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FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2016 Dan Wheat/Capital Press An aspen grove is seen in a draw of Pine Creek, northwest of Riverside, Wash. It was burned by back- burning during last August’s wildfire. VOLUME 89, NUMBER 14 WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM $2.00 SURVIVAL MODE Okanogan, Wash., ranchers hang on after massive fi res By DAN WHEAT Capital Press R IVERSIDE, Wash. — Fourth-generation Pine Creek rancher Gerald Scholz fi g- ured he was out of business. Firefi ghters last August set back- burns to stop wildfi res that burned about 600,000 acres of Okanogan County, a sprawling part of North-Central Wash- ington that borders Canada. But wind blew the backburns out of control. One destroyed most of Scholz’s grazing ground for his cat- tle, 95 percent of his timber, 39 cows, 1,425 tons of hay, two hay sheds, a Scholz swather and other equipment. “I’m burned out,” Scholz, 52, said last August. He had no place for his cows to graze, and he was forced to buy hay or fi nd other grazing land for the cattle that remained. State Department of Natural Resources offi cials have said they saved many ranches, but Scholz says he begged them not to backburn the Pine Creek area. Area in detail Oka nog an River British Columbia Wash. Approximate site of Pine Creek and Tunk Creek ranches 20 97 OKANOGAN NAT’L FOREST Riverside Omak 20 Okanogan N 97 155 Burn area 5 miles Alan Kenaga/Capital Press Turn to SURVIVAL, Page 12 Dan Wheat/Capital Press Jim Utt cuts a bale of straw to supplement alfalfa for his cattle on his ranch north of Riverside, Wash. His 92-year-old father, Melvin, watches and usually handles these chores alone. Like many ranchers in Okanogan County, they will feed hay two months longer this spring and maybe through the summer because of pastures burned in 2015 wildfi res. EPA funds campaign discrediting Wash. farmers Seattle PR firm hired to promote stronger regulations By DON JENKINS Capital Press A federally funded website that urges Washington state lawmakers to adopt new regulations on agriculture has drawn the ire of farm groups and the attention of two congressmen. The website, whatsupstream.com, was set up with a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to the Northwest Indian Fisheries Com- mission, which relayed the money to the Swinomish Indian Tribe in north- west Washington. EPA offi cials have been regular- An advertising sign on a Whatcom County bus promotes a fed- erally funded website that takes farmers to task for purportedly polluting water. ly updated over the past four years as a Seattle public relations fi rm hired by the tribe has orchestrated a media campaign to link farmers with water pollution and “build public support for a regulatory Courtesy of Save Family Farming Turn to EPA, Page 12 Environmentalists oppose offi cial spotted frog ruling Written opinion could later serve as legal precedent By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press EUGENE, Ore. — Environmentalists don’t want a federal judge to issue an of- fi cial written ruling denying their motion to radically change water management in several Central Oregon reservoirs. During a recent court hearing, U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken told environ- mental groups they failed to convince her that a preliminary injunction was necessary to protect the threatened Or- egon spotted frog. The plaintiffs — WaterWatch of Oregon and the Center for Biological Diversity — claimed that water fl ows from the Wickiup, Crane Prairie and Crescent Lake dams must be signifi - cantly modifi ed to avoid harming the protected species. However, the U.S. Bureau of Rec- lamation and irrigation districts ar- gued the operational changes sought by environmentalists would be disrup- tive to the frogs, which have adapted to stream fl ows since the structures were built 70 years ago. The federal agency and three ir- rigation districts — Central Oregon, North Unit and Tumalo — are named as defendants in litigation that alleges the reservoirs are managed in viola- tion of the Endangered Species Act. Rather than appeal the denial of their injunction request, the environ- mentalists have requested that Aiken postpone fi ling an offi cial written ver- sion of the ruling. The plaintiffs say that an “appeal- able fi nal, formal opinion is not re- quired to move the matter forward,” claiming it would instead be “more productive and effi cient” to send the case into mediation. Turn to FROG, Page 12 14-1/#5