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2 CapitalPress.com October 6, 2017 People & Places Olives take root in Oregon Dawn Monagon helps bring new crop north to Willamette Valley Western Innovator By ALIYA HALL Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. — U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zin- ke has closely followed his boss’ playbook, encouraging mining and drilling on public lands and reducing the size of national monuments that Pres- ident Donald Trump called a “massive land grab” by his Democratic predecessors. Except, that is, in Montana. In Zinke’s home state, the former congressman who has long harbored higher political ambitions is recommending Trump create a new national monument out of the forests bordering Glacier National Calendar Experience: Grew up on a small farm and has been growing olives in her orchard for over 15 years. Hometown: Monmouth, Ore. Education: She took classes and worked at Western Oregon University for several years. Her late husband, Larry, graduated from there. Aliya Hall/For the Capital Press Dawn Monagon and her late husband, Larry, of Victory Estates in Keizer, Ore., were the first olive growers in Oregon. The olive industry in Oregon encompasses 50 acres, but acreage is expected to multiply in the next couple of years. said of the people planning the expansion. “They’ve done a very thorough and disciplined due diligence.” The planting will be in ei- ther the Medford or Roseburg area, and data is being col- lected to see where the olives would grow best. Caceu said the final decision on the loca- tion will be made next spring. Although a project of this size would barely make it on the radar in California or Spain, where olives are a ma- jor crop, Caceu said there is potential to take olive acreage to “much higher than 250 pret- ty quickly.” “People come over and talk to me and say, ‘I’ve been thinking about olives and I have this many acres,’” he said. “I’ve had at least five to 40 (people) approach and show interest.” While there is interest in growing olives, Caceu said one obstacle gets in the way — and it’s a big one. “That obstacle is the cold-hardiness of olives and the cold temperatures in Ore- gon,” he said. Park, to the disappointment of a company that wants to drill for natural gas there. A couple hundred miles away, where rocky bluffs line the Missouri River, he decided to leave intact a 590-square- mile monument that for 16 years has stirred the kind of impassioned local opposition that Zinke cited in justifying changes to monuments else- where. And he wants to curb min- ing along Montana’s border with Yellowstone National Park. That could discourage development of two proposed mines that supporters say would offer higher paying jobs than tourism. Sponsored by: To submit an event go to the Community Events calendar on the home page of our website at www. capitalpress.com and click on “Sub- mit an Event.” Calendar items can also be mailed to Capital Press, 1400 Broadway St. NE, Salem, OR 97301 or emailed to newsroom@ capitalpress.com. Saturday, Oct. 7 Oregon’s Bounty: A Celebration of the Harvest. 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Oregon State Capitol, 900 Court St. NE, Salem. The Oregon De- partment of Agriculture and Oregon State University will again team up to offer a taste of locally grown food and an opportunity to purchase from local vendors. The “Crop Up Luncheon and Market Showcase,” held at Salem’s State Capitol Park, climaxes a series of similar events held around the state this summer. ODA will also present a Farm to School Producer Award to Rickreall Dairy for its dedication to providing nutritious food to schools and ed- ucating kids in the process. Cost: $10 for the luncheon. Tickets must be purchased by Oct. 6 at http://bit. do/CropUp Website: www.oregon- capitol.com Hood River Hops Fest. Noon- 8 p.m. Columbia Lot, Fifth and Columbia, Hood River, Ore. The family-friendly event features more than 50 breweries with more than 60 fresh-hop beers, plus a variety of food vendors, live music and a Capital Press Managers Joe Beach ..................Editor & Publisher Elizabeth Yutzie Sell .... Advertising Director Carl Sampson ................Managing Editor Jessica Boone ........ Production Manager Samantha McLaren .... Circulation Manager Dawn Monagon Oregon west of the Cas- cade Range is famous for its mild winters, Caceu said. However, there are regular- ly two to four nights of be- low-freezing temperatures each year. When that happens, young olive trees under 10 years old can suffer damage that kills them to the ground. “It doesn’t damage the roots,” Caceu said, “but ef- fectively you’re back down to zero, starting from scratch.” Oregon State University researchers are trying to over- come this challenge by study- ing which olive tree cultivars are the most cold-hardy, and attempting to improve propa- gation techniques. Javier Fernandez-Salva- dor, OSU Marion and Polk County Extension agent, leads the project with his team: Neil Bell, OSU Marion and Polk County Extension agent; Heather Stoven, OSU Yamhill County Extension agent; and Victoria Binning, OSU Marion County Extension agent. Fernandez-Salvador de- scribes the project as his “baby,” and said that they are looking at potting the culti- vars and keeping the trees in a greenhouse for the winter. “We want to make an af- fordable, small structure for plants before moving them outside,” he said. “We think by potting we’ll get better results. We are trying to transform that into hard data.” The project will also eval- uate systems that haven’t been successful in the past, and will be planting small trees in fields as well. “We expect a lot of culti- vars not to survive,” Fernan- dez-Salvador said. Beyond cold hardiness, the team will research other fac- tors, such as