February 3, 2017
20
By SEAN ELLIS
La Pine
Capital Press
Chemult
Pasture
area
FREMONT-
WINEMA
NATIONAL
gu
e
140
River
140
Klamath
Falls
97
N
Lakeview
Ore.
Calif.
139
395
25 miles
Capital Press graphic
Grazing
halted
to study
impacts
on Oregon
spotted frog
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
A federal judge has pro-
hibited cattle grazing on
68,000 acres in Oregon’s Fre-
mont-Winema National Forest
until federal offi cials reconsid-
er its impacts on Oregon spot-
ted frogs.
Annual grazing authoriza-
tions for the Chemult Pasture
issued by the U.S. Forest Ser-
vice “did not account for evi-
dence in the record showing
cattle trespass, unauthorized
use, and harm to habitat under
the current management,” ac-
cording to U.S. District Judge
Ann Aiken.
Further grazing authoriza-
tions should be enjoined until
the agency can determine the
actual effects of grazing on
the viability of spotted frogs
and other sensitive species,
according to Aiken’s ruling,
which upholds conclusions
reached by U.S. Magistrate
Judge Mark Clarke.
Multiple
environmental
groups — Concerned Friends
of the Winema, Klamath-Siski-
you Wildlands Center, Western
Watersheds Project, Oregon
Wild and the Center for Bio-
logical Diversity — have long
opposed grazing within the pas-
ture, which has been ranched
by the Iverson family for more
than a century.
A lawsuit fi led in 2008 was
dismissed as moot because the
U.S. Forest Service had built a
riparian fence within the pas-
ture to protect the frogs, which
are now a threatened species.
In another case, fi led in
2010, the Forest Service was
found to have violated environ-
mental laws but the judge didn’t
impose an injunction against
grazing because it would have
been impractical and likely hurt
frog populations on private
land elsewhere.
The most recent complaint
accuses the agency of underesti-
mating the damage that cattle in-
fl ict on wetland habitats inhabit-
ed by spotted frogs in violation
of several environmental laws.
The plaintiffs argued that
during dry periods, the frogs
gather in shallow pools and
are trampled by cattle that reg-
ularly venture beyond areas
they’re authorized to graze.
Because such unauthorized
grazing wasn’t fully analyzed by
the Forest Service, the agency’s
conclusion that cattle had only a
minimal impact on the species
“lacks rational support” contrary
to the National Forest Manage-
ment Act, according to the court.
ONTARIO, Ore. — The
Owyhee River Basin is hold-
ing an unusually large snow-
pack right now, a good sign for
the 1,800 farms that depend
on irrigation water from the
Owyhee Reservoir.
“The Owyhee looks really,
really good. It’s incredible,”
said Malheur County farmer
Bruce Corn, a member of the
Owyhee Irrigation District’s
board of directors.
Snow melt from the basin
fl ows into the reservoir, which
provides water for 118,000
acres of irrigated farmland in
Eastern Oregon and part of
Southwestern Idaho.
Average snowpack was 164
percent of normal as of Jan.
30, but that only tells part of
the story, Corn said.
“The whole watershed has
snow in it right now,” he said.
“There is a lot of snow where
we normally don’t get any.”
There
are
signifi cant
amounts of snow in parts of the
11,000-square-mile basin that
usually don’t receive much, said
OID Manager Jay Chamberlin.
That means lots of snow
Submitted photo
As much as 40 inches of snow fell on Malheur County, Ore., during recent storms, damaging onion
storage and packing facilities but also promising to fi ll the Owyhee Reservoir, which supplies irrigation
water to farms in the region.
in the basin beyond the snow
measuring sites.
“What’s so different about
this year is that it’s spread
out through the whole water-
shed and normally we don’t
see that,” Chamberlin said.
“We’re going to get water
from areas we’re not used to
getting water from.”
Chamberlin said it’s pos-
sible the reservoir, which can
hold more than 700,000 acre-
feet of water for irrigation,
could fi ll for the fi rst time in
several years.
OID patrons last year re-
ceived their full 4-acre-foot
allotment of irrigation water
for the fi rst time since 2011. In
2014 and 2015, they received
only a third of that amount.
Now the 53-mile-long
Owyhee Reservoir, which can
hold two years’ supply of irri-
gation water when full, could
return to maximum capacity
for the fi rst time in several
years if the rest of the winter
plays out right.
