CapitalPress.com
REAL
Oregon
seeking
applications
for next class
Second group
will begin in
November
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
A program designed to
incubate new leaders in Or-
egon agriculture and natu-
ral resource management
is seeking applications for
its second class, scheduled
to begin in November.
The Resource Edu-
cation and Agricultural
Leadership program, better
known as REAL Oregon,
was established in 2017
and graduated its first class
in March. Participants
have the chance to learn
about farming, fishing and
forestry during a series of
five sessions held state-
wide, while also network-
ing with professionals in
the field.
REAL Oregon is de-
signed to help members
grow into leaders through
training in board gover-
nance,
communication,
conflict resolution, pub-
lic policy work, critical
thinking, government in-
teraction, media relations,
public speaking and pre-
sentations.
Applications for Class
2 are due July 27. The cost
is $5,000 per person, of
which half is paid by busi-
ness sponsors.
“We expect it to be a
fairly competitive pro-
cess,” said Greg Adding-
ton, REAL Oregon direc-
tor.
The REAL Oregon
board of directors will
review applications in
August and announce
members of Class 2 in Sep-
tember. Addington said
the program will accept
up to 30 people. Applica-
tions can be found online
at www.realoregon.net.
Bill Buhrig, REAL Or-
egon board chairman, said
graduates from the first
class are already making
their presence felt around
the state, serving on vari-
ous boards and commis-
sions. Alumni are also
serving on the board and
helping to recruit future
members.
“I hope it’s a testament
to what we put together
that people want to come
back and help make this
program even better,”
Buhrig said.
July 13, 2018
U.S. hop acreage forecast at record high
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
YAKIMA, Wash. — U.S.
hop acreage is forecast at a
record 53,282 acres this year,
up 4 percent over last year,
with new acreage and plant-
ings entering full production.
The 2018 forecast for
Washington is 39,273 acres,
which is 71 percent of total
U.S. acreage, according to
a July 2 report from the Na-
tional Agricultural Statistics
Service.
Idaho is projected at 8,217
acres, or 15 percent of the to-
tal, and Oregon is projected
at 7,849 acres, or 14 percent.
Idaho shows the largest in-
crease in acreage, up 1,224
acres, or 17.5 percent.
Mike Gooding, president
of Gooding Farms north
of Wilder, Idaho, and vice
chairman of the Idaho Hop
Growers Commission, said
the state’s additional acreage
this year primarily consists
of hops contracted two years
ago that are finally being es-
tablished.
“A lot of times, growers
are not able to establish all
acres in one season,” Good-
Northwest hop acres harvested
While Washington state still dominates in total hop acres harvested
annually, Idaho was the fastest growing region with an increase of
more than 119 percent in 2018 compared to 2014.
Washington
Oregon
Idaho
37,444
38,438
39,273
32,158
28,858
5,410
6,612
7,765
7,851
7,849
4,863
5,648
6,993
8,217
3,743
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
Source: USDA NASS
ing said. “And we have a
couple of new growers in the
area. They established part
of their acreage last year and
part this year.”
Washington state is up 835
acres, or 2 percent, and Ore-
gon acreage is unchanged.
Expansion of small craft
breweries fueled an increase
in aroma hop varieties for
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
several years but that’s
slowed as the rate of craft
brewery growth has slowed
and larger brewers have lost
market share to other bever-
ages.
Plantings of the super
high alpha varieties of Zeus
and Columbus/Tomahawk
have increased due to con-
cern about a possible up-
coming deficit of alpha for
larger brewers globally, said
Jaki Brophy, a Hop Growers
of America and Washington
Hop Commission spokes-
woman in Moxee.
“It’s questionable whether
a 4 percent increase in acre-
age for 2018 was truly need-
ed, given continued softening
in the craft sector and over-
all flat beer growth global-
ly,” said Peter Mahony, vice
president of supply chain and
purchasing for John I. Haas
Inc., a leading grower, pro-
cessor and researcher of hops
based in Yakima.
