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October 30, 2015 CapitalPress.com Efforts to block sage grouse Management protection FRXOGEDFN¿UH practices need to be economically By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press feasible to ranchers 5 Expert: Use buffer zones wisely By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press FAIRFIELD, Wash. — Fencing or buffer strips to keep FDWWOH RXW RI VWUHDPV VKRXOGQ¶W EH D ¿UVW PRYH 8QLYHUVLW\ RI California-Davis rangeland wa- tershed specialist Kenneth Tate said. Tate spoke during a livestock water quality seminar Oct. 22 in )DLU¿HOG:DVK Best management practic- es include maintaining healthy cattle or placing salt away from streams to avoid contamination, he said. “The absolute last place I would recommend a start is to consider fencing off creeks, EHFDXVH ¿UVW DQG IRUHPRVW ZH GRQ¶W NQRZ WKDW LW¶V UHTXLUHG´ he said. “Start with the cheap stuff, the easy stuff, and build your way into it, just as you would with any business going into a new venture.” Best management practices need to make economic sense to ranchers, Tate said. ³7KHUH¶V D ORW RI WKLQJV WR think about before you start erecting hundreds of miles of fence,” he said. Excessive fencing can harm wildlife, he said. Tate also said narrow buffer zones are effective. More than 90 percent of mi- crobes in a pile of manure, or range cow fecal pat, never leave, Tate said. Depending on tem- perature or environmental con- ditions, they die very quickly. It removes a lot of the potential microbial pollutants, he said. Most microbes are trapped roughly a yard around the pat. Microbes reduce by 70 to 90 percent for every additional yard they travel, such as in run- off during a storm. 7KH ¿UVW VWHS LV GHFLGLQJ whether a buffer zone is needed, DQG KRZ HI¿FLHQWO\ D ORFDWLRQ Matthew Weaver/Capital Press Kenneth Tate, professor and cooperative extension specialist in rangeland watershed sciences with the University of California-Davis, addresses ranchers Oct. 22 during the livestock water quality semi- QDULQ)DLU¿HOG:DVK 6LWHVSHFL¿FSODQVQHDUVWUHDPVFDOOHGIRU By MATTHEW WEAVER stressed the need for decisions about livestock grazing to be FAIRFIELD, Wash. — A EDVHG RQ VLWHVSHFL¿F FRQGL- RQHVL]H¿WVDOO UHJXODWRU\ tions. EDQ LJQRUHV WKH EHQH¿WV RI Buckhouse said riparian well-managed livestock graz- zones can be healed faster with ing near streams, two range- livestock grazing than without land experts say. it. John Buckhouse, retired The cow becomes “a very Oregon State University pro- marvelous tool” when proper- fessor of rangeland ecology ly used, he said. and management from Oregon Tate gave several exam- State University, and Kenneth ples of situations in California Tate, professor and cooper- where water quality issues ative extension specialist in were originally thought to be rangeland watershed sciences caused by livestock grazing. at University of California-Da- Further research showed other vis, spoke during a livestock factors were the primary prob- water quality seminar Oct. 22 lems, including past manage- LQ)DLU¿HOG:DVK ment activities on the land, ni- Buckhouse and Tate both trogen buildup in nearby rocks Capital Press traps pollutants, Tate said. “It really comes down to VLWHVSHFL¿F FRQGLWLRQV DQG WKH magnitude of the risk,” he said. ³,W¶V QRW D RQHVL]HDOO DQVZHU Anybody who tells you (it) is is oversimplifying our extremely complex world.” Kelly Susewind, special as- sistant for the Washington De- partment of Ecology director on water policy, said the agen- F\ GRHVQ¶W KDYH GH¿QHG EXIIHU zones. Ranchers wishing to re- ceive funding for participating LQ (FRORJ\¶V ¿QDQFLDO PDQDJH- ment program must typically keep buffers of 35 feet to 75 feet, he said. “If we get to a position and wildlife pollution. “This science can be done here,” Tate said. “Maybe part of this process is, what are the questions you need answered? An important thing is to get those on the table, see what science we have to address it now and then determine what you need.” Buckhouse called for in- creased education for both ranchers and regulators. Ranchers should also reach out to different community groups and civic clubs to share their perspective, he said. The Washington State De- partment of Ecology prefers keeping cattle from streams and riparian areas. Egg board CEO steps down after vegan PD\RÀDS By CANDICE CHOI AP Food Industry Writer where we work with somebody for years and have a problem, WKHQ ZH¶OO VSHFLI\ IRU WKDW VLWH what we say is the minimum,” Susewind said. “At some point, ZH¶YH JRW WR VD\ µ:H¶G OLNH WR ZRUN ZLWK \RX ÀH[LELOLW\ LV JUHDW EXW ZH¶YH JRW WR JHW the job done and protect water TXDOLW\¶´ 44-7/#4N RENO, Nev. (AP) — At- tempts by rural Nevada coun- ties, mining companies and oth- ers to block new U.S. policies intended to protect the greater VDJH JURXVH FRXOG EDFN¿UH RQ the critics and ultimately force reconsideration of a recent deci- sion to keep the bird off the list of endangered species, federal land managers warn. Justice Department lawyers representing three U.S. agen- cies say it took an unprece- GHQWHGHIIRUWE\RI¿FLDOVLQ western states from California to the Dakotas to persuade the Fish and Wildlife Service last month to reverse its 2010 con- clusion that protection of the grouse was warranted under the Endangered Species Act. 7KHQHZ¿QGLQJZDVEDVHG on assumptions that added pro- tections in the land-planning amendments being challenged will be carried out to ensure the grouse no longer is threatened with extinction, they said in a EULHI ¿OHG )ULGD\ LQ 86 'LV- trict Court in Reno. Any injunction blocking