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CapitalPress.com
September 29, 2017
Northwest drought retreats; seasonal Changes planned
weather outlook turns colder, wetter for Oregon ag water
Odds now favor
quality oversight
La Nina winter
Funding shifts
from projects to
planning, additional
monitoring
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Oregon and Washington’s
flash droughts are receding,
and La Nina is shaping up
in the Pacific Ocean, causing
long-range forecasts for the
Northwest to turn wetter and
cooler, federal climatologists
reported Thursday.
Some 64 percent of Wash-
ington is in a drought, down
from 78 percent the week
before, according to the U.S.
Drought Monitor. Oregon’s
drought retreated to 28 percent
of the state, down from 43 per-
cent.
An abrupt change in weath-
er patterns stemmed droughts
that had been spreading
over both states in Septem-
ber. For example, Spokane,
which remains in a “moderate
drought,” went a record-set-
ting 80 days without rain. The
streak ended Sept. 17, with
nearly an inch of rain falling
over three days.
Looking ahead, the Nation-
al Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration’s Climate Pre-
diction Center issued a new
seasonal forecast that puts the
chances of a La Nina taking
shape between November and
January at 62 percent, up from
26 percent a month ago.
La Nina, a cooling of
sea-surface temperatures, tilts
the odds toward wetter and
colder winters in the northern
U.S., and drier and warmer
winters in the southern U.S.
The odds still favor a warm-
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Guillermina Hernandez removes loose vines from a cranberry bog harvested Sept. 19 on the Long
Beach Peninsula in southwest Washington. The U.S. Drought Monitor on Sept. 21 reported rain had
washed away the region’s moderate drought.
er than usual fall and early
winter in Oregon, Washington,
Idaho and Northern California,
but not as strongly as a month
ago, according to the Climate
Prediction Center.
A large reservoir of unusu-
ally cold water on the equator
off the coast of South America
contributed to the reassess-
ment that La Nina conditions
likely will emerge.
Washington received more
snow than usual last winter
during a weak La Nina, build-
ing up a snowpack that helped
farmers get through a summer
notable for record heat and dry
spells, but not water shortages.
Here is a state-by-state look
at drought conditions and the
October through December
forecast:
• Oregon: The northern half
of Eastern Oregon remains in
a “moderate drought.” Storms
washed the drought away from
northwest Oregon. Odds favor
slightly above-average pre-
cipitation for the next three
months, except in the south-
west corner of the state, where
precipitation is expected to be
normal.
Washington: Rain rolled
back drought conditions in
southwest Washington and
part of the Olympic Peninsu-
la. Precipitation is forecast to
be above-average, except in
northwest Washington, where
chances are equal for above- or
below-average rainfall.
• Idaho: Drought conditions
were unchanged, with 23 per-
cent of the state in moderate
or severe drought. Odds favor
above-average precipitation
throughout Idaho.
• California: Drought con-
ditions also were unchanged
in California, where 8 percent
of Southern California is still
in moderate drought. Northern
California has equal chances
for above- or below-average
precipitation.
Smackout wolfpack nears peaceful milestone
Details on lethal
removal revealed
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
LEGAL
CHERRY AVENUE STORAGE
legal-38-2-1/102
2680 Cherry Ave. NE
Salem, OR 97301
(503) 399-7454
AUCTION
SAT., OCT. 7 TH • 10 A.M.
• Unit AS-19 - Chris Garza
• Unit AS-94 -
William Patrick Floyd II
• Unit 8 - Lisa Pendleton
• Unit 45 - Eric Proctor
• Unit 146 - Bernabe Romero
• Unit 179 - John Codner
• Unit 194 - Steve Esses
• Unit 222 - Ranae Stroud
Cherry Avenue Storage
reserves the right to
refuse any and all bids
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
A Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife investigator examines a wolf-inflicted wound on a calf
July 22 on private land in Stevens County. WDFW killed two wolves in the Smackout pack to stop
attacks on livestock.
for killing wolves, but called
for initially taking one or two,
rather than several. The de-
partment cited research that
suggests quicker intervention
deters packs, saving cows and
wolves in the long run.
Under the policy, WDFW
also killed one of two known
wolves in the Sherman pack
in August.
The Smackout pack has
attacked at least five cattle in
northeast Washington dating
back to last year. The cattle
belonged to three different
producers.
The department says it
may kill more wolves if the
pack attacks again. But after
the end of this month, three
attacks from September 2016
won’t figure in the depart-
ment’s decision. The pack
will still have two depreda-
tions from July on its record.
