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August 10, 2018 CapitalPress.com 7 Walden joins call for wildfire aid South Valley fire latest to ignite in Wasco County, Ore. By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press Rep. Greg Walden is the latest among several high-ranking Oregon pol- iticians to request federal aid for farmers and ranchers suffering through a particu- larly intense wildfire season across the state. Walden’s district includes Wasco and Sherman coun- ties, where yet another large blaze ignited Wednesday, torching 20,000 acres — and counting — of prime wheat and cattle country near the Deschutes River. The South Valley Fire started near Dufur, Ore., and was likely human-caused. It is the region’s third large wildfire in as many weeks, coming on the heels of the Substation and Long Hollow fires, which burned a com- bined 111,875 acres, or 175 square miles. On Thursday, Walden — Oregon’s only Republi- can congressman — wrote to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue asking for assistance to help producers who lost some or all of their crops and rangeland. The Substa- tion fire alone has affected an estimated 31,000 acres of cropland over 86 farms in Wasco and Sherman coun- ties, including 18,500 acres of standing wheat. “Oregon’s farmers, ranchers and foresters are facing significant challeng- es during this fire season,” Walden wrote. “I appreci- ate your prompt attention to these important issues so Roy W. Lowe/USFWS Five environmental groups are suing the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife for not reclassifying the marbled murrelet as a state endangered species. Environmental groups sue ODFW over marbled murrelet protections Fox-12 Oregon via AP In this Aug. 1 image taken from video provided by Fox-12 Oregon, a wildfire rages near Dufur, Ore. U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., wrote a letter to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue requesting federal aid for farmers and ranchers affected by wildfires burning across the state. that Oregon’s rural commu- nities can better navigate through the disasters they have faced.” Perdue is no stranger to the area, having previous- ly joined Walden at Martin Farms in Rufus, Ore., on July 3 as part of a four-day, four-state tour visiting with local farmers. “Sadly, the very wheat farm we visited in Sherman County, and many of their neighbors, recently lost some or all of their crops to fire,” Walden wrote. “Many of the wheat farms in the area affected by fire are also livestock producers and have lost pasture to the fire.” In his letter, Walden urged Perdue to approve Oregon’s request for a USDA disas- ter designation, and also re- quested additional flexibility from the Risk Management should have access to emer- gency grazing on grasslands enrolled in the Conserva- tion Reserve Program. The 100,000-acre Boxcar fire near Maupin and 15,000- acre Jack Knife fire near Grass Valley took an espe- cially heavy toll on range- land in June. Walden is not the only political figure to request federal fire aid in Oregon. Gov. Kate Brown and U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, all Democrats, wrote Perdue on July 27 ask- ing for a cut of the $12 billion in emergency aid for farmers hit by tariffs in the Trump ad- ministration’s trade war with China and other countries. Regardless of the pres- ident’s trade strategy, they said the USDA must act to assist farmers enduring di- saster now. Agency allowing farmers hurt by fires to prevent soil erosion by planting cover crops. The USDA Natural Re- sources Conservation Service has already offered assistance to plant cover crops through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, or EQIP. But since dryland wheat farm- ers in Eastern Oregon plant in a summer fallow rotation, Walden said they are worried that adding cover crops will put them in a “continuous production” category under their crop insurance. Clinton Whitten, the act- ing district conservation- ist for the NRCS in Wasco County, recently acknowl- edged that concern, and said they are working on a waiver for growers affected by fires. In addition, Walden said ranchers who lost rangeland Honeybee colonies stabilize after steep losses By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press The number of U.S. hon- eybee colonies for those op- erations with five or more colonies is holding steady, as beekeepers add colonies to offset annual losses. Honeybee colonies num- bered 2.69 million on April 1, USDA National Agricultural Statistics reported. Losses were substantial with quarterly tallies totaling more than 1.47 million April through April, but beekeep- ers compensated by adding more than 1.65 million col- onies. The Bee Informed Part- nership estimates 30.7 per- cent of managed colonies in the U.S. were lost during the winter, Oct. 1, 2017 through April 1, 2018, an increase of 9.5 percent over the previous year and 2.8 percent higher than the 10-year average. While summer losses were on par with the previous year at about 17 percent, the part- nership estimates total losses April through April at 40.1 percent, a 2.7 percent increase over the annual average since 2010-2011. Although it was a pretty good year for Chris Hiatt — vice president of the Ameri- can Honey Producers Asso- 800 757 secticide exposure, diseases and parasites. Despite elevated losses since the advent of colony collapse disorder in 2006, the number of managed col- onies has remained relatively stable, ranging from 2.3 mil- lion to 2.8 million between 1996 and 2016, according to USDA. To stay in business, bee- keepers have to maintain a certain number of hives, so they split their hives to start new ones, Hiatt said. “You just keep making more divides to make up for the dead-outs,” he said. But divides weaken the original colony, and the re- sults can be seen in USDA data on honey production, he said. Domestic honey used to account for two-thirds of U.S. consumption, with only one- third coming from imports. Now it’s swapped, and last year three-fourths of domes- tic consumption was import- ed, he said. Total honeybee colonies, Northwest and California (Thousands of colonies) 700 637 600 508 500 Source: USDA NASS Alan Kenaga/Capital Press 400 1992 ’95 585,000: Down 22.7% from 1992 ’00 ’05 ciation and a beekeeper who operates with his four broth- ers in California, Washington and North Dakota — he said he’s not surprised by the high- er losses. Hurricanes