pliers.
In an email to Capital
Press, McDonald’s respond-
ed, “As part of our 2009
commitment, we require a
comprehensive audit of U.S.
potato growers annually to
identify best practices in
pesticide reduction, as well
as water and fertilizer use.”
American Falls, Ida-
ho, grower Jim Tiede, the
incoming National Pota-
to Council president, said
growers limit their pesti-
cide use by necessity to cut
costs. Tiede follows a Uni-
versity of Idaho pesticide
management plan to stream-
line chemical use. Tiede
noted NPC has spearheaded
development of a farm sus-
tainability program, driven
Courtesy of Toxic Taters
Toxic Taters supporters protest a Minnesota McDonald’s restaurant on Oct. 6. The group opposes pes-
ticide use and believes more studies of health impacts on homes near farm fields should be conduct-
ed. Industry sources counter that the group is making an emotional appeal to support its agenda.
by customer demands. Mc-
Donald’s is helping to de-
velop the plan, Tiede said.
Tiede emphasized that
farmers’ families live by
their fields, and chemical
application guidelines are
strict. He believes the in-
dustry should respond to
such “scare tactics.”
“It’s a lot of innuendos
and not-quite truths to scare
consumers not to buy po-
tatoes,” Tiede said. “In the
big picture, I think it hurts
the image of the potato.”
Current NPC President
Dan Lake, of Ronan, Mont.,
said ever-tightening reg-
ulations have driven the
industry to continually im-
plement more environmen-
tally sound practices and
products. Within the next
decade, Lake predicts the
industry will utilize more
biological products.
Lake said the indus-
try responds to emotion-
al appeals, such as “Toxic
Taters,” by looking at the
“science side of things.”
Rupert, Idaho, potato re-
searcher Jeff Miller said po-
tato residue levels are safe,
and any claim to the con-
trary is irresponsible. But
he acknowledges fry buyers
could further limit chemical
use by sourcing new spud
varieties with improved pest
and disease resistance.
Mondloch said Toxic
Taters has requested data on
the Offutt and McDonald’s
sustainability plans, a list
of chemicals applied by Of-
futt and funding for studies
on health impacts of homes
near farms.
R.D. Offutt officials
emphasized environmen-
tal milestones highlighted
on the company website,
including reducing phos-
phorus by 40 percent and
nitrogen by 10 percent on
its Park Rapids, Minn.,
farm, planting 2,500 acres
of trees as drift buffers, cut-
ting tillage in half through
precision agriculture, wa-
ter savings through high-
tech irrigation methods and
minimized leaching with
slow-release fertilizer.
PAN has provided Toxic
Taters members with equip-
ment to test for drift in their
yards. In general, PAN ad-
vocates for stricter Environ-
mental Protection Agency
risk-assessment guidelines
for pesticides relying on
less
industry-generated
data, the phasing out of
certain restricted pesticides
and more analysis of long-
term health impacts of low
pesticide doses, said PAN
official Lex Horan.
AgWeatherNet director leaving Washington State University
Washington State Univer-
sity is looking for a new lead-
er for AgWeatherNet.
Gerrit Hoogenboom, direc-
tor since 2010, will take a po-
sition at the University of Flor-
ida beginning Jan. 1, according
to a WSU press release.
AgWeatherNet is an au-
tomated agricultural weather
station network
that provides
current and his-
torical weather
data and a range
of models and
decision aids
Hoogenboom that farmers can
use.
Gary Grove, director of the
Online
http: //weather.wsu.edu
WSU Irrigated Agriculture
Research and Extension Cen-
ter, will be interim director of
AgWeatherNet. Melba Salazar
will become interim leader
of AgWeatherNet’s research
program. WSU will begin the
search for a director in 2016.
“Under (Hoogenboom’s)
leadership,
AgWeatherNet
expanded significantly and
developed several important
decision models and push
technologies,” said Rich Koe-
nig, director of WSU Exten-
sion, in the press release.
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Ag teachers never have the same day twice. One day they might be in a
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teams for an FFA Career Development Event, or leading a community
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Teach by doing, not just telling
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43-7/#13
ROP-40-5-4/#24
WDFW seeks
panel to review
wolf-caused losses
CapitalPress.com