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May 25, 2018 CapitalPress.com 3 Oregon lawmakers mull preventing ‘too big to fail’ livestock operations Washington to provide 1-day notice before wolf culling By DON JENKINS Capital Press The Washington Depart- ment of Fish and Wildlife has promised to give a warning of one business day before cull- ing a livestock-attacking wolf- pack to give environmental groups time to seek a restrain- ing order. The department made the pledge Friday as Thurston County Superior Court Judge Chris Lanese dismissed a law- suit filed in 2017 challenging the department’s decision to cull the Sherman pack. The judge ruled the case was moot because the pack no longer exists. The depart- ment said it committed to the one-day notice at the judge’s request. The environmental groups that filed the suit, the Center for Biological Diversity and Cascadia Wildlands, said in a press release they expected that requests for restraining or- ders would be met sympatheti- cally by courts. “We don’t like that a state endangered wolf was killed and a pack lost, but we’re glad we’re going to get our con- cerns with the department’s wolf management heard,” Cascadia Wildlands legal di- rector Nick Cady said in a written statement. Fish and Wildlife said in a written statement that it al- ready gives the advance notice before killing wolves. In the past, Fish and Wild- life has announced lethal-re- moval operations, though it has not committed to a waiting period between making the an- nouncement and searching for wolves. A restraining order delay- ing lethal removal while a judge sorts out the merits of a lawsuit would undermine a department policy adopted last year. The department decided to intervene sooner to kill one or two wolves in a pack to stop chronic depredations. The department hoped to reduce livestock losses and re- duce the number of wolves that have to be culled to change the pack’s behavior. The depart- ment says the policy looked better than a previous one, which called for more depre- dations before the department considered lethal control. The policy was developed with the department’s Wolf Advisory Group. The panel includes representatives from farm groups and environmen- tal organizations. The two groups that filed the lawsuit are not on the panel. The department killed one member of the Sherman pack in Ferry County last year, leav- ing one survivor. The two en- vironmental groups claimed Fish and Wildlife should have conducted a formal review of the environmental conse- quences of shooting a state-en- dangered species and give the public a chance to comment on the review. “We’re deeply saddened by the loss of the Sherman pack, but this new public notice agreement could save other Washington wolves,” Center for Biological Diversity wolf advocate Amaroq Weiss said in a written statement. The department’s policy on lethal control of wolves was influenced by a study funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that found partial pack removal was most effective in Montana, Idaho and Wy- oming if done within seven days of a depredation. By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press SALEM — The regula- tory problems facing a con- troversial Oregon dairy have raised questions among law- makers about avoiding “too big to fail” livestock opera- tions in the future. Negative publicity has continued to mount for Lost Valley Farm of Boardman, Ore., which in 2018 has faced a $10,600 fine, a lawsuit filed by state farm regulators and financial troubles resulting in bankruptcy proceedings. The 7,300-acre farm is home to nearly 14,000 head of cattle. The Senate Interim Com- mittee on Environment and Natural Resources sum- moned the state’s top agricul- ture and water regulators for a hearing on May 21 to begin analyzing what went wrong. The hearing was cut short after an hour because the full Senate was expected to con- vene, but Sen. Michael Dem- brow, D-Portland, said the matter will likely be revisited during legislative committee days in September. “I would like to see what we can do to prevent this from happening again,” said Dembrow, the committee’s chair. The state government should be wary of confined animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, that are “too big to E.J. Harris/EO Media Group The Lost Valley Dairy outside Boardman, Ore. Regulatory problems at the controversial dairy prompted a recent legislative hearing. fail” due to the large numbers of animals involved, he said. In the case of Lost Valley Farm, the dairy’s size has been used