August 25, 2017
CapitalPress.com
3
Critics claim ruling allows pay-offs for farm impacts
Dispute centers
on compensation
requirements for
landfill expansion
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Critics claim an Oregon
Court of Appeals ruling will
undermine farmland protec-
tions by allowing developers
to pay off farmers rather than
avoid disrupting agricultural
practices.
The State of Oregon is
joined by the Oregon Farm
Bureau and the 1,000 Friends
of Oregon conservation group
in asking the Oregon Supreme
Court to overturn that deci-
sion.
The dispute emanates from
a lawsuit over the planned
expansion of the Riverbend
Landfill onto farmland, which
was permitted by Yamhill
County over the protests of
neighboring landowners.
Earlier this year, the Ore-
gon Court of Appeals decided
that Yamhill County didn’t
violate land use law by re-
quiring Waste Management,
the landfill’s owner, to com-
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Ramsey McPhillips, a farmer near McMinnville, Ore., discusses impacts from a nearby landfill on his
property. A lawsuit over the landfill’s expansion will be reviewed by the Oregon Supreme Court.
pensate farmers for impacts to
their operations.
For example, Waste Man-
agement must either pay a
farmer for cleaning up trash
blown onto his property from
the landfill, or hire a third par-
ty to perform the service.
The company must also
pay another nearby farmer
for orchard crops that are de-
stroyed by waste from birds
that are attracted to the land-
fill.
Critics argue this type of
compensation isn’t allowed
under Oregon’s land use law,
which aims to preserve farm-
land and avoid disruption to
agricultural practices.
“I don’t want to be paid
off. I just want them not to
affect my farm,” said Ramsey
McPhillips, the landowner
who would be compensated
for trash clean-up.
Such compensation should
not be a condition of county
permits allowing non-farm
uses, since farming operations
could be rendered unfeasible
even if the growers receive
money, critics argue.
Such pay-offs would make
it easier to site other “condi-
tional use” developments on
farmland, such as mines, golf
courses, large transmission
towers and power facilities,
according to critics.
“Now, all they need is to
force the farmer to be paid off
for the loss, and they can have
their development. Where
does that end?” said McPhil-
lips.
Under Oregon law, coun-
ties can issue such “condition-
al use” permits for non-farm
uses as long as they don’t sig-
nificantly change or drive up
the cost of farm practices on
surrounding land.
Conditions imposed on
such permits should prevent
such impacts, instead of al-
lowing the disruption as long
as farmers are compensated,
said Tim Bernasek, attorney
for the Oregon Farm Bureau,
which weighed in on the case.
“That’s not how it’s sup-
posed work,” Bernasek said
of the payment requirement.
The landfill dispute is note-
worthy because it’s poised to
define what is a significant
impact to farmland, which
has been vague up until now,
he said.
“This is really the first time
the Supreme Court is taking
a broad look at the farm im-
pacts test,” Bernasek said.
Opponents of the Oregon
Court of Appeals’ interpreta-
tion recently filed their open-
ing briefs with the Oregon
Supreme Court, to which
Yamhill County and Waste
Management must respond by
the end of September. Oral ar-
guments in the case are sched-
uled for mid-November.
Tim Sadlo, general coun-
sel for Yamhill County, said
the planned landfill expansion
has been greatly reduced in
size but other requirements
were imposed on Waste Man-
agement to prevent potential
adverse effects.
“I don’t think we tried to
buy anybody off,” Sadlo said.
“We can fix it with conditions,
and that’s what we tried to
do.”
The county set the com-
pensation requirement despite
there being limited evidence
of birds defecating on fruit
and garbage drifting onto
neighboring property, he said.
Sadlo said he’s surprised
the Oregon Supreme Court
has agreed to review the case
and disappointed that Ore-
gon’s state government wants
the previous ruling reversed.
“I think it’s regrettable
they’ve decided to pile on,”
he said.
164 years later, farm is still going strong Culvert case seen as Western water issue
State appeals
tribes’ suit to
Supreme Court
By ALIYA HALL
Capital Press
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Aliya Hall/Capital Press
Jeannette’s parents Albert and Eugenia Voss — known as Bud and
Jean — in the 1940s. Jeannette is the great granddaughter of Voss
Farms founders Joseph and Elizabeth Voss.
requirements
of continuous
family oper-
ation, a gross
income from
farm use of
not less than
per
Jeannette $1,000
year for at least
Voss
three of the last
five years and family mem-
bers must live on or actively
manage it.
