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March 11, 2016 By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press Don Jenkins/Capital Press Air law, expense clouds Washington’s path to controlled burns By DON JENKINS Capital Press OLYMPIA — Lawmakers appear willing to light more controlled burns, though bud- get and environmental con- siderations stand in the way of signiicantly increasing the number of acres seared of lame-feeding undergrowth. “We’ve got a long ways to go,” said Okanogan County Rep. Joel Kretz, whose Eastern Washington district has been ravaged by wildires for two straight summers. “I think one of the biggest things here is educating the public that ‘no ire’ is not an option. No smoke is not an op- tion. It’s better to have a little in the spring and fall, instead of continual summer-long smoke,” he said. Washington’s million-acre wildire season last summer nearly tripled the acres burned in 2014, which had been a re- cord. Wildires were the sec- ond-largest source of air pollu- tion in the state in 2015, after transportation. The ires cost the state $164 million in un- anticipated suppression costs. In response, lawmakers likely will pass one or more bills this session related to suppressing and preventing wildires. Kretz has proposed reviving controlled burns, a forest-thin- ning practice that went into decline after the Legislature passed the Washington Clean Air Act in 1991. Kretz-sponsored legisla- tion, House Bill 2928, has passed both chambers unan- imously, though in slightly different versions that must be reconciled. The bill depends on an $800,000 appropriation to slightly increase controlled burning by the state, perhaps by 1,000 acres this year. Kretz said he hopes con- trolled burns in 2016 will demonstrate to the 2017 Leg- islature that they can be done safely and with less smoke than released by raging wildires. “We’ve got to get a suc- cessful track record,” he said. 7 Growers turn to owls for vole control Washington Rep. Joel Kretz, far left, talks with, from left, Okanogan County Commissioners Jim DeTro and Ray Campbell, and Carlos Gutierrez, a prescribed burn manager from Florida, on March 3 in Olympia after a House committee work session on using ire to reduce the risk of uncontrolled wildires. Kretz has introduced a bill calling for more prescribed burns in Washington. Legislature embraces pilot project plan CapitalPress.com “We’ve got to igure out what the roadblocks are.” Oficials estimate 2.7 mil- lion acres of forestland in Eastern Washington should be thinned to make trees less vulnerable to pests, diseas- es and catastrophic wildires. Annually, only about 145,000 acres are thinned, mostly by mechanical methods. “145,000 acres a year against a 2.7 million-acre prob- lem. It’s going to take us a long time to ix it, if we keep going at that rate,” State Forester Aar- on Everett told the House Agri- culture and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday. “If this is a race with mother na- ture, we’re getting lapped.” DNR, which manages 5.6 million acres statewide, has virtually stopped prescribed burns. “When the state Clean Air Act was passed and the de- partment was directed to ind a way to reduce emissions, that’s what we did. So there isn’t a lot of burning that’s happening on state trust lands,” Everett said. “It’s almost entirely mechani- cal work.” According to DNR, the state could double its pre- scribed burns and not violate an emissions limit set by the Clean Air Act. Even that wouldn’t be enough controlled burning to make a difference, Kretz said. “We need to be doing more than double what we’re doing, like a hundred times (more), so I’m thinking that’s probably the barrier,” he said. “That’s got to be dealt with.” The Washington Depart- ment of Fish and Wildlife man- ages 1 million acres. About 100,000 acres are “in over- stocked, unnatural fuel condi- tion,” WDFW Lands Division Manager Clay Sprague said. WDFW has burned about 1,200 acres annually since 2011. Increasing burning to 10,000 acres a year would cost between $6 million and $7 million a year, the department estimates. Sprague said the expense will be in equipment and train- ing burn managers. Some mon- ey could be recouped by log- ging commercial timber before setting the ire, he said. CALDWELL, Idaho — Brad McIntyre hit a stum- bling block two years ago in his efforts to improve farm production by mimicking nature — vole populations spiked, and the rodents began decimating his crops. Practices such as remov- ing tillage, leaving stand- ing residue and planting multi-species cover crops for soil-health beneits may have increased his soil organic matter, but they also provid- ed cover for an abundance of voles, while leaving their tun- nels relatively undisturbed. Once again, McIntyre turned to nature for the solu- tion to his agronomic chal- lenge, working with Canyon County last April to erect an owl house for every 40 acres of his farmland. McIntyre believes owls have provided a cheap, effec- tive and natural alternative to using poison for vole control. Other farmers in his region have also sought rodent-con- trol help from Canyon Coun- ty, which offers to build and erect discounted owl box- es for landowners under its long-standing gopher abate- ment district. Long ago, McIntyre said, his family removed every tree and fence to maximize its farmable land. Now, he plans to replant rows of trees, hop- ing to provide additional plac- Photo submitted A screech owl emerges from his box. Oficials with Canyon County Weed and Pest Control have a program in which they set up owl boxes at a discounted cost to help control gophers, but farmers have been ordering the boxes lately for vole control. es for his winged predators to perch. “We’re trying to not only in our soil mimic what na- ture is doing, but we’re trying to do that with predators, as well,” McIntyre said, adding short durations of high-den- sity grazing of cover crops have also helped to trample vole tunnels. Canyon County charges $159 per owl box. Boxes are mounted atop a 15-foot-tall pole. McIntyre admits owls don’t provide a “one-year, instant ix,” but he’s seen owl droppings along