June 29, 2018
CapitalPress.com
3
Waste permit revoked for
controversial Oregon dairy
Operation faced
mounting legal,
economic trouble
Oregon Cattlemen’s Association
A wolf or wolves injured three calves within a few days on a private
pasture near Joseph Creek in Wallowa County, Ore. Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish & Wildlife officials have issued a kill order for one wolf
on the pasture and an adjacent public land allotment through July 10.
Kill permit issued
for NE Oregon wolf
State could update
management plan
before year’s end
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
State wildlife officials
will allow a northeast Oregon
rancher to kill one wolf on pri-
vately owned pasture near Jo-
seph Creek in Wallowa County
following a string of gruesome
attacks on livestock.
The Oregon Department of
Fish & Wildlife issued a kill
permit June 21 for RL Cattle
Company, based in Enterprise,
Ore., after confirming the wolf
depredations June 13 and 14.
According to the investi-
gative reports, a wolf — or
wolves — injured three calves
in three days on the same pri-
vate pasture within an area
of known wolf activity in the
Chesnimnus Unit.
ODFW counted three
wolves in the area at the end
of 2017. None are wearing a
radio tracking collar. It is not
certain whether the wolves are
remnants of the Chesnimnus
pack or new animals that have
moved into the territory.
Under Phase III of the
Wolf Conservation and Man-
agement Plan, ODFW may
consider killing wolves in
Eastern Oregon found to prey
on livestock at least twice.
The agency last issued a kill
permit in April for two wolves
from the Pine Creek pack in
Baker County.
But first, ranchers must
demonstrate they have tried
using non-lethal deterrents
and cannot leave bone piles
or carcasses that would oth-
erwise attract wolves. In this
case, RL Cattle routinely mon-
itored for wolves, maintained
a human presence around cat-
tle and removed injured live-
stock from the pasture.
In his letter to ODFW re-
questing a kill permit, owner
Rod Childers said the impact
to his business far exceeds in-
jured or missing animals.
“This harassment of my
cattle has caused a change
in their demeanor making
them more difficult to handle,
nearly causing injury to my-
self while sorting,” Childers
wrote. “Additionally, these
wolf problems are causing
great problems in my ability
to utilize my spring range ef-
fectively.”
The permit issued by
ODFW extends not only to
the pasture, but also an adja-
cent public forest allotment.
It expires July 10, when
Childers plans to remove his
cattle from the pasture.
The action has stirred de-
bate about wolf management
in Oregon at a time when
ODFW is in the midst of up-
dating its wolf plan, which
was last updated in 2010.
Since then, wolves were re-
moved from the state endan-
gered species list in 2015.
The species remains fed-
erally protected west of high-
ways 395, 78 and 95.
George Rollins, a Baker
County rancher and East-
ern Oregon wolf committee
chairman for the Oregon Cat-
tlemen’s Association, said
the group is advocating wolf
management zones with pop-
ulation targets, which would
open the door to more lethal
control and, possibly, hunting.
“These management zones
would be established, and
with local decision making,
the number of wolves can be
managed so that we can re-
duce potential conflicts,” Rol-
lins said.
Environmental
groups,
however, oppose killing any
wolves, arguing the overall
population is still too small
and fragile. Oregon had 124
officially documented wolves
at the end of 2017 — an 11
percent increase over 2016.
Furthermore, Sean Stevens,
executive director of Oregon
Wild, said the next iteration
of the wolf plan should have
stronger requirements allow-
ing non-lethal deterrents the
chance to work before rushing
to kill wolves.
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Oregon regulators an-
nounced Wednesday they
are revoking the waste man-
agement permit for Lost
Valley Farm, a controversial
and oft-troubled dairy pro-
ducer that once sought to have
30,000 cows near Boardman.
The revocation comes just
15 months after the facility
first received its permit from
the Oregon Department of Ag-
riculture and Department of
Environmental Quality, which
jointly manage the state’s con-
fined animal feeding opera-
tion, or CAFO, program. Lost
Valley now has 60 days to shut
down, move all its animals and
clean all waste systems.
Among the issues with Lost
Valley and its owner, Greg
te Velde, the agencies claim
the dairy repeatedly violated
terms of its wastewater dis-
charge permit, putting the en-
vironment and human health
at risk. The facility also lacks
the infrastructure to handle the
amount of manure it generates,
and has failed to keep accurate
records, according to ODA
and DEQ.
