June 15, 2018
CapitalPress.com
9
Amendment defunds grizzly
transport, delists wolves
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
The U.S. House Appro-
priations Committee has
passed an Interior Depart-
ment appropriations bill
that includes an amendment
by Rep. Dan Newhouse,
R-Wash., denying fund-
ing for transporting grizzly
bears into the North Cascade
Range.
The bill, approved June
6, provides annual funding
for Interior, the Environ-
mental Protection Agency,
U.S. Forest Service, Indian
Health Service and other
agencies. The bill next goes
to the House floor.
“I have heard my constit-
uents loud and clear on their
opposition to transporting
grizzly bears to the North
Cascades and the rest of the
federal government should
take note of local communi-
ties’ voices as well,” New-
house said.
Meanwhile, Eric Rick-
erson, Washington state su-
pervisor of the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, said
the USFWS and National
Park Service will meet this
week to discuss comments
received on the Draft Envi-
ronmental Impact Statement
of North Cascades grizzly
bear plans. Soon thereafter,
he said, staff will make a
recommendation to superi-
ors in the agencies.
The agencies will choose
between taking no action or
one of three action alterna-
tives for relocating grizzlies
to the North Cascades, he
said. A final EIS will come
out at the end of September.
Newhouse’s amendment
also includes taking the
gray wolf off the list of pro-
tected species by the end of
fiscal year 2019, preserving
the North Cascades Smoke-
jumper Base in Winthrop,
Wash., research on the dis-
ease transmission risk be-
tween domestic and bighorn
sheep and greater USFS
transparency in grazing per-
mit monitoring.
The bill fully funds the
10-year average of Interior
and USFS wildland fire-
fighting and prevention at
$3.9 billion, an addition-
al $500 million for USFS
fire suppression and $655
million for hazardous fuels
management, which is $30
million above the fiscal year
2018 level.
The bill provides $500
million for payment in lieu
of taxes — $35 million more
than the budget request —
for local governments in 49
states to help offset losses in
property taxes due to nontax-
able federal lands within their
boundaries.
Grizzly bear
Binomial name: Ursus arctos horribilis
Capital Press File
Height: 3 1 / 2 feet at the shoulder, 7-8 feet tall standing upright
Idaho State Capitol
Weight: 300-800 pounds depending on age, sex and season
Idaho draft legislation would
help water rights holders
after flood-control releases
Average life span: 20 -25 years
Appearance: Unlike black bears, grizzlies have a concave face,
rounded ears, high-humped shoulders and long, curved claws.
Their fur ranges in color from light brown to nearly black.
Diet: Omnivores, about 80 to 90 percent of their diet consists of
green vegetation, wild fruits and berries, nuts, and bulbs or roots of
certain plants. A portion of their diet may include insects, fish and
small mammals. Grizzlies will sometimes take larger game such as
elk or moose calves and have been known to take livestock.
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Behaviors: A grizzly must eat enough to build up huge stores of
fat to sustain it through hibernation. They typically den in Novem-
ber and emerge in April.
Known for: Their impressive size and strength. Grizzlies can
sprint 50 yards in 3 seconds, faster than a race horse.
Range: Today the grizzly bear is found in about 2 percent of its
historic range in the lower 48 states; in pockets of Wyoming,
Montana, Idaho and Washington. Large populations remain in
Alaska and Western Canada.
Source:
U.S. Fish
and Wildlife
Service
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
Bears attack Montana researcher, llamas
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
A grizzly bear researcher
for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service is recovering from
serious injuries following a
bear attack in Montana, and a
rancher says one or more griz-
zlies killed two llamas 12 days
earlier elsewhere in the state.
Amber Kornak, 28, of Lib-
by, Mont., was working alone
near a stream in the Cabinet
Mountains south of Libby.
She was collecting grizzly
hair samples from bushes for
DNA testing, said Jennifer
Strickland, a USFWS spokes-
woman.
Kornak, a seasonal em-
ployee, was just a couple of
weeks into her “dream job”
when she was attacked from
behind, suffering two skull
fractures and severe cuts to
her head, neck and back, her
friend, Jenna Hemer, wrote in
a GoFundMe post soliciting
money for her recovery.
