14 CapitalPress.com
August 12, 2016
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
199
Crescent
City
REDWOOD
NATIONAL
PARK
al
John C. Boyle Dam
o
Pacific
Ocean
299
Eureka
N
Iron Gate Dam
CALIFORNIA
Tr inity R
in
ork Tr
melons and ranks third in
watermelon production, ac-
cording to the CFBF.
Among other summer
Upper
OREGON
m
Cantaloupes fi ll a bin at a farm-
ers’ market in Redding, Calif.
Melon harvest is at its peak in
California’s San Joaquin Valley.
CRATER
Copco dams 1 & 2
S. F
Tim Hearden/Capital Press
crops, according to the
NASS office in Sacramento:
•
Zucchini,
Italian
squash, Bell peppers, sweet
corn, eggplant, cucum-
bers, broccoli and carrots
are in the midst of their
harvest in the Central Val-
ley, while green peas and
fava beans are among the
crops being harvested in
the San Francisco Bay
area.
• Fresh-market tomatoes
are nearing their harvest as
a hot spell in late July sped
their ripening, while the pro-
cessing tomato harvest con-
tinues with excellent yields
in both conventional and or-
ganic orchards.
101
Klamath
Basin
watershed
42
S
SACRAMENTO
—
Growers are in the peak of
what they say is a plentiful
harvest of cantaloupes, wa-
termelons and other summer
melons in California’s San
Joaquin Valley.
Farmers say they’re see-
ing excellent quality as
they’re harvesting record
or near-record tonnage of
melons from their fields,
the California Farm Bureau
Federation reported.
The harvest of mini-wa-
termelons has slowed in
the last few weeks, al-
though growers may do
another pass through their
fields depending on set and
price, the National Agri-
cultural Statistics Service
reported.
But other watermelons,
honeydew melons and canta-
loupes are still being packed
and shipped as well as sold
at local stands and farmers’
markets, according to NASS.
Harvesting crews will
move through a melon field
several times during the
course of a summer to find
melons that have reached
the desired quality, the Farm
Bureau explains.
California leads the na-
tion in production of can-
taloupes and honeydew
Klamath River
dams proposed
for removal
Kl
Growers report good yields,
quality as melon harvests proceed
25 miles
ity
Ore.
Area in
detail
.
R.
5
Sources: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; www.klamathrestoration.org
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
Klamath parties keep
Farmer and his family growing Royal produce up pressure as dam
removal proceeds
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
ROYAL CITY, Wash. —
Santos Guadarrama admitted
he should have started picking
cantaloupe earlier than 7 a.m.
The day would peak at 99
degrees and it was already in
the mid-80s at 9 a.m. as his
family helped him load the
melons into a bin in the back
of his pickup.
“I usually try to get things
done before it gets hot but it’s
not going to happen today
(July 25),” said Guadarrama,
46, as he drove the pickup into
the fi eld.
He pitched 7- to 9-pound
melons to his son, Benjamin,
11, at the bin in back of the
pickup while his wife, Ze-
naida, 44, drove and Emily, 4,
rode along.
The melons went to a cool-
er before being trucked 66
miles to the family’s Royal
Produce outlet at Pybus Mar-
ket in Wenatchee. They also
sell at the Wenatchee Farm-
ers’ Market on Wednesdays
and Saturdays and at the Mo-
ses Lake Farmers’ Market on
Saturdays.
Guadarrama began work-
ing at Ike and Alice Parker’s
farm a few miles north of
Royal City in 1990. In 1997,
he inherited their produce
business, bought a small por-
tion of their land and contin-
ued growing vegetables. He
grows on about 8 acres.
It’s been a family affair.
His wife, their seven children
and at times his brothers and
their families have helped.
“We thought of using our
name but it’s hard for people
to say it and write it. Folks
called us the people from
Royal, so we decided to call
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Santos Guadarrama shows a cabbage that does well in heat. He
grows many different vegetables.
our business Royal Produce,”
he said.
The season starts in Feb-
ruary when they germinate
seeds in a greenhouse. Later,
he moves the young plants
into the fi eld, covering the
more vulnerable ones with
Agribon, a light, porous fab-
ric to protect them from frost,
wind, hail and rain.
Cantaloupe, watermelon,
cucumber, squash and toma-
toes make up more than half
the production. But there’s
also basil, peppers, parsley,
onions, broccoli, carrots, cau-
lifl ower, okra, beets and green
beans.
This year, they began us-
ing composted, pelletized
manure, yard compost and or-
ganic liquid fertilizer as they
transition to organic produc-
tion.
Guadarrama once also
worked construction but for
some time has focused solely
on the farm.
“It’s not lucrative in any
way, but it pays the bills. It fi ts
our family. There’s freedom,
which is the thing I value the
most,” he said.