“But with craft’s big ap-
petite for U.S. aroma hops,
at least we are not seeing a
further expansion of aroma
acreage but rather flat-lined
with varietal rebalancing go-
ing on,” Mahony said.
The increase in high al-
pha is in direct competition
with Germany, which is also
expanding acreage, he said.
Germany is the world’s larg-
est producer of high alpha
hops.
Cascade was the top U.S.
hop variety in production for
years and a workhorse for
craft breweries but has been
dropping for two years and
now is No. 3, Mahony said.
The big gainer is the aro-
ma variety Citra, now No.
1, at 6,652 acres and up 30
percent, he said. The high al-
phas of Zeus and Columbus/
Tomahawk are No. 2 at 6,102
acres and the aroma variety
Centennial has dropped to
No. 4 at 4,864 acres.
Corrections for Cascade
and Centennial were antic-
ipated, and they likely will
drop further over the next
two years, he said.
“It’s good to see correc-
tions occurring fairly quickly,
which will help to bring these
varieties back into balance,”
he said. “Simcoe is another
leading proprietary aroma
variety which also appears to
have caught up with demand
and will see a reduction.”
Gooding said he expects
a sizable percentage of Crys-
tal, a public hop variety for
which demand has dropped,
to be rotated out in Idaho
next year. NASS reported
Crystal acreage in Wash-
ington, Oregon and Idaho is
down this year.
Reporter Brad Carlson con-
tributed to this story.
Nonprofit files plan to remove four Klamath dams
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Four hydroelectric dams
blocking fish passage along
the lower Klamath River in
southern Oregon and northern
California are slated for re-
moval under a “Definite Plan”
filed with the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission.
The dams — J.C. Boyle,
Copco No. 1, Copco No. 2
and Iron Gate — were built
between 1911 and 1962, and
are currently operated by
PacifiCorp with a combined
generation capacity of 169
megawatts.
FERC is now considering
a proposal to transfer the proj-
ect’s license to the Klamath
River Renewal Corporation,
a nonprofit organization that
intends to decommission and
tear out the dams. If regu-
lators approve the transfer,
dam deconstruction could be-
gin by 2021, opening access
for salmon and steelhead to
around 400 miles of habitat
in the Klamath River and its
tributaries.
The Klamath River Re-
newal Corporation, or KRRC,
formed in 2016 as part of the
amended Klamath Hydroelec-
tric Settlement Agreement,
signed by the U.S. Depart-
ment of the Interior, along
with the states of Oregon and
California, PacifiCorp, local
tribes, government agencies,
irrigation districts, commer-
LEGAL
Associated Press File
Iron Gate Dam spans the Klamath River near Hornbrook, Calif.
Associated Press File
Copco No. 1 dam on the Klamath River near Hornbrook, Calif.
cial fishing and conservation
groups.
Together, they appointed
the KRRC to take ownership
and eventually demolish the
dams as part of the settlement.
Mark Bransom, executive
director of the KRRC, is a for-
mer instructor at Oregon State
University and senior vice
president in water resources
and environmental manage-
ment for CH2M Hill Cos., a
Colorado-based engineering
firm. He said the 2,300-page
Definite Plan submitted June
28 to FERC is a “major mile-
stone” in the dam removal
process.
ODESSA PUBLIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
CALL FOR BIDS – PROPERTY SALE
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that separate sealed bids will be received
by the Odessa Public Development Authority (OPDA) for purchase
of a 28,000 sq. ft. industrial building located at 206 W. Railroad Ave,
Odessa, WA 99159. Legal Description: Tract 1 Odessa Union Sp Steel
Flathouse B/170 Adjoining 12 Ft North Line Qcd 457023. This
building was once a grain storage flat house then converted to a
large warehouse/office space in 2006. Restrooms and office space
occupy 3,000 sq. ft. of the building. Additional 60’ of property
extends west of the building. The site would be suitable primarily
for industrial or ag-related commercial/industrial development as
permitted by zoning.
