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FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2016 VOLUME 89, NUMBER 33 THE WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM $2.00 SECRET PREDATORS Eagles kill hundreds of lambs each year but federal bureaucracy keeps ranchers from getting help By JANAE SARGENT Capital Press A LBANY, Ore. — Laura Wahl stands in the fi eld with her lambs eight hours a day during peak lambing season to protect them. The predators aren’t coyotes or cou- gars; they are bald eagles. Wahl runs Wahl Grazing, a sheep and goat opera- tion, with her family near Albany, Ore. She estimates that she loses 300 lambs a year to eagle depredation — a loss of approximately “There’s $37,500. During lambing season, Wahl is used to seeing 20 ea- nothing we can gles lining the perimeter of really do about her pastures waiting for ewes (eagles). All we to give birth to their lambs. Because of a complex can do is hope reporting system, few re- sources available to ranchers the eagles don’t and the stigma surrounding complaints about the nation- fi nd the lambs.” al bird, Wahl said her family Laura Wahl doesn’t have many options to of Wahl Grazing protect their lambs. “There’s nothing we can really do about (eagles),” Wahl said. “All we can do is hope the eagles don’t fi nd the lambs.” Eagle depredation is a controversial and complicat- ed issue for ranchers, ranching advocates and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees protected species. Ranchers agree that eagles killing lambs is a big problem but they do not report the depredation out of a lack of faith in federal government services. Peter Orwick, executive director of the American Sheep Industry Association, said avian raptors are a huge problem for producers and that eagles are a par- ticularly tough problem because there are limited tools and resources to help sheep producers. In addition to not reporting the depredation, many ranchers don’t even want to talk about the issue out of fear of reprisal. Turn to EAGLES, Page 12 Janae Sargent/Capital Press Laura Wahl, owner of Wahl Grazing, explains how eagles target the lambs in her pastures. When the fi elds face a perimeter of trees, she said eagles will perch in them. Sheep, lamb loss by cause, 2009 Cause Janae Sargent/Capital Press Young feeder lambs stick near their mothers at Wahl Grazing. Number of head Known predator 225,300 or 36% Weather related 83.3 Physiological problems* 58.6 Unknown non-predator 54.1 (Thousand head) Lambing problems 52.9 Old age 39.3 Of the 634,500 head Parasites 30.4 of sheep and lambs Non-predator 22.2 lost in 2009, more than Unknown predator 21.9 one-third was due to Other disease 13.8 known predators, including eagles. Poisoning 10.1 On their back 3.3 *Includes respiratory, metabolic and other digestive problems. Theft 1.9 Source: USDA NASS Courtesy of Kathy Nowak, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Alan Kenaga/Capital Press An American Bald Eagle is seen near La Grande, Ore. Crop, pasture land prices increase in Northwest, California Investors still find value in tight ag real estate market By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press Agricultural land values have appreciated this year throughout the Northwest and California, bucking the national trend, accord- ing to a recent report by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Industry sources say the Aug. 5 report confi rms an extremely tight regional supply of available farm land, even as low commodity prices are bringing down land values else- where. The average value of U.S. crop land is $4,090, down $40 from the prior year, according to the report. Idaho’s average crop land value rose $100, or 3.1 percent, to $3,300. The average crop land price rose 2.1 percent in California, to $10,910 per acre, 5 percent in Oregon, to $2,730 per acre, and 4.9 percent in Wash- ington, to $2,760 per acre. The trend was also consistent with pasture values, which held fl at nationally, averaging $1,330 per acre. Pasture values are up 4 percent in Idaho, at $1,300 per acre, fl at in California at $2,700 per acre, up 3 percent in Oregon, at $680 per acre, and up 2.4 percent in Washington, at $840 per acre. University of Idaho Extension Capital Press fi le economist Ben Eborn said the report shows the fi rst dip in national land Grass seed is harvested in a Willamette Valley fi eld. Agriculture land in the Pacifi c Northwest has Turn to PRICES, Page 12 risen in value this year, bucking the national trend. EPA urged What’s Upstream to be careful Agency reviewed website By DON JENKINS Capital Press The Environmental Protection Agency went over the What’s Up- stream website line-by-line last year, trying with mixed success to tone down the site’s attacks on agriculture, accord- ing to newly released EPA records. What’s Upstream planners, led by the Swinomish Indian tribe in north Puget Sound, made some edits and thanked the EPA for its guidance. But other suggestions were not adopted, and the tribe’s environmen- tal policy director, Larry Wasserman, resisted EPA’s proposal to have the Washington Department of Ecology fact-check the website, according to an email from the EPA’s Puget Sound intergovernmental coordinator, Lisa Chang, to the Northwest Indian Fish- eries Commission. Instead, the website was reviewed by EPA staff members, who were par- ticularly concerned by unsupported claims about the extent of agricul- ture’s contribution to water pollution and how surveys that purportedly showed strong public support for new regulations were presented. “Since Larry was not open to having the appropriate ECY technical experts review this, I’m also including com- ments from our 303(d)/305(b) staff,” wrote Chang, referring to sections of the Clean Water Act. “We want to empha- size the importance of ensuring a solid technical basis for assertions made in this website, including those relating to Turn to UPSTREAM, Page 12