July 13, 2018
CapitalPress.com
7
Record year predicted for California almond crop
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
MODESTO, Calif. —
The California almond in-
dustry is expecting a record
2.45 billion-pound crop this
year, up 7.9 percent from
the 2017 crop of 2.27 billion
pounds.
The official industry crop
forecast was released July 5
by USDA’s National Agricul-
tural Statistics Service. Care-
ful management by farmers
and newer orchards coming
into production are respon-
sible for the increase despite
earlier concerns about freez-
ing weather during bloom,
said Holly King, chairwoman
of the Almond Board of Cal-
ifornia and a Kern County
grower.
“2018 looks to be a mile-
stone year with over 1 million
almond-bearing acres now in
California,” King said. It’s
not just more acres but grow-
ers continuing to find ways to
grow more almonds per acre,
she said.
Almond Board of California
A record California crop is forecast for this year. More than 1 million acres of trees are in production.
Harvest will start at the
end of the month near Bakers-
field, spread north into the
Sacramento Valley in August
and can finish in October,
said Ashley Bloemhof, an Al-
mond Board spokeswoman in
Modesto.
As with tree fruit, almonds
now face a 50 percent tariff in
China in retaliation for U.S.
tariffs on Chinese steel and
aluminum and other goods.
“It’s too early to speculate
on how these costs might af-
fect the industry as a whole,”
Bloemhof said. “We don’t
want to lose any export busi-
ness to China.”
As of the end of May, 8.23
percent of California almonds,
year-to-date, from the 2017
harvest had been shipped to
China, she said, compared
to 7.18 percent the previous
season. Of just exports in the
2016-2017 season, 10.58 per-
cent went to China.
The forecast, known as the
objective report, is based on
actual counts of nuts on trees.
It follows this year’s May 10
preliminary, or subjective,
report of 2.3 billion pounds
based on early nut set.
The objective report says
the average nut set per tree is
5,677, down 0.6 percent from
the 2017 almond crop.
The Nonpareil average
nut set is 4,924, down 13.9
percent from last year’s set.
The average kernel weight
for all varieties sampled was
1.54 grams, down 1.9 percent
compared to the 2017 average
weight of 1.57 grams.
More than 6,000 almond
growers and processors in
California produce about 80
percent of the global supply.
Demand continues to steadi-
ly grow as largely because of
health benefits of almonds.
About 35 percent of Cal-
ifornia almonds go to North
American markets, Western
Europe is 26 percent and
Asia and the Pacific are
25 percent.
Tribal concerns may drive cattle off Colville allotment
Forest Service has
second thoughts
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Office of U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse
U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, arms folded, listens to U.S. Customs
and Border Protection officers at the U.S.-Mexico border near
McAllen, Texas.
Congressman visits
border seeking facts
on immigration
Capital Press
SUNNYSIDE, Wash. —
A congressman from cen-
tral Washington says he’s
more determined to work
for immigration reform af-
ter visiting the U.S.-Mex-
ico border near McAllen,
Texas.
“After my tour, I am as
determined as ever that bor-
der security and immigra-
tion reform must go hand-
in-hand, which requires
both sides of the debate to
come to a legislative com-
promise,” Rep. Dan New-
house, R-Wash., said in a
statement.
He visited a border wall
and listened to briefings by
U.S. Customs and Border
Protection and U.S. Immi-
gration and Custom En-
forcement personnel.
Newhouse called the vis-
it “eye-opening,” and said
he heard compelling stories
about how hard federal of-
ficers work to enforce laws
for the protection of Ameri-
cans and immigrants.
“Not only do these en-
forcement
professionals
need more technology, in-
frastructure and personnel,
but they need Congress to
update our broken immigra-
tion system which currently
encourages illegal immigra-
tion,” he said.
Every aspect needs to be
addressed, from working
with countries from which
migrants leave to increasing
border security to humane
enforcement of laws, he
said.
Newhouse and others
in Congress are working
toward a stand-alone vote
before the August recess on
related agricultural labor
legislation.
