July 14, 2017
CapitalPress.com
9
Oregon
REAL Oregon aims to develop agricultural leaders
By ALIYA HALL
Online
Capital Press
http://realoregon.net/
REAL Oregon, a new ef-
fort to cultivate leaders in the
state’s natural resource in-
dustries, will convene its first
class this fall.
“I think this is something
that the natural resource-re-
lated industries have recog-
nized as something we need.
We want to make sure that it’s
diverse, and that all the natu-
ral resources are reflected as
much as possible,” Greg Add-
ington, executive director of
REAL Oregon, said. “We also
want it to be sustainable and
to produce a network of lead-
ers throughout the state.”
REAL Oregon — an ac-
ronym for resource education
and agriculture leadership —
is targeting participants from
all sectors of the agricultural,
timber and fishing industries,
including farming, ranching
and processing.
“I feel really good with the
industry’s commitment, from
agriculture to fishing to for-
estry, it has been tremendous.
As long as we do this right,
Courtesy REAL Oregon
Greg Addington is the executive director of REAL Oregon, a new
effort to build a corps of leaders in the state’s natural resources
industries, including agriculture and timber.
it’ll be a strong program,”
Addington said.
Modeled after Leadership
Idaho Agriculture, the REAL
Oregon program begins in
November and concludes in
March of the following year.
The program will consist of
five 2 1/2-day sessions in
Burns, Astoria, Medford, Sa-
lem and Boardman.
“Despite having great
leaders throughout Oregon
agriculture, I’d argue we’re
not developing these leaders.
Their leadership training is
coming from other resourc-
es,” said Geoff Horning, ex-
ecutive director of Oregon
Aglink. “The mission is sim-
ple but complex: Build natu-
ral resource leaders who make
a difference for Oregon.”
REAL Oregon follows in
the footsteps of Leadership
Oregon Ag, which was started
15 years ago by Oregon re-
source groups. That program
had only one class and wasn’t
financially sustainable, ac-
cording to Addington.
“That said, I can tell you
personally that I thought the
class itself was very success-
ful. But I think the fact that
it wasn’t sustained left a bad
taste in some people’s mouths
and it has taken this long to
try again,” he said. “The dif-
ference this time is that we
are modeling it after a more
modest program in Idaho. It’s
more manageable for now —
and more affordable.”
The online application in-
cludes a one-page essay and
two letters of recommenda-
tion. It is also recommended
that applicants speak with
employers and spouses be-
cause participants are expect-
ed to attend all five sessions to
graduate, and it is a large time
commitment.
The classes will focus on
the subjects of board gover-
nance, communication skills,
conflict resolution, govern-
ment interaction, public pol-
icy, media relations, natural
resource industries’ co-exis-
tence, professional presenta-
tion, public speaking, strength
assessment and urban-rural
relationship building.
“The urban-rural divide
in Oregon is real. The chasm
feels like it’s getting exponen-
tially larger. There is a lot of
talk about bridging that gap,
but it too often feels like a
bridge to nowhere,” Horning
said. “Oregon’s natural re-
source community needs a le-
gion of polished leaders who
can both listen and represent
our interests. As an industry
it’s our responsibility to de-
velop that army. REAL Ore-
gon is that effort by a unified
natural resources community
to build those leaders moving
forward.”
REAL Oregon will ac-
cept 30 participants in its first
class. The minimum age re-
quirement is 26 years old.
“It’s not that there aren’t
great folks under that age,
but we want someone on a
career path who knows what
they want to do, and we don’t
want to just get young people.
I think it’s important to have
a diversity of ages and leader-
ship experience in the class,”
Addington said.
The application deadline
for the first class is July 28
and the cost of the program is
$2,500 a person. While there
are no scholarships avail-
able at this time, prospective
students are still encouraged
to apply and indicate in the
application if financial help
is needed. For more infor-
mation, Addington can be
reached at (541) 892-1409.
Some Oregon farm bills quietly Lawmakers approve Oregon
die, others quietly gain approval farmland easement fund
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Analysis
SALEM — Many atten-
tion-grabbing farm-related
bills considered during Ore-
gon’s 2017 legislative session
died quietly despite much ini-
tial fanfare.