dry farming ver- sus irrigation and flat versus sloped land. He said that because people have lost investments in the past the team wants to avoid recommending anything, but rather provide hard science to help growers decide if they want to plant the crop. After this project, Fer- nandez-Salvador will apply for funding to evaluate the agronomics of growing olive Family: She and Larry Mo- nagon had one son, Michael. Her extended family helps her run the olive orchard. trees. He said it’s hard to sell the crop fresh, and milling olives for oil provides added value. Paul Durant of Red Ridge Farms in Dayton, ore., oper- ates the state’s largest com- mercial olive oil mill. He said olive oil is a niche product that works best sold directly to the consumer market. “That drives more aware- ness and that’s where the growth will be,” he said. “The food industry here in the Northwest elevates the food experience and connects to growers. It is really limitless in a lot of ways.” Monagon said she thinks the industry will continue to grow, and hopes she and her husband helped inspire people to start planting olive trees. “I would like to keep farm- ing viable and interesting in Oregon, and if the olive in- dustry can do that, that would be great,” she said. Interior chief wants smaller monuments, but not at home By MATTHEW BROWN Established 1928 Board of directors Mike Forrester Steve Forrester Kathryn Brown Susan Rana Mike Omeg Corporate Officer Heidi Wright Chief Operating Officer For the Capital Press KEIZER, Ore. — Dawn and Larry Monagon planted the first olive trees in Oregon in 2002, defying the conven- tional wisdom that the trees couldn’t survive north of Cal- ifornia. “We have a nice piece of property that can grow any- thing big or small, and it’s suited for experimental stuff,” Dawn Monagon said. “Some- one mentioned olives, and my husband loves olives. So, we thought, Why not check it out?” Despite being told by Cal- ifornia olive growers that the crop would never survive in Oregon, the Monagons thought they’d give it a try. “(We were told) they’ll never survive a winter. Well, surely they’ve done that,” she said. The Monagons established Victory Estates on their five acres, and began to produce and mill olive oil. Her hus- band died last year. “Our (operation) is small and different than industrial ones. We wanted it to grow and be an industry that took off,” Monagon said. “We took pride in watching and seeing what worked and what didn’t.” There are now 50 acres of olives for oil production in Or- egon, and that number could soon multiply, with a project in the works to plant 200 acres, Bogdan Caceu, executive di- rector of the Olive Growers of Oregon, said. He said he could not identify the growers plan- ning the expansion. “All I can say is it’s a larg- er player that has its fingers in a number of crops and also in the tourism industry,” Caceu Capital Press collectible mug. Sponsored by the Hood River County Chamber of Commerce. Website: hoodriver.org/ hops-fest/ Hoop House Production Work- shop. 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Western Ne- vada College Fallon Campus, 160 Campus Way, Fallon, Nev. Taught by a seasoned professional with a background in research and com- mercial production, the workshop is ideal for intermediate or advanced growers. Attendees will learn about best practices that apply to all hoop house production, the eight most profitable crops, best practices for vining, fruiting and leafy crops and advanced practices and tech- niques for hoop house production. Website: www.wnc.edu/special- ty-crop-institute Saturday-Sunday Oct. 7-8 Alpaca Harvest Fest. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Alpacas of Oregon, 21345 SW Aebischer Road, Sherwood, Ore. Help EasyGo Farm and Alpacas of Oregon celebrate the bountiful harvest of colorful alpacas and beautiful fleece. Get up close to the alpacas — hand feed them and meet the babies, females, herdsires and “fiber boys” — less expensive alpacas for fiber artists, compan- ions and pasture mowers. Shop for sweaters, gloves, scarves and more. Website: www.easygofarm. net/AOOHarvestFest The decision was based on Zinke’s belief that “some plac- es are too precious to mine,” his spokeswoman said last month. Zinke, a rumored candi- date for U.S. Senate in 2018 or governor in 2020, appears to be carving out an exception for Montana from Trump’s agenda to open more public lands to natural resources de- velopment. Whether it stems from Montana pride or polit- ical ambition in a state where conservation has bipartisan appeal, the results have ran- kled both sides in the debate over managing millions of acres of public lands in the U.S. West. “It’s totally favoritism,” said Land Tawney, president of the conservation group Backcountry Hunters and An- glers. Tawney is a friend of the president’s son, Don- ald Trump Jr., and his group threw its support behind Zin- ke’s nomination last winter. But he said the Interior secretary’s recommendations to scale back four large mon- uments in the West, including Bears Ears in Utah, represent a “sellout to industry” that’s putting public land and wild- life at risk. Zinke also called for shrinking two marine monuments in the Pacific Ocean. “We’re happy he recog- nizes the importance of the Badger Two-Medicine,” Tawney said, referring to the 203-square-mile area south of Glacier that Zinke recom- mends be a monument. “Plac- es that are very similar in fashion, like Bears Ears, he’s not quite protecting. ... You can’t talk out of both sides of your mouth.” Zinke spokeswoman Heather Swift declined to comment on how he came to recommend a monument designation for Badger-Two Medicine or whether he was treating public lands in Mon- tana differently than else- where. GASES / WELDING / SAFETY / FIRE www.oxarc.com 20 Northwest Locations 1-800-765-9055 Entire contents copyright © 2017 EO Media Group dba Capital Press An independent newspaper published every Friday. Capital Press (ISSN 0740-3704) is published weekly by EO Media Group, 1400 Broadway St. NE, Salem OR 97301. Periodicals postage paid at Portland, OR, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Capital Press, P.O. Box 2048 Salem, OR 97308-2048. To Reach Us Circulation ......................... 