“Over the last year we have
used every regulatory tool
available including civil penal-
ties to gain compliance,” said
ODA Director Alexis Taylor
in a statement. “We believe
the owner is not willing or un-
able to meet the conditions of
his permit that helps protect
human health and the environ-
ment.”
Te Velde did not immedi-
ately return calls for comment.
He may appeal the revocation
within 60 days and request a
contested case hearing before
EO Media Group File
The Lost Valley Dairy outside Boardman, Ore., has lost its state waste management permit.
an administrative judge.
Lost Valley was poised to
become the second-largest
dairy in Oregon, behind neigh-
boring Threemile Canyon
Farms. In 2002, te Velde es-
tablished Willow Creek Dairy
on land leased from Threemile
Canyon, selling milk to Co-
lumbia River Processing,
a subsidiary of Tillamook
County Creamery Associa-
tion at the Port of Morrow.
By 2015, te Velde was
ready to strike out on his own,
purchasing 7,288 acres of the
former Boardman Tree Farm
to start his new business. Af-
ter a lengthy and contentious
hearing process that garnered
more than 4,200 public com-
ments, ODA and DEQ grant-
ed Lost Valley a permit to
handle roughly 187 million
gallons of liquid manure each
year.
Almost immediately, the
dairy began racking up permit
violations related to discharg-
ing liquid and solid waste.
Lost Valley is within the Low-
er Umatilla Basin Groundwa-
ter Management Area, estab-
lished in 1990 by DEQ due to
elevated groundwater nitrates.
ODA sued to shut down
Lost Valley in March, and
while that case was ultimate-
ly settled, the state claims the
dairy continued to defy its
permit. The notice of revoca-
tion notes that the facility vi-
olated specific conditions re-
lated to waste storage at least
32 times from June 28, 2017,
to May 9, 2018, along with a
laundry list of other infractions
related to maintenance and re-
cord-keeping.
“(Lost Valley’s) numerous,
repeated and serious permit
violations have allowed waste-
water and manure to be placed
directly on the soil and land
surfaces where they are likely
to leach into groundwater,” the
document states. “The ODA
has information that leads it
to conclude that violation of
the permit’s terms, even ab-
sent an indication that nitrate
levels in the groundwater have
increased, pose a threat to hu-
man health or welfare.”
Wym Matthews, who
manages the Oregon CAFO
program, said revocation is
an extremely rare step for the
agency to take. Of 509 facil-
ities and 880 inspections in
2017, less than 1 percent re-
sulted in violations that led to
civil penalties or injunctive
relief.
“It’s an extremely low per-
centage of activities for us to
get to this point,” Matthews
said.
Lauren Goldberg, staff at-
torney with the environmental
group Columbia Riverkeeper,
said the decision was a com-
mon-sense move to protect Or-
egonians’ right to clean water.
“This facility never should
have had the green light to
operate in Oregon,” Goldberg
said. “Now is the time to step
back and learn lessons to make
sure this public health and
environmental disaster never
happens again.”
Losing its state permit is
just the latest in a string of
trouble for Lost Valley and te
Velde.
Earlier this year, Rabobank,
an agricultural lender, moved
to auction the entire dairy herd
as collateral, claiming te Velde
owes $67 million in loans and
$162 million in total debt. The
sale was forestalled in April
after te Velde declared Chapter
11 bankruptcy protection, al-
lowing him to try to reorganize
the dairy’s finances.
Matthews said he cannot
comment on how the revoca-
tion will affect the bankruptcy
proceedings.
In a previous court filing,
Rabobank claimed te Velde’s
“erratic” behavior was due to
“habitual” use of methamphet-
amine. Te Velde was arrested
and charged with possession
of methamphetamine in Rich-
land, Wash. in August 2017,
though he has stated in court
documents that he has since
enrolled in a treatment pro-
gram.
Te Velde is now trying
to sell the dairy and his cat-
tle, though Columbia River
Processing is suing to termi-
nate its milk buying contract,
which Rabobank cited as a
reason to lift bankruptcy pro-
tections and allow the cattle
auction to move forward.
Two more Oregon counties in drought
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Two more Oregon counties are offi-
cially in drought as warm weather and the
lack of snowmelt dries out much of the
state.
Gov. Kate Brown declared drought
emergencies June 18 in Baker and Doug-
las counties, which now makes six after
drought was previously declared in Klam-
ath, Grant, Harney and Lake counties.
“All signs point to another re-
cord-breaking drought and wildfire
season for Oregon,” Brown said. “That
means we must continue our urgent
work to build communities that are
ready for the challenges of climate
change. I have directed state agencies
stand ready to help and work with local
communities to provide assistance.”
