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. The fire
moved as fast as three miles
per day, was threatening sev-
eral communities, and had
breached two containment
lines. This clearly consti-
tutes an emergency.”
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