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March 31, 2017
CapitalPress.com
5
Oregon lawmakers consider
banning livestock discrimination
Bill would prohibit
species-specific
restrictions
by county
governments
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — An incident
of prejudice against pigs near
the state capital has Oregon
lawmakers contemplating a
broader prohibition against
livestock discrimination.
A landowner in West Sa-
lem is facing a prohibition
against raising pigs on prop-
erties smaller than 10 acres
due to a species-specific reg-
ulation by Polk County’s gov-
ernment.
The dispute has caught the
attention of Rep. Paul Evans,
D-Monmouth, and Rep. Bri-
an Clem, D-Salem, who have
proposed a bill that would ban
county ordinances that gener-
ally allow livestock but forbid
certain animals.
“It’s weird to exclude one
particular species,” Evans
said during a March 23 hear-
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press File
Oregon lawmakers are contemplating a bill barring discrimination
against pigs such as these or any particular species of livestock.
ing on House Bill 3016.
Evans drew a parallel to
George Orwell’s classic book,
“Animal Farm,” in which all
animals are equal but then
some become more equal than
others.
Species-specific
live-
stock restrictions seem to run
counter to the philosophy of
Oregon’s “right to farm” law,
which disallows local restric-
tions against common farm-
ing practices, he said.
Such prohibitions are
also at odds with the grow-
ing movement toward local
foods, which requires that
farms be close to urban areas,
Evans said.
“It was curious to me that
swine were called out,” he
said.
In the case that spurred the
proposal, though, the situation
is complicated because the
property is located within the
“urban growth boundary” for
Salem, but isn’t actually with-
in the city limits, Evans said.
The “right to farm” law
only applies to land zoned
for farming and forestry uses,
said Mary Anne Nash, public
policy counsel for the Oregon
Farm Bureau.
The West Salem prop-
erty in question is within a
suburban residential zone,
though the county may re-
zone the property to resolve
the conflict, said Mark
Nystrom, policy manager of
the Association of Oregon
Counties.
The Association of Oregon
Counties opposes HB 3016
due to its “all or nothing” ap-
proach to local livestock regu-
lations, he said.
It’s possible that some
county governments will sim-
ply decide to ban all livestock
in certain zones if they’re not
allowed to have species-spe-
cific ordinances, he said.
Nystrom also pointed out
that in “Animal Farm,” it was
the pigs that ended up taking
over the property and becom-
ing the oppressors.
The exchange elicited a
comment from Sen. Betsy
Johnson, D-Scappoose, who
was waiting to testify on other
legislation related to shellfish,
but said she was grateful the
committee was considering
the swine-related bill.
“I’ve spent countless
nights worried about porcine
presence in populated areas,”
she said.
Hemp bills would move crop into mainstream
Proposals would
create commodity
commission, seed
certification process
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — Hemp would
be brought further into the
mainstream of Oregon agri-
culture under two bills that
create a commodity commis-
sion and seed certification
process for the crop.
“Industrial hemp has a
huge potential in Oregon, we
just need a few tweaks to help
move it forward,” said Matt
Cyrus, who grows hemp in
Deschutes County, during a
March 28 legislative hearing.
Under House Bill 2372,
Oregon’s hemp industry
would join 23 other crop,
livestock and seafood sec-
tors to have a state commis-
sion aimed at promoting and
researching a commodity
through fees raised from pro-
ducers.
Breeders of new hemp va-
rieties could also get the puri-
ty of their seeds certified un-
der House Bill 2371, similarly
to other crop species, through
a system overseen by Oregon
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press File
A bill in the Oregon Legislature would create a hemp commission.
State University.
“It’s truly about a certified
seed, one we know Oregon
can count on,” said Jerry Nor-
ton, a hemp grower.
To comply with federal
provisions in the 2014 Farm
Bill that allow hemp research,
HB 2371 would also create a
hemp pilot program at OSU,
among other changes to Ore-
gon hemp statutes.
Commercial hemp produc-
tion is illegal under federal
drug laws that lump hemp, a
form of cannabis, in the same
category as its psychoactive
cousin, marijuana.
Aligning Oregon’s hemp
laws with the 2014 Farm Bill
provisions will likely ease fi-
nancial transactions for hemp
growers, since many banks
are otherwise leery of dealing
with the crop, Cyrus said.
“The banks are looking for
specific language in statute,”
he said.
If there’s ever a change in
federal law regarding canna-
bis, Oregon’s seed certifica-
tion process would let hemp
breeders patent their variet-
ies, said Jay Noller, head of
OSU’s crop and soil science
department.
Because cannabis is illegal
under federal law hemp va-
rieties can’t be protected, he
said.
The U.S. Drug Enforce-
ment Administration has
authorized Noller to import
high-quality hemp seeds from
Canada and elsewhere.
At this point, though, for-
eign companies are reluctant
to export hemp seed to Ore-
gon due to a provision in state
law allowing growers to save
and plant it, he said.
Under HB 2371, that pro-
vision would be struck from
Oregon law, hopefully open-
ing the way for new hemp ge-
netics to enter the state, Noller
said.
Oregon’s hemp statutes are
already setting an example for
other states and the proposed
changes will let growers “get
off the airstrip and into the
air,” said Norton.
