April 20, 2018
CapitalPress.com
7
Washington butterfly up for ESA protection
Losing farmland
hurt species
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
A species of butterfly
found on the end of one Wash-
ington state island doesn’t
fare well around agriculture,
but apparently fares even
worse when farmland yields
to development, according to
a report by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service.
The agency proposed Tues-
day to list the island marble
butterfly as an endangered
species. Fish and Wildlife last
year counted fewer than 200
on the southern end of San
Juan Island, mostly on Amer-
ican Camp, a 19th century
Army post that’s now part of
the San Juan National Historic
Park.
To conserve the species,
Fish and Wildlife also propos-
es to designate 812 acres as
critical habitat. The butterfly
is not known to occupy other
areas, but endangered species
are protected wherever they
appear.
The National Park Ser-
vice is the largest landowner,
with 718 acres. Two acres are
privately owned, while other
federal, state or local agencies
own the rest. The privately
owned land is primarily steep
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The island marble butterfly, found only on San Juan Island in
Washington, is a candidate for the endangered species list. A
U.S. Fish and Wildlife report says loss of farmland has shrunk the
butterfly’s range.
coastal bluffs, a Fish and Wild-
life spokeswoman said.
More than a decade ago,
according to Fish and Wild-
life, the butterfly was found in
pockets away from the camp on
small farms and in rural neigh-
borhoods. Livestock and tilling
take out the mustard plants
that host the butterflies, yet
the agency said it believed the
land’s use was compatible with
the species.
“Since that time, the amount
of farmland in San Juan County
has decreased, with the greatest
loss of farmland in San Juan
County attributed to the sub-
division of larger farms into
smaller parcels, which have
been developed,” according to
Fish and Wildlife.
“We conclude that devel-
opment has substantively con-
tributed to the extirpation of the
island marble butterfly outside
of American Camp and remains
one of several factors impeding
successful recolonization of
previously occupied habitats.”
The species was once
known on Vancouver Island,
British Columbia, across the
Haro Strait from San Juan Is-
land. The butterfly had not
been seen for 90 years until
a Washington Department of
Natural Resources biologist
spotted one in 1998.
The Xerces Society for In-
vertebrate Conservation and
other environmental groups
first petitioned Fish and Wild-
life to list the species in 2002.
Xerces renewed the petition
in 2012.
“There has been tremen-
dous effort to assist the is-
land marble butterfly over the
years,” Fish and Wildlife’s
state supervisor, Erick Rick-
erson, said in a written state-
ment. “But given the small
population size, the threats to
this species are significant. We
will continue to work collab-
oratively with organizations
and individuals on San Juan
Island in our shared concern
for the continued survival of
this species.”
Top threats identified by
Fish and Wildlife include pre-
dation by spiders and wasps.
Deer, rabbits and snails
browse on plants that host
butterflies, and storms have
swamped habitat.
Potential, though undocu-
mented, threats include but-
terfly collectors and vehicle
collisions.
Male island marble but-
terflies are attracted to white
objects that resemble fe-
males. The butterflies could
be attracted to the white fog
lines of the highway through
American Camp and increase
their risk of being hit, accord-
ing to the Fish and Wildlife
report.
Fish and Wildlife will take
public comments on the pro-
posed listing through June 11.
Comments may be submit-
ted to www.regulations.gov or
mailed to: Eric V. Rickerson,
state supervisor, Washington
Fish and Wildlife Office, 510
Desmond Drive SE, Lacey,
Wash., 98506.
Baker & Murakami combination finds new efficiencies
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
A merged, automated and
otherwise fine-tuned Baker &
Murakami Produce heads into
the home stretch of the North-
west onion marketing season
bullish on its position in the
industry.
Baker Packing Co. and
Murakami Produce, both of
Ontario, Ore., on July 1 took
equal ownership in the new
Baker & Murakami Pro-
duce Co. LLP. The company
grows, packs and ships onions
supplied to a full range of cus-
tomers including foodservice,
retail and food-processing
segments.
