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July 21, 2017 CapitalPress.com 11 Washington Grain Commission leader adds U.S. Wheat chairman to resume By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press Mike Miller is balancing several jobs these days. The Ritzville, Wash., farm- er took over as chairman of U.S. Wheat Associates July 11 during the organization’s annual meeting in Annapolis, Md. Miller is also chairman of the Washington Grain Com- mission, a title he’ll hold until the end of the year. He cred- its fellow commissioners Brit Ausman and Gary Bailey with taking on many of the duties for that board. “We’re a pretty good team,” he said. And he just started harvest- ing this year’s crop this week. “The moisture looks great, Matthew Weaver/Capital Press File Mike Miller is a Ritzville, Wash., farmer, chairman of the Wash- ington Grain Commission and the new chairman of U.S. Wheat Associates. the quality looks good, the straw is quite tough,” he said. Miller will serve a one- year term at U.S. Wheat just as longtime president Alan Tracy retired July 1 and former vice president of overseas opera- tion Vince Peterson took over Known Washington wolf packs (As of Dec. 2016) Confirmed range NOTE: Polygons represent estimated ranges for known wolf packs with radio-collared animals. Circles represent generic ranges for packs that have no collared wolves. Estimated range Bellingham 6 15 7 16 17 8 11 18 9 10 20 3 20 miles 5 101 2 lumbia Co v Ri 2 5 er 97 Seattle 2 Spokane 2 90 1 90 WASHINGTON 90 195 River Yakima e nak R ive r Pasco 82 19 Co l u m bia R i v er 20 Source: Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Alan Kenaga/Capital Press NE Washington wolfpack kills second calf By DON JENKINS Capital Press Washington wildlife managers have confi rmed a second calf has been killed this grazing season by a wolf- pack in Ferry County in north- east Washington. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife reported Friday that a range rider found the carcass two days earlier on a Bureau of Land Manage- ment grazing allotment. WDFW had earlier con- fi rmed the Sherman pack killed a calf June 12 in the same area. The department said it was unable to deter- mine whether another calf found dead at approximately the same time and place was killed by wolves because only bones remained. According to WDFW pol- icy, the department will con- sider shooting a wolf or two if a pack attacks livestock three times within 30 days or four times within one year and non-lethal deterrence has been ineffective. The ranch whose calf was found dead July 12 has fi ve contract range riders check- ing on herds, according to WDFW. Evidence such as ra- dio-collar data, signs of a struggle and injuries suffered by the calf pointed to an at- tack by one or more mem- bers of the Sherman pack, according to WDFW. Newhouse amendment would expand farmworker housing use By DAN WHEAT Capital Press “We obviously have a very keen interest, because Mexico and Canada are our partners,” he said. Miller said the industry needs to convince decision makers in charge of the bud- get that the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service’s Market Access Program and Foreign Market Development program are critical to developing inter- national markets. “They came back with a zero from the president’s budget, but that’s a beginning step,” he said. Miller said he is excited by U.S. Wheat’s existing overseas team and the standards they hold themselves to while rep- resenting wheat farmers. “The rest of the world is trying to mimic our marketing policy,” he said. “That’s the ul- timate compliment.” Fellow Washington com- mission board member Dana Herron said Miller is effective as a leader. He credits Miller with guiding an increased fo- cus on the importance of wheat quality and end-use function- ality. “We will prioritize market development like it’s never been prioritized before,” Her- ron said. When his term is over next year, Miller most hopes to maintain the momentum built by previous leaders and pass it on to the next chairman. “This is a really humbling experience for me,” he said. “I look forward to the chal- lenges that are ahead, within reason.” Judge: Firebreak did not violate environmental law Lawsuit challenged 20-mile fi rebreak in Washington national forest By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press 395 lumb Co ia 12. Wedge 13. Smackout 14. Salmo 15. Goodman Meadows 16. Dirty Shirt 5 17. Skookum 18. Carpenter Ridge 19. Touchet 20. Tucannon Wenatchee S Wolf pack names 1. Teanaway 2. Lookout 3. Loup Loup 4. Beaver Creek 5. Strawberry 6. Profanity Peak 7. Sherman 8. Nc’icn 9. Whitestone 10. Huckleberry 11. Stranger 13 20 N 14 12 4 Okanogan the top job. Tracy will continue on as a senior adviser, accord- ing to U.S. Wheat. Miller says it’s been busi- ness as usual at the organiza- tion. “My role right now is to bring the board along to any subtle changes Vince has,” he said. “But Vince and Alan have been working together for decades. The preparation has been in place.” Pacifi c Northwest farmers will see a continued emphasis on South