Documentation for the ap-
plication can include photos,
original deeds, personal sto-
ries, or other records.
The century status recipi-
ents are:
• Iwasaki Bros. Inc: Founded in Wash-
ington County in 1917 by Yasukichi
Iwasaki. Applicant is his grandson, Jim
Iwasaki.
• Haskin Heritage Farm: Founded in
Linn County in 1917 by Ernest and
Lydia (Weirich) Haskin. Applicants are
great grandson David H. and LaLona
McCready.
• Kranberry Acres: Founded in Coos
County in 1917 by Leslie Kranick.
Applicants are grandson David Kranick
and Marci Murray.
• Sievers Farm: Founded in Morrow
County in 1907 by Will and Gertrude
Sievers. Applicants are granddaughters
Diana Arvieux, Rosemary Wood and
Trudy Stenger.
• Four Ridge Orchards: Founded in
Washington County in 1908 by Finis
Brown. Applicants are grandson David
and Bonnie Brown.
• Stubblefield Ranch: Founded in
Umatilla County in 1876 by Francis
Marion Stubblefield. Applicant is great
granddaughter Margot Turner.
• Shady Brook Farm: Founded in
Yamhill County in 1917 by Fred and
Estella Bunn. Applicants are grandson
Tom and Lona Bunn.
• Bar M Ranch: Founded in Linn
County in 1891 by Riley C. Margason.
Applicants are great grandson Gary
and Ingrid Margason.
• Haslebacher Farms: Founded in
Marion County in 1911 by Ferdinand
Haslebacher. Applicants are grandson
Raymond and Mary Haselbacher.
• Belshe Ranch: Founded in Sherman
County in 1916 by Clay and Susanna
Belshe. Applicant is great grandson
James Belshe.
• Oak Creek Farm/Coyle Family:
Founded in Linn County in 1914 by W.
Hiram Skeels. Applicant is grandson
Alton Jefferson Coyle.
• Kee/Crofoot Ranch: Founded in
Sherman County in 1917 by Frank and
Iva Kee. Applicants are Dell and Nikki
Squire; Dell Squire is the nephew of
Eben Crofoot Kee, who was a son of
the founders.
• Basil and Mary Stupfel: Founded in
Marion County in 1917 by Basil and
Mary Stupfel. Applicant is grandson
Mark Stupfel.
• Herring Farm: Founded in Yamhill
County in 1916 by Fredrick C. Herring
Sr. Applicant is Lea O. Herring, widow
of the late Bland Herring, son of the
founder.
Washington Attorney Gen-
eral Bob Ferguson on Thursday
asked the U.S. Supreme Court
Aug. 17 to overturn a ruling
that he said goes beyond how
quickly one state will replace
salmon-blocking culverts.
The reasoning behind the
9th U.S. Circuit Court of Ap-
peals’ order to take out more
than 800 culverts in Western
Washington could be applied
to removing dams, restricting
farming and altering centu-
ry-old water rights in Western
states, including Oregon and
Idaho, where tribes have sim-
ilar treaty rights, according to
the attorney general.
“It could be the basis for all
kinds of things,” Washington
Farm Bureau associate director
of government relations Evan
Sheffels said. “If you just re-
place the word ‘culverts’ with
‘water rights,’ you get a sense
of how big this case could be.”
Ferguson’s appeal was
the latest step in a lawsuit
brought in 2001 by the U.S.
government and 21 Washing-
ton tribes. A three-judge panel
ruled last year that the culverts
diminish fish runs and there-
fore violate treaties the tribes
signed in 1854 and 1855. The
judges said Washington was
insufficiently concerned about
promises that tribes would al-
• Charles M. Colton and Sons: Founded
in Baker County in 1917 by William H.
and Charles H. Colton. Applicants are
Robert and his wife Lorene Colton —
Robert is the great grandson of William
— and Michael Colton, great-great
grandson of William.
• Nicholson Home Ranch: Founded
in Klamath County in 1898 by William
Elmore Nicholson. Applicant is Nichol-
son Investments LLC. William “Bill” S.
Nicholson lives on the ranch today. He
is the grandson and Larry W. Nicholson
is the great grandson of the founder.