Kornak sprayed the bear
with repellent and walked two
miles to her vehicle and drove
Associated Press File
A bear attacked a researcher in Montana 12 days after a grizzly
killed two llamas elsewhere in the state.
for help, Hemer wrote.
She underwent four hours
of surgery at Kalispell Region-
al Medical Center, including
removal of bone fragments
from her brain and is home
facing a long recovery, Hemer
wrote.
“She aims to make a full re-
covery and get back to doing
what she’s passionate about,
working with grizzly bears and
other wildlife,” Hemer wrote.
Strickland said Kornak was
following USFWS work pro-
tocols, and that those protocols
are being reviewed.
Officials speculated noise
from the stream may have pre-
vented Kornak from hearing
the bear approach, the Associ-
ated Press reported.
Dillon Tabish, a Mon-
tana Fish, Wildlife and Parks
spokesman, said the incident
is under investigation and the
department will confirm the
type of bear. Generally, black
bears are less prone to attack
humans than grizzlies.
The incident follows an-
other attack 12 days earlier
more than 100 miles south-
east of Libby, when one or
more grizzlies broke through
a fence at mid-day and killed
two trained pack llamas worth
about $4,500, the rancher
who owned them told Capital
Press. Ten other llamas were
not injured, he said.
He asked not to be identi-
fied for fear of reprisals from
environmental extremists.
Since the attack, he’s been
locking his llamas in his barn
at night and is installing elec-
tric fences to protect them and
his family, he said. Their near-
est neighbor is a quarter-mile
away.
“We’ve had grizzlies in our
yard occasionally but this was
the first kill and it’s spooky to
have them come in broad day-
light,” he said. “We don’t go
too far away from the house
without bear spray. I used to
carry a Ruger 454, but it gets
heavy and I think spray is
more effective.”
Idaho’s seniority-based
rights system of allocating
water, and how flood-control
releases from reservoirs im-
pact it, is the focus of draft
legislation supporters see as
a key first step to resolving
longstanding conflicts among
types of water uses in the
growing southwest region.
Irrigation districts, munic-
ipal water systems, natural
resource managers and others
in the greater Boise area want
to make sure they continue
receiving their rights-backed
water allocations amid the
increased competition that
population growth brings.
The parties have gone to court
in recent years, and the Idaho
Supreme Court as of early
June was slated to hear argu-
ments June 20.
Draft legislation presented
to an Idaho Legislature panel
June 6 would amend Idaho
water law to prioritize, during
and following flood-con-
trol operations, existing wa-
ter-rights allocations over any
sizable new storage capacity
created by building or ex-
panding a reservoir.
The panel, including mem-
bers of natural resource com-
mittees in the Idaho House
and Senate, voted unanimous-
ly June 6 to ask Gov. Butch
Otter to call a special session
of the full Legislature. The
panel stopped short of endors-
ing the proposal, which would
take effect immediately on
passage.
Several lawmakers said
the legislation would benefit
the entire state, though speak-
ers focused on the Boise area
primarily.
The Boise River’s three-
dam system releases water for
flood-control purposes about
seven years out of 10. The
snowpack runoff that follows,
combined with water already
in the reservoirs, almost al-
ways is enough to satisfy
right-holder allocations. But
population growth and the
prospect of eventually adding
significant storage capacity
threaten that balance.
Passing the legislation
would be an important “step
on the ladder” toward a
rights-protecting settlement
agreement among various
types of water users, said
Roger Batt, who heads the
Treasure Valley Water Users
Association. That’s because
if it is put into statute, the ap-
proach would gain universal
acceptance, he said. The as-
sociation includes irrigation
districts, canal and ditch com-
panies.
Will Patterson, a director
with Nampa-Meridian Irri-
gation District, said the pro-
posed legislation would help
ensure rights holders get the
water they are entitled to after
flood-control operations are
completed.
“It gives us certainty that
the water that is in the reser-
voirs can be used to irrigate
our crops, our lawns and our
gardens,” he said.
Idaho Rep. Mat Erpelding,
D-Boise, said any solution
should protect the stream-
flow maintenance account
— which makes sure Boise
River flows don’t drop below
a threshold in low-flow sea-
son, benefiting fish and the
riparian environment.