Almost the entire state is experiencing
some stage of drought, from “abnormally
dry” to “severe” conditions, according to
the latest U.S. Drought Monitor. The hard-
est-hit areas are in central and southeast
Oregon, though Douglas County is the first
area west of the Cascade Range to receive
a drought declaration in Oregon.
Likewise, snowpack has all but dis-
appeared across the state, with just trace
amounts of snow remaining in the Willa-
mette, Crooked and Upper Deschutes ba-
sins. Snow melted at a rapid rate in May —
up to 2 1/2 times faster than usual at some
higher elevation sites — and the USDA
Natural Resources Conservation Service is
advising irrigators to prepare for critically
low water supplies heading into summer.
Dry conditions not only impact farms,
livestock, recreation and tourism, but also
exacerbate the wildfire danger. Two new
blazes have already erupted in central Or-
egon, including the massive 95,000-acre
Boxcar fire burning south of Maupin, Ore.
As of Monday the lightning-caused
Boxcar fire was 47 percent contained.
Meanwhile, the Jack Knife fire, in nearby
parts of Wasco and Sherman counties, grew
to 14,772 acres and is 65 percent contained.
Finally, the 2,055-acre Graham fire is
now 50 percent contained. It is burning
primarily on private land protected by
the Oregon Department of Forestry
near Culver, Ore., four miles south of
the Metolius River arm of Lake Billy
Chinook.
Environmentalists hope to revive 15-year-old grazing lawsuit
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Environmentalists hope to
resurrect a 15-year-old lawsuit
over grazing impacts on bull
trout in Oregon’s Malheur Na-
tional Forest by appealing a rul-
ing that favored ranchers.
In April, U.S. District Judge
Michael Mosman dismissed a
complaint initially filed in 2003
by the Oregon Natural Desert
Association and the Center for
Biological Diversity, which
claimed cattle harm the threat-
ened fish species by trampling
egg nests and raising water tem-
peratures.
The two environmental
groups are now challenging
that decision before the 9th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals, which
takes about 15 months to resolve
such cases on average.
At this point, the plaintiffs
have simply filed a notice of ap-
peal, which doesn’t lay out the
arguments for why they believe
the judge’s opinion was wrong,
said Elizabeth Howard, an attor-
ney for ranchers who intervened
in the case.
“It’s hard to know what
ONDA’s plans are right now,”
Howard said, noting that sub-
stantive arguments will be made
in the plaintiffs’ opening brief.
Capital Press was unable to
reach Mac Lacy, the attorney for
the environmental groups, for
comment.
“We seek to ensure that the
Forest Service collects and ap-
propriately responds to habitat
data and makes every possible
effort to protect bull trout hab-
itat so this fish isn’t wiped out
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from these two rivers,” said Dan
Morse, ONDA’s conservation
director, in an email.
The environmental plaintiffs
had argued that only 100 bull
trout remain in the Malheur
and North Fork Malheur riv-
ers, which should each support
2,000 of the fish.
The U.S. Forest Service au-
thorized grazing on seven al-
lotments spanning thousands of
acres even though its own data
showed that “riparian manage-
ment objectives” along the two
rivers weren’t being attained, the
plaintiffs argued.
By ignoring information
showing continued degrada-
tion of bull trout habitat, such
as bank stability and water
temperature, the agency vio-
lated the National Forest Man-
agement Act, according to
plaintiffs. The Forest Service
countered that the groups were
“cherry-picking” problemat-
ic “hot spots” even as broader
conditions across the landscape
were improving.
Mosman and U.S. Magis-
trate Judge Paul Papak, who
oversaw aspects of the case,
agreed with the government
that bull trout habit could be
monitored on the “watershed,”
rather than “stream by stream,”
and that the plaintiffs hadn’t
proven grazing had caused the
species’ decline.
Weekly fieldwork report
Ore.
Item/description (Source: USDA, NASS; NOAA)
• Days suitable for fieldwork (As of June 24)
6.6
• Topsoil moisture, surplus
1%
• Topsoil moisture, percent short
67%
• Subsoil moisture, surplus
0
• Subsoil moisture, percent short
66%
• Precipitation probability
33-40% below
(6-10 day outlook as of June 26)
Wash.
Idaho
Calif.
6.2
4%
19%
2%
16%
5.8
13%
32%
12%
31%
6.9
0
75%
0
75%
33% above/
33% below
33-40% below
Normal