Meanwhile,
several
more-targeted and less-con-
tentious proposals were ap-
proved without nearly as
much commotion, though
they’re likely to have on-
the-ground consequences for
growers.
Numerous bills drew big
crowds to committee meet-
ings where lawmakers heard
hours of impassioned testi-
mony.
Limits were proposed
for neonicotinoid pesticides,
dairy emissions, livestock an-
tibiotics and solar panels on
farmland.
New lawsuits over pesti-
cides would have been pos-
sible under legislation that
removed “right to farm”
protections for chemical ap-
plications and eliminated the
requirement to notify farm
regulators before filing com-
plaints.
Every water right in Ore-
gon would have been subject
to a new $100 fee under one
bill, while irrigators would
have to install measuring de-
vices under companion legis-
lation.
Critics of genetically mod-
ified organisms, or GMOs, at-
tempted to overturn the state
government’s pre-emption of
local restrictions against such
crops. They also supported a
bill that would have exposed
GMO patent holders to new
financial liabilities.
All of those proposals
failed, not during dramatic
floor votes, but because they
were killed off by legislative
deadlines.
Lawmakers also sorted
through a multitude of at-
tempts to tweak Oregon’s
land use laws to relax restric-
tions on farmland.
A few significant proposals
proved successful.
With the passage of Senate
Bill 677, companies produc-
ing hard cider will enjoy the
same land use rules as those
producing wine, meaning
they can process and sell the
beverage on farmland while
conducting other agritourism
activities.
Several bills would have
made it easier to build “ac-
cessory dwelling units” to in-
crease housing availability in
rural areas.
Under House Bill 3012 —
which passed the House and
Senate unanimously — his-
toric homes can be converted
into such ADUs when a new
house is built in a rural resi-
dential zone. Previously, the
older building had to be de-
molished to make way for a
new home.
It will also be easier to ap-
ply biosolids — often called
sewage sludge — to farmland.
Biosolids are already reg-
ularly used as fertilizer, but
they’re often generated by
stationary sewage treatment
plants.
House Bill 2179 clarifies
that human waste from septic
tanks can be treated on-site
within farm zones in mobile
units that travel from property
to property.
Another successful bill en-
sures growers who lose farm
structures to natural catastro-
phes will be able to rebuild
without interference from the
Department of State Lands.
Last year, the agency tried
to block a hay exporter from
rebuilding two burned-down
barns because they were sus-
pected of being located in a
wetland, despite the proper-
ty’s absence from any wetland
maps.
House Bill 2785 clarifies
that landowners who want to
rebuild farm dwellings and
other agricultural structures
are exempt from Oregon’s
fill-removal laws, as long as
they receive county approv-
al and the original destroyed
buildings existed before
2017.
Before approving new sub-
divisions, local governments
will have to notify irrigation
districts early in the process
under Senate Bill 865.
Irrigation districts worried
that new housing projects will
disrupt canals and other infra-
structure, prompting them to
propose the legislation.
After some initial resis-
tance from cities, a compro-
mise was struck and SB 865
passed unanimously in the
Senate and 56-1 in the House.
On the tax front, farmers
won two notable victories.
Beneficial tax provisions
— exempting agricultural
machinery from property tax-
es and reducing property tax
rates for farmland — were set
to expire in seven years un-
der House Bill 2859, whereas
they’re currently permanent.
The proposal drew such
vehement opposition from
growers that the House Rev-
enue Committee decided to
scrap those provisions during
the bill’s first hearing.
Another tax proposal,
House Bill 2060, nearly went
the distance.
The bill, which would have
excluded small companies
with fewer than 10 year-round
employees from tax breaks,
narrowly passed the House
but died in the Senate without
a hearing.
Agricultural groups con-
vinced lawmakers to spend
money on a couple proposals
that are popular among farm-
ers: grants for schools to buy
local foods and a fund to pay
for
farmland-preservation
easements.