He’s his own boss and can
chart his own course.
The Guadarramas grew
up in Villa Guerrero, a small
village south of Mexico City.
His father grew and sold veg-
etables.
“When I was a little kid,
I helped him and I hated it,”
Guadarrama said.
He learned about fl owers
because the people in Vil-
la Guerrero who made more
money, including Zenaida’s
parents, raised and sold fl ow-
ers.
Guadarrama managed a
couple of greenhouses of ros-
es for a company but decided
it wouldn’t be enough to sup-
port a family.
He and Zenaida crossed
the U.S.-Mexican border il-
legally in 1989. He worked in
construction in California and
then at an orchard near Roy-
al City before hiring on at the
Parkers’.
Their children were all
born in the U.S. and therefore
are U.S. citizens. The Guadar-
ramas were able to pay a fi ne
and become legal, permanent
residents when their oldest
child, who now works in nurs-
ing in Portland, reached 21
years of age, fi ve years ago.
They are working toward
U.S. citizenship.
Guadarrama says today he
might not cross the border il-
legally but that back then con-
ditions were different and he
was seeking the best for his
family.
It’s human nature to seek
the best for one’s family, he
said. Besides the fi ne, they
paid another price, not being
able to visit their parents in
Mexico for 22 years.
Container-grown hazelnut trees provide head start
Ron and Daniel Chapin
looking to save time
replacing orchards
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
The hazelnut trees in Ron and Daniel
Chapin’s older orchards have remained
remarkably productive despite the fact
they’re dying.
As eastern fi lbert blight kills many of
their trees, the father and son still hope
to get as many hazelnuts from them as
possible.
At the same time, they want to get a
head start replacing the orchards with
new varieties that are resistant to the fun-
gal pathogen.
Their solution is to begin growing
young hazelnut trees for two years in
15-gallon containers in preparation for
transplanting.
That way, the Chapins won’t have to
wait as long for the replacement orchards
to begin yielding enough nuts to harvest,
which usually occurs in the fi fth year,
Ron Chapin said. “It gets us to produc-
tion quicker.”
The strategy also makes sense for
fi elds currently producing other crops, he
said. “The biggest thing is the extra two
years you’ve got to do whatever with the
ground.”
Aside from time savings, the contain-
erized hazelnuts provide an agronomic
advantage, said Nik Wiman, orchard
crops extension specialist for Oregon
State University.
Currently, many yearling hazelnut
trees are being planted across Oregon
even though they probably should have
been culled, said Wiman.
Demand is so high for young hazelnut
trees that growers are willing to settle for
lower-quality specimens, he said.
“We’re limited by plant material, es-
sentially,” Wiman said.
Trees that have spent a couple years in
a container have a more developed root
structure and should perform better, he
said. “That’s what we really need when
transplanting the tree.”
Of course, planting larger trees grown
with this system does have a downside
— handling 45-pound containers is more
diffi cult than yearling “whips” that can
be carried around in a sack.
“Logistics is going to be the challenge
for us,” said Daniel Chapin.
The bigger, heavier containers take
roughly twice as much time to plant
and require preparing holes with a trac-
tor-mounted auger. Transportation is an-
other issue — it would take a semi-trail-
er to haul the 300 trees needed to plant
about two acres.
Even so, the Chapins are optimistic
about their strategy because fewer than 1
percent of the container-grown Jefferson
trees they plant end up dying, compared
to roughly 3 percent of the variety that
die when planted as whips.
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore.
— Both sides in the debate
over removing four dams from
the Klamath River are keeping
the pressure on as the project
moves forward.
The Hoopa Valley Tribe is
suing federal agencies to im-
prove fl ows in the lower Klam-
ath River for endangered coho
salmon — a goal that propo-
nents say could be achieved if
the dams came out.
Tribal chairman Ryan
Jackson said disease rates in
juvenile salmon in the past
two years have soared well
beyond limits established in a
2013 biological opinion from
the National Marine Fisheries
Service, and that even those
limits don’t meet standards set
in tribal trusts.
“It’s not so much to do
with dam removal per se, al-
though certainly that’s a part
of it,” Jackson said of the
tribe’s goals behind the law-
suit. “The lawsuit really gets
down to the protection of the
fi shery and the needs for in-
creased fl ows and enhanced
water quality.”
The lawsuit follows the
Karuk Tribe’s fi ling in late
June of a 60-day notice of
intent to sue the NMFS and
Bureau of Reclamation over
alleged violations of the En-
dangered Species Act. The
tribe cites a disease infection
rate of 90 percent of sampled
juvenile salmon in 2015.
