July 22, 2016
CapitalPress.com
3
Stevens County ranchers protest Oregon farmer wins
his zoning dispute
the Profanity Peak wolf pack
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Area in
WASH. detail
NAT’L
FOR. 395
25
Republic
20
FERRY
Colville
Approximate
site of Profanity
Peak wolfpack
COLLVILLE
CONFEDERATED
21
TRIBES
um bia River
395
C ol
A northeastern Washing-
ton ranchers’ organization
says members of the Profanity
Peak wolf pack have become
“chronic killers” of livestock
and wants them removed.
The wolf pack has killed
three calves belonging to the
Diamond M Ranch within the
past 20 days, according to the
Stevens County Cattlemen’s
Association.
Justin Hedrick, Diamond M
Ranch co-owner and president
of the cattlemen’s association,
criticized the steps required
by the state before problem
wolves can be killed.
Washington Department
of Fish and Wildlife protocols
require four confi rmed kills in
one calendar year by the pack,
non-lethal deterrents have to
fail and the public must be no-
tifi ed that the wolves will be
removed.
Donny Martorello, wolf
policy lead for WDFW, said
21 COLVILLE
STEVENS
25
N
Capital Press graphic
the department has not begun
transitioning to killing any
wolves in the pack. According
to the WDFW, the offi cial toll
in the Profanity Peak pack area
is two confi rmed livestock
kills by wolves and two proba-
ble kills by wolves.
“We are coordinating with
the county in the event we get
two more confi rmed depreda-
tions on livestock and continue
to meet the expectations for
deterrence measures,” Mar-
torello said.
Local law enforcement
asked for more coordination
with the department, particu-
larly regarding public safety
and staff safety.
“Hopefully no more live-
stock are lost, but we’re
keeping a diligent eye out
there in case something does
go down,” Martorello said.
“We’re continuing to keep an
eye on the situation, working
with local livestock producers
and monitoring the situation
in case of additional livestock
losses.”
Hedrick stated in a press
release he believes the WDFW
is trying to avoid reaching the
four killings needed to start le-
thal removal.
“This situation needs to be
addressed because if it isn’t,
we are going to see as many
losses as we did in 2012 from
the Wedge Pack,” Hedrick
stated. “That is rugged country
and the wolves are just going
to keep killing.”
Capital Press
In 2012 the ranch lost 40
calves to the Wedge pack and
20 the previous year. WDFW
ultimately killed seven Wedge
Pack wolves.
Hedrick estimated the
ranch lost 26 calves and four
cows in 2014 to the Profanity
Peak pack. The department
confi rmed the loss of only one
cow-calf pair and a calf to Pro-
fanity Peak wolves that year.
The ranchers have met the
expectations of the wolf plan,
Martorello said. The use of
range riders will help reduce
the risk of future losses or help
discover depredations, he said.
The department has two ac-
tive GPS radio collars on Pro-
fanity Peak wolves and moni-
tors them daily for clusters of
wolf activity.
“Our goal is not to have
dead livestock,” Martorel-
lo said. “It’s a reality of wolf
management, if you see esca-
lation in depredations, preven-
tative tools have been tried and
they’ve failed, we’re going to
do that part of our job.”
Straw-compressing facil-
ities can be built on Oregon
farmland without a county
conditional use permit, ac-
cording to the Oregon Court
of Appeals.
The appellate court has
rejected arguments that com-
pressing bales of straw for
easier shipment to overseas
markets is a form of “pro-
cessing” that’s disallowed
within farm zones without a
permit.
The ruling upholds a fi nd-
ing by Oregon’s Land Use
Board of Appeals, or LUBA,
that straw-compressing is
crop “preparation” that’s al-
lowed outright on farmland.
“The record refl ects that
the straw is unchanged in
substance from when it is
fi rst baled in the fi eld to when
it is packaged for resale,” the
appellate court said in the
July 20 ruling.
The case is seen as sig-
nifi cant for Oregon land use
law because it could have
changed allowable farm ac-
tivities on a county-by-coun-
ty basis.
Farmer John Gilmour of
Albany, Ore., said that time
restrictions imposed on his
straw-compressing facility
by Linn County were hurting
its competitiveness, while
some neighbors complained
of traffi c hazards and noise.
The ruling ensures uni-
formity across Oregon in
the defi nition of “farm use,”
said Alan Sorem, attorney for
Gilmour.