as an argument against its forced closure, since cows will continue generating milk and waste regardless of a court order. “I think most of us will agree this is a story of fail- ure,” said Dembrow, adding that it’s unclear whether it’s a “failure of personalities or the whole CAFO program.” The testimony of Alexis Taylor, director of the Ore- gon Department of Agricul- ture, focused on the permit- ting required for dairies and how Lost Valley Farm navi- gated the process. Dairies make up 206 of the 516 CAFOs inspected by the agency, which issues a civil penalty in fewer than 1 percent of the 880 inspec- tions its employees conduct each year, Taylor said. Lost Valley Farm is the most extensively monitored CAFO in Oregon, with groundwater from 11 wells being tested for pollutants, she said. The ODA has acted quickly in regard to the dairy’s wastewater problems — within roughly a year, the agency has repeatedly notified the company of vi- olations, issued a hefty civil penalty and sought a tempo- rary restraining order that re- sulted in a settlement, Taylor said. The court judgment, en- tered in March, provides an additional option for the agency: The dairy can be punished for contempt of court for violating the agree- ment, she said. Such drastic measures are rarely necessary in regulat- ing CAFOs, Taylor said. “It’s really when an operator is unable or unwilling to be in compliance.” Weekly inspections of the Lost Valley Farm facil- ity have continued since the settlement, but ODA is dis- cussing further steps with attorneys from Oregon’s De- partment of Justice, she said. “I think we are at a point the operation is not able to comply with the permit,” Taylor said. Any regulatory action is separate from the company’s bankruptcy proceedings, she said. The dairy’s owner, Greg te Velde, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in California, where he’s asked a judge to allow the dairy, cattle and property to be sold together for more than $100 million. The company’s largest creditor, Rabobank, instead wants the herd liquidated as soon as possible, arguing it’s losing value. Tom Byler, the director of the Oregon Water Resources Department, said the dairy was allowed to use ground- water under an exemption for livestock watering despite being located in a restricted groundwater area. The operation’s long-term potable water needs remain unresolved, since proposed water transfers have been blocked by administrative protests, Byler said. However, a neighboring farm is foregoing groundwa- ter withdrawals, alleviating immediate concerns about groundwater levels in the area, he said. When asked by Dembrow whether the stockwater ex- emption was “exceptional” or a “misuse” in this case, Byler said he’s not sure what Oregon lawmakers en- visioned when they created the exemption in the early 1900s. There were no “mega dairies” back then, but that doesn’t mean large livestock uses didn’t exist, he said. Chad Allen, president of the Oregon Dairy Farmers Association, drove to the hearing in Salem from his farm in Tillamook but was unable to testify. Allen said he wanted leg- islators to understand Oregon is a “leader” in the arena of CAFO regulation and that ODA acted aggressively in reacting to problems at Lost Valley Farm. “The system clearly works,” he said. The unforeseen circum- stance of addiction played a major role in the dairy’s dys- function, which isn’t likely to be a problem for other Ore- gon dairy operators, Allen said. Te Velde, Lost Valley’s owner, was arrested last year and charged with metham- phetamine possession and patronizing a prostitute. He later pleaded guilty to a less- er charge. Rabobank has ar- gued in court papers that his erratic behavior was caused by addiction, for which he’s sought drug treatment. While the state’s CAFO regulations functioned properly, the case has cer- tainly been a gift to critics of the dairy industry, Allen said. “I think we’ll be throw- ing water on this for a while in terms of getting it to cool down,” he said. Oregon wetland inventory raises regulatory concerns By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press An inventory of Oregon’s wetlands is intended as an “early warning system” to prevent regulatory conflicts but some lawmakers worry it effectively expands gov- ernment jurisdiction over farmland. The Oregon Department of State Lands is develop- ing a statewide wetlands inventory map using multi- ple sources of information to show where wetlands are located. The question is signifi- cant for farmers, who must obtain fill-removal permits from