August 4, 2017
CapitalPress.com
Washington kills
2nd Smackout wolf
Blumenauer offers
alternative to farm bill
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
By ERIC MORTENSON
“The farm bill is
the most important
health bill. It’s the
most important
environmental
bill. It’s an
opportunity to link
rural and small
town Oregon with
population centers.
It’s economic
development.”
Capital Press
PORTLAND — Oregon
Congressman Earl Blume-
nauer isn’t on the House ag
committee, but like many
in the Portland district he
represents, he’s keenly in-
terested in food and farming
and has some ideas about
how it should be supported
in the next farm bill.
Blumenauer, familiar in
Congress for his bow ties
and bicycle lapel pins, has
spent the past two years ask-
ing what the farm bill would
look like if it were written
for Oregon. That is, provid-
ing budget and policy sup-
port for small and organic
farms, local food systems,
conservation programs, sus-
tainable ag practices and
for growing fruits and veg-
etables instead of providing
subsidies for “cotton grown
in the desert,” as he put it
during an Aug. 1 appear-
ance in Portland.
He believes the farm bill,
up for reauthorization in
2018, gives “too much to
the wrong people to grow
the wrong food in the wrong
places.” He said USDA
spending for the type of ag-
riculture practiced in Ore-
gon, with 220 commodities
and emerging regional food
hubs, amounts to a “round-
ing error” in the depart-
ment’s $140 billion annual
budget.
Blumenauer wants to
change that. He’s drafted
the Food and Farm Act, es-
sentially an alternative farm
bill, and plans to introduce
it this fall. He also released
a report https://blumenauer.
house.gov/growing-oppor-
tunities that summarizes his
findings from two years of
talking to farmers, ranchers,
consumers and other stake-
holders.
In a presentation at
Zenger Farm in East Port-
land, Blumenauer said a
farm bill revised to reflect
Oregon Congressman
Earl Blumenauer
Eric Mortenson/Capital Press
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a Portland Democrat who represents Ore-
gon’s 3rd Congressional District, is preparing legislation to make
the next farm bill more supportive of diverse crops, food systems,
small and organic farms, sustainable agriculture and conserva-
tion programs. He spoke Aug. 1 at a Portland gathering.
Oregon’s style of agricul-
ture would find favor in
many other farming states,
including California and
Washington.
He said the broad range
of USDA’s activities mean
a revised farm bill would
address problems across the
country.
“The farm bill is the most
important health bill,” he
said. “It’s the most import-
ant environmental bill. It’s
an opportunity to link ru-
ral and small town Oregon
with population centers.
It’s economic development.
Anyone here eat? Drink
water?
“The punchline is that
nobody understands the
farm bill,” Blumenauer con-
tinued. “The complexity, I
think, in some cases is pur-
poseful.”
Organics, conservation
work, fruit and vegetable
“specialty crops” and small
farms have been funded
piecemeal, thrown financial
“crumbs” in previous farm
bills, he said. “We want to
have a comprehensive farm
bill that we offer up to have
a point of departure, to
change the conversation.”
Blumenauer’s Portland
audience included Alexis
Taylor, the Oregon Depart-
ment of Agriculture direc-
tor, and representatives
from groups such as Oregon
Tilth, which certifies or-
ganic operations, the Ore-
gon Food Bank, the Oregon
3
Winegrowers Association
and Grand Central Cafe and
Burgerville, local chains
that prominently feature re-
gionally produced food on
their menus.
While generally support-
ive of Blumenauer’s ideas
on the farm bill, some in the
audience questioned how
the reforms will fare in an
embattled Trump adminis-
tration.
Blumenauer
acknowl-
edged the administration
has “not displayed a lot of
legislative dexterity” and
said changes will have to be
carried through Congress by
a broad coalition.
“It’s hard with this ad-
ministration to know where
to start,” he said. Support-
ers should concentrate on
“What we are for and why
we are for it,” he said.
“We need to build a co-
alition, build the case, and
not be distracted by the next
Dumpster fire.”
A second wolf in a pack
attacking cattle in northeast
Washington has been killed
by state wildlife managers,
the Department of Fish and
Wildlife said Monday.
WDFW said the depart-
ment will wait and see if
depredations continue before
deciding whether to kill more
wolves in the Smackout pack
in Stevens County. The cattle
the wolves have been attack-
ing are now in a fenced pas-
ture and are being watched
by range riders, according to
WDFW. The rancher has add-
ed lights and ribbons to keep
wolves away.
WDFW did not release
more information, continuing
a policy of withholding details
about the culling of the pack.
The department hopes issuing
bare-bones updates will qui-
et negative public reaction to
shooting wolves, which are not
federally protected in the east-
ern one-third of Washington.
Wildlife managers verified
the Smackout pack in Stevens
County had attacked at least
four cattle over a 10-month
period, the threshold for the
department to consider lethal
removal.
WDFW initiated lethal re-
moval July 20. The following
day the department determined
another calf had been injured
by the pack.
In the spring, the pack had
eight members and an un-
known number of pups. Be-
sides the two wolves killed by
WDFW, another pack member
was shot and killed by a ranch
employee. The wolf was at-
tacking cattle, and WDFW
determined the shooting was
lawful.
WDFW also resorted to
shooting wolves in 2012, 2014
and 2016 to stop attacks on
livestock. Ranchers report
heavy losses and having to al-
ter operations as an increasing
number of wolves concentrate
in four northeast Washington
counties.
WDFW wolf policy coor-
dinator Donny Martorello de-
clined to provide more details
about the culling of the pack.
It’s the fourth time WDFW
has used lethal removal to
stop attacks on livestock since
wolves began recolonizing the
state a decade ago.
Martorello said that releas-
ing information in the past
while operations were still un-
derway has inflamed members
of the public, leading to threats
against wildlife managers and
ranchers.
“Nothing is of higher pri-
ority than human safety,” he
said.
In previous years, WDFW
has provided more details.
“An unfortunate conse-
quence for that level of trans-
parency is that it can be used
for harassment and threats to
public safety,” Martorello said.
Martorello said WDFW
eventually will reveal more
details, but not until a report in
the fall after the grazing season.
The department will provide a
weekly report on the number of
wolves killed, he said.
Cattle Producers of Wash-
ington President Scott Niel-
sen said he’s concerned that
WDFW’s policy will leave the
public unaware of the damage
wolves are inflicting on live-
stock producers. “I would like
to see that put out,” he said.
Nevertheless, the depart-
ment has reason to be con-
cerned about the reaction to
culling a pack, Nielsen said.
“You have some absolute
loons who think you should
never kill a wolf,” he said.
“They (WDFW) need to pro-
tect whomever from some of
that lunacy.”
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