“We feel that hemp in Or-
egon is going to be the new
crop of the decade, if not the
century,” he said.
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
A section of the Malheur Siphon, a 4.3-mile-long steel pipeline that
carries irrigation water to thousands of acres of farmland in Eastern
Oregon, is starting to fail. An engineering firm is designing a fix.
Malheur Siphon fix will
cost more than $1 million
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
ONTARIO, Ore. — It will
cost between $1 million and
$2 million to fix the Malheur
Siphon, which carries irri-
gation water to thousands of
acres of farmland in the north-
ern part of the Owyhee Irriga-
tion District system.
The 4.3-mile-long steel
pipeline, a landmark in the
valley, delivers up to 325 cu-
bic feet of water per second
from the Owyhee Reservoir.
The 78-inch diameter pipe-
line was built in 1935 and an
about three-quarter-mile-long
section of it east of the Mal-
heur Butte is starting to fail.
OID Manager Jay Cham-
berlin said that if the pipeline
failed in the middle of grow-
ing season, it would result
in about $18 million in crop
losses.
“If we lose this pipe in
July, that’s the worst-case sce-
nario,” he told OID patrons
March 21 during the district’s
annual meeting. “That’s why
we feel the urgency to do
what we’re doing.”
The district last year hired
MWH Americas, a Boise en-
gineering firm, to perform a
structural analysis of the pipe-
line and design a fix.
MWH civil engineer Gary
Clark told OID patrons that
most of the pipeline is in fan-
tastic shape and should last
until about 2060.
“The pipeline is worth fix-
ing,” he said.
The problem section is in
an area with bentonite clay,
which, along with spikes and
dips in temperature, can cause
the pipe to move as much as 9
inches up and down and sev-
eral inches sideways through-
out the day.
“It goes through an expan-
sion and contraction process
during the day,” Chamberlin
said. “It’s quite a living struc-
ture.”
Clark said the structural
supports on the pipeline are
starting to fail in that section
because of the constant move-
ment. Expansion joints, where
the pipe slides inside itself,
can also move several inch-
es a day and are also close to
failing.
These weak points have re-
ceived band-aid fixes over the
years, he said.
“In my opinion, it’s very
close to failing at this point,”
Clark said.
OID patrons this year
will pay a special assess-
ment of $1.50 per irrigable
acre, which will raise about
$101,000 to help fund the en-
gineering work.
“This is going to help us
get this process started,” said
OID Assistant Manager Har-
vey Manser.
He said the district’s board
of directors will seek grants
and loan opportunities to help
fund the project and OID em-
ployees will do as much of the
work as possible to keep the
cost down.
MWH’s proposed fix will
involve new legs that will be
designed to move relative to
the pipeline and allow move-
ment from side to side and
vertically.
BUYING
or SELLING
a Farm or Ranch?
Cyanide traps that killed Northwest
wolf and a dog come under scrutiny
Poison capsule
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
An internal review by
USDA Wildlife Services has
not been completed, but the
agency has removed M-44
cyanide poison traps from ar-
eas of the Pacific Northwest
where a wolf and a dog have
been killed recently.
The devices were set to
kill coyotes, but killed a pro-
tected gray wolf in Northeast
Oregon in February and a
dog near Pocatello, Idaho, in
March. In the second incident,
a 14-year-old boy accompa-
nying the dog was knocked
down when the device went
off but escaped serious injury,
according to news reports.
“Wildlife Services has re-
moved M-44s in that imme-
diate area, and will work to
review our operating proce-
dures to determine whether
improvements can be made to
reduce the likelihood of sim-
ilar occurrences happening in
the future,” Wildlife Services
spokesman Richard Bell said
in a prepared statement.
Wildlife Services also said
it removed M-44s from the
Wallowa County area where
a wolf designated OR-48 was
killed.
Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife, which manages
wolves in the state, said it was
M-44
Cyanide
Traps
M-44-style traps,
also known as
Canid pest ejectors,
or CPEs, were first
developed in the U.S.
in the 1930s as a way
to autonomously
control pest species.
Lure head
Bait/lure
material
Trigger
lock ring
Surface
grade
Trigger
Your best pick is
Piston
Ejector
body
Spring
When the animal pulls on the
baited lure head, the trigger
releases the piston. Under
pressure of a mechanical
spring, the piston strikes the
poison capsule, ejecting a
lethal dose of sodium cyanide
into the animal’s mouth.
Ground
spike
Sources: www.predatordefense.org;
www.smithandgeorg.com.au; www.aphis.usda.gov
told by Wildlife Services that
all M-44s were removed from
areas of known wolf activity
identified by ODFW.
Meanwhile, two dogs were
killed in Natrona County,
Wyo., after reportedly en-
countering an M-44 on private
property. Wildlife Services
said it does not use M-44s in
that area; it’s unclear how a
property owner or someone
Alan Kenaga/
Capital Press
else outside the agency would
have obtained one.
M-44s are spring-load-
ed devices that eject cyanide
powder when an animal bites
or tugs on a baited or scent-
ed lure. The powder interacts
with saliva in the animal’s
mouth, creating a lethal gas
that kills within one to five
minutes, according to Wild-
life Services.
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