Forty inches of snow has
been recorded at Oregon State
University’s Malheur County
research station near Ontario
so far this winter, said OSU
Extension cropping systems
agent Stuart Reitz. The previ-
ous record for an entire winter
was 26 inches.
“Nobody around here has
really ever seen these kind of
conditions before,” he said.
OSU Extension cropping
systems agent Bill Buhrig
said the abundant snow is
great news for the region’s
farmers from a water supply
standpoint — but it could
cause other problems.
While area farmers have
been able to plant some crops
early in recent years, that’s
unlikely in 2017, he said.
“We may be looking at a
spring where we have to have
a little more patience before
we can get into the fi elds,”
Buhrig said.
He also received a ques-
tion from a farmer asking if
he should be concerned about
snow mold in winter wheat.
Buhrig, also a farmer who
grew up in the area, said he
will have to do his homework
on that.
“That’s a good question.
We’ve never had that issue
before around here,” he said.
OSU president criticizes Trump’s temporary immigration order
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
Oregon State University
President Ed Ray said he is
“angry and disappointed” by
President Donald Trump’s
temporary executive order
on immigration, saying the
changes lack detail, are being
unevenly implemented and
have created “anxiety, uncer-
tainty and hardship” among
“thoroughly vetted” refugees,
immigrants and green card
holders.
OSU counts 165 students
and six visiting scholars from
the seven predominantly
Muslim countries included
in Trump’s 90-day order. It
appears none of them were
in transit when the executive
order was issued, and so were
not stuck at airports or other-
wise prevented from reaching
Corvallis, according to OSU.
Ray made his remarks in a
prepared statement.
University Vice President
Steve Clark could not imme-
diately say whether some of
the students or scholars are in-
volved with OSU’s College of
Agricultural Sciences. Clark
said OSU is not allowed to
give out confi dential student
information. If only a handful
of affected students or schol-
ars are affi liated with the ag
college, they would effective-
ly be identifi ed, he said.
OSU, like much of Pacifi c
Northwest agriculture, has ex-
tensive international connec-
tions. University faculty trav-
el worldwide, Clark said, and
OSU hosts researchers and
students from dozens of na-
tions. Restrictions on the op-
portunity to do collaborative
research are a serious matter,
he said. During a 2015 wheat
fi eld day in Eastern Oregon,
for example, OSU breeders
and soil scientists cited an
Iranian study of wheat yield
losses caused by root lesion
nematodes and fusarium
crown rot.
Ray, the OSU president,
previously declared the uni-
versity an immigration sanc-
tuary, and repeated that stand
in the statement issued Mon-
day.
“OSU’s Sanctuary Uni-
Eric Mortenson/Capital Press
Oregon State University President Ed Ray, shown in this 2015
photo, said OSU will remain a sanctuary university for immigrants
and opposes Trump’s temporary travel ban on people from seven
predominantly Muslim countries.
versity status is not subject
to recent presidential execu-
tive orders since the univer-
sity complies with all federal
laws. The United States Con-
stitution provides for states’
rights that effectively allow
state entities such as OSU to
decline to participate in an en-
forcement role in carrying out
deportation actions,” Ray said
in the statement.
OSU won’t provide infor-
mation to the federal govern-
ment to aid in those actions
unless required by court or-
der or an emergency health
or safety situation, Ray said.
The university’s public safety
department won’t voluntari-
ly collect or provide infor-
mation to federal immigra-
tion enforcement offi cials,
Ray said.
Vice President Clark ac-
knowledged the university
has heard from critics, includ-
ing some alumni, who dis-
agree with that stand.
The university doesn’t
appear overly worried about
losing federal funding due to
its sanctuary stand, an action
Trump has threatened to take
against cities that defy him.
Executive action by the
Trump administration or fed-
eral funding changes based
on OSU’s sanctuary status
“would be subject to legal
scrutiny” based on separation
of powers and delegation of
authority, the university said
on its website. “OSU would
oppose any effort to provide
executive or statutory author-
ity for such actions,” OSU
said.
According to OSU’s web-
site, the university had 3,937
international students as of
fall 2016. Of those, 89 are
from Iran, one of the nations
included in Trump’s ban.
More than a third of inter-
national students, 1,678, are
from China. The next larg-
est segment, 442, come from
Saudi Arabia, which was not
included in Trump’s immigra-
tion ban. The College of Ag
Sciences has 123 international
students; the College of For-
estry has 42.
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Snowpack in Owyhee River Basin far above normal
Area in
detail
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