June 2, 2017
CapitalPress.com
3
Washington dairy sells out, another sells cows
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
SUNNYSIDE, Wash. — A
large dairy has been sold and
another apparently sold thou-
sands of its cows, indicative
of tough times for Lower Ya-
kima Valley dairies.
DeRuyter Bros. Dairy
planned to sell 3,100 head of
Holstein in a May 31 auction,
according to Toppenish Live-
stock Commission. But in an
email to dozens of potential
buyers late May 25, the com-
mission apologized for can-
celing the auction, saying the
whole farm, equipment and
cows had been sold.
Genny DeRuyter, owner
of the dairy with her husband,
Jake, said the auction of 3,100
head was planned to reduce
their herd by half but that a
deal was reached to sell the
entire 1,000-acre operation to
an out-of-state dairy. She said
she could not reveal the buyer
or price.
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Holstein cows feed at a Sunnyside, Wash., dairy. Many dairies with
thousands of cows in the Lower Yakima Valley face tough times
economically and with lawsuits and regulations.
“We feel fortunate the sale
of the entire herd will keep
the strong genetics and qual-
ity of our Holstein cows intact
and that a full labor force will
continue to operate the farm,”
DeRuyter said.
Selling half the herd would
have meant laying off some
the dairy’s 80 workers but
their full employment means
a continuing contribution to
the local economy, DeRuyter
said.
Health concerns and near-
ing retirement contributed to
their decision but they will
continue their partnerships in
orchards and vineyards, she
said.
A lawsuit filed against
their dairy in December “is
a challenge but not really the
reason” for selling, she said.
“It’s a difficult environ-
ment for all dairies in the state
right now. You have to be
on top of your game all the
time,” she said.
The lawsuit brought by
two workers and Columbia
Legal Services alleges a lack
of overtime pay and a fail-
ure to provide meal and rest
breaks and pay workers for
that time.
U.S. law excludes farm-
workers from the right to
overtime pay and rights to
unionize. The lawsuit chal-
lenges those exemptions as a
class action on behalf of all
agricultural workers in the
state.
Dick Bengen, owner of
Ruby Ridge Dairy north of
Pasco, said the DeRuyters
had talked about downsizing
and that one of the Bosma
dairies in Sunnyside, recently
sold about 4,000 dairy cows.
“We sold some cows and
I can’t give you any more
information than that,” was
all Brian Bosma said when
asked by Capital Press if he
had sold 4,000 head.
“The valley has had its
problems because of too
many cows,” said Ben-
gen who is still involved in
lawsuits with United Farm
Workers over the union’s at-
tempt to unionize his dairy
in 2009.
There once were 70 dair-
ies in the lower Yakima Val-
ley but now there are fewer
because of economics, law-
suits and government regu-
lations, said the owner of a
large Sunnyside dairy who
asked for anonymity.
“You can’t afford to run
a 500-cow dairy, so it’s get
bigger or get out.
“Lawsuits are driving
everyone out of business.
Liberals don’t like corpora-
tions but corporations will
take over all of agriculture
because they will be the
only ones with deep enough
pockets left to stay in it,” he
said.
The EPA’s concentrated
animal feeding operation
permit will drive more dair-
ies out of business, he said.
A 2015 settlement agree-
ment between several Lower
Yakima Valley dairies and the
EPA regarding nitrates and
groundwater is costing those
dairies millions of dollars
every year in double-lined
water storage lagoons, mon-
itoring wells, consultants, at-
torneys and paperwork, said
Jay Gordon, policy direc-
tor of the Washington State
Dairy Federation.
Those factors and threats
of lawsuits against dairies,
not only in the Lower Yakima
Valley but Whatcom County,
are “taking all the fun out” of
operating dairies, he said.
Subdivision opponents challenge
county’s rejection of their petition
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
OR-7 is alive,
well and still
bringing home
the groceries
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
His tracking collar went
dead in 2015, but OR-7, the
wandering wolf, is alive and
well. This spring, a U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service trail
camera caught him trotting
along with what a wildlife bi-
ologist said is an elk leg in his
mouth.
Federal wildlife biologist
John Stephenson said OR-7
was taking food back to his
den. For the fourth consecu-
tive year, OR-7 appears to be
denned up with the same un-
identified female who joined
him in the Southwest Oregon
Cascades in 2014.
The Rogue Pack, of which
he’s the alpha male, num-
bered six over the winter.