America and Asia as customers. Miller expects more focus on trade policy as farm bill discussions get underway. The industry is watching for the possible renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. USDA loans should be open to H-2A workers, Newhouse said in a news release. “As we have witnessed a decrease in domestic workers seeking jobs in agriculture, we have seen an increase in H-2A workers and some USDA-funded farmworker housing is under utilized,” Ne- whouse said. His amendment also pro- vides $1 million in hops re- search, directs the Food and Drug Administration to review regulations on wine grape growers and continues the for- eign Market Access Program at levels higher than President Trump proposed. USDA-funded farmworker housing could be reopened to H-2A visa foreign guestwork- ers under an amendment to the 2018 House Agricultural Appropriations bill from Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash. The House Appropriations Committee passed the bill July 12. If passed by the full House and Senate, the provision Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash. will benefi t a 70-bed Yakima H-2A employment has dou- Housing Authority facility in Granger, Wash., next year and bled in the past four years and similar farmworker housing likely will continue to grow, so in Oroville, Wash., said Dan farmworker housing built with Fazio, director of the farm labor association WAFLA in Olympia. USDA-funded farmworker housing was closed to H-2A workers by the Obama ad- ministration under the premise they could displace domestic workers, Fazio said. SAGE Fact #144 “The irony is many domes- tic workers lack work authori- Downstream from Boardman on the zation so those here legally (H- Columbia River, the John Day Dam contains 2A) didn’t have precedence over others,” Fazio said. “Our 16 generators that produce enough electricity position is it should be open to all.” to power two cities the size of Seattle. The problem was brought to light by Bob Boehm, Mich- igan Farm Bureau commodity and marketing manager, when the organization was being as- sisted by WAFLA in setting up an H-2A program, Fazio said. Fazio learned it was a prob- lem in Granger and Oroville and brought it to the attention of Newhouse, whose Sunny- side farm is near Granger. The amendment should benefi t hundreds of other farmworker housing facili- ties in Washington, Michigan, North Carolina and California, 29-2/#6 Fazio said. The U.S. Forest Service did not violate federal en- vironmental law by creat- ing a 20-mile-long firebreak to stop a Washington state wildfire, a judge has ruled. In 2015, a lightning strike in Washington’s Okano- gan-Wenatchee National Forest ignited the Wolverine Fire, which eventually grew to nearly 100 square miles. Due to a lack of natural barriers, the Forest Service decided to remove vegeta- tion along a 300-foot-wide “community protection line” to stop the fire’s spread. Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, an environmental group, filed a lawsuit arguing the agency “logged” the firebreak with- out “environmental analysis or public participation” re- quired by the National Envi- ronmental Policy Act. According to the com- plaint, the Forest Service logged more than 100 acres of critical habitat for the northern spotted owl while creating the firebreak. Removing trees and veg- etation also “increased cur- rent and future fire risks” by disturbing soils, rendering them vulnerable to flam- mable invasive weeds, the plaintiff argued. The environmental group claimed the Forest Service relied on an invalid regula- tion that exempts fire-fight- ing and other emergency ac- tions from NEPA review. The lawsuit asked a fed- eral judge to enjoin the For- Courtesy of U.S. Forest Service The Wolverine Fire in 2015 burned some 65,000 acres near Lake Chelan in Central Washington. An environmental group’s lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service for building a fi re line to protect rural hamlets has been thrown out. est Service from relying on that regulation in the future and to order the agency to “mitigate fully the environ- mental damage” from the firebreak. Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice has rejected the plaintiff’s arguments, ruling that the regulation allowing the Forest Ser- vice to react to emergencies without NEPA review is justifiable. Rice also found that the Forest Service complied with the emergency regula- tion in creating the firebreak since the national forest’s supervisor determined that urgent action was necessary. The judge disagreed with the plaintiff’s argument that forest fires are a predictable occurrence that shouldn’t qualify as emergencies, say- ing the claim is “contrary to common sense.” “Just because wildfires are common and their gen- eral existence is foreseeable, the danger created by any specific wildfire is not so foreseeable and can create an emergency situation with little or no forewarning,” Rice said. “For example, in this case, the Wolverine Fire was started by lightning and spread quickly. 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