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August 5, 2016 CapitalPress.com 5 Study says cougars, wolves save human lives Rancher, losing calves, can’t see the upside By DON JENKINS Capital Press A new study by university scientists seeks to foster rural acceptance of large carnivores by showing that cougars save lives by reducing the number of deadly collisions between vehicles and deer. Researchers afiliated with colleges in Washington, Idaho, Alaska and Alberta, Canada, compared data from 19 states in the East, South and Mid- west. The scientists concluded that recolonizing cougars in those states would thin deer populations and prevent ive trafic fatalities and more than 700 injuries a year. The paper’s lead author, University of Idaho profes- sor Sophie Gilbert, said the Courtesy of Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife/Brian Kertson A new study by university researchers found that cougars prevent trafic fatalities by reducing deer populations. indings would apply to other areas and that she wanted to show there are beneits to rein- troducing large carnivores. “It’s not all costs,” she said. “I think that hitting a deer is something most people have either experienced or they know someone who has hit a deer. It can be anywhere from traumatic to deadly. “This might be something new for people to consider and make them feel better about living near large carnivores.” The study acknowledges that reintroducing predators, such as cougars and wolves, is a “highly polarizing” issue and that ranchers, hunters and rural residents “bear the brunt of the costs.” Conservation efforts, how- ever, depend on large carni- vores thriving outside protect- ed wildernesses, according to the study. “Societal acceptance of large carnivores living in proximity to humans is there- fore a critical yet daunting conservation goal,” the study states. “Public perceptions of car- nivores may become more positive knowing that these predators reduce their odds of crashing into an ungulate.” Central Washington ranch- er Keith Kreps said he hasn’t seen beneits from what he says is an increasing number of cougars around his cattle in Klickitat County. He said he lost about 18 calves to the big cats last summer and two more were injured. He said he fears a hu- man will be attacked. “They’re trying to convince John Q. Public that the cats are beneicial. I don’t feel they’re beneicial to our area. They’re detrimental,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong. I’ve never wanted to see all the cougars gone, but they’re too thick,” Kreps said. “The deer are gone, and they’ve started in on my cattle.” According to the study, efforts to control deer by oth- er means, including hunting, have had limited success. “Recolonization by large car- nivores could provide an efi- cient solution to the problem of deer overabundance,” the study states. Mark Pidgeon, president of the Hunters Heritage Council in Washington, said hunters could thin deer herds if given a chance. “The obvious solution here is to have more hunter har- vests,” he said. “One of the reasons the number of hunters is going down is because peo- ple don’t feel they have the op- portunity.” Pidgeon warned that using a species to suppress another could have unintended envi- ronmental consequences. “An ecosystem needs to be managed as a whole,” he said. “The eradication of predators would not be good either.” Another researcher, Lau- ra Prugh of the University of Washington’s School of Envi- ronmental and Forest Services, told a university publication that the authors hoped to “help people become more accept- ing of living” with large car- nivores. Rapidly changing industry Oregon State scores USDA grant to expand hazelnut research complicates hazelnut forecast generated by large-scale pro- By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press ALBANY, Ore. — Crews hired by USDA are being extra careful this year as they collect data from hazelnut orchards across Oregon for the annual crop forecast. Last year, the agency’s Na- tional Agricultural Statistics Service overestimated Oregon’s hazelnut production by more than 25 percent, catching farm- ers and packers off guard when the harvest came up short. While NASS hasn’t pin- pointed exactly what went wrong in 2015, the rapidly changing landscape of Ore- gon’s hazelnut industry com- bined with an early maturing crop likely contributed to the skewed results, said Dave Losh, the agency’s state stat- istician. “It was an abnormal year for a lot of reasons,” Losh said, noting that the early spring caused nuts to develop more quickly last year. Farmers are planting new acreage of cultivars resistant to eastern ilbert blight while old- er orchards are gradually suc- cumbing to the fungal disease, he said. The new orchards are be- ing planted in various densities while older trees have been heavily pruned to slow the dis- ease’s progression, further com- plicating the scenario, he said. Until the mid-2000s, the main change that NASS had to track was the hazelnut industry’s declining acreage, said Gene Pierce, an agricultural statisti- cian with the agency. With new growers and trees now coming online, it’s more challenging for NASS to deter- mine the size of the “universe” it uses for statistical analysis, Pierce said. For now, however, NASS is focused on ensuring its crews are accurately following the model for collecting data, rather than trying to change the mod- el itself, said Chris Mertz, the agency’s regional director for the Northwest. “Before we make any huge tweaks, we want to make sure we’re covering all of our bases,” he said. The annual forecast is con- ducted by NASS but the Oregon Hazelnut Marketing Board cov- ers the $93,000 cost. Although NASS forecast that Oregon would produce 39,000 tons of hazelnuts last year — 8,000 tons more than were actually harvested — many farmers considered the es- timate conservative at the time, said Larry George, president of the George Packing Co. A survey of farmers conduct- ed by George Packing last year pegged their average forecast at 41,000 tons. One estimate of 35,000 tons was considered a far outlier, he said. “The trees looked loaded last year. It looked like a good crop,” George said. Trees may have appeared to be brimming with hazelnuts, but many had shrunk as eastern ilbert blight killed their upper branches, he said. The impact of blight is dif- icult to account for, since the roughly hazelnut 700 farmers in Oregon have 700 unique methods of ighting the disease, George said. “How do you poll something that has no consistency?” he said. Growers are reluctant to re- move blight-infested orchards due to high prices in recent years, but the old orchards are nonetheless quickly losing pro- ductivity, said Mike McDaniel, proprietor of Paciic Agricultur- al Survey, a geographical data irm that’s assisting NASS. “The new wave coming on- line is not quite compensating for the loss of mature produc- tion,” McDaniel said. Oregon State University’s hazelnut research program was awarded $3.1 million in a round of USDA grants an- nounced Aug. 2. The five-year grant will be used to continue ha- zelnut research at OSU, where breeder Shawn Me- hlenbacher is credited with saving the industry by de- veloping varieties resistant to eastern filbert blight. Me- hlenbacher, who submitted the grant application, could not be immediately reached for comment. OSU’s grant proposal in- dicated the money would be used to expand commercial hazelnut production in the U.S. The work will focus on the Paciic Northwest, where Oregon accounts for nearly all of U.S. production and grow- ers have added 3,000 acres since 2009; the temperate “fruit belt” region of the east- ern U.S., where new blight-re- sistant cultivars are expect- ed to be released in three to four years; and the Midwest and Great Plains, where new hybrids are being identiied that have superior nut quality, yield, and adaptation to de- manding climates, according to a news release. OSU’s application de- scribes hazelnuts as a “prof- itable, high-value, low input, sustainable crop for which steadily increasing world de- mand now exceeds supply.” Producers and consum- ers are enthusiastic about in- creased U.S. production, the grant application says, but susceptibility to eastern ilbert blight remains a problem. In addition, existing cultivars lack climatic adaptability, which severely limits produc- tion in the East and Midwest and threatens the sustainabil- ity of production in Oregon, according to the application. Eric Mortenson/Capital Press Hazelnuts raked up during harvest await cleaning in this 2014 pho- to. Oregon State University has received a $3.1 million to continue hazelnut research. 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