This spring, Stephenson
saw tracks in the snow of
at least five wolves. OR-7
has shown up in trail cam-
era photos several times
this spring, most recently on
May 18.
“He looks good,” Ste-
phenson said.
OR-7 is now 8 years old,
which is somewhat old for a
wolf in the wild, Stephenson
said. It became Oregon’s
best known wolf when it
dispersed from the Imnaha
Pack in Northeast Oregon
in 2011 and cut a diagonal
across the state and into
California. Because he was
wearing a tracking collar,
wildlife agencies and the
public could follow his trav-
els, and for better or worse
he came to symbolize the
return of wolves to Oregon’s
landscape,
OR-7 was the first doc-
umented wolf in California
since 1924, but eventual-
ly returned to Oregon and
established what ODFW
named the Rogue Pack in
the Rogue River-Siskiyou
National Forest. He and his
mate have produced several
litters of pups over the years.
His mate has never been
caught or collared and is
something of a mystery.
Analysis of her scat, howev-
er, showed she is related to
wolves from Northeast Ore-
gon or Idaho.
Stephenson said he hopes
to fit a new tracking collar
on OR-7, his mate or one of
the other adults in the pack.
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
Stephanie Rael, a farm hand, stands in front of some of the 1,400 acres of farmland that would be eliminated to make way for a proposed
planned community north of Boise. Rael and other opponents of the development hope to put the matter to a public vote.
it was not submitted within
30 days of final publication of
the ordinance.”
Brian Ertz, an attorney
who is assisting opponents of
the development, said the sec-
tion of Idaho Code that allows
for a referendum in this case
actually says the petition can’t
be submitted until 30 days af-
ter the ordinance is passed.
“It’s pretty clear that you
have to wait 30 days,” he told
Capital Press. “We’re getting
runaround by the county.”
Ertz sent the clerk’s office
a letter asking Rich to recon-
sider his interpretation of the
code’s language.
The statute says the initial
petition “shall be filed not less
than 30 days following the
final publication of the ordi-
nance to be subject to refer-
endum.”
“The plain meaning of the
statute requires petitioners
to wait for 30 days prior to
submitting initial petitions,”
Ertz’s letter states. “My cli-
ents did just that, thus com-
plied with the subsection of
Idaho Code that the clerk cites
in its letter to reject their sub-
mission.”
Ada County spokeswom-
an Kate McGwire sent Capi-
tal Press this statement from
Rich about opponents’ plans
to file a lawsuit: “It is certain-
ly within their right and we
will wait to see what the court
says.”
Ertz said the county is
applying the language of the
section “exactly the opposite
as it’s written.”
Ertz said that when read-
ing through that section of
Idaho Code, “it’s very clear
the legislature wants the clerk
and counties to make it easy
for citizens to exercise this
right.”
“They’re doing the oppo-
site,” he said of Ada County.
“It is quite cynical.”
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In an April 14 photo taken by
a remote trail camera in the
Southern Oregon Cascades,
the wolf known as OR-7 carries
what a wildlife biologist said is
an elk leg.
BOISE — Opponents of a
planned community just north
of Boise that would elimi-
nate 1,400 acres of farmland
planned to file a lawsuit this
week to force the matter to a
public vote.
“We’re prepared to fight.
We’re going to file a lawsuit,”
said Stephanie Rael, a farm
hand opposed to the develop-
ment.
She is a member of the Dry
Creek Valley Coalition, which
includes local farmers and
others in the area opposed to
the Dry Creek Valley Ranch
development, which would
include 1,800 homes and
85,000 square feet of com-
mercial space.
Rael submitted a petition
to the Ada County Clerk’s
office seeking to put a county
decision regarding the pro-
posed development to a vote
during a special election.
Idaho Code 31-717 pro-
vides a mechanism by which
people who gather a certain
number of signatures can put
a county decision to a vote
during a special election. The
section allows for “people at
an election to approve or re-
ject legislation adopted by the
board of county commission-
ers.”
The original Dry Creek
Ranch development applica-
tion was approved in 2010
and Ada County commission-
ers earlier this year approved
an amendment to the original
plan.
Because the commission
signed an ordinance that
changed certain conditions
in the original development
agreement, opponents of the
project believe that decision is
legislative in nature and sub-
ject to the referendum process
outlined in Idaho Code, Rael
said.
But the Ada County clerk,
Christopher Rich, sent Rael a
letter dated May 22 saying the
“petition is untimely because
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