April 20, 2018
CapitalPress.com
Conservation district to Hangman
Creek farmers: Tell your story
9
Newhouse seeks new
grizzly comment period
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
Walt Edelen
find a solution to a problem,
he said.
“We’ve been successful
in some cases, semi-success-
ful in some cases and there
have been times when Ecol-
ogy has come back and said,
‘That’s not working, we want
more,’” Edelen said.
The district has several
voluntary programs available
to growers, including Farmed
Smart, available to dryland
farmers through the Pacific
Northwest Direct Seed Asso-
ciation. Ecology offers a “let-
ter of safe harbor” to growers
who meet the criteria of the
program.
A similar Farmed Smart
program for irrigated farms
is in the works, and eventu-
ally a livestock program is
possible, said Ty Meyer, agri-
culture manager for the con-
servation district.
It’s not certain that Ecol-
ogy would automatically
offer safe harbor for those
programs, Meyer said, “but
we’re building a pretty robust
program that producers have
to meet a high standard.”
If farmers show an effort
to make improvements, Ecol-
ogy will likely not issue a
fine or penalty, Edelen said.
During the meeting, sev-
eral farmers expressed their
Vicki Carter
frustration. Some told of
working with the depart-
ment to make changes and
still receiving warnings, or
worrying that Ecology could
change its requirements.
Several farmers also ques-
tioned Edelen’s appearance
in a video on the Spokane
Riverkeeper website. The
video was made by Spokane
River Forum, which is not
connected to Spokane River-
keeper, about various uses of
the river. Edelen represented
the conservation district on
it. In addition to Ecology and
the Riverkeeper representa-
tives, the video includes fly
fishermen and farmers.
Even if all farmers are in
compliance with Ecology,
the creek wouldn’t necessar-
ily be as clear as Ecology and
the Riverkeeper group desire,
due to its natural sediment
load, Edelen said. However,
the creek has been clearing
up earlier each year, he said.
Ecology also plans to hold
meetings, conservation dis-
trict director Vicki Carter said.
She and Edelen urged
growers to calmly educate
the department about their
practices, share stories of
successful efforts and im-
prove the evaluation pro-
cess.
U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse
is asking Interior Secretary
Ryan Zinke to reopen a pub-
lic comment period on plans
to reintroduce grizzly bears
in the North Cascades so that
“local residents who were ig-
nored can be heard.”
Newhouse, whose dis-
trict encompasses part of the
North Cascades, sent a letter
to Zinke on April 12 warning
of “grave impacts” to North-
central Washington residents
if grizzlies are brought in and
imploring Zinke to “stop ig-
noring the local community.”
The Washington state Re-
publican said his constituents
were disrespectfully treated
in the previous process and
felt their concerns were not
taken seriously.
At a public forum in
Okanogan County, “many
residents were not allowed
to express their concerns
and were treated in an un-
acceptable manner by the
federal employees conduct-
ing the session,” Newhouse
wrote.
Zinke’s March 23 an-
nouncement of support of
grizzly bear recovery in the
North Cascades “flies in the
face” of his stated goals of
“restoring trust and being a
good neighbor,” Newhouse
said.
“Just as my constituents
have consistently expressed
their steadfast opposition to
this proposal, I will contin-
ue to stand in opposition to
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5
WASH.
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Merritt
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North Cascades
Ecosystem
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Princeton
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St
FAIRFIELD, Wash. —
Farmers in the Hangman
Creek watershed need to share
their success stories with the
state Department of Ecology
in the face of increased scru-
tiny from the agency, Spokane
Conservation District staffers
say.
The creek is being called
the most-polluted water body
in the state, district water re-
sources program manager
Walt Edelen said at an April 12
informational meeting.
“It raises environmental
hackles, gets people upset,”
he said. “There has been a per-
ception that maybe agriculture
doesn’t really care, or they’re
not really doing enough. This
is what we’re dealing with.”
An environmental group,
Spokane Riverkeeper, sued
the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency in 2015, saying
that control measures were
not reducing pollution in the
creek. Under a legal settlement
reached in March, the state
Department of Ecology will
drive through the watershed in
the spring and identify at least
10 priority problem sites on
livestock or tillage operations.
Ecology will first make
contact in April or May with
a phone call, then a letter,
Edelen said. Letters will be
sent to landowners. A land-
owner could receive multiple
contacts if several parcels are
identified.
A farmer can meet with
both Ecology and the conser-
vation district in an effort to
Area in
detail
Grizzly bear
recovery effort
to proceed in
North Cascades
3
1
Abbotsford
a
British Columbia
Washington
542
NORTH
CASCADES
NAT’L PARK
Bellingham
5
Victoria
20
Grizzly
bear
habitat
101
20
530
5
Lake
Chelan
Everett
97
Chelan
2
N
153
2
Seattle
20 miles
2
90
Tacoma
97
28
Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; National Park Service
a plan that threatens the way
of life in Northcentral Wash-
ington,” Newhouse wrote to
Zinke.
Grizzlies will negatively
impact ranchers, recreation-
ists and rural economies and
their reintroduction violates
state law, he wrote.
Newhouse told Capital
Press that he doesn’t know
why Zinke supports grizzlies
in the North Cascades when
so many of his other deci-
sions have been on the op-
posite end of the spectrum.
Zinke has said he grew up in
Montana where grizzlies are
Wenatchee
90
Olympia
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
iconic, Newhouse said.
North Cascades National
Park Superintendent Karen
Taylor-Goodrich has said the
National Park Service and
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service will make the final
decision on North Cascade
grizzlies at year’s end and
will not need Zinke’s ap-
proval.
Newhouse said he be-
lieves Zinke has the author-
ity to give him what he’s
asking for so that people can
make their comments and
be heard. He said he hopes
agencies listen.
FFA members grow produce for
their school
FFA members at the Lind-Ritzville Middle School in Lind, Wash., grow
produce for the school lunches as part of the Farm to School class.
By Taylor Enns
Washington FFA State Secretary
LIND, Wash. — Lind-Ritzville’s Middle School
FFA Chapter has a program known as “Farm to
School” where students have the opportunity to
plant, manage, harvest and process all of the
produce grown for their school lunches. The project
started when a group of sixth-graders expressed
their desire to grow produce to sell at a local
farmer’s market as a fundraiser. While they are
working to get to that point, right now they are
focusing on setting a strong foundation for the
program.
This is the third year that the class has been offered
and they are on track to provide quite a bit of
produce through the end of this year and into the
beginning of next year. Cucumbers, potatoes,
radishes, cherry tomatoes, salad greens, and sugar
snap peas are some of the most popular menu items
to date. They currently grow the produce in a
greenhouse and a garden and then process it in the
newly remodeled home economics room.
School kitchens generally aren’t able to process
Farm to School FFA class members grow, process and serve produce at
Lind-Ritzville Middle School.
fresh produce, and this has been an obstacle for Mrs.
Klindworth, the advisor of the program, and her
students. To overcome this, they have applied for and
received multiple grants that have allowed them to
completely remodel the old home economics
classroom into a prep room for the produce.
This program allows students to not only see their
food go from seed to table, but also to learn about soil
quality and management, plant disorders, and how to
solve them, how to manage gardens, set up irrigation,
how to safely harvest, and finally, how to process each
produce item. Students also have the opportunity to
manage the garden through the summer as part of their
Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) which is a
required component of FFA membership. The local
health department also provides training on food
safety and the students are able to obtain their
Washington state food handlers permit.
Overall, this is an incredible opportunity for students to
get hands on experience and to begin truly understanding
where their food comes from at an early age.
16-3/HOU