800-882-6789 Email ........ Circulation@capitalpress.com Main line ........................... 503-364-4431 Fax ................................... 503-370-4383 Advertising Fax ................ 503-364-2692 News Staff N. California Tim Hearden .................... 530-605-3072 E Idaho John O’Connell ................. 208-421-4347 Idaho Carol Ryan Dumas .......... 208-860-3898 Boise Sean Ellis .......................... 208-914-8264 Cent. 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Box 2048 Salem, OR 97308-2048 News: Contact the main office or news staff member closest to you, send the in- formation to newsroom@capitalpress.com or mail it to “Newsroom,” c/o Capital Press. Include a contact telephone number. Letters to the Editor: Send your comments on agriculture-related public issues to opinions@capitalpress.com, or mail your letter to “Opinion,” c/o Capital Press. Letters should be limited to 300 words. Deadline: Noon Monday. Tuesday, Oct. 10 Wednesday, Oct. 11 Saturday, Oct. 14 Living Peacefully with Beavers. 6-8 p.m. Cabela’s in Marysville, Wash. Beavers, and how to live with them, will be the topic of three seminars in October sponsored by Snohomish Conservation District and Beavers Northwest. While beavers can cause headaches for landowners, they can also be invaluable for protecting and pre- serving water resources and wild- life habitat. If beavers are causing issues on your property, there may be solutions available to help you to live peacefully alongside them. The October seminars are taught by local beaver experts Alex Pittman and Ben Dittbrenner and will cover the benefits that resident beavers provide, cost-effective devices that can help you manage the impact of beaver flooding on your property, and technical and financial assis- tance available from Snohomish Conservation District and Beavers Northwest. Cost: Free. Website: http://scdbeavers.eventbrite.com Sustainable Community Stew- ards Volunteer Training. 6-9:15 p.m. McCollum Park, 600 128th St. SE, Everett, Wash. Cost: $30 Website: http://bit.ly/2hjyXC4 Northwest Farmers Union 2017 Convention 8 a.m.-11 p.m. Walla Walla Community College, 500 Tausick Way, Walla Walla, Wash. The Northwest Farmers Union annual convention, which hosts producers and supporters of agri- culture from around Washington, Idaho and Oregon, is an event that has a multitude of educa- tional speakers, farmer/rancher speakers/attendees, honorary awards and general networking and camaraderie. The event is our gathering for our membership to come together and enact our grassroots policy for the upcom- ing year as well as help guide the many programs that we work to implement for our membership. Members can vote on changes to the policy and structure of the organization as well as take part in leadership opportunities and network with other leaders from around the region. Cost: $50 Website: www.nwfu.org Capital Press ag media Sunday, Oct. 15 If you see a misstatement, omission or factual error in a headline, story or photo caption, please call the Capital Press news department at 503-364-4431, or send email to newsroom@capitalpress.com. Tuesday-Thursday Oct. 10-12 Oregon Vegetation Manage- ment Association, Seaside Civic and Convention Center, 415 First Ave., Seaside, Ore. Hours for the event are 10-6 p.m. Tuesday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday and 8 a.m.- noon Thursday. Website: ovma.net Thursday, Oct. 12 Living Peacefully with Beavers. 6-8 p.m. Stanwood PUD, 9124 271st St. NW, Stanwood, Wash. Beavers, and how to live with them, will be the topic of three seminars in October sponsored by Snohomish Conservation District and Beavers Northwest. While beavers can cause headaches for landowners, they can also be invaluable for protecting and pre- serving water resources and wild- life habitat. If beavers are causing issues on your property, there may be solutions available to help you to live peacefully alongside them. The October seminars are taught by local beaver experts Alex Pittman and Ben Dittbrenner and will cover the benefits that resident beavers provide, cost-ef- fective devices that can help you manage the impact of beaver flooding on your property, and technical and financial assistance available from Snohomish Con- servation District and Beavers Northwest. Cost: Free. Website: http://scdbeavers.eventbrite.com St. Boniface Annual Chicken Dinner. 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sublimity School cafeteria, 376 E. Main St., Sublimity, Ore. The church’s an- nual chicken dinner fundraiser will include children’s games, a country store, crafters and vendors in the gym. The church archives and mu- seum will also be open. Cost: Adults $14, children 6-12 $5 www.capitalpress.com www.FarmSeller.com marketplace.capitalpress.com www.facebook.com/capitalpress www.facebook.com/farmseller twitter.com/capitalpress www.youtube.com/capitalpressvideo Index California ................................ 9 Dairy .................................... 15 Idaho .....................................11 Livestock ............................. 15 Markets ............................... 13 Opinion .................................. 6 Oregon ................................ 14 Washington ......................... 10 Correction policy Accuracy is important to Capital Press staff and to our readers. We want to publish corrections to set the record straight.
