April 13, 2018
CapitalPress.com
7
Students of all ages find this school a shear delight
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
MOSES LAKE, Wash. —
Be patient. That is the key to
shearing a sheep, Sara Ulibar-
ri said.
“If you calm down and
you’re patient, the sheep will
respond, and if you’re real-
ly uptight and nervous, the
sheep is also going to be ner-
vous,” the high school junior
from Pullman, Wash., said.
She plans to shear her flock
and other sheep during the up-
coming summer.
“Each sheep, I try to apply
one new thing I’ve learned
from either watching other
people or being taught, so I
feel like I’m gradually im-
proving,” Ulibarri said.
Each volunteer shearer
provided tips, she said.
“It definitely depends on
the sheep,” said Elsa Willsrud
of Fairbanks, Alaska, also
a high school junior. “Each
sheep is totally different.
Some, you’re like, ‘Oh yeah,
I get it,’ and the next one is all
over the place.”
Willsrud and her family
keep a small flock of Shetland
sheep.
Her father, Tom Zimmer,
shears sheep. He first attend-
ed the school 10 years ago,
and accompanied his daugh-
ter to “try to clean up some
of my bad habits,” during the
school’s advanced tune-up
session, he said.
One of the instructors at
the school can shear a sheep
in 49 “blows,” Zimmer said,
while it takes him 60.
“I shear mostly Shetlands,
Icelandics — smaller, wiggly
little bastards,” Zimmer said.
“You can always learn more,
and that’s what I want to keep
doing.”
At 80, Bill Moomau was
the oldest student. The Roch-
ester, Wash., farmer handles
sheep for Muslim customers
who butcher the animals for
their holidays. He wanted to
learn how to shear the sheep
to make them more present-
able, he said.
He has never sheared be-
fore.
“When you get old, you
should learn new things,” he
said. “I’m here to learn a new
skill to keep my mind work-
ing.”
The school is offered by
Washington State University
Extension and the Washington
State Sheep Producers, with
assistance from Columbia Ba-
sin Sheep Producers, Wash-
ington Wool Growers Aux-
iliary and American Sheep
Industry.
Jerry Richardson has vol-
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Sarah Smith, a Washington State University Extension educator,
demonstrates a shearing technique as Tom Zimmer of Fairbanks,
Alaska, and instructor Martin Dibble look on.
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Pullman, Wash., high school student Sara Ulibarri shears a sheep
during the Washington State Sheep Shearing School April 5 in
Moses Lake, Wash.
unteered for the course since
it began in 1977.
“When I first started shear-
ing sheep, I didn’t know what
I was doing — I thought I
did,” he said. “Every year, I
learn something more, and
I’m not a youngster.”
One of the reasons Rich-
ardson keeps coming back is
to watch the students progress
during the five days.
“Until they shear 3,000 or
4,000 sheep, they don’t real-
ly get this down pat,” he said.
“It’s a learning process. Every
time, you learn.”
Students were slated to
shear roughly 500 sheep
during the week.
WSU Extension educator
Sarah Smith provided exer-
cises leading up to the class.
She cautioned students that
the course was physically de-
manding.
“(She warned that) some
people have dropped out,
so I was concerned,” said
Moomau, the 80-year-old
farmer. “I’m not concerned
now. I don’t think it has been
that difficult. I think almost
anyone could learn to shear.”
“Yeah, I’m a little sore —
not as sore as I expected to
be,” Ulibarri said.
Has the course changed
her mind about shearing?
“No,” she said. “It’s made
me want to do it more, I’ve re-
ally enjoyed it.”
Environmentalists urge judge not to dismiss grazing lawsuit
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Area in
detail
7
ORE.
26
Unity
Prairie
City
BAKER
26
GRANT
MALHEUR
NATIONAL
FOREST
MALHEUR
ur
R.
meant to measure progress,
Odell said.
However, the Forest Ser-
vice doesn’t have to attain these
standards to comply with its
recovery strategies for the bull
trout, he said.
Odell also revived an argu-
ment against the environmen-
talist lawsuit that was rejected
by the magistrate judge.
The plaintiffs have chal-
lenged more than 100 agency
decisions regarding grazing,
which amounts to an improper
attempt to change the Forest
Service’s entire grazing pro-
gram, he said. Such “program-
matic” revisions are meant to
occur during rule-making or in
Congress, not in federal court.
e
Mal h
ilar obligation under the Wild
and Scenic Rivers Act, accord-
ing to the plaintiffs.
“It’s not just a non-degrada-
tion requirement,” Lacy said.
“It’s an enhancement require-
ment.”
