ORCHARDS, NUTS & VINES SPECIAL SECTION INSIDE
Capit
al P
A g ress
The
Wes
t’s
Wee
kly
April
Or c h
N u t s a r d s,
Vine &
s
0000
000-O
NV17
-4764
8-Agro
K - Pa
ge 1
- Comp
osite
FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2018
13, 20
18
Capital Press
A g
The West’s
VOLUME 91, NUMBER 15
Weekly
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
$2.00
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Elk grazing on private property east of
Sedro-Woolley in Skagit County, Wash.,
along Highway 20.
Valley of
frustration
Roosevelt elk
Of the 22 elk subspecies recognized globally, four are found in
North America — the Roosevelt elk being the largest. Elk that
inhabit areas west of the Pacific Crest are typically Roosevelt elk
or a mixed lineage of Roosevelt/Rocky Mountain elk.
Trinomial name: Cervus elaphus roosevelti
Height: 3-5 feet at the shoulder
Weight: 600-1,100 pounds
Average life span: 12-20 years
Diet: Grazers during spring and summer, eating meadow grasses,
sedges and flowering plants. In fall, they increasingly become
browsers eating sprouts and branches of shrubs and trees.
Habitat: Productive grasslands, meadows, and clear-cuts, with
closed-canopy forest nearby for cover.
Elk herd grows into a nuisance,
disrupting farming in NW Washington
Social structure: Elk are social animals, living in herds most of
the year. During the fall rut, dominant bulls will gather and defend
breeding harems of 4 to 24 cows.
Known for: A superb sense of smell, excellent hearing,
and a top running speed of 35 mph.
By DON JENKINS
Range: Native to
North America
and eastern
Asia.
Capital Press
S
EDRO-WOOLLEY, Wash. — In the Skagit River Valley rippling through a tiny portion of
northwest Washington, farmers and ranchers say they are overrun by elk, the consequence of a
continuing effort by wildlife managers to enlarge the North Cascades herd.
Efforts to increase the number of elk in northwest Washington go back more than a century.
In 1912, Skagit County brought in 46 elk from Yellowstone National Park to increase the herd.
Poachers took the elk, according to state Department of Fish and Wildlife records. In the late 1940s,
the state released 22 elk from King and Yakima counties. They became the foundation of today’s herd.
The most recent importation of elk came between 2003 and 2005, when 98 elk from the Mount St.
Helens area in southern Washington were rounded up by the Department of Fish and Wildlife and Indi-
an tribes. The animals were herded by helicopter through livestock chutes, loaded on horse trailers and
driven north to Skagit County.
Sources: Washington
Dept. of Fish and
Wildlife; National
Park Service
Alan Kenaga/
Capital Press
Turn to ELK, Page 12
Oregon grants rancher’s
request to kill wolves
By KATY NESBITT
For the Capital Press
HALFWAY — Oregon
Department of Fish and Wild-
life has killed one of a pack of
eight wolves preying on live-
stock in Baker County.
The action was taken under a
permit granted to a Baker Coun-
ty cattle rancher whose livestock
has been repeatedly attacked on
private grazing ground.
According to an ODFW
press release, the agency pro-
vided a kill permit to allow
the taking of two wolves.
Under the terms of this per-
mit, the producer can kill up
to two wolves on the private
property he leases where the
depredations occurred, when
his livestock is present on the
property. The permit expires
on May 4.
ODFW staff members
were also authorized to kill
the wolves.
On Tuesday, ODFW staff
— who were already in the
area hazing wolves — shot
and killed one uncollared
yearling female from the Pine
Creek pack on private land
where the previous depreda-
tions had occurred.
The rancher had request-
ed that the state kill all eight
wolves in the Pine Creek
Anti-competition worries persist
about Bayer-Monsanto merger
Deal cleared by
U.S. government
requires sell-off of
seed assets
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
This May 25, 2014 photo shows
OR-26, a 100-pound adult
male, after he was fitted with a
GPS tracking collar outside La
Grande. The state has granted
a Baker County rancher’s
request to kill wolves involved
in livestock attacks.
pack, but the state is using
what it calls incremental take
Turn to WOLVES, Page 12
Selling off assets has ap-
parently cleared the way for
agribusiness giants Bayer
and Monsanto to merge, but
the deal still raises anti-com-
petitive concerns in agricul-
ture.
When Bayer agreed to
buy Monsanto in a $66 bil-
lion transaction a year and
a half ago, the combination
faced scrutiny from antitrust
authorities around the globe.
With the U.S. Depart-
ment of Justice reportedly
agreeing to sign off on the
deal recently, the merger
has crossed a major do-
mestic hurdle shortly after
winning approval from Eu-
Attention
Exhibitors
15-4/HOU
Eric Mortenson/Capital Press
Concerns about the anti-competitive effects of the Bayer-Mon-
santo merger persist despite recent regulatory clearance for the
deal.
ropean regulators.
Permission for the deal
was apparently secured be-
cause the new colossus will
shed several seed lines to
BASF as well as a deci-
sion-making data platform
for farmers.
Buying those seed assets
will increase the prominence
of chemical company BASF
without necessarily easing
competition-suppressing
Sion Up Now
effects in the seed indus-
try, said Peter Carstensen, a
professor specializing in ag-
ricultural antitrust law at the
University of Wisconsin.
Now that BASF has a
bigger in-house seed busi-
ness, it’s less likely to part-
ner with smaller and mid-
size seed firms to offer
Turn to MERGER,
Page 12
FOR THE
2019 Northwest Ag Show
50,000 impressions ON
CapitalPress.com — a $150 value.*
& RECEIVE
Call 800-882-6789 or email events@eomediagroup.com for details
*Restrictions Apply