his irrigation lines, and he’s convinced his vole pressure has dropped. “I think it will easily pay for itself,” he said. Grower Ray Gross add- ed owl boxes last winter and may also erect them to control pests on a Nampa golf course of which he’s part owner. “I’m not saying it’s a ix- all, but I’ll bet it’s going to help some of the problems,” Gross said. Richard Friddle, lead ap- plicator with Canyon County Weed & Pest Control, said owls also control gophers, which can damage irrigation ditches and country roads. Friddle said the county has noticed a decline in payments of the $1 bounty it pays on gopher tails. “This vole thing has been a real unexpected bonus,” Friddle said. When Canyon County started the owl box program in the winter of 2011, Friddle admits “everybody thought it was a funny joke.” Now, word has spread that a nest- ing pair of barn owls eats an average of 35 voles per night. Friddle also erects boxes in surrounding counties such as Gem, Payette, Owyhee, Ada, and even Malheur County, Ore. Owl house occupancy rates have been above 50 per- cent, despite owl deaths to West Nile virus. Friddle, who has installed 30 owl boxes this winter, said the program is growing increasingly popular among farmers, and one grower who put up eight boxes reported having no vole issues, though they wreaked havoc in neigh- bors’ ields. Marlon Winger, the state agronomist for Idaho’s USDA Natural Resources Conserva- tion Service, has also taken notice of Canyon County’s owl box program. “You’ve got to take a step back and say, ‘What is Moth- er Nature doing? Is she spray- ing vole bait on the ground?’” Winger asked. Farm Bureau: TPP offers signiicant beneits By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press TPP effects, full implementation (Annually, millions of dollars) The American Farm Bu- reau Federation is bringing numbers to the table in sup- port of congressional ratiica- tion of the Trans-Paciic Part- nership, a multi-lateral trade agreement between the U.S. and 11 other countries. Farm Bureau’s econom- ic analysis of TPP shows the agreement has the potential to increase U.S. exports by $5.3 billion annually and boost an- nual net farm income by $4.4 billion when fully implement- ed – expected in 2026. The agreement, concluded in October, would raise total U.S. ag cash receipts nearly $8.5 billion annually, accord- ing to Farm Bureau’s analysis. Livestock cash receipts would increase $5.8 billion annually, it says, and cash receipts for the crop sector — including fruits, vegetable State California Washington Idaho Oregon U.S. Additional net farm income Additional ag exports Additional jobs $1,170 246.3 174.9 163.2 4,400 $924.8 179.8 112.8 105.5 5,300 7,000 1,350 850 800 40,100 Source: American Farm Bureau Federation and nuts — would increase $2.7 billion. U.S. net trade is expect- ed to increase for beef, pork, poultry, butter, cheese, nonfat dry milk, rice, cotton, soy- beans and soybean products. Net trade of corn and wheat are expected to decline slightly, but overall use and cash receipts are expected to increase as higher feed use will be needed to feed live- stock for increased exports of beef and pork. Capital Press graphic The agreement would also result in more than 40,000 new U.S. jobs, according to the analysis. Farm Bureau personnel were not available for com- ment this week, but Farm Bureau President Zippy Du- vall extolled the beneits of TPP and warned of the conse- quences of not approving the agreement in a press release accompanying the economic analysis. “Clearly, America’s farm- ers and ranchers have much to gain from approval of TPP…. American agriculture is a growth industry and to contin- ue that trend, we must expand our market opportunities,” he said. The agreement would reduce ag tariffs, adjust tar- iff-rate quotas and reduce non-tariff barriers to provide better access to markets. Legally, the agreement only goes into full effect if the U.S. ratiies it, but all the other member countries are already implementing bilater- al provisions of the deal with- out waiting for the U.S., Farm Bureau reported. “Every day we delay means lost markets as other TPP counties implement the deal’s advantages with each other. We are already arriving at the party late because right now expanded trade due to TPP is going on across the Pa- ciic Rim,” Duvall said. Find the Cream of the Crop... Reps. Newhouse, Reichert introduce Yakima Basin bill By DAN WHEAT Capital Press A bill authorizing the irst 10-year phase of a 30-year plan to improve the Yakima Basin water supply has been introduced in the U.S. House by Reps. Dan Newhouse and Dave Reichert, Washington state Republicans. HR 4686, introduced March 3, is a companion bill to S 1694, which passed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last November and is awaiting full Senate action. “Implementing this plan will give agricultural produc- ers the conidence they need to continue operating and expanding in the area while respecting concerns of con- servationists and local resi- dents,” Reichert said. Newhouse said the Yakima River Basin Integrated Water Resource Management Plan is becoming a national model in collaborative water infrastruc- ture planning. The bills would begin the irst 10 years of development of the basin plan. The plan seeks to better accommodate water needs of farmers, con- servationists and residents through water conservation and ecosystem restoration, additional water storage and construction of ish passages at Cle Elum and Rimrock res- ervoirs. Lake Kachess water stor- age would be improved and decisions will be made on expanding the capacity of Bumping Lake and building a new Wymer reservoir be- tween Ellensburg and Selah, said Urban Eberhart, an El- lensburg farmer who is man- ager of the Kittitas Reclama- tion District and a member of the plan’s implementation committee. Construction will start on either Bumping or Wymer in the second 10 years of devel- opment and on the other one in the third 10-year period, he said. The committee is pleased with the legislative progress, Eberhart said. Place your help wanted ad in Capital Press. 1.800.882.6789 www.cpmarketplace.com 11-2/#13