“We have built a lot of
momentum this year and we
are in a very good position
moving forward,” Baker &
Murakami Chief Operat-
ing Officer Cameron Skeen
said.
Combining two longtime
Ontario businesses into one
included substantial auto-
mation that streamlined op-
erations and positioned the
post-merger company to more
effectively deal with the tight
labor market, he said. Auto-
mation also led to better qual-
ity control.
Innovation in agriculture
is positive at county, state and
national levels, said Malheur
County Economic Develop-
ment Corp. Director Greg
Smith, who is based in On-
tario.
“While there may be short-
term reductions in employ-
ment, it does lead to greater
Baker & Murakami Produce
Onions travel to an automated weigher and bagger.
stability and profitability for
the industry,” Smith said.
The former Baker Packing
location at 153 S.E. First St.
houses packing operations
and the sales office. The for-
mer Murakami Produce fa-
cility includes the business
office, and field and storage
operations.
Following the merger and
integration of the two large
companies, Baker & Muraka-
mi has the same broad cus-
tomer base but is more effi-
cient and competitive, Skeen
said. The company has better
technology and more in-depth
quality control that helps put
a better onion in the hands of
customers, he said.
“Our grading capabilities
are much more extensive and
sophisticated,” Skeen said.
The new grading equipment
evaluates characteristics of
the inside and outside of an
onion, and sorts by character-
istics including color. The au-
tomated system also weighs,
sizes and bags onions, and
places them on pallets.
Automation and other in-
ternal changes helped Baker
& Murakami streamline its
workforce and in turn help
the company deal with a per-
sistent labor shortage.
Skeen did not release
pre-merger or current em-
ployee totals. He said the
merged company runs a sin-
gle shift as the two indepen-
dent predecessors each did.
Employees added skills as
Baker & Murakami moved
ahead with new systems and
processes.
Automation is the wave of
the future, he said, and “we
are trying to push ourselves
for long-term success.”
It hasn’t been easy.
“This year has been a real
learning curve with a lot of
moving parts putting two
companies together,” Skeen
said.
The united company
found the right operating
structure, and the right equip-
ment, to change and improve
upon what the predecessor
enterprises did for years, he
said.
“It has been challenging
in that regard, but at the same
time we feel like we are ahead
of where we thought we
would be,” Skeen said. “I feel
like we are definitely ahead of
the curve for our area.”
Southeastern Oregon and
southwestern Idaho field near-
ly 30 onion packing and ship-
ping companies, he said. The
Northwest marketing season,
during which onions go from
growers and packer-shippers
to customers, typically ends
in May.
Idaho Department of Fish and Game
The Northern Idaho Ground Squirrel. The threatened species
represents a potential roadblock to raising an Idaho dam and
expanding its reservoir.
Threatened ground squirrel
may impact dam project
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Water users want to raise
Lost Valley Dam 130 miles
north of Boise and triple the
capacity of its reservoir to
30,000 acre-feet, but a threat-
ened squirrel’s presence near-
by could impede or even de-
rail those plans.
The Idaho Water Resource
Board has approved spend-
ing up to $30,000 to study
mitigation options for the
dam expansion’s impact on
the Northern Idaho Ground
Squirrel.
Lost Valley Reservoir Co.
board member Doug McAl-
vain said the proposed expan-
sion could be halted if popu-
lation surveys and a related
analysis don’t produce viable
mitigation steps for the squir-
rel.
Loss of its meadow hab-
itat remains the biggest chal-
lenge for the Northern Idaho
Ground Squirrel, which was
listed as threatened under the
Endangered Species Act 18
years ago.
A 2003 Federal Register
entry said the main threat to
the Northern Idaho Ground
Squirrel is habitat loss as
forests encroach on former-
ly suitable meadows, cutting
off movement corridors and
confining populations to iso-
lated “habitat islands” that can
reduce survival rates. A U.S.