DSL before starting major ground-disturbing projects within wetlands. However, current inven- tories maintained by the fed- eral government and local governments are incomplete, raising the possibility that landowners may not know they’re filling or removing material from a wetland. A statewide wetland in- ventory would reduce the likelihood of such “false negatives,” said Bill Ryan, deputy director of opera- tions for DSL. In 2016, for example, a Willamette Valley farmer began replacing hay barns destroyed in a fire with local government per- MateuszPerkowski/Capital Press File Jesse Bounds runs a straw-compressing facility in Junction City, Ore., that state regulators claim was rebuilt on a wetland after a fire. A statewide inventory of Oregon’s wetlands has come under scrutiny for regulatory impacts to farmers and other landowners. mission, only to have DSL claim he was building in a wetland. One of the criteria to de- termine the existence of a wetland is whether the prop- erty contains hydric soils, which form when ground is regularly inundated with wa- ter for lengthy periods, Ryan said during a May 21 hear- ing before the House Agri- culture Committee. “The Willamette Valley in particular has a lot of these hydric soils,” he said. Hydric soils will serve as a “wide net” for analyzing lands, but the agency will rely on the area’s current hy- drology and other technical factors to decide whether it’s currently a wetland, Ryan said. Rep. Brian Clem, D-Sa- lem, said he was concerned about DSL going beyond what’s currently considered a wetland by the federal gov- ernment, particularly since Item/description (Source: USDA, NASS; NOAA) • Days suitable for fieldwork (As of May 22) 6.2 • Topsoil moisture, surplus 1% • Topsoil moisture, percent short 36% • Subsoil moisture, surplus 1% • Subsoil moisture, percent short 38% • Precipitation probability 33-50% below/ (6-10 day outlook as of May 22) Normal FRI • SAT • SUN June 29 - July 1 Linn County Fairgrounds & Expo - Albany, Oregon • ANIMAL SHOWS • FLEECE SHOWS • WORKSHOPS • MARKETPLACE • SHEEP-TO-SHAWL • AND MORE! For information, go to: blacksheepgathering.org or call 541-804-0014 development on farmland is already restricted under Ore- gon’s land use system. The agency should be careful not to exceed the boundary of its statutory authority in developing the statewide wetland inventory, Clem, the committee’s chair, said. “I would put this whole program under review.” Other committee mem- bers also expressed worries about the inventory. While obtaining a fill re- moval permit in a designated wetland is possible through the purchase of mitigation credits, that’s not always fi- nancially feasible, said Rep. Sherrie Sprenger, R-Scio. “Being able to afford it is something totally different,” she said. Rep. David Brock Smith, R-Port Orford, said land- owners may lack the per- sonnel to deal with the per- mitting process, while Rep. Brad Witt, D-Clatskanie, re- quested an economic impact study of the statewide inven- tory and its effects. While certain wetlands may be missing from the na- tional inventory map main- tained by the federal govern- ment, that doesn’t mean that federal agencies don’t have authority over them, said Ryan of DSL. Areas not on the federal map can still be regulated un- der the Clean Water Act and state officials would use the same parameters to decide whether property contains a wetland, he said. The goal of the statewide inventory is to show people where the agency has wet- land authority so they don’t unintentionally break the law, Ryan said. “That is really what this inventory is for,” he said. “We’re not increasing our ju- risdiction at all.” The Oregon Farm Bureau wouldn’t necessarily oppose DSL’s mapping project but it’s concerned about how broadly the agency is de- fining wetlands, said Mary Anne Cooper, the group’s public policy counsel. The statewide inventory would presume many prop- erties are wetlands until the landowner proves they’re not, she said. “We think they’ve taken a very expansive view of their jurisdiction and have not honored some of the carve- outs that legislators have made to reduce their jurisdic- tion,” Cooper said. Weekly fieldwork report Ore. 21-1/100 Courtesy of Art Swannack The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has promised to notify environmental groups before culling wolfpacks after they kill livestock. Senate committee holds hearing on problems facing Lost Valley Farm near Boardman Wash. 5.1 5% 9% 5% 5% 33-50% below Idaho Calif. 5.3 20% 14% 14% 17% Normal/ 33-40% above 7 0 75% 0 45% Normal
