Capital Press
A g
The West’s
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2017
Weekly
VOLUME 90, NUMBER 50
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
CALIFORNIA
COMEBACK
$2.00
“The winds were moving the fire like
a tornado. It was moving a football
field’s length every 30 seconds.”
Karissa Kruse, Sonoma County Winegrowers president
Wine country is recovering from wildfires,
but rebuilding tourism remains a challenge
Courtesy of Signorello Estate
A wildfire destroyed build-
ings that housed administra-
tive offices, a professional
kitchen, tasting room and a
residence at the Signorello
Estate near Napa, Calif.
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
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NAPA
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Capital Press graphic
S
ANTA ROSA, Calif. — Karissa Kruse has
seen the devastating impact of the October
wine country wildfires at both a personal and
professional level.
The Sonoma County Winegrowers pres-
ident was asleep at about 2:30 a.m. on
Oct. 9 when a neighbor knocked on her
door to warn her a wildfire was rapidly
approaching. The wind was blowing so
hard she didn’t hear the knocking at first,
she said.
She grabbed her purse, a laptop
Karissa
computer, two photos, a family heir-
Kruse
loom watch and her pets and got out
the door. Her home in Santa Rosa’s lush Fountain-
grove neighborhood was destroyed minutes later.
“The winds were moving the fire like a tornado,”
Kruse said. “It was moving a football field’s length ev-
ery 30 seconds.”
Turn to COMEBACK, Page 12
Farm Bureau president addresses
national issues at Pendleton meeting
Labor, trade, regulations all discussed
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
PENDLETON, Ore. —
Driving from Portland to
Pendleton on Dec. 6, Amer-
ican Farm Bureau President
Zippy Duvall said he was
amazed by the change in scen-
ery and even more surprised
by the productivity of agricul-
ture among the sand and sage-
brush of Eastern Oregon.
“I thought a desert was a
desert, and it wouldn’t grow
anything even if it had wa-
ter,” said Duvall, a third-gen-
eration farmer from Georgia.
“But I’ve seen some beautiful
crops right out in the middle
of nowhere.”
Duvall arrived Dec. 7 at the
Pendleton Convention Center
to address the Oregon Farm
Bureau annual meeting, where
he discussed a host of national
agricultural issues including
farm labor, international trade
and what he
described as
over-regulation
by the federal
government.
The trip also
satisfied Du-
Zippy Duvall vall’s goal of
visiting all 50
states in his first term as pres-
ident of the American Farm
Bureau, which advocates for
policies on behalf of farmers
nationwide.
“This is a beautiful state,
and you should be proud of
it,” Duvall told the Oregon
delegates.
The number one issue
facing American agriculture,
Duvall said, is labor. When
asked later about legislation
that would replace H-2A
Turn to DUVALL, Page 12
Sonoma County Winegrape Commission
A vineyard in the northern San Francisco Bay area’s Russian River Valley served as a natural fire-
break during the October wildfires that devastated some areas of California’s iconic wine country.
Ranchers, environmentalists voice
objections to Oregon Wolf Plan update
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife planning to revise plan
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — Environmental groups are
alarmed by a proposal that would authorize
lethal control of wolves in Eastern Oregon
after only two livestock kills under “extreme
circumstances.”
The regular threshold would be three live-
stock kills in 12 months, but the current draft
of the Oregon Wolf Conservation and Man-
agement Plan would reduce it to two kills
if non-lethal methods proved ineffective or
couldn’t be implemented.
“It moves too quickly to lethal control,”
said Noah Greenwald, endangered species
director for the Center of Biological Diver-
sity, during a Dec. 8 hearing in Salem, Ore.
Wolves in Eastern Oregon have been del-
isted under the federal Endangered Species
Act, but they’re still regulated by the state
government.
Representatives of livestock and hunting
groups also found plenty they didn’t like
about the plan, which the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife is updating.
For example,
the plan sets a
minimum popu-
lation threshold
of 300 wolves
through 2022
but it doesn’t
ensure that any
particular zone
doesn’t become
overpopulated with For more wolf
the predators, said
coverage see
Todd Nash, wolf
committee chair-
Page 5
man of the Oregon
Cattlemen’s Association.
“Nowhere does it address a maximum
number,” Nash said.
Turn to WOLF, Page 12