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December 4, 2015 CapitalPress.com 11 Washington New wolf pack confi rmed in northcentral Washington Twisp Capital Press By DAN WHEAT Area in detail 97 Loup Loup Summit By DON JENKINS Omak Okanogan 20 Carlton OKANOGAN Approximate range of Loup Loup Wolfpack 153 173 er Chelan 97 17 174 ia R iv A new wolf pack has been found in the Methow Val- ley, expanding the animal’s confi rmed territory in north- central Washington grazing lands, the U.S. Fish and Wild- life Service announced Tues- day. “This is new territory for us,” Methow Valley rancher Vic Stokes said. “It’s going to be a steep learning curve.” Tracks in the snow and other sightings suggest the Loup Loup pack, named for a summit between Twisp and Omak in Okanogan Coun- ty, has up to six members, though wildlife biologists ha- ven’t confi rmed that number, USFWS spokeswoman Ann Froschauer said. Biologists will try to place a radio-tracking col- lar on a pack member in the spring to learn more about the pack’s makeup and move- ments. Biologists don’t know whether the pack has pups and represents an increase in the state’s population or was formed by wolves dispersing from other packs, she said. The Washington Depart- ment of Fish and Wildlife counted 68 wolves in the state last year. “These could be new animals or animals from exist- ing packs,” Froschauer said. The Lookout pack roams to the west in Okanogan County, and the Hozomeen pack trav- els to the north in Canada. The Loup Loup wolves are Washington’s 17th pack and the fourth in Central Wash- ington, where wolves are federally protected. The oth- er 13 packs are in the eastern one-third of the state, where wolves have been delisted by USFW but remain a state-pro- tected species. Kettle Range Conservation Group executive director Tim Coleman said the Loup Loup WASH. OKANOGAN NATIONAL FOREST C olu mb Wolves are ‘new territory’ for region’s ranchers Cold Train amends lawsuit against BNSF, seeks more than $41 million DOUGLAS N 172 5 miles Capital Press graphic pack’s territory has good hab- itat for wolves. “I think it’s exciting,” he said. “It means wolves are recovering.” Stokes said he hasn’t been concerned about wolves in the past, but he is now. After los- ing cattle in the Carlton Com- plex fi res in 2014, Stokes kept a reduced herd near his home this summer. He normally grazes in the new pack’s terri- tory and said he’s wondering how wolves will affect him if he rebuilds his herd. “For the ranching com- munity, it adds expense, adds anxiety and maybe lost pro- duction,” Stokes said. State law allows WDFW to shoot wolves to stop chron- ic attacks on livestock in the eastern one-third of Washing- ton. In Central Washington, federal law prohibits killing wolves to stop depredations. There are no wolves in West- ern Washington. Wildfi res again burned thousands of acres in Okano- gan County the past two sum- mers, killing cattle and char- ring pastures. Wolves present another problem, county rancher Scott Vejraska said. “I don’t like it. Don’t care for it. Don’t want it,” he said. “We have enough trouble with fi res. We don’t need another challenge.” Capital Press SPOKANE — Top offi - cials of Cold Train, a defunct refrigerated rail service be- tween the Pacifi c Northwest and Midwest, have amended their lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Spokane, detail- ing more allegations against BNSF they say forced Cold Train out of business. The amended lawsuit was fi led Nov. 20 and like the original April 7 suit seeks damages estimated at more than $41 million. It states BNSF engaged in unfair and deceptive trade practices. It also says BNSF violated the Washington Consumer Pro- tection Act by wrongfully re- quiring Michael Lerner, Cold Train managing member, and Steve Lawson, president and CEO, to agree to a 95 percent carriage requirement which effectively prohibited them from using other carriers. The amended complaint was only fi led after the court dismissed all three claims of the original suit, said Court- ney Wallace, BNSF spokes- woman. “BNSF makes every effort to frequently communicate and be transparent with our customers and to suggest oth- erwise is contrary to how we operate,” Wallace said. She declined further comment on specifi cs of the case. The amended lawsuit con- tends BNSF refused to revise its 95 percent carriage re- quirement, despite promises to the contrary. That and loss of