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FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2017
VOLUME 90, NUMBER 10
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
$2.00
THE COMEBACK
BEGINS
Oregon, Idaho onion industry
rebuilds following winter damage;
1 billion-pound-plus harvest looms
Turn to ONIONS, Page 12
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
Ore
.
ho
95
Weiser
Payette
MALHEUR
52
Vale
201
Ri
Ma l h e
Nyssa, Ore.
20
26
R.
Owyhee
Idaho
Ore.
The industry must rebuild in time for this fall’s 1 bil-
lion-pound-plus harvest. Most of the Spanish big bulb
onions grown along the border between southwestern
Idaho and southeastern Oregon are stored to be market-
ed later in the year.
About 60 onion storage sheds and packing facilities
Ore.
e
Clock is ticking
26
Nyssa, Ore., in the heart
of the nation’s largest onion
growing region, is recovering
from winter storms that dumped
unprecedented snowfall in the
area. Dozens of onion storage
sheds and packing facilities
20
collapsed under the weight
of the snow and ice, causing
an estimated $50 million to
N
$100 million in damage.
Area in
detail
Ida
N
YSSA, Ore. — The snow is gone, but
much of the devastation remains.
Many members of the region’s vibrant
onion industry are rushing to rebuild their
storage and packing facilities after four
feet of snow and ice crushed the buildings and destroyed
the onions and equipment inside.
The damage is extensive — most estimates place the
total at $50 million to $100 million. That includes about
100 million pounds of onions — about 7 percent of the
year’s crop — that were lost.
Onion country
rebuilding
v er
Capital Press
ur
By SEAN ELLIS
An excavator clears
debris from an onion
shed in Nyssa, Ore.,
that collapsed this
winter under the
weight of snow and
ice.
10 miles
95
“It’s forced us to make some changes that,
frankly, otherwise we would have taken longer
to do.” — Shay Myers, general manager Owyhee Produce
Photos by Sean Ellis/Capital Press
The Idaho and Oregon governors, along with members of their
staff and onion industry leaders, exit a National Guard Black Hawk
helicopter Feb. 10 after touring the region and seeing the dozens of
onion storage sheds and packing facilities that collapsed.
Oregon wolf management plan moves into new phase
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
Snake River pack
captured by a
remote camera
photo taken Feb.
1 in Hells Canyon
National Recre-
ation Area.
Courtesy of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
SALEM — The latest count of Oregon
wolves shows there are eight breeding pairs
in Eastern Oregon, meaning state wildlife
offi cials move into a management plan
phase that potentially could ease restrictions
on killing them if they decimate deer and
elk herds or chronically attack livestock.
Under Oregon’s wolf plan, three consec-
utive years of at least seven breeding pairs
advances the state into what’s known as
Phase III management. The ODFW Com-
mission is scheduled to receive the annual
wolf report at its April 21 meeting in Klam-
ath Falls.
Oregon Wild, the Portland-based conser-
vation group that has been heavily involved
in development of the state’s wolf plan,
called the count of breeding pairs “hearten-
ing” but warned it could lead to wolves be-
ing killed by “trophy hunting” or under the
plan’s “controlled take” provision.
“Controlled take” means wolves can be
killed if they are causing declines in elk and
deer populations or are involved in chronic
livestock attacks. Arran Robertson, Oregon
Turn to WOLVES, Page 12
Portland’s container port ‘saga’ still has uncertain ending
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
PORTLAND — The Port of
Portland has offi cially regained
control of its container termi-
nal, but agricultural exporters
can’t expect shipping from the
facility to resume quickly.
The port’s commission vot-
ed unanimously March 8 to
sever ties with ICTSI Oregon,
a terminal operator involved in
a long-running labor dispute
that brought container shipping
at Terminal 6 to a halt.
“This gives us the oppor-
tunity to press reset,” Keith
Leavitt, Port of Portland’s chief
commercial offi cer, told the
commission.
With ICTSI out of the pic-
ture, the port will now seek to
repair relations with the Inter-
national Longshore Workers
Union, said Leavitt.
While that partnership is
key to resuming service at Ter-
minal 6, fi nding a new compa-
ny to run the facility is more
complicated, he said.
“How do you proposition
when you have no cargo and
no volume?” Leavitt said. “The
value proposition to an opera-
tor is a complex equation.”
The port will need to identify
its market strengths and develop
a business plan for reactivating
the container terminal, he said.
Turn to PORT, Page 12
Keith Leavitt
10-2/#14
When, and whether,
service will return
remains up in air