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CapitalPress.com
May 11, 2018
Oregon cherries withstand February freeze
Fruit remains on
schedule for season
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Despite a sudden, hard
freeze at the end of February,
cherries and pears appear to
be faring well in the Columbia
River Gorge.
Mike Doke, executive di-
rector of the Columbia Gorge
Fruit Growers, said it is still
too early to predict yields, but
early season blossoms look
healthy and strong heading
into summer.
“Things look really good
this year,” Doke said. “Every-
thing is right on schedule.”
Mother Nature gave grow-
ers quite the scare in February,
as mild weather had orchards
budding several weeks ahead
of schedule, Doke said. By
month’s end, temperatures had
fallen into the 20s, threatening
to damage the crop.
Fortunately, Doke said
growers were
ready.
“There
were
some
losses,
but
nothing really
that big at all,”
Ashley
he said.
Thompson
Pears are
the eighth most
valuable crop in Oregon, val-
ued at $181.5 million in 2016.
Cherries rank 14th in the state,
at $79.2 million.
The vast majority of Ore-
gon cherries — about 62 per-
cent — are grown in Wasco
County in the Columbia Riv-
er Gorge, while 67 percent of
pears are grown in neighbor-
ing Hood River County.
Doke said growers should
have a crop estimate within
the next month. Cherry harvest
typically begins around late
June, and pear harvest usually
follows in late August and ear-
ly September.
“It was a really successful
bloom that both areas had,”
Doke said. “That bodes well.”
Oregon State University
has also hired a new extension
horticulturist for the Mid-Co-
lumbia region to assist grow-
ers on the ground.
Ashley Thompson official-
ly joined OSU Extension on
April 30. She will be responsi-
ble for tree fruit production in
Hood River and Wasco coun-
ties, combining two faculty
positions into one.
Thompson takes over for
Lynn Long, who partially re-
tired in 2017 after 29 years
working for OSU Extension
in The Dalles, and Steve Cast-
agnoli, who remains director
at the Mid-Columbia Agricul-
tural Research and Extension
Center in Hood River.
“I’m excited to be here,”
Thompson said. “I’ve already
gotten a lot of good input from
farmers and the community.”
Thompson is new to the
Columbia River Gorge. She
previously earned her doctor-
ate in horticulture from Vir-
ginia Tech and most recently
was working as a postdoctoral
research associate at the Uni-
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“I’m really interested
in working with farmers,”
Thompson said. “Also, I’m
interested in working with dif-
ferent crops.”
As far as pests, Thompson
said cooler weather has kept
codling moths from causing
too many problems around
the area. Spraying for west-
ern cherry fruit flies won’t
begin for another three to four
weeks, she said, and growers
are keeping a close eye on
marmorated stink bugs.
“I think it’s going to be a
good year here, overall,” she
said.
A cherry pre-harvest tour
is scheduled for Tuesday, June
5 at 7:45 a.m. The group will
meet at Dahle Farms on Knob
Hill Road in The Dalles. Talks
will focus on new cherry root-
stocks, early ripening cultivars
and cover crops for soil health.
For more information, con-
tact Thompson at 541-296-
5494.
American Farm Bureau takes on Washington over coal port
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Don Jenkins/Capital Press File
Coal opponents protest outside the Millennium Bulk Terminals on
Oct. 19, 2015, in Longview, Wash. The American Farm Bureau
Federation claims Washington’s refusal to let coal be exported
from the site sets a bad precedent for trade-dependent agriculture.
ministration.
The groups argue that if
unchecked, Washington will
have set a precedent for the
other two liberal-leaning West
Coast states to pursue policies
harmful to export-dependent
farmers and product makers.
“The
implication
of
(Washington’s)
conduct
WSDA to spray Navy
base, neighborhood for
European gypsy moths
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
A sticky pesticide is ex-
pected to fall over thousands
of homes and a naval base
in Western Washington next
week as the state Department
of Agriculture wages an aeri-
al assault on European gypsy
moths.
A contractor, Columbia
Basin Helicopter, will drop
Bacillus thuringiensis var.
kurstaki, or Btk, from an air-
plane flying about 250 feet
above a neighborhood near
Graham in Pierce County and
Naval Base Kitsap in Kitsap
County.
In both places last sum-
mer, the agriculture depart-
ment trapped gypsy moths.
The department hopes appli-
cations treating 1,300 acres
will continue the department’s
40-year streak of eradicating
reproducing populations of
a pest that damaged 923,000
acres in Massachusetts alone
last year.
