FRIDAY, JULY 8, 2016
VOLUME 89, NUMBER 28
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
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Monarch listing decision due in 2019
Endangered or threatened status could aff ect biotech crops
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Eric Mortenson/Capital Press
The issue of development
pressure on Oregon farmland
is on display in Clackamas
County southeast of Portland.
A local Soil and Water Conser-
vation District has asked county
commissioners to consider the
impact on farmland as they
pursue additional industrial and
commercial land.
Federal wildlife officials
have three years to decide
whether monarch butter-
flies should be protected
under the Endangered Spe-
cies Act under a legal set-
tlement with environmen-
talists.
The government’s de-
cision could have impli-
cations for genetically en-
gineered crops resistant
to glyphosate herbicides,
which
environmentalists
blame for the loss of milk-
weed that’s crucial for the
Conservation
district fi ghts
farmland
development
Capital Press
Turn to FARMLAND,
Page 12
groups will be entitled to
compensation for their at-
torney fees as “prevailing
parties” in the lawsuit, ac-
cording to the deal.
Unless they’re able to
strike an agreement with
the government as to the
total amount of compensa-
tion within two months, the
plaintiffs can ask the court
to order a payment.
The Fish and Wild-
life Service may also get
three additional months
Turn to BUTTERFLY,
Page 12
Courtesy of Elizabeth A. Sellers, USGS
Environmental groups have settled a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service for not making a fi nal decision whether to list
monarch butterfl ies as endangered or threatened within 12 months of
fi nding such a listing may be warranted, as required by federal law.
WATER
By ERIC MORTENSON
A renewed move by Ore-
gon’s Clackamas County to
designate more land for fu-
ture industrial and commer-
cial development prompted
an unusual response from the
county’s Soil and Water Con-
servation District.
Usually, the district’s
board isn’t very political,
General Manager Tom Salzer
said. But the county’s deci-
sion to review the status of
1,625 acres got the conserva-
tion district’s attention. The
county commissioners want
to know if land in three ar-
eas south and southeast of the
Portland urban center, now
set aside as 50-year “rural re-
serves” and thus open to farm-
ing, would be more benefi cial
as “employment lands.”
The commissioners want
to review the status of 800
acres south of the city of Wil-
sonville; 400 acres adjacent
to the urban growth boundary
of the city of Canby; and 425
acres south of the Clacka-
mas River along Springwater
Road. County offi cials be-
lieve the land should revert
to “undesignated” rather than
rural reserves.
Board members of the
Clackamas Soil and Water
Conservation District decided
they should speak up. On June
29, Salzer delivered a letter to
the fi ve-member county com-
mission. The primary point
was succinct: “The District
believes the County’s current
initiative to create employ-
ment lands may not adequate-
ly consider the long-term
value of high-value farmland.
A signifi cant amount of the
land proposed for reconsider-
ation as employment land is
high-value farmland, an irre-
placeable natural resource.”
Salzer said the conserva-
tion district’s board is con-
cerned about the longterm
future of farmland in Clack-
amas County, which despite
monarch’s survival.
The Center for Food
Safety and the Center for
Biological Diversity filed
a lawsuit against the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service
earlier this year for failing
to make a timely decision
whether to list the species
as threatened or endan-
gered.
Under the terms of the
settlement deal, the agen-
cy has until June 30, 2019,
to determine whether ESA
protection for the butter-
flies is warranted.
The
environmental
Western outlook still precarious
Capital Press
T
he unpredict-
able water pic-
ture continues
to worry farmers across the
Pacifi c Northwest and California
as they head into the heart of irriga-
tion season.
Water managers anxiously watch river
and reservoir levels as they make plans to
supply water to irrigators despite an early, warm
spring that melted away much of the region’s moun-
tain snowpack ahead of normal.
Irrigators cross
Yet overall the consensus that
emerges seems to be: So far, so good.
their fingers
“I’m very pleased with where we are
that supplies
compared to a year ago. That’s not to say we
won’t have lower than normal fl ows in July and will last through
August but it can be managed and we will make it
growing season
through,” said Jeff Marti, drought coordinator for the
Washington Department of Ecology in Olympia.
His comments were refl ected by managers in many parts of the West though Oregon —
known for its ample rainfall in most years — appeared to face the tightest water supplies.
In California, now in its fi fth year of drought, El Nino-driven storms last winter helped refi ll
empty reservoirs in many parts of the state.
Other states have shed the drought that dogged them last year, but in this year, there’s no such thing as
a sure thing.
Turn to WATER, Page 12
Western U.S. drought
conditions (As of June 21)
Legend
D0-Abnormally dry
D1-Drought (moderate)
D2-Drought (severe)
D3-Drought
(extreme)
D4-Drought
(exceptional)
Intensity of drought by percent area affected
Date
Current
3 mo. ago
1 yr. ago
None
37.9%
32.4
23.9
D0-4
62
67.6
76.1
D1-4
27.4
34.1
57.9
D2-4 D3-4
10.9 5.7
15.4 9.5
35.9 17.1
D4
2.8
4.7
7.3
Source: National Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
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