However, several farm-re-
lated spending proposals
didn’t gain traction, such as
those directing cash to the bat-
tles against sudden oak death
and invasive weeds.
Bills dedicated to restoring
state funding for FFA agricul-
tural education, meanwhile,
were approved by education
committees in the House and
Senate but never received a
hearing in the critical Joint
Committee on Ways and
Means, which allocates fund-
ing.
Farm-to-school
funding also passes
late in session
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — Oregon law-
makers have created a state
fund dedicated to buy-
ing farmland-preservation
easements, albeit without
the $4.25 million initially
sought by supporters.
Proponents of the Oregon
Agricultural Heritage Fund
are nonetheless cheering the
news, since new spending
bills were met with skepti-
cism from legislators due to
a tight budget outlook.
“It’s pretty incredible to
create a program like this
in a not-easy legislative ses-
sion,” said Nellie McAdams,
farm preservation program
director with Rogue Farm
Corps, a group dedicated to
training future farmers.
Because the state’s land
use system greatly restricts
building on farmland, work-
ing lands easements aren’t
as common in Oregon as in
many other states.
Farmers can sell ease-
ments on their land that ex-
tinguish most development
rights while still preserving
their ability to grow crops
and livestock on the prop-
erty.
However, existing fund-
ing sources for easements
are often geared toward con-
serving wildlife habitat and
riparian areas and not pro-
duction agriculture.
The Oregon Agricultural
Heritage Fund would help
solve that problem with
money dedicated to work-
ing lands easements, but
the $4.25 million originally
planned for the program was
viewed by legislators as an
unrealistic request.
Instead, supporters fo-
cused on getting the pro-
gram’s basic mechanisms
and governance established.
“We can focus in the fu-
ture on funding,” said Mary
Anne Nash, public policy
counsel for the Oregon Farm
Bureau. “There’s a tremen-
dous public benefit so we’ll
be looking for public funds
in the future.”
Under House Bill 3249,
which passed with strong
majorities in the House and
Senate in the waning days of
the legislative session, near-
ly $200,000 will be directed
to writing rules for the pro-
gram and forming a commis-
sion to oversee it.
“The next step will be
finding out who will be
shaping this program,” said
McAdams.
It’s likely that proponents
of the fund will go back to
lawmakers in 2019 to seek
money for the fund, so the
next two years will be devot-
ed to setting priorities for the
program, she said.
“That process should
probably be long and include
a lot of public involvement,”
McAdams said.
Oregon rancher sentenced for illegally killing elk
By STEVE TOOL
EO Media Group
ENTERPRISE, Ore. — A
long-time Wallowa rancher
accused of killing 12 of 25
dead elk found on his and an
adjoining property has been
given a hefty fine and super-
vised probation.
Larry Michael Harsh-
field, 69, pleaded guilty to six
counts of Taking, Angling,
Hunting, or Trapping in Vi-
olation of Wildlife Law or
Rule.
His case was heard June
28 in Wallowa County Circuit
Court. Judge Thomas Powers
presided.
The controversial case
divided the region along the
lines of those who favored
ranchers’ property rights and
those who argued for the right
of the animals to freely roam.
The incidents occurred
between Dec. 1, 2016, and
Feb. 11 of this year when Or-
egon State Police game war-
dens appeared at the Harsh-
field ranch after receiving
an anonymous tip about the
killings.
Harshhfield was charged
April 14. Law enforcement
officials initially arrested him,
but he was released on his
own recognizance later in the
day.
The Harshfields claim they
did everything they were told
to do, but the elk were per-
sistent in a winter where food
was scarce.
At the 45-minute court
hearing, Harshfield pleaded
guilty to counts 13-18 of the
24 charges, which included 12
charges each of taking wild-
life unlawfully and wasting
wildlife meat.
District Attorney Mona
Williams noted the winter had
been unusually severe and that
elk had followed a draw in the
terrain that led to Harshfield’s
barn. She said that Harshfield
had initially tried hazing the
elk with shotgun blasts and
also installed plastic netting to
stop the raid on his hay. Nei-
ther were successful
28-1\#6