The threshold for lethal re-
moval is four depredations in
10 months.
Martorello said the pack
39-1/106
has remained in its territory,
350 square miles northeast of
Colville in Stevens County.
The pack’s territory includes
one state and six federal graz-
ing allotments, and several
private pastures. Cows are
expected to stay on grazing
allotments until mid-October.
“It looks like the Smack-
out pack is doing what the
Smackout pack does, but to
date it has changed behavior
and is not depredating on live-
stock,” Martorello said.
The department’s lethal-re-
moval report included previ-
ously undisclosed details.
Wildlife managers trapped
wolves around the pack’s ren-
dezvous site, where hunting
adults stash pups in mid-sum-
mer. The department captured
wolves within 1 mile of where
the pack attacked cattle, hop-
ing to influence survivors to
stay away from livestock.
WDFW euthanized a
30-pound female pup on July
21 and a 70-pound female
adult on July 30. The adult
was not the pack’s breeding
female, Martorello said.
The department prelimi-
narily estimated that the le-
thal-removal operation cost
less than $7,000, a fraction of
past six-figure operations that
featured helicopters. Mar-
torello said the department
determined trapping could be
effective because the wolves
were coming and going from
the rendezvous site.
He said the department
could use helicopters in the
future. “When the (WDFW)
director authorizes lethal re-
moval, we’ll use the approach
that gives us the highest
chance of achieving the goal,”
he said.
During the 10-day opera-
tion, WDFW employees put in
collectively 317 hours to pre-
vent more conflicts between
cattle and wolves, according
to the report. The department
and ranchers used range rid-
ers, lights and ribbons to deter
attacks.
The pack had grown large
in the spring, 13 to 15 wolves,
and large packs are more like-
ly to attack livestock, accord-
ing to the report. Besides the
two wolves killed by WDFW,
one adult wolf that was at-
tacking cattle was killed June
30 by a range rider.
Members needed for
Agricultural Heritage
Commission
EO Media Group
The Oregon Watershed
Enhancement Board is ac-
cepting applications to
serve on the newly formed
Oregon Agricultural Her-
itage Commission, estab-
lished by the Legislature
to provide incentives for
farmers to voluntarily adopt
practices that preserve both
natural resources and agri-
culture.
The 12-member board
will oversee the program
and make funding and pol-
icy recommendations to
OWEB. Applications are
due Oct. 25.
Members are needed to
represent a range of inter-
ests, including:
• Four members recom-
mended by the state Board
of Agriculture who are ac-
tively engaged in farming
LEGAL
LEGAL
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 98
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold, for cash
to the highest bidder, on 9/5/17.
The sale will be held at 10:00am by
PARKING ENFORCEMENT SERVICES
1768 13TH ST SE SALEM, OR
2009 Mercedes GL550
VIN = 4JGBF86EX9A524462
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 98
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold, for cash
to the highest bidder, on 10/9/17.
The sale will be held at 10:00am by
PARKING ENFORCEMENT SERVICES
1768 13TH ST SE SALEM, OR
2015 Toyota Corolla
VIN = 2T1BURHE6FC338616
Amount due on lien $2,946.00
Reputed owner(s) GEORGE KANG
WELLS FARGO DEALER SVCS
Amount due on lien $2,989.00
Reputed owner(s) MEGHAN DEHORITY
CAPITAL ONE AUTO FIN
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the following
vehicle will be sold, for cash to the
highest bidder, on 10/3/2017. The sale
will be held at 10:00am by
MAIN A.B./LOVEGROVE COLLISION
1230 HOYT ST SE SALEM, OR
2001 VW GTI CP
VIN = WVWDC21J01W162799
Amount due on lien $3305.00
Reputed owner(s)
Alexandria Demers
39-1/102
If the Smackout wolfpack
doesn’t assail another cow
or calf before Sept. 30, the
Washington Department of
Fish and Wildlife will stop
holding some of its past at-
tacks against it.
The pack’s last docu-
mented depredation was two
months ago, and it’s been
nearly that long since wild-
life managers trapped and
euthanized a pup and adult
female. The department hopes
the lapse of time indicates the
large pack has learned to stay
away from cattle.
“To date, we’ve seen the
desired outcome,” WDFW
wolf policy coordinator Don-
ny Martorello said. “We think
our actions contributed to
that.”