on-time-performance due to more profi table transport- ing of oil and coal, resulted in the demise of Cold Train and destroyed a deal Lerner made to sell the company, the plain- tiffs say. The 72-hour service was canceled and replaced with 125-hour service. Throughout the latter part of 2013 and well into 2014, BNSF promised Lerner and Lawson that it would improve its on-time performance, Dan Wheat/Capital Press Attendees at a Cold Train open house in photograph refrigerated Cold Train containers being loaded onto a BNSF train in Quincy, Wash., on June 5, 2013. Cold Train went out of business in 2014 and now its owner is suing the railroad. knowing those promises were false or given with reckless disregard of truth, the lawsuit says. Cold Train operated from April 2010 to August 2014 and grew to about 700 refrig- erated containers per month headed east, carrying apples, produce and frozen goods. The refrigerated containers were loaded onto BNSF trains in Cold Train yards in Quincy, Wash., and Portland. While costing more than trucks, the service steadily grew with Central Washing- ton apple shippers who liked it because their apples were getting to Midwest and East Coast destinations faster and fresher, Dale Foreman, Lerner and Lawson’s Wenatchee at- torney, has said. The service was popular with top retailers, wholesal- ers, food processors and fresh shippers. BNSF has initiated nego- tiations with Great Western Bank, the senior secured cred- itor, to extinguish its liability to unsecured creditors — Le- rner, Lawson and Cold Train buyer Federated Railways, Farmington Hills, Mich., — by offering to buy the claim for pennies on the dollar against itself from the Rail Logistics estate (Cold Train’s mother company) without proper notice to unsecured creditors, Lawson said in a news release. This latest move by BNSF, if approved, would leave mil- lions of dollars of unsecured creditor debt without any means of relief, all to the ben- efi t of BNSF, he said. In late October, Infi nity Transportation Logistics, a subsidiary of Infi nity Manage- ment Partners, Atlanta, began new expedited refrigerated rail service from Washington and Oregon to the greater Chi- cago area and beyond, similar to what was provided by Cold Train. Koenig leads Washington State University crop and soil department, again Returning chairman continues as extension director By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press A familiar face is again lead- ing the Washington State Univer- sity Department of Crop and Soil Sciences. Rich Koenig, currently asso- ciate dean of the College of Ag- ricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences and director of WSU Extension, also returned Nov. 1 as interim chairman of the department. Koenig previously chaired the department from 2008 to 2012. He will maintain his positions with CAHNRS and WSU Exten- sion. Koenig said his priorities in- clude hiring an endowed chair soil and rhizosphere ecologist for the tree fruit industry and internal budget reallocations. Funds will be shifted to sup- port the university’s Five Grand Challenges, which are research priorities, Koenig said. Those challenges include food, energy and water as sustainable resourc- es; smart systems; advancing op- portunity and equity; research in support of national security; and sustaining health. Koenig said his position as in- terim department chairman could last up to two years to help the university get through leadership changes in the wake of President Elson Floyd’s death in June. The university hopes to find a re- placement for him next year. “This is one of what now are very many interim, acting or tem- porary roles at WSU,” he said. “Stay tuned — things will settle down once we get a new leader at the president level.” Koenig said another priority is to find a new chairman for the department during the next two years. Koenig hopes to build on the collaboration between the depart- ment and WSU Extension, ex- panding on work in small grains, dryland production and tree fruit. “I’m looking forward to may- be looking for some synergies,” he said. Matthew Weaver/Capital Press Washington State University Extension director Rich Koenig stands outside Hulbert Hall on the WSU campus in Pullman, Wash., in this fi le photo. America’s Farm and Ranch Database ONE LOW PRICE. UNLIMITED LISTINGS. WEEKLY ONLINE NEWSLETTER 1-800 UPLOAD SUPPORT CALL 1-800-882-6789 FOR DETAILS! 49-4/#13