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August 3, 2018 CapitalPress.com 5 Washington H-2A use may jump 60 percent Labor tighter every year, growers say By DAN WHEAT Capital Press Use of H-2A-visa guestworkers in Washington, mostly to tend and harvest tree fruit, may increase by close to 60 percent this year over last, says the director of the farm labor association that arranges for the most H-2A workers in the state. “There’s not enough seasonal workers. We’re not able to generate more by increasing pay. It feels just like 2006 when everyone put down their picking bags and picked up framing hammers,” says Dan Fazio, director of WAFLA in Olympia. In other words, when the econ- omy is doing well, domestic work- ers tend to quit pruning and picking fruit trees and turn to higher paying jobs in construction and hospitality. An added damper on ag labor, Fazio said, is the Trump administra- tion not ignoring illegal immigrants to deport when it looks for felons among them. “I just pray I-9 (employment eligibility) audits are not used to Dan Wheat/Capital Press trigger mass deportations before we get immigration or labor laws New H-2A workers pick cherries at Griggs Orchards near Orondo, Wash., on June 19. The Griggs family is among many smaller growers turning to H-2A foreign guestworkers to assure getting tree fruit picked. changed,” he said. Large and small tree fruit grow- ers are increasing their use of H-2A a year for several years to keep up and they’re reliable and legal. three cherry packing lines in June to H-2A and that he will have 16 workers although it’s still challeng- with new plantings. He said smaller The big down side, he said, is the and July but mainly because Califor- H-2A out of a crew of 40 to 50 peo- ing for small growers to get them growers who have not used H-2A are cost of a $14.12 minimum wage, plus nia’s cherry crop was light and more ple to harvest pears. “It’s harder and harder to find workers migrated to Washington. for short windows of time, he said. turning to it more all the time. Still, housing and transportation. In 2017, the U.S. Department he estimates, 70 percent of the Cen- “Now we’re winding down on domestic help. They just aren’t A lot of growers have stayed out of Labor approved 18,796 H-2A tral Washington tree fruit workforce of H-2A, he said, banking on having cherries and we’re seeing a lot of around like they used to be,” workers for Washington and about is domestic, not H-2A. the new H-2C program, if passed by absenteeism. That concerns us,” he Smithson said. “Without H-2A it would be a lot rougher for us.” “I don’t know how you can have Congress, that won’t require housing said. 12,000 of those were hired or ar- ranged by WAFLA. Sean Gilbert, a Yakima grow- all the investment in orchard and or transportation and will lessen min- The cooperative needs 500 work- ers for double shifts on five apple and er, said labor gets tighter every “We could be close to 30,000 infrastructure and not make that in- imum wages. Roger Pepperl, marketing director pear packing lines in a few weeks. this year with 20,000 of that through vestment (in H-2A) to make sure year, that he’s using H-2A for the WAFLA,” Fazio said. “That’s more you have someone to do all the jobs of Stemilt Growers LLC, Wenatchee, Chelan Fruit growers now use first time and awaiting arrival of than we thought it would be. It’s the you need to do on time,” McDougall said H-2A is “imperative” to com- about 400 H-2A workers and the those workers in the next couple of pany orchard operations and is in- number is growing every year, weeks. They will make up less than said. biggest jump yet.” It would be a 59.5 percent in- Employers using the H-2A pro- creased each year. he said. Housing being built by 5 percent of his workforce, which “We are getting by on workers WAFLA in Okanogan and planned peaks at 1,000 workers during Gala crease over 2017. Usage went up gram have to be open to hiring do- 37.3 percent in 2017, 15 and 30 per- mestic workers for the same jobs for but it can be tough in some isolated for Chelan helps, he said. and Honeycrisp apple harvest from cent the prior two years and was up the first half of the H-2A contract locations. The packing side has been “H-2A is costly and just not in late August through September. Ray Keller, general manager of 42 percent in 2014 and 2013. period. McDougall said he gets very running good but only because of wages, housing and transportation. Scott McDougall, president of few workers that way. great management of part-time sum- The first year or two they really Apple King LLC, Yakima, said he’s McDougall & Sons Inc., Wenatchee, “Labor is adequate but we mer workers, which includes college don’t know how to pick apples or not using H-2A but has had to work has struggled to find enough work- wouldn’t get any of our work done if students,” Pepperl said. cherries and their productivity is hard, including advertising on Craig- ers in the past, hiring prison labor in we relied on domestics,” he said. slist, to find pickers and packers. Reggie Collins, general man- twice as slow,” Collins said. 2011. “It’s an unknown right now on ap- Ninety percent of his H-2A work- ager of Chelan Fruit Cooperative, Dick Smithson, a Peshastin He said he’s been increasing ers return from year to year, which he Chelan, said he had the 1,000 peo- pear grower, said Wenatchee Val- ples and pears,” he said. “It takes a lot H-2A workers by about 15 percent likes because it cuts down on training ple he needed for double shifts on ley pear growers are turning more of people.” Dam breach in Washington to cost owner $2.5 million, plus fines By DON JENKINS Capital Press A Florida company has agreed to pay $115,000 in fines and fund a 10-year, $2.5 mil- lion project to repair damage to a creek caused when its dam breached last year on a south- east Washington ranch once owned by Ernest Hemingway’s oldest son. Ecology announced the agreement with the current owner of Bonasa Breaks Ranch on Wednesday. A section of the earthen dam on the property in Asotin County gave away April 13, 2017, releasing an estimat- ed 9 million gallons of water, sediment and debris down Rat- tlesnake Creek. The breach severely dam- aged habitat used by federally protected steelhead, Ecology’s water quality program man- ager, Heather Bartlett, said in a statement. “The dam break caused erosion, loss of thou- sands of mature trees that provided shade to cool water temperature, and sent boulders downstream and blocked mi- grating fish.” The dam was built in the 1960s or earlier and had been enlarged without state permits in 2006-07, according to a post- breach investigation by Ecolo- gy’s Dam Safety Office. Engi- neers reported that the breach was most likely caused by an inadequate spillway that led to water over-topping the dam. Construction flaws would have prevented the state from issuing permits to enlarge the dam, ac- cording to the investigation. The 18-foot-tall, 414-foot- wide dam held back a 4.3-acre pond used for fish rearing and recreation, according to Ecolo- gy. The breach flooded a 6-mile stretch of the creek leading to the Grande Ronde River. The ranch was acquired in 2004 from Jack Hemingway’s widow by a limited liability company registered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., according to public records. Efforts to reach the company’s agent, Ste- phen Croskrey, who signed the agreement with Ecology, were unsuccessful. Jack Hemingway was born to the famous writer in 1923 and died in 2000. He bought the property as a hunt- ing and fishing retreat in 1990, according to a 2001 story by Forbes magazine. The property’s owner will pay a $15,000 fine for failing to obtain permits to enlarge the dam and $100,000 for violating the state’s water quality law. Over the next decade, the ranch must meet deadlines to plant trees and shrubs, remove fish barriers and create habitat. 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