July 13, 2018
CapitalPress.com
3
I-90 reopens as firefighters contain wildfire
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
VANTAGE, Wash. — In-
terstate 90 reopened at noon
Tuesday after being closed
for about 12 hours due to a
wildfire that crossed the free-
way and threatened the town
of Vantage, causing its evac-
uation.
A 22-mile portion of I-90,
the main route between Seat-
tle and Spokane, was closed
between Ellensburg and Van-
tage due to the fire that burned
1,612 acres of mostly sage-
brush.
Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office
Randy Shepard, inter-
agency fire spokesman, said Interstate 90 between Vantage and Ellensburg, Wash., was closed for about 12 hours as firefighters
he’s not aware of any of the worked to contain it.
ground being used for grazing
and believed no crops were by I-90 motorists who spotted fire was kept within fire lines al days and then released. The
it north of the freeway about despite significant winds on cause is not known and is un-
damaged.
As of Wednesday morn- three miles west of Vantage.
July 6 and July 10, said Rick der investigation, Acosta said.
ing, the Ryegrass Coulee Fire
On Wednesday, firefight-
Wind rapidly spread the Acosta, spokesman for an
was 80 percent contained with fire to Vantage where about interagency effort led by the ers were reinforcing fire lines,
crews mopping up and watch- 200 people were evacuated state Department of Natural mopping up hot spots and
ing unburned areas within the about midnight by Kittitas Resources, Chelan County watching for rolling burning
southeastern portion, Shepard County sheriff’s deputies go- Fire District 6 and the U.S. logs. Full containment is esti-
mated for July 20.
ing door-to-door.
said.
Forest Service.
Demobilization was un-
An outbuilding in an or-
“For the time being we
Crews worked to save
have the upper hand,” he said. chard south of town was de- Weyerhaeuser timber and a derway with total personnel
It is not known if the cause is stroyed and a barn damaged, rare plant, the Oregon Check- at 364, down from a peak of
er Mallow, he said.
442. Aircraft were reduced
natural or unnatural and it is Shepard said.
The fire was reported from eight to three. Fire en-
More than 400 guardrail
under investigation, he said.
The fire burned to the edge posts along the freeway were about noon July 5 and was gines from 23 to two and
of the Columbia River and burned, the sheriff’s office attacked initially primarily bulldozers from four to two.
by aircraft. Steep, rugged Water tenders were up from
2-inch embers were blown said.
Meanwhile, the 317-acre terrain made ground efforts eight to 11.
across the river by winds
A 2-acre lightning-strike
of up to 60 mph but did not Little Camas Fire, about eight difficult.
Camas Meadows Bible fire near Beaver Creek about
ignite the eastern shore, fire- miles west of Wenatchee and
fighters said.
six miles south of Cashmere, Camp and three homes within 12 miles northeast of Leav-
The fire was reported was 74 percent contained as two miles of the fire were on enworth was extinguished by
shortly before 11 p.m. July 9 of Wednesday morning. The evacuation standby for sever- firefighters Tuesday.
WDFW to limit GPS data revealing whereabouts of wolves
Less data given to
counties, range riders
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Washington wildlife man-
agers will be less precise
about the whereabouts of
wolves, holding back infor-
mation previously shared
with ranchers, range riders
and local authorities, accord-
ing to a policy outlined by
the Department of Fish and
Wildlife this week.
Fish and Wildlife says
exact locations, drawn from
wolves wearing radio collars,
have been misused to disturb
wolves. The more restrictive
data-sharing policy comes
as sheriffs in Stevens and
Ferry counties have jointly
deployed a deputy to watch
wolves in northeast Washing-
ton.
“I think they resent that
we have a wildlife specialist
of our own,” Stevens County
Sheriff Kendle Allen said on
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
A Washington Department
of Fish and Wildlife biologist
holds a radio collar that wildlife
managers use to track wolves.
The department has adopted a
more restrictive policy on pro-
viding collar data to ranchers.
Thursday.
“We’re not out there
to manage their animals.
We’re just tying to give our
citizens the best informa-
tion we can and try to help
them prevent depredations,”
he said. “We’re not advo-
cating anybody go out and
shoot wolves, which I think
is what they’re concerned
about.”