Stephen Odell, attorney for
the government, argued that it’s
up to the Forest Service to de-
cide how best to measure com-
pliance with recovery strategies
for the fish.
The agency has relied on
the most relevant data collect-
ed over thousands of hours, he
said. “It’s extremely rigorous.”
Riparian management ob-
jectives are “dream stream”
benchmarks that would exist
under ideal conditions and are
N.F.
Lacy said.
In recommending the law-
suit’s dismissal, the magistrate
judge incorrectly found that
attainment of “riparian man-
agement objectives” for the fish
can be measured at the “water-
shed or landscape scale,” the
plaintiffs claimed.
The agency cannot decide
it has met these objectives
based on “habitat indicators”
that don’t mirror reality while
ignoring actual measurements
that show stream conditions are
worsening, Lacy said.
Grazing must be suspended
if it prevents a “near natural rate
of recovery” under the National
Forest Management Act, while
the Forest Service faces a sim-
ur River
M a l he
PORTLAND — Environ-
mentalists are urging a federal
judge not to throw out a lawsuit
they filed 15 years ago alleging
that grazing harms the threat-
ened bull trout in Oregon’s
Malheur National Forest.
Last year, a federal magis-
trate judge found the Oregon
Natural Desert Association and
Center for Biological Diversity
had failed to prove that live-
stock grazing along two rivers
in the forest is to blame for the
protected species’ decline.
The plaintiffs have objected
to his recommended dismissal
of their complaint, which was
originally filed more than 15
years ago.
During oral arguments held
April 5 in Portland, the envi-
ronmental groups asked U.S.
District Judge Michael Mos-
man to instead rule that grazing
authorizations along the Mal-
heur and North Fork Malheur
rivers violated federal laws.
Fewer than 50 bull trout now
inhabit each of the waterways,
which together should support
about 2,000 of the fish, said Mac
Lacy, attorney for the plaintiffs.
The U.S. Forest Service has
authorized livestock grazing
on seven allotments cover-
ing tens of thousands of acres
without analyzing the site-spe-
cific effects as required by law,
Bull trout
habitat
HARNEY
Juntura
N
20
10 miles
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
Idaho wheat acreage increase reflects
farmer optimism about higher prices
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Higher prices have encour-
aged Idaho farmers to increase
their 2018 wheat acreage by 6
percent — double the percent-
age increase nationwide.
The USDA National Ag-
ricultural Statistics Service
on March 29 reported Idaho
wheat producers are planting
1.24 million acres of wheat for
harvest this year, up 6 percent
from 2017.
Nationally, the “all-wheat”
acreage total is expected to in-
crease by 3 percent, to nearly
47.34 million.
The reason, an Idaho
Wheat Commission member
said, is the rebound in wheat
prices.
NASS said Idaho’s winter
wheat plantings increased 8
percent to 780,000 acres while
the U.S. total matches last
year’s 32.7 million.
In the “other spring wheat”
category, Idaho’s estimated 5
percent gain to 440,000 acres
lags the country’s expected
15 percent increase to nearly
12.63 million. Durum wheat
plantings should drop 20 per-
cent in Idaho to 20,000 acres,
while the U.S. total in that
category fell by 13 percent to
just over 2 million. Lower re-
turns for durum have prompt-
ed some farmers to switch to
other crops.
Prices have been up in
the last six to eight weeks by
about 25 cents per bushel,
or roughly 5 percent, for soft
white wheat, said Ned Moon,
operational support manager
at Jentzsch-Kearl Farms near
Rupert. Moon is an Idaho
Wheat Commission member
whose district includes south-
west and part of south-central
Idaho.
Farmers can choose to sell
at a contracted, pre-determined
price or at a market price.
WE SPECIALIZE IN BULK BAGS!
BAGS:
• Seed Bags
• Fertilizer Bags
• Feed Bags
• Potato Bags
• Printed Bags
• Plain Bags
• Bulk Bags
• Totes
• Woven Polypropylene
• Bopp
• Polyethylene
• Pocket Bags
• Roll Stock & More!
HAY PRESS SUPPORT:
• Hay Sleeves
• Strap
• Totes
• Printed or Plain
• Stretch Film
(ALL GAUGES)
WAREHOUSE
PACKAGING:
• Stretch Film
• Pallet Sheets
• Pallet Covers
LOCATIONS:
Albany, Oregon (MAIN OFFICE)
Ellensburg, Washington
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Phone: 855-928-3856
Fax: 541-497-6262
info@westernpackaging.com
.......................................................
CUSTOMER SERVICE
IS OUR TOP PRIORITY!
w w w. w e s t e r n p a c k a g i n g. c o m
15-3/100
ROP-13-5-3/HOU