The tribes assert that low
water levels in the lower
Klamath River are too warm
for fi sh and are polluted with
nutrients and chemicals. The
legal actions lend a sense of
urgency as the Karuks and
others are engaged in wa-
ter-sharing negotiations with
federal agencies and upper
Klamath Basin irrigators.
“We’re trying to fi g-
ure out how we can add a
disease-management
fl ow
event,” said Craig Tucker, the
Karuk Tribe’s natural resourc-
es policy advocate. “We think
that dam removal will allevi-
ate the problem, but we need
something between now and
dam removal. We can’t just
allow 90 percent of juvenile
salmon in the river to suc-
cumb to these diseases.”
Shane Hunt, a Reclamation
spokesman in Sacramento,
said the bureau doesn’t com-
ment on pending litigation.
The fi lings come as
dam-removal plans agreed on
earlier this year are moving
forward. The newly formed
Klamath River Renewal Cor-
poration, a non-government
body taking over the dams
from owner Pacifi Corp, will
likely fi le for removal with
the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission before the end of
August, said Nancy Vogel, a
California Natural Resources
Agency spokeswoman.
Top state and federal of-
fi cials signed an agreement
in April to have the nonprof-
it organization go through
FERC to remove the dams
after legislation authorizing
their removal failed to make
it through Congress by the
end of 2015. Proponents are
still seeking federal legisla-
tion that would provide mon-
ey to operate two diversion
dams within the basin that
Pacifi Corp would turn over
to Reclamation so irrigators
wouldn’t have to pick up the
cost.
Political opposition to dam
removal remains vocal in the
basin, including from Law-
rence Kogan, a former Klam-
ath Irrigation District attorney
who’s now working through
his own nonprofi t advocacy
organization to raise questions
about the project.
The KID’s newly elected
majority hired Kogan earli-
er this year to scrutinize the
dam-removal process but cut
ties with him in mid-July when
some board members thought
the New York-based attorney
had overstepped his contract,
the Klamath Falls Herald and
News reported. Acting district
manager Darin Kandra did
not return calls from the Capi-
tal Press seeking comment.
Kogan has since sent pub-
lic-records requests to the
Bureau of Reclamation and
fi ve state agencies seeking
the details of behind-the-
scenes discussions of the
amended dam-removal and
water-sharing agreements,
including how needed irri-
gation canal improvements
would be funded.
“These are things that are
public information,” said Ko-
gan, adding that “half of the
basin doesn’t know what’s
going on and has been kept in
the dark” because of non-dis-
closure agreements among the
agencies.
Ed Sheets, who facilitates
a committee implementing
the Klamath agreements, said
all of the bargained-for bene-
fi ts in the pacts “were clearly
spelled out” for those in the
basin that would be affected.
“On a larger scale, there’s
been some conversations be-
tween the tribes and irrigators
to see if some of the things (in
the original Klamath Basin
Restoration Agreement) can
be put back together,” Sheets
said. “That’s going to be a
complicated process.”
Lawsuit accused environmental group of discrimination
Case against Western Watersheds Project dismissed by ex-employee
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
An environmental group
opposed to public lands
grazing was accused of age
discrimination by a former
employee who has since dis-
missed the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed
against the Western Water-
sheds Project, which has
fought multiple legal fights
over grazing, by Mary K.
Fite, the nonprofit group’s
former biodiversity direc-
tor.
She voluntarily dismissed
the case without prejudice,
allowing it to be revived,
within a day after filing it.
Capital Press was unable
to reach an attorney for Fite
as of press time and Western
Watersheds Project is not
commenting on the lawsuit.
Fite alleged that she was
fired in violation of federal
and state anti-discrimina-
tion laws by the environ-
mental group in early 2015
at the age of 60 after pre-
viously being demoted and
having her pay reduced.
The complaint claimed
that Fite’s problems be-
gan after the Western Wa-
tersheds Project, which is
headquartered in Hailey,
Idaho, hired Travis Brun-
er as executive director in
2014. The group’s previous
chief, Jon Marvel, had re-
tired the previous year.
Fite alleged that one of
the group’s directors told an-
other employee they were
seeking to “make the organi-
zation younger” and that at
least three employees over 50
years old were terminated un-
der Bruner.
Bruner also said that West-
ern Watersheds Project must
become “more lean and nim-
ble” in its battles with federal
agencies, the complaint said.
The lawsuit cites an email
from Bruner as stating, “Much
like a predator-prey relation-
ship, where WWP is preda-
tor and government agencies
prey, the government has
adapted to hide and defend
against some of our routine
approaches.”
Western Watersheds Proj-
ect received nearly $700,000
in revenue, with about
$140,000 derived from recov-
ered legal fees, in 2014, the
most recent year its federal
tax-exempt fi ling is publicly
available.
However, the group’s ex-
penses surpassed its income,
resulting in a $250,000 net
defi cit that year.