The spraying will be done
in the morning and could
begin as early as Tuesday,
though the pesticide must be
applied in low winds and on a
dry day, a department spokes-
woman said. Second and third
applications will follow over
the next two weeks, she said.
The spraying is timed to
kill emerging caterpillars. In
caterpillar stage, gypsy moths
have broad appetites and are a
threat to forests, orchards and
horticulture. They are firm-
ly established in 20 Eastern
and Midwestern states. Egg
masses attached to belong-
ings transport the pest across
the country. The agriculture
department trapped 11 moths
last summer on or near the
naval base, and four the previ-
ous summer. In response, the
department will spray 1,000
acres, including 742 acres on
Navy property.
The department caught
97 male moths and 107 fe-
male moths in a small area
near Graham. Finding female
moths was unprecedented for
the department. Female Eu-
ropean gypsy moths can’t fly,
so they can’t fly into traps the
department hangs from tree
Washington State Dept. of Agriculture
Two gypsy moths stick to a
trap collected by the Wash-
ington State Department of
Agriculture Aug. 3 in Bangor,
which is adjacent to a U.S.
Navy base on the Kitsap
Peninsula.
limbs and fences. The de-
partment happened upon the
female moths on a bush, sug-
gesting a large reproducing
population.
As a result of the find, the
department will spray 300
acres. Many more acres will
be sprayed on and around the
naval base because the de-
partment did not find “ground
zero” for the reproducing
population, the spokeswoman
said.
The department sent post-
cards to 9,415 addresses in the
Graham area alerting residents
to the application, the spokes-
woman said. The chemical,
made sticky to cling to leaves,
also will kill butterflies. How-
ever, Btk has been used safely
around humans for decades
and can be washed off with
soap and water, according to
the department.
Officials have consid-
ered alternatives to spraying
a pesticide, such as massive
trapping or releasing sterile
male moths to frustrate repro-
duction. The department has
rejected those non-chemical
options as less effective. Oth-
er chemicals were considered.
As in past years, the depart-
ment decided to spray Btk.
The department did not
spray for gypsy moths last
spring. In 2016, the depart-
ment treated a total of 10,500
acres at seven sites. The out-
break was particularly alarm-
ing because the department
caught Asian gypsy moths
the previous summer. Fe-
male Asian gypsy moths can
fly, giving the species greater
range than European gyp-
sy moths. The department
did not trap any Asian gypsy
moths last summer.
WE SPECIALIZE IN BULK BAGS!
19-2/106
The American Farm Bu-
reau Federation has accused
Washington of hijacking na-
tional trade and foreign poli-
cies by refusing to let Powder
River Basin coal pass through
the state on its way to Asia.
The Farm Bureau, joined
by other industry organiza-
tions, made the claim in a
brief filed May 3 in the U.S.
District Court for Western
Washington. The groups —
representing miners, manu-
facturers and petrochemical
companies, as well as farmers
— are supporting Millennium
Bulk Terminals in its lawsuit
against Gov. Jay Inslee’s ad-
reaches far beyond the energy
industry,” the brief states. “In
this case, it is coal; in the next
case, it could be agriculture or
manufactured goods.”
The Washington Farm Bu-
reau has long supported Mil-
lennium, a proposal by Utah-
based Lighthouse Resources
to export coal from Longview
along the Columbia Riv-
er. The state Department of
Ecology and Department of
Natural Resources have de-
nied permits that Millennium
needs. The coal company has
responded with several court
actions.
State officials say the proj-
ect would do too much envi-
ronmental damage. Inslee has
made climate change his sig-
nature issue on national and
international stages. Wash-
ington Attorney General Bob
Ferguson has joined a lawsuit
to stop the Trump administra-
tion from resuming new coal
leases on federal lands.
Nevertheless, in court fil-
ings, the state calls the asser-
tion that it rejected Millenni-
um based on hostility to coal
a “false narrative.”
According to the fil-
ings, the state’s opposition
stemmed from matters such
as noise, traffic congestion,
the demolition of historic in-
dustrial buildings and project-
ed increases in train accidents
and cancer from diesel loco-
motive emissions. Several
environmental groups have
intervened in the federal law-
suit on the state’s side.
The Farm Bureau, Na-
tional Mining Association,
National Association of Man-
ufacturers and American Fuel
and Petrochemical Manufac-
turers have moved to join the
lawsuit on Millennium’s side.
Their brief to District
Judge Robert Bryan warns
against letting the political
leanings of individual states
overrule national economic
and diplomatic interests.
Washington State Dept. of Agriculture
European gypsy moth larvae feed on trees and shrubs. The
Washington State Department of Agriculture will use a pesticide
to kill newly hatched caterpillars.
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