Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Capital press. (Salem, OR) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 10, 2018)
Capital Press A g The West’s FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 2018 Weekly VOLUME 91, NUMBER 32 WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM $2.00 INTO THE WOODS Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revision enters home stretch Blue Mountains forests By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press National forest Ochoco Wash. Ore. sh. Wa . Ore Sn ake e Riv r Pendleton 84 82 WALLOWA 395 MORROW UMATILLA Enterprise La Grande UNION Malheur — where Warness said the company has seen a “significant de- cline” in available timber supply. That could change soon, as the U.S. Forest Service has proposed doubling the timber harvest in its latest recom- mendations for the Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revision, encompassing 5.5 million acres of public lands — an area about the size of New Jersey. After 15 years, the Forest Service released its final draft of the manage- ment plans and environmental study for all three forests in June, focusing Turn to PLAN, Page 9 Malheur 84 395 BAKER Ore. ho GRANT 10 miles Sn 26 MALHEUR 395 N Ida John Day 26 HARNEY 20 ake Ontario River Lindsay Warness, forest policy analyst, Boise Cascade Mill closures are nothing new in Eastern Oregon. Since 1990, the in- dustry has lost 18 mills and more than 1,200 jobs locally, said Lindsay War- ness, forest policy analyst for Boise Cascade. On a percentage basis, that’s equivalent to 106,000 jobs in the Port- land metro area. To keep the remaining mills open, Boise Cascade buys roughly 33 percent of its timber from as far as Mount Hood and southwest Idaho, trucking in logs from 250 miles away. A smaller per- centage comes from the three national forests within the Blue Mountains — the Umatilla, Wallowa-Whitman and 82 Umatilla ho “ The plan itself is fairly vague in their desired future conditions as to what they’re trying to achieve on the landscape.” Wallowa- Whitman Ida L ogging trucks growl over the Blue Mountains in northeast Oregon, hauling freshly cut timber to one of Boise Cascade’s three manufacturing facilities scattered around the region, in- cluding a plywood mill in the rural town of Elgin. About 250 people work full-time at the Elgin complex, making plywood panels for building construction. Elsewhere on site, a stud mill sits empty after Boise Cascade announced an indefinite curtailment, ceasing opera- tions in mid-July. 84 Burns 20 Source: library.uoregon.edu Alan Kenaga/Capital Press EO Media Group A new plan for the three national forests in northeast- ern Oregon could ultimately increase logging and grazing. Wheat prices climb with Russian, European crop problems By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press U.S. wheat prices are climbing due to weather prob- lems in Russia, Europe and southern Asia, but market an- alysts expect the bump to be relatively small. Soft white wheat prices this week increased to $6.09 to $6.15 per bushel on the Portland market, up from $5.80-$5.90 a month ago. Nearby futures traded in a range between $6.19 and 6.27 per bushel. Hard red winter wheat ranged from $6.28 to $7.23 per bushel, up from $6.07 to $6.30 a month ago. Dark northern spring wheat sold for $6.85 to $7.59 per bushel, up from $6.66-$6.83 a month ago at Portland. Mike Krueger, with MK Consulting in Salem, pointed to signs that poor growing weather in Europe, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and oth- er some other export countries has been causing the crop to “shrivel” in recent months. Russia’s production is fore- cast to be down as much as 21 percent compared to last year’s record crop, and excess rain in the Black Sea region has damaged some of that wheat crop. Capital Press File Wheat prices are increasing amid reports of “shrinking” crops in Russia and elsewhere. The losses are concen- trated among major wheat exporters, Krueger said. The USDA will put out its latest wheat report Aug. 10. Black Sea wheat prices have been going up, to about $234 per metric ton, or $6.37 per bushel, Krueger said. “They’re still cheaper than us to Egypt, but not nearly as much as they were,” he said. To make his projections, Krueger has been taking es- timates made by Russia and other countries and reducing their exports to record-low carryovers, then comparing them to USDA projections to make his predictions. “A very large quantity would have to be filled by the world’s residual supplier, which is us,” he said. Wheat crops in the U.S., Canada and Australia are also smaller than anticipated. Taking China out of the world wheat supply equation, Krueger says supplies are get- ting to be as tight as they were in 2006, 2007 and 2008, par- ticularly for major exporters. Reaching prices from that time is not likely, Krueger said. But will they go “way higher” than they are now? “Looks like the table’s set,” Krueger said. Ten years ago, dark north- ern spring wheat hit $23 per bushel, soft white wheat peaked at about $14 per bushel and Chicago futures prices were about $10 per bushel. Turn to WHEAT, Page 9 Trump dumping NAFTA for bilateral deals with Canada, Mexico House ag chair says president wants new deals By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press SPOKANE — President Donald Trump is working to replace NAFTA with bilater- al agreements with Canada and Mexico, the chairman of the House Ag Committee told Washington agricultural lead- ers Aug. 8. Rep. Michael Conaway, R-Texas, said he didn’t have further details, but he got the sense that was the direction Trump was moving with both countries during a recent meet- ing on trade with the president. Trump prefers bilateral agreements to NAFTA and to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Conaway said. Conaway spoke to leaders representing wheat, potatoes and cattle feeders during a breakfast in downtown Spo- kane. Joe Bippert, program direc- tor for the Washington Grain Commission, said it wasn’t surprising to hear that bilateral agreements replacing NAFTA is a possibility. “Ultimately, farmers want trade agreements with our mar- kets,” Bippert said. “How that looks, if it’s NAFTA is renego- tiated or if it’s a bilateral with Canada and Mexico, as long as the agreements are in place and have value to farmers, I would see that as being a positive.” Bippert said farmers have demonstrated their trust in Trump’s ability to negotiate a deal. “We would certainly be open to dialogue to provide in- put on how those negotiations and each decision that is made would impact our industry,” he said. Matt Harris, director of gov- ernment affairs for the Wash- ington Potato Commission, also views the possibility as a positive. Turn to NAFTA, Page 9