im- plementation would “diminish the protections for sage grouse ... undo four years of collab- oration and could undermine ):6¶ ¿QGLQJ´ 86 $WWRUQH\ Daniel Bogden wrote. U.S. District Judge Miranda Du has set a hearing for Nov. 12 in Reno to consider granting a preliminary injunction blocking the amendments. Elko and Eureka counties DQGRWKHUV¿OHGWKHODZVXLWRQ Sept. 23 — the day after Inte- rior Secretary Sally Jewell an- nounced the listing decision. The Wyoming Stock Growers Association also is suing in IHGHUDOFRXUWWKHUHDQG,GDKR¶V governor has signed onto a sep- DUDWH ODZVXLW ¿OHG LQ IHGHUDO court in Washington, D.C. The Nevada lawsuit says the plans could run mining companies and ranchers out of business, block construction of a wind energy project that could bring Elko County $500 mil- OLRQ DQG GHQ\ ¿UH¿JKWHUV DQG ODZ RI¿FHUV DFFHVV WR H[LVWLQJ roads during emergencies. Nevada Attorney General Paul Laxalt added his name to the lawsuit last week — over the objections of Gov. Brian Sandoval — along with Chur- chill, Humboldt, Lander, Lin- coln, Pershing and Washoe counties in the state. 7KHJRYHUQPHQWLQLWV¿UVW formal response, says the op- ponents misrepresent and ex- aggerate the potential effects. It says they have proven no irrep- arable harm and are challenging prematurely the planning-level amendments that offer guide- OLQHVEXWUHQGHUQRVSHFL¿FGH- cisions on individual grazing, mining or other federal permits. “They allege speculative in- juries that will come to pass, if at all, only after future site-spe- FL¿FGHFLVLRQVDUHPDGH´%RJ- den wrote. He especially chal- lenged claims the protections could restrict use of thousands of miles of existing roads and threaten to public safety by in- hibiting travel of emergency responders. “The amendments do not close any existing routes,” Bog- den wrote. “But even if they GLG WKH DJHQFLHV¶ UHJXODWLRQV exempt emergency vehicles from OHV (off-highway vehi- cle) restrictions.” The lawsuit accuses the government of “attempting a massive management change” for more than 20 million acres of public land in Nevada with- out proper environmental re- view — nearly 3 million acres where new mining claims are prohibited for at least two years and more than 16 million acres subject to what the lawsuit calls onerous travel restrictions. The two-year freeze on some new mining claims was WULJJHUHG E\ -HZHOO¶V SURSRVDO last month to withdraw 10 mil- lion acres of public lands in Ida- ho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming under the 1872 Mining Law. But Bogden said the pro- posed withdrawal is subject to “valid existing rights and has no immediate effect on mining op- HUDWLRQV´,W¶VVXEMHFWWRSXEOLF comment through Dec. 23. AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File ,QWKLV'HF¿OHSKRWR Hampton Creek Foods CEO Josh Tetrick holds a species of yellow pea used to make Just Mayo, a plant-based mayonnaise, in San Francis- co.The president of the egg industry’s checkoff organization has retired early following the publication of a series of emails UHODWHGWRWKH¿JKWZLWK+DPS- ton Creek. NEW YORK (AP) — The CEO of the American Egg Board has stepped down ear- lier than planned, following the release of emails indicat- ing she tried to stop the sale of a vegan mayonnaise at Whole Foods. Joanne Ivy retired at the end of September. Before the release of the emails, the egg board said Ivy would retire Dec. 31. Ivy and representatives of the egg board, which pro- motes the industry and is re- sponsible for the “Incredible, Edible Egg” slogan, did not immediately respond to a re- quest for comment. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the board, FRQ¿UPHG ,Y\¶V UHWLUHPHQW but declined to comment on the reason. The early departure comes as the USDA investigates the egg board regarding its actions related to Hampton Creek, a San Francisco startup that makes the eggless may- onnaise alternative Just Mayo. On Sept. 2, The Associated Press reported on emails in which Ivy told a consultant that she would “like to accept your offer to make that phone call to keep Just Mayo off Whole Foods shelves.” The request, made in 2013, was not successful, as Just Mayo is still sold at Whole Foods. The communication never- theless raised regulatory ques- tions because the egg board is one of about 20 “checkoff” programs overseen by the USDA, making them qua- si-governmental bodies. The programs, which include the National Pork Board and the Mushroom Council, are fund- ed by producers and supposed to be promotional. In a statement regarding its investigation, the USDA said it is “committed to estab- OLVKLQJ D OHYHO SOD\LQJ ¿HOG that protects and promotes all appropriate agricultural endeavors.” It said it did not “condone any efforts to limit competing products in com- merce” and that its admin- istrative review would take “some time” to complete. Other emails by egg board executives illustrated the alarm over the media at- tention being showered on Hampton Creek, which makes plant-based alternatives to eggs it says are better for the environment. Publicly, egg board executives have sought to play down the company and avoided referring to it by name. Internally, however, the board was getting advice from public relations agency Edelman on how to respond to Hampton Creek. In one exchange, an Edel- man employee alerted the board that Hampton Creek had just challenged it to a bakeoff on Twitter. The em- ployee advised the board not to respond. ,W¶V QRW WKH ¿UVW WLPH checkoff programs have come under scrutiny. In 2012, the 86'$¶V LQVSHFWRU JHQHUDO LV- sued a report saying depart- mental oversight should be improved.