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MONARCH LAWSUIT HAS GMO IMPLICATIONS FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 2016 VOLUME 89, NUMBER 13 Page 7 WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM $2.00 Potentially impacted by a preliminary injunction 20 126 126 Sisters 242 Riv e r 20 THREE SISTERS WILDERNESS Lava Lake Crane Prairie Reservoir Wickiup Reservoir 58 Crescent Lake Deschu tes R o ad Bend 97 CATTLE La Pine 31 97 N 10 miles Capital Press graphic Judge denies injunction to protect spotted frog “It’s a signifi cant amount of land. It’s the heart-and-soul of the whole tri-county economy. It’s a big deal.” COLVILLE C “It seems (the Forest Service is) very accommodating to livestock, and we need better protection.” Randi Spivak, public lands director for the Center for Biological Diversity By DON JENKINS Capital Press 31 25 Curlew OKANOGAN 21 R bia 395 PEND OREILLE Republic 21 COLVILLE NAT’L FOR. COLVILLE NAT’L FOR. 20 N r ve Colville FERRY 10 miles Proposed U.S. Forest Service plan area 395 ver Ri Turn to COLVILLE, Page 12 Photos courtesy of Colville National Forest ille attle have grazed in the Colville Na- tional Forest in northeast Washing- ton state for more than a century, but ranchers fear their livestock could soon be forced off the land. Coming their way is a new plan to guide forest managers for the next 15 years. Though it doesn’t cancel specifi c activities such as grazing, the direc- tives under consideration include broad mandates to protect streams, plants and trails from cattle. The agency asserts that grazing may continue at current levels, but the plan says that in some areas grazing may be less intense and increase ranchers’ operating costs. Members of the Stevens County Cattlemen’s Association, whose members graze cattle in the national forest, describe the plan’s layers of reg- ulations as “confusing and arbitrary” and would make grazing there impractical. The group says the proposed requirements are unnecessary and unrealistic, including those that would keep cat- tle away from water. “You’d have to keep pushing cows out of every little draw,” said the association’s president, Jus- tin Hedrick, whose family has grazed cattle in the national forest since World War II. “It’s unattain- able.” The Forest Service has adopted a policy of only responding in writing to submitted questions about the plan, citing the need to keep the plan from be- ing mischaracterized. However, Colville National Forest spokesman Franklin Pemberton did say the plan will not end grazing and that forest offi cials plan to meet soon with ranchers to discuss their concerns. At stake is the viability of cattle ranching in this region of Washington state and other parts of the West, where management and transportation plans are under revision for millions of acres of national forests and other federally owned lands. P Turn to FROG, Page 12 Ranchers fear national forest could become off-limits to grazing i Capital Press lum By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI EUGENE, Ore. — A fed- eral judge has rejected a re- quest by environmentalists to drastically modify how water in several Central Oregon res- ervoirs is managed. U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken said the environmental groups failed to show that such a preliminary injunction was justifi ed to protect the threat- ened Oregon spotted frog. “It was a very diffi cult burden for you and I don’t be- lieve you’ve met it,” she said at the end of an oral argument hearing here March 22. At the outset of the hear- ing, Aiken warned an overfl ow crowd “right off the bat” that she planned to deny the request. While holding oral argu- ments is appropriate in a case of this magnitude, Aiken told environmentalists not to ex- pect a “big surprise” at the conclusion of the hearing. “You have a long way to go to persuade me,” she said. The Center for Biological Diversity and Waterwatch of Oregon claim that water man- agement at the Crane Prairie, Wickiup and Crescent Lake dams must be drastically al- tered to protect the threatened Oregon spotted frogs from further population declines. “You have a long way to go to persuade me,” she said. During oral arguments the two groups asked Aiken for a preliminary injunction that would restore fl ows in the streams and rivers on which the dams are located to more natural levels. However, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and several irrigation districts countered that the frogs have adapted to water conditions in the 70 years since the dams were built, so a sudden disruption in how they’re operated will likely injure the species. IN THE Justin Hedrick, Stevens County Cattlemen’s Association president COLVILLE NAT’L FOR. 211 STEVENS Colville Forest Plan Revision 20 2 231 The U.S. Forest Service will take comments on the plan until July 5. • To learn more, go to: www.fs.usda.gov/goto/colville/plan-revision (or) colvilleplanrevision.publicmeeting.info/ • Submit a comment electronically: 1.usa.gov/1pxhiFq • By email: colvilleplanrevision@fs.fed.us Area in • By mail: Colville Forest Plan Revision Team, WASH. detail 765 S. Main St., Colville, Wash. 99114 Source: USDA Forest Service Alan Kenaga/Capital Press ABOVE: Cows graze in the Colville National Forest in north- east Washington. A cattlemen’s association says proposed changes to how the Forest Service manages the 1.1 million-acre forest will effectively end grazing. TOP PHOTO: The proposed plan says in some ar- eas of the Colville National Forest grazing may be less intense and increase ranchers’ operating costs. Food companies bend to GMO labeling pressure Farm groups fear consumer alarm, added costs of labeling By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Recent decisions by food man- ufacturers to label genetically engineered ingredients indicate the industry is bending to activ- ist pressure regardless of political and legal battles, experts say. General Mills, which sells about $17.6 billion worth of food items globally, recently said it will begin labeling U.S. products containing genetically modifi ed organisms, or GMOs. Earlier this year, the Campbell Soup Co., which has worldwide sales of $8 billion, said it sup- ported mandatory GMO labeling in the U.S. and would label such ingredients even if such a federal standard is not established. These announcements have come despite the failure of ballot initiatives requiring GMO food labels in Oregon, Washington, California and Colorado. A label- ing law passed in Vermont, set to take effect this year, is facing a challenge in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. “Campbell’s and General Mills are saying, ‘It’s hopeless to fi ght this. Let’s get ahead of the curve,’” said Tom Gillpatrick, ex- ecutive director of the Food Indus- Courtesy of General Mills try Leadership Center at Portland General Mills headquarters, in Minneapolis, Minn., is State University. Turn to GMO, Page 12 seen June 2014. 13-4/#5