If each county were to
have its own interpretation
of farm use, with different
restrictions on operations, it
would be destabilizing for
agriculture, he said.
“It’s a great decision in
Feds increase immigration-related fi nes
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — The U.S.
departments of Homeland
Security and Labor are sig-
nifi cantly increasing immi-
gration-related fi nes on Aug.
1, according to the farm labor
association WAFLA.
The minimum penalty for
mistakes and omissions on
I-9 Employment Eligibility
Verifi cation forms nearly dou-
bles from $110 to $216 per
violation. If underlying docu-
ments show an undocumented
worker, the employer may be
charged $539 more per viola-
tion, WAFLA said in an email
alert to members on July 13.
“The government is fol-
lowing a typical pattern,
making it more diffi cult for
employers to use legal work-
er programs like H-2A, and
at the same time blaming em-
ployers for undocumented im-
migration,” Dan Fazio, WAF-
LA CEO said in the alert.
Fazio said to prevent un-
documented immigration, the
government needs to make it
substantially easier for em-
ployers to obtain work visas
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
H-2A-visa foreign guestworkers from Mexico head to their crew
bus for a 9 a.m. break at Zirkle Fruit Co.’s CRO Orchard south
of Rock Island, Wash., April 26. The federal government is in the
process of increasing fi nes for employers who violate immigration
and labor laws.
for people willing to do work
Americans choose not to do.
The minimum penalty for
discriminating against immi-
grant workers goes from $375
to $445 per worker, he said.
This can include an employer
requesting updated informa-
tion when a legal permanent
resident card expires, he said.
DHS proposes to raise a
fee for H-2A-visa applica-
tions for foreign guestworkers
from $325 to $460. That one
needs fi nal approval which
could happen by Aug. 1, the
alert states.
DOL is increasing pen-
alties for violations of H-2A
contracts and program re-
quirements from $1,500 to
$1,625 per violation.
The penalty for failure to
cooperate in a DOL Wage
and Hour Division investiga-
tion is going up 9.8 percent to
$5,491. Failure to cooperate
is somewhat subjective and
has been used as a bargaining
chip in negotiating fi nes in the
past, the alert states.
If an employer lays off,
displaces or improperly re-
jects a U.S. worker to hire an
H-2A worker, the maximum
fi ne is $16,312 per violation
per worker, up from $15,000.
Penalties for willful violations
of worker contracts and pro-
gram regulatory requirements
are increasing from $5,000 to
$5,491.
Employers may be fi ned
up to $54,373 per worker for
violations related to housing,
transportation, safety and
health provisions that cause
death or serious injury to
H-2A workers, the alert states.
The maximum penalty
for violations of the H-2B
(non-agricultural temporary
foreign workers) program go
from $10,000 to $11,940 per
violations. Applicable viola-
tions include those related to
wages, impermissible deduc-
tions, prohibited fees and ex-
penses and improper refusal
to employ or hire U.S. work-
ers, among others.
Employers should review
their I-9s, make sure they are
in good shape and conduct
mock audits or hire WAFLA
to conduct mock audits for
them, the alert states.
that it provides stability for
farmers,” Sorem said.
Suzi Maresh, a neighbor
opposed to the facility, said
that straw-compressing is
a great business but should
be situated in an area where
trucks don’t cause road haz-
ards.
“This is an entirely inap-
propriate development for
this location in Linn Coun-
ty,” Maresh said.
The Oregon Court of Ap-
peals decision is disappoint-
ing because it doesn’t resolve
the traffi c problem and could
allow it to grow worse if
Gilmour expands, she said.
Critics of the facility ar-
gued for a reversal of the
LUBA opinion, claiming
the board’s analysis of “pro-
cessing” was incomplete
and should have followed
Linn County’s interpretation,
which held that straw com-
pressing was a “commercial
activity in conjunction with
farm use” and required a per-
mit.
The Oregon Court of Ap-
peals has disagreed with this
view, ruling that LUBA is not
required to defer to the coun-
ty’s legal reasoning.
Critics claimed facility
compresses up to 25,000 tons
of straw collected from oth-
er farms, compared to 5,000
tons grown by Gilmour, and
it operates year-round, which
disqualifi es it as a “farm
use.”
Gilmour countered that
the facility may accept out-
side straw because it’s also
grown on property zoned ex-
clusively for farm use.
Compressing is simply a
“preparation” of the crop for
shipping, as it doesn’t fun-
damentally change the char-
acter of the straw — unlike
turning berries into jam, he
said.
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