Fish and Wildlife collars
wolves to track the growth
and spread of packs, and
prevent and investigate at-
tacks on livestock. Some
environmentalists call the
collared animals “Judas
wolves” because they give
away packs that wildlife man-
agers intend to cull.
The department does not
make the collar data available
to the public, but has shared it
with registered users.
The department’s Eastern
Washington director, Steve
Pozzanghera, briefed Stevens
County commissioners on
the new policy July 2. Some
people receiving collar data
“have been visiting den and
rendezvous sites,” according
to a document Pozzanghera
presented.
The department will con-
tinue to share the data with
University of Washington re-
searchers, but others will see
maps of where wolves “have
been, not where they are cur-
rently,” according to the doc-
ument.
The maps are expected to
be less specific than GPS co-
ordinates. Allen said he saw
an example described as a
“big blue blob.”
Allen said he asked Fish
and Wildlife for evidence that
collar data was being mis-
used. “They will not give me
a single incidence,” he said.
Efforts to obtain comment
from Fish and Wildlife on
Thursday were unsuccessful.
Stevens County Com-
missioner Don Dashiell said
that the county has a right to
collar data collected by Fish
and Wildlife. “If they try to
withhold it, we’ll sue them,”
he said.
The department routine-
ly does not share collar data
with private parties in the
spring while pups are in dens.
The black-out period this year
was extended from June 1 to
July 15.
Stevens County rancher
Arron Scotten said he hasn’t
been getting the collar data,
even though he has a range
rider contract with Fish and
Wildlife.
Hermiston watermelon harvest ready to roll
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
HERMISTON, Ore. —
One of Eastern Oregon’s most
popular crops is back in sea-
son.
Hermiston watermelons
are nearing harvest as summer
temperatures rise into the 90s
and triple-digit degrees. High
heat should help to ripen the
fruit quickly, and growers an-
ticipate they will begin picking
in earnest between July 10 and
15.
“I think we’re pretty much
on schedule,” said Patrick
Walchli, with Walchli Farms.
“Quality-wise, it’s by all indi-
cations looking pretty good, as
far as the fruit set.”
Hermiston watermelons
may be a niche crop in terms
of overall acres, with about
750 total, but figure promi-
nently in the city’s identity
and civic pride. Driving north
into town on Highway 395, the
Hermiston logo emblazoned
on the water tower features a
watermelon backdrop along
with the slogan, “Where Life
is Sweet.”
It isn’t just the locals who
have a sweet tooth for Herm-
iston melons. Shoppers can
find the specially branded fruit
in Portland, Seattle and across
the West Coast. Some ship-
ments have even gone as far as
Texas and Georgia.
The secret lies in the re-
gion’s sandy soil and desert
climate, which provides a
perfect combination of hot,
dry days and cool nights. Wa-
termelons absorb heat during
the day, which the plants me-
tabolize into sugar for ener-
gy. Once they cool at night,
the respiration process slows
and that sugar is stored in the
fruit, hence their exceptionally
sweet flavor.
Walchli said this year has
been a mostly typical growing
season, compared to last year
when planting got off to a slow
start.
“Last season, we had a
colder start and this year we
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growing well.
“This has been a good sea-
son so far,” Lukas said. “I’ve
heard the plants are looking
good, and they are growing as
they should.”
Hired by HAREC in 2016,
Lukas has spent the last couple
of years studying treatments
for soil-borne fusarium and
verticillium wilt diseases in
watermelons. He plans to ex-
pand his program next year to
include more irrigation trials
using remote sensors to mon-
itor soil moisture and help
farmers conserve water.
Court upholds farmer’s
conviction for ‘baiting’ ducks
Prosecutors and
defense attorney
misunderstood
key legal provision
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Despite a legal error
during trial, an Idaho farm-
er was properly convicted
of illegally baiting ducks by
leaving unharvested corn in
a field, according to a feder-
al appeals court.
In 2016, a jury found
Gregory Obendorf guilty
of two counts of violating
the Migratory Bird Treaty
Act through such actions as
leaving certain rows of corn
standing and calibrating a
combine harvester to spill
the crop on a field near Par-
ma, Idaho.