Fish & Wildlife Service spe-
cies profile said fire suppres-
sion is thought to be a factor
in habitat loss.
Fish & Wildlife said the
squirrel ranges from Adams
and Valley counties in Ida-
ho’s west-central mountain
communities and south into
Washington County. Popu-
lations have been found near
New Meadows, Lost Valley
Reservoir and other nearby
locations. An estimated 54
population sites contain a
combined 1,500 to 2,200 indi-
vidual squirrels.
Range-wide monitoring
shows known populations sta-
ble to slightly increasing over
time, though the species’ re-
covery status remains unclear,
the agency said. Biologists
found several new population
sites as well as indications the
squirrel responds favorably to
habitat-restoration efforts at
certain locations, especially in
the Payette National Forest.
Miel Corbett, U.S. Fish &
Wildlife regional spokeswom-
an in Portland, said the agency
in 2016 initiated a five-year
review that will evaluate the
recovery status of the North-
ern Idaho Ground Squirrel.
Recovery efforts emphasize
restoring meadow habitat and
providing connections be-
tween existing populations,
she said.
The species inhabits dry
meadows surrounded by Pon-
derosa pine and Douglas fir
trees, at elevations from 1,500
to 7,500 square feet, Fish &
Wildlife said. These squirrels
need large amounts of grass
seed, stems and other green,
leafy vegetation to store fat
reserves during hibernation
from August or early Septem-
ber to late April or early May.
The Idaho Department
of Fish and Game office in
McCall in December and
January advertised up to four
jobs monitoring populations
of the threatened squirrel in
the state’s west central region
from April 9 to July 20. The
job announcement said work-
ers will measure distances
between populations and note
intersections among point-to-
point connections. They also
may mark squirrels for future
recapture and study.
IDFG has been part of the
interagency group carrying
out the recovery plan since
the outset, said Diane Evans
Mack, regional wildlife biol-
ogist based in McCall. The
department monitors squirrel
populations, through surveys
and other means, to derive
annual estimates across the
animal’s range. Collectively
the population data help paint
a long-term picture, she said.
‘Crooked calf’ lawsuit seeks $376,000 in damages
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Ranches in Nebraska and
Idaho are seeking $376,000
in a lawsuit that accuses an
Oregon cattle company of
negligence that resulted in
deformed calves.
The complaint claims
that Riverside Ranch Cattle
and affiliated bovine repro-
duction companies in Prairie
City, Ore., sold cows that had
consumed toxic lupine plants
while pregnant.
Those “recipient cows”
had been implanted with em-
bryos from Hoffman Ranch
in Nebraska and Colyer Her-
efords in Idaho, which later
bought the pregnant animals
from the Oregon company.
The arrangement was
part of an “embryo transfer,”
which allows cows with elite
genetics to more quickly pro-
duce multiple offspring.
Under this process, hor-
mone treatments cause a
cow’s ovaries to generate
several eggs at the same time,
which are then fertilized with
sperm. The resulting embry-
os are then “flushed” from
its uterus and implanted into
other cows that serve as sur-
rogate mothers.
In this case, the plain-
tiffs allege that recipient
cows were exposed to lupine
during a critical point of their
pregnancy while under the
care of Riverside Ranch Cat-
tle in the spring or summer of
2015 and 2016.
Alkaloids in lupine plants
caused 23 of the 40 recipient
cows bought by Hoffman
Ranch to give birth to calves
with defects such as crooked
legs and malformed spines
in 2015, according to the
complaint.
The lawsuit alleges that
lupine consumption similar-
ly caused “crooked calf syn-
drome” in 45 of the 64 recip-
ient cows bought by Colyer
Herefords in 2016.
The plaintiffs claim that
22 calves died or had to be
euthanized due to the syn-
drome.
Riverside Ranch Cattle
was negligent in failing to
prevent the recipient cows
from eating the lupines, re-
sulting in a breach of con-
tract, the complaint said.
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