• C and S Waterman Ranch: Founded
in Coos County in 1917 by Charlie
Frank and Mabel Waterman. Applicants
are grandson Charlie and Sharon
Waterman.
Courtesy Washington State Department of Transportation
Church Creek flows through a culvert under State Route 532 in
Snohomish County, Wash., in 2013. Washington Attorney General
Bob Ferguson has appealed a federal court order to remove more
than 800 fish-blocking culverts.
ways be able to make a moder-
ate living by fishing.
The court said the state
could build bridges over
streams, reroute roads or mod-
ify culverts to allow fish to
pass. Replacing the culverts
could cost about $2 billion,
though estimates vary.
The panel in May denied the
state’s motion to have the case
heard by the full circuit court.
In a dissenting statement, Judge
Diarmuid O’Scannlain said the
decision was “an ideal candi-
date for review” because the
ruling could be “used to attack
a variety of development, con-
struction and farming practic-
es, not just in Washington but
throughout the Pacific North-
west.”
“While such speculation
may sound far-fetched, in ac-
tuality, it is already occurring,”
wrote O’Scannlain, whose
opinion was supported by eight
other justices.
Ferguson, a Democrat, said
in a statement that the state
should speed-up replacing cul-
verts and that he supports salm-
on restoration and respects trea-
ty rights. But he said the circuit
court’s ruling was too broad.
In its brief to the Supreme
Court, Washington asks the
high court to reconsider wheth-
er the treaties guaranteed tribes
a moderate living from fishing.
The state also argues that the
federal government approved
the culverts and should bear re-
sponsibility, and that even if the
culverts are removed other fish
barriers will remain.
The brief elaborates on
points made by O’Scannlain.
“As the dissent pointed out,
the same reasoning could be
used to demand any number of
changes in longstanding gov-
ernmental and private practic-
es, from the ‘removal of dams’
to altering farming practices to
the elimination of century-old
water rights,” according to the
Attorney General’s Office.
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It was 1853 when Joseph
and Elizabeth Voss founded
Voss Farms on 138 acres in
the Willamette Valley. They
had traveled from Wisconsin
by wagon train the year before
looking for a new start in the
Oregon Territory.
Initially, they raised cattle,
sheep and grains, but over the
years the crops changed to re-
flect the market; Voss Farms
added berries, orchard crops
and Christmas trees.
Today, the farm raises pri-
marily cereal grains.
Over 160 years later, Jean-
nette Voss and Julie Edy, the
great granddaughters of the
founders, are still farming.
They applied to update their
farm status from a century farm
to a sesquicentennial, meaning
the farm has remained in the
family more than 150 years.
They will be honored at the
Oregon State Fair at 11 a.m.
Saturday, Aug. 26, in the Picnic
Grove Boots N’ Brew Area.
“We thought it would be
nice to have the recognition,”
Jeannette Voss said. “We’re
lucky. We want to keep it in the
family as long as we can.”
The sisters grew up on the
farm and even though Jeannette
went on to teach, she always
helped out. Extended family
has always lived on the farm
with them, and Jeannette joked
that it was “like the Kennedy
compound.”
In addition to the Voss fam-
ily, 19 farms and ranches in 10
counties will be honored as
century farms.
This brings the total number
of century farms and ranches in
Oregon to 1,200 and sesquicen-
tennial farms and ranches to 39.
The farms and ranches will
receive a certificate signed by
Gov. Kate Brown and Direc-
tor of the Oregon Department
of Agriculture Alexis Taylor,
as well as a historic sign that
has the founder’s name and
the year the ranch or farm was
founded.
The Oregon Century Farm
and Ranch Program is man-
aged by the Oregon Farm Bu-
reau Foundation for Education,
and supported by a partnership
of the Oregon Farm Bureau, the
State Historic Preservation Of-
fice, Oregon State University
Archives and by donations.
To qualify for a century or
sesquicentennial award, fam-
ily farms must submit a for-
mal application and meet the
• Cattrall Brothers Vineyards: Founded
in Yamhill County in 1917 by John C.J.
Sartone. Applicants are grand-neph-
ews William “Bill” and Thomas “Tom”
Cattrall.
• Misner Family Farm: Founded in
Linn County in 1902 by Henry and
Alice A. Boyle. Applicants are great
grandson Michael and Therese
Misner.
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