Obendorf was sentenced
to 15 days in jail, 200 hours
of community service, three
years of probation and a
$40,000 fine, though the jail
time and community ser-
vice were postponed while
he challenged the verdict
before the 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals.
The 9th Circuit has now
ruled that both federal pros-
ecutors and Oberdorf’s
defense attorney “misap-
prehended” the law but the
“error was harmless” and
didn’t affect the jury’s de-
cision.
The confusion in Oben-
dorf’s trial concerned an
“agricultural practice ex-
ception” to the Migratory
Bird Treaty Act, a statute
that aims to protect ducks
and other bird species from
excessive killing.
The judge overseeing
the trial did not allow Oben-
dorf’s attorney to cross-ex-
amine three University of
Idaho Extension agents
who had testified that he
didn’t follow normal agri-
cultural practices.
Planting,
harvesting,
post-harvest manipulation
and soil stabilization prac-
tices are exempted from the
MBTA’s prohibition against
taking birds from baited ar-
eas, as long as the practices
are officially recommend-
ed by the state’s Extension
Service.
However, that exemp-
tion only applies to the un-
lawful hunting, or “taking,”
of migratory birds in a bait-
ed area, not to the statute’s
prohibition against baiting
itself, the 9th Circuit said.
The agricultural practice
exception “permits hunt-
ing over certain lands that
would otherwise be off-lim-
its” because they contain
crops while still banning
farmed fields from being
baited, according to the rul-
ing.
Although the exemption
was “not relevant to the
baiting charges Obendorf
faces,” the error was harm-
less in regard to the jury
instructions because the
government was “tasked
with disproving an excep-
tion that did not apply in
the first place,” the appeals
court said.
The 9th Circuit also re-
jected the argument Oben-
dorf was prejudiced by the
mistake because his legal
theory centered on a “reg-
ulatory safe harbor” that
didn’t actually exist.
Regardless of the ex-
emption, the evidence was
still “extremely strong” that
Obendorf baited a field to
facilitate hunting, the ruling
said.
For example, employees
of the farm testified Oben-
dorf told them to configure
combine settings to leave a
maximum amount of corn
behind for ducks in a cer-
tain field, while elsewhere
they were expected to har-
vest as much as possible.
While the judge didn’t
allow three Extension
specialists who served as
prosecution witnesses to
be cross-examined by Obe-
dorf’s attorney, they could
still have been called as
direct defense witnesses re-
garding farm practices, the
9th Circuit said.
“In the end, we cannot
see what Obendorf would
have done differently if the
parties had not misappre-
hended the MBTA regula-
tions,” the ruling said.
Under federal sentenc-
ing guidelines, Obendorf
faced substantially more
time behind bars than the 30
days sought by prosecutors,
according to a court brief
filed by the government.
Due to his legal history
— two convictions for driv-
ing while intoxicated and
one conviction for invol-
untary manslaughter while
driving intoxicated — the
federal guidelines recom-
mended two years in prison,
the government brief said.
Weekly fieldwork report
Item/description (Source: USDA, NASS; NOAA)
• Days suitable for fieldwork (As of July 8)
• Topsoil moisture, surplus
• Topsoil moisture, percent short
• Subsoil moisture, surplus
• Subsoil moisture, percent short
• Precipitation probability
(6-10 day outlook as of July 10)
28-1/108
GREENWAY SEEDS
had a more favorable May and
end of April,” he said. “It’s
hard to predict. Melons are
very reactive to the weather,
more so than some of the other
crops.”
Scott Lukas, assistant pro-
fessor of horticulture for Ore-
gon State University, recently
started a new research program
at OSU’s Hermiston Agricul-
tural Research and Extension
Center with a partial focus on
watermelons. He said growers
have reported few issues with
disease pressure, and for the
most part the vines have been
EO Media Group File
An appeals court has upheld the conviction of an Idaho farmer
for baiting ducks.
Ore.
Wash.
Idaho
Calif.
6.7
0
75%
0
71%
6.8
1%
28%
1%
19%
6.8
10%
48%
8%
48%
7
0
80%
0
75%
33-50% below
50% below
33-50% below/
Normal
33% Below/
Normal