WDFW set the end date of
its post-culling evaluation pe-
riod in a report released Sept.
21 on its methods and motives
for killing two wolves in July.
The department was follow-
ing a new lethal-control poli-
cy that lowered the threshold
Oregon’s farm regulators
aim to increase the impact of
their agricultural water qual-
ity program by shifting how
grant money is allocated,
among other changes.
Ensuring that farmers
comply with water quality
standards is within the pur-
view of the Oregon Depart-
ment of Agriculture, which
traditionally focused its atten-
tion on waterways subject to
complaints.
In recent years, ODA
has moved beyond the com-
plaint-driven process to deter-
mine for itself which streams
and rivers should be scruti-
nized for water quality prob-
lems.
Based on aerial photos and
other data, the agency each
year selects several “strate-
gic implementation areas,” or
SIAs, where waterways are
examined more closely.
During the 2015-2017 bi-
ennium, roughly $1 million
from the Oregon Watershed
Enhancement Board was
spent on compliance projects
in the SIAs, such as plant-
ing vegetation near denuded
streams or moving manure
piles away from waterways.
Under the agency’s new
“coordinated streamside man-
agement partnership,” this
funding will be dedicated to
planning rather than on-the-
ground work.
In the 2017-2019 bienni-
um, another $1.2 million in
OWEB money will be avail-
able, but now the funds will
be directed toward technical
assistance for local soil and
water conservation districts
and watershed councils.
The change is expected
to help smaller districts and
councils — some of which
only have a single employ-
ee — with tasks such as
grant-writing and paying for
engineering plans, said John
Byers, manager of ODA’s
agricultural water quality pro-
gram.
Aside from rectifying spe-
cific problems so landowners
comply with water quality
standards, the program will
also identify additional mea-
39-1/102
sures to “uplift” water quality,
Byers said.
Paying for the projects
themselves will require sep-
arate OWEB grants, he said.
“We feel they’re going to be as
competitive or more competi-
tive because of that uplift.”
Once it annually chooses
six “strategic implementation
areas,” ODA will consult with
the Oregon Department of
Environmental Quality and
Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife about the best
methods for improving water
quality.
“Let’s make sure we’re
looking at this from a coor-
dinated perspective,” said
Byers.
Historically, efforts to im-
prove agricultural water qual-
ity were akin to “random acts
of conservation,” said Lisa
Hanson, ODA’s deputy direc-
tor.
Now, ODA will provide
local groups with informa-
tion from DEQ and ODFW
up front, helping them to un-
derstand where projects will
be most effective for fish and
environmental health, Hanson
said.
“If we work with these 10
landowners, we can have a
big impact,” said Meta Lofts-
gaarden, OWEB’s executive
director.
The agency will also be
monitoring aspects of water
quality, such as sedimenta-
tion and temperature, to see
whether its efforts are proving
effective.
Monitoring has already
occurred in some Oregon wa-
terways, but systematically
analyzing SIAs will provide
state agencies will a more
expansive perspective, said
Loftsgaarden.
“We’re able to get a very
different story for agriculture
than we’ve had in the past,”
she said. “It tells a broader,
more statewide story.”
Rather than focus on indi-
vidual landowners, the mon-
itoring component will en-
compass the larger waterway.
“The monitoring is go-
ing to be at the watershed
scale and it’s going to be in-
stream,” she said.
While ODA ultimately has
the authority to issue civil
penalties to landowners, so far
it hasn’t been necessary under
the SIA approach, Byers said.
Landowners have been
responsive to warning letters
informing them that water
quality problems need to be
fixed, he said.
legal-38-2-1/102
or ranching.
• One member recom-
mended by the director of
the Oregon State University
Extension Service.
• Two members recom-
mended by the state Fish
and Wildlife Commission
with expertise on fish and
wildlife habitat.
• One member recom-
mended by the Board of Ag-
riculture with expertise in
agricultural water quality.
• One member recom-
mended by the Land Con-
servation and Development
Commission with expertise
in conservation easements
and land transfers.
• One member selected
by OWEB representing nat-
ural resource interests.
• One member selected
by OWEB representing trib-
al interests.
• One non-voting mem-
ber, who is also a member
of OWEB.
Terms will initially vary
in length in order to stagger
membership, after which
commissioners will serve
four-year terms. Commis-
sioners cannot serve more
than two consecutive terms.
For more information
or to obtain an application,
contact Nellie McAdams at
503-986-0061 or email nel-
lie.mcadams@oregon.gov.