The goal is to address
legal work authorization for
illegal immigrants working
in the U.S., changes to or re-
placement of the H-2A-visa
guestworker program and
implementation of E-verify
(electronic verification of
employment eligibility).
groups see the fate of the Le-
Clerc Creek allotment as pos-
sibly setting a precedent for
other grazing grounds.
“I would say every single
grazing allotment could be put
at risk,” said Cattle Produc-
ers of Washington President
Scott Nielsen. “That decision
(to end grazing) would have
had national implications.”
Cattle have grazed there
since at least 1940 and maybe
as far back as the 1890s, ac-
cording to the Forest Service.
The allotment has five
pastures. Fountain said he
was willing to give up one,
making up 24 percent of the
allotment. The Forest Service
said closing the pasture would
respond to tribal needs. “I’ve
said all along I’ve been willing
to make concessions for cul-
tural concerns,” Fountain said.
“I don’t see how we couldn’t
figure out a way to share the
land.”
The Forest Service released
an extensive environmental
study on the allotment in April.
The study recommended that
grazing continue, though with
more than $100,000 worth of
new fences and water troughs
to keep cattle from streams.
The Forest Service would pay
for the improvements.
The Forest Service, in talks
with Fountain, also worked out
an alternative plan that would
cost about $73,000 in immedi-
ate improvements. Both plans
are “ridiculously” expensive
for taxpayers and unneeded for
a range that’s getting in better
condition, Fountain said.
With either plan, the graz-
ing permit would be contin-
gent on an “adaptive man-
agement strategy” that could
cost as much as $500,000
over 10 years and reduce the
number of cows allowed on
the allotment, according to
the study.
Smoldon said the Forest
Service will offer Fountain a
grazing permit on vacant allot-
ments. Fountain and his family
have a long history of grazing
in the forest and have worked
to minimize the ecological ef-
fects of grazing, Smoldon said.
Fountain said that the For-
est Service has offered him al-
lotments in a different county.
“They’re all in Ferry County.
I live in Pend Oreille County.
Do you want me to move?” he
asked. “We also have a spiri-
tual interest here.”
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28-1/100
By DAN WHEAT
A northeast Washington
rancher says it’s a “miracle”
that the U.S. Forest Service
will reconsider taking away
the allotment his family has
grazed cattle on since 1963.
Steve Fountain of Pend
Oreille County said Tuesday
that he wasn’t surprised that
Colville National Forest Su-
pervisor Rodney Smoldon
announced that he was clos-
ing the 23,000-acre LeClerc
Creek allotment.
Two days later, however,
Regional Forester Jim Pena
put Smoldon’s decision on
hold.
“I call it a miracle,” Foun-
tain said. “I had kind of giv-
en up. I’m way more hopeful
now. The Forest Service has
had me in a squeeze chute,
only I’m not a cow, I’m a hu-
man.”
The Forest Service has
been studying for years
whether to close the allot-
ment, where Fountain turns
out 101 cow-calf pairs for the
summer. The agency acknowl-
edges that Fountain’s manage-
ment of the herd has improved
the ecological condition of the
range, but Smoldon said the
cattle are incompatible with
tribal cultural practices.
The Kalispel Tribe of Indi-
ans told the Forest Service that
the land was sacred and that
cow manure discouraged tribal
members from practicing tra-
ditional beliefs, curative arts
and rites of passage.
In an email to Forest Ser-
vice employees, Smoldon
said closing the allotment will
re-establish the “full uses and
values of this cherished cultur-
al landscape for the Kalispel
Tribe of Indians.”
“This decision honors and
respects the federal govern-
ment’s trust responsibility to
the federally recognized Kalis-
pel Tribe of Indians,” Smoldon
wrote.
The decision was an-
nounced in a legal notice June
26 but rescinded by higher-ups
June 29. “We’re taking some
additional time to consider the
impacts to parties involved.
We plan to issue a decision
as soon as possible,” a Forest
Service spokesman said in an
email.
Efforts to reach the tribe
were unsuccessful.
The Colville National For-
est includes 1.1 million acres
in Ferry, Stevens and Pend
Oreille counties. Some 5,500
cow-calf pairs graze there
in the summer. Cattlemen’s
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