Sealed bids will be received until 12:00 noon (PDT) August 20,
2018 at which time they will be held until opened and publicly read
aloud at the OPDA Board Meeting, August 20, 2018, 7:00 p.m.,
located at the Odessa Hospital Guild Room, 503 Amende St., Odessa,
WA 99159.
Bids shall be mailed prior to bid opening to P.O. Box 763, Odessa,
WA. 99159 or hand delivered prior to bid opening to: 207 W. First
Avenue, Odessa, WA no later than 12:00 pm on August 20, 2018. All
bids must meet a minimum price of $305,000 to be considered.
Questions regarding the project may be directed to Stacey
Rasmussen, stacey@odessapda, 509-348-0090. Odessa Public
Development Authority, Kim Ramm, President
28-2-3/999
3995 Brooklake Rd. NE
•
“We believe we have pro-
vided FERC with everything
they have requested to this
point,” Bransom said.
The plan describes in de-
tail how the KRRC will draw
down reservoirs and remove
the dams, while also protect-
ing fisheries, rehabilitating
construction sites and miti-
gating community impacts
— such as replacing a water
supply pipeline for the city
of Yreka, Calif., that crosses
the Klamath River near the
upstream end of the reservoir
behind Iron Gate Dam.
The project cost is esti-
mated at around $398 mil-
28-1/106
lion, though Bransom said the
KRRC will begin soliciting to
hire a construction contractor
some time in the next month,
which will determine the
“guaranteed maximum cost.”
The KRRC has a total bud-
get of up to $450 million, with
PacifiCorp ratepayers contrib-
uting $200 million and $250
million coming from Califor-
nia Proposition 1, a $7.5 bil-
lion statewide water bond that
voters passed in 2014.
Removing the four dams
should benefit migratory
salmon and steelhead, Bran-
som said, not only boosting
upstream passage but improv-
ing water quality by restoring
a more free and natural flow
to the river.
“It’s not hard to appreciate
that the Klamath River is a
working river,” Bransom said.
“It has been overtaxed with
regard to allocation of water
and other resources in the ba-
sin.”
That has led to decades of
conflicts and lawsuits seeking
to balance water for fish and
water for 230,000 acres of
irrigated agriculture within
the Bureau of Reclamation’s
Klamath Project.
In 2017, a federal judge
ruled in favor of two Califor-
nia tribes, ordering additional
flows in the Klamath River
to flush away a deadly salm-
on-killing parasite known as
C. shasta. The bureau released
38,425 acre-feet of water
from Upper Klamath Lake in
April and 50,000 acre-feet in
May to comply with the order,
which delayed water for farm-
ers and ranchers until June.
Though the dams target-
ed for removal on the lower
Klamath River do not hold
any water for irrigation, Bran-
som said it may ultimately
benefit farmers and ranchers
in the long run.
“If the water quality can
be improved through dam
removal and (create) a more
natural flow regime in the
river, the flushing flows and
dilution flows held in Upper
Klamath Lake may or may not
continue to be required,” he
said. “That is water that could
be held in the Klamath Project
for agricultural purposes.”
Scott White, executive di-
rector of the Klamath Water
Users Association, said he
wants to believe that is true,
though nothing has been guar-
anteed in writing.
White said irrigators are
frustrated to see the Klam-
ath Hydroelectric Settlement
Agreement revived and mov-
ing forward, while the Klam-
ath Basin Restoration Agree-
ment — another hard-fought
agreement that would have
guaranteed water for agricul-
ture — has been left for dead
after Congress failed to ap-
prove the deal in 2015.
The Klamath Tribes also
filed another lawsuit earlier
this year seeking an injunc-
tion to retain more water in
Upper Klamath Lake to pro-
tect two endangered species
of sucker fish. A hearing in
that case is scheduled for July
20 in a federal courtroom in
San Francisco.
“The path we’re going
down with litigation is not
working, and it’s never going
to work,” White said. “Until
the parties can sit down and
talk about these issues face
to face, this basin is just go-
ing to continue to spiral out of
control.”
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