House Speaker Scott Bed-
ke, R-Oakley, said the “refill”
issue has been more challeng-
ing on the Boise River than
on the Snake River in part be-
cause there is more room for
error in the nine-dam Snake
system. Snake River water
users entered a settlement
agreement in 2014.
Concerns among users in
the Boise system have in-
cluded transferring water to
another river basin, possible
future efforts to recharge
the aquifer, and prospective
new reservoir storage space
jumping ahead of established
reservoirs in the fill cycle, he
said.
The proposed legislation
would benefit the growing
state overall, Bedke said.
No reservoir construction
or expansion projects are
imminent in the Boise River
system, though expanding
Arrowrock Dam has been
discussed over the years. The
other reservoirs are Anderson
Ranch and Lucky Peak.
USDA green lights California’s new federal milk marketing system
Capital Press
The USDA has put its of-
ficial stamp of approval on
California dairy producers’
desire to join the federal
milk marketing order sys-
tem, announcing that pro-
ducers had embraced the
move in a statewide refer-
endum.
Voting closed on May 5
with the state’s three largest
dairy cooperatives, repre-
senting at least 75 percent
of the state’s milk produc-
tion, voting in favor. But the
outcome wasn’t official un-
til USDA tallied the votes.
The agency did not re-
veal the breakdown of the
vote, but dairy producer
groups were confident that
the bloc voting by the co-
ops would clinch the deal.
The official approval
moves California’s dairy
industry from the state milk
pricing system to the federal
system, which producers are
hoping will increase their
milk checks.
“It’s good news and
many years in the making,”
Lynne McBride, executive
director of California Dairy
Campaign, said.
For too many years, Cal-
ifornia’s dairy farmers have
received some of the lowest
milk prices in the country.
Joining the federal system
will finally bring prices
Capital Press File
Following a referendum among dairy farmers, the USDA has given
its approval of the new federal milk marketing order for California.
in line with those in other
milk-producing regions, she
said.
“We think it’s critical
there’s a level playing field
for California producers,
especially given how de-
pressed milk prices have
been,” she said.
The state system has
been failing California pro-
ducers for many years, and
joining the federal system
is a critical step to ensuring
dairy producers in Califor-
nia are paid an equitable
price, she said.
“It’s nice to get the of-
ficial confirmation and get
moving,” Geoff Vanden
Heuvel, board member and
economic consultant for
Milk Producers Council,
said.
Producers have been
“tremendously
unhappy”
with the California Depart-
ment of Food and Agricul-
ture, which continues to
regulate milk prices below
federal order prices, he said.
The conflict goes back 10
years, with CDFA unwilling
to make changes. There was
a period when the price for
milk used to make cheese
got completely out of line,
trailing prices in federal or-
ders by as much as $3 per
hundredweight, he said.
Another issue is the
state’s inability to regu-
late interstate commerce,
wherein revenue from out-
of-state milk used in Cali-
fornia’s fluid milk markets
isn’t shared with Califor-
nia producers through the
state’s mandatory pooling
system, he said.
“The bottom line is Cal-
ifornia dairy farmers got
tired of battling the state
over the regulatory system,”
he said.
With CDFA unwilling
or unable to put California
producers on a level play-
ing field with producers
across the country, a federal
order was the only shot to
do something different, he
said.
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Producers with Western
United Dairymen are look-
ing forward to a new system
of milk pricing, Anja Raud-
abaugh, the organization’s
CEO, said.
“Optimism is in the
air. We are very hopeful it
means better prices for pro-
ducers,” she said.
Processors are happy the
issue is finally resolved, Ra-
chel Kaldor, executive di-
rector of the Dairy Institute
of California, said.
“At least we have some
certainty going forward,”
she said.
The approved proposal
reflects processors’ propos-
al for an order that operates
the same as other federal or-
ders in regard to mandatory
pooling and regulated pric-
es, she said.
Unlike the state order in
which virtually all milk is
pooled and regulated — a
provision producers want-
ed to maintain in a federal
order — mandatory pooling
and regulated prices will ap-
ply only to Class I milk.
With Class I milk ac-
counting for 12 percent of
California’s
production,
most of the state’s milk will
not be automatically regu-
lated by USDA — allow-
ing manufacturers to decide
whether they will partici-
pate in the pool, she said.
The new California order
goes into effect Nov. 1.
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