in Flori- da and Texas and drought and wildfires in different areas of the country no doubt took a toll in 2017, he said. “It was a perfect storm,” he said. Hopefully, this year is bet- ter. But the issue of pesticides and mites are still here, he said. Varroa mites remain the top health stressor, with af- fected colonies reported at 55.3 percent in the October through December 2017 quar- ter. Other bee health stressors included other pests and par- ’10 ’15 2017 asites, diseases, pesticides, weather, starvation, insuffi- cient forage, queen failure and damaged or destroyed hives. Losses attributed to colony collapse disorder, at 255,070, accounted for 17.3 percent of total losses, compared to 21.2 percent the previous year. But year-over-year losses attribut- ed to the disorder were only higher in the January through March 2018 quarter, which at 77,800 were 15 percent high- er than a year earlier. Losses are cyclical. A lot of big operators could have normal losses for two years and get hit in the third, Hiatt said. In addition to colony col- lapse disorder, colony loss can occur from loss of forage leading to poor nutrition, in- Commission denied ‘uplisting’ species By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press Five environmental groups are suing the Oregon Depart- ment of Fish and Wildlife after the agency declined to “uplist” the marbled murrelet from threatened to endan- gered under the state Endan- gered Species Act. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission initially voted to reclassify the seabird as endangered in February, which would have required adopting a management plan and survival guidelines for the species on state land. However, in a move that stirred controversy, the com- mission reversed its decision four months later at a meeting in Baker City, opting against providing endangered protec- tions for marbled murrelets. The commission did ap- prove voluntary survival guidelines Aug. 3 for log- gers and landowners to avoid harming the birds. The rules, in part, define “suitable habi- tat” for marbled murrelets as “old-growth, coniferous for- est stands that include plat- form trees, and occur within 35 miles of the Pacific Coast.” But conservationists say more is needed to prevent the species from potentially going extinct. Cascadia Wildlands, De- fenders of Wildlife, Oregon Wild, the Center for Biolog- ical Diversity and Audubon Society of Portland filed a lawsuit Aug. 2 — one day before the commission took action on voluntary survival guidelines. “The commission’s rever- sal of its decision to uplist the marbled murrelet just four months earlier ignored sci- ence, the law and ODFW’s mission to protect Oregon’s imperiled wildlife,” said Nick Cady, legal director for Cas- cadia Wildlands, based in Eu- gene. ODFW listed the marbled murrelet as a threatened spe- cies in 1995. Groups peti- tioned to list the birds as en- dangered in 2016, claiming the population has declined by as much as 50 percent near the central Oregon coast. Marbled murrelets nest in old-growth forests along the Coast Range, where accord- ing to ODFW’s own status review, highly suitable hab- itat declined by an estimated 78,600 acres, or nearly 10 per- cent, between 1993 and 2012. “The science is clear and overwhelming,” said Joe Li- ebezeit, staff scientist at the Audubon Society of Portland. “The June commission deci- sion unfortunately perpetuates an approach at ODFW that has spanned nearly three decades of the state turning its back on the murrelet and ignoring the science that shows that log- ging of our older coastal for- ests under the purview of the state of Oregon is a primary factor in driving this species toward extinction.” Timber companies disput- ed the evidence, and worried uplisting would lead to oner- ous new logging restrictions on state-owned forests. Sara Duncan, spokeswom- an for the Oregon Forest and Industries Council, pointed to a 2017 report by the North- west Forest Plan Interagency Regional Monitoring Pro- gram, which indicated mur- relet populations experienced a 1.8 percent annual growth in Oregon from 2001 to 2016. “The ODFW Commission made the correct decision — they weighed the empirical evidence and stuck to the sci- ence,” Duncan said. Nick Smith, executive director of Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities, added the Legislature has provided additional funding for a 10- year murrelet study through Oregon State University, which will provide new clues on the bird’s nesting and flight patterns. “The commission is sig- naling they may wait until real scientific data becomes available, and that is encour- aging,” Smith said. “At this moment, we are hopeful the process will work the way it should. But we will contin- ue to ask the commission to make informed decisions that are based in science, not pol- itics.” Farm bill conference committee set to roll Capital Press The Senate Agriculture Committee voted Aug. 1 to move forward with the 2018 Farm Bill conference commit- tee, appointing members who will serve on the committee with their counterparts from the House. Those Senate members include: Chairman Pat Rob- erts, R-Kan.; Senate Majori- ty Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark.; Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D.; Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Io- wa; Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.; Sen. Pat- rick Leahy, D-Vt.; Sen. Sher- rod Brown, D-Ohio; and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D. Roberts and Stabenow is- sued a joint statement saying “This strong group of Senate conferees knows how to work together on a bipartisan basis to get the farm bill across the finish line.” Late last month the House Agriculture Com- mittee announced its con- ference members including Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, R-Tex; Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa.; Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.; Frank Lu- cas, R-Okla.; Mike Rogers, R- Ala.; Austin Scott, D-Ga.; Rick Crawford, R-Ark.; Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo.; Rodney Davis, R-Ill.; Ted Yoho, R-Fla.; David Rou- zer, R-N.C.; Roger Mar- shall, R-Kan.; and Jodey Ar- rington, R-Texas. FLAT CARS- THE BETTER BRIDGE • Lower Cost • Custom Lengths up to 90’ • Certified Engineering Services Available • Steel Construction Contractor License # 71943 P.O Box 365 • 101 Industrial Way, Lebanon, OR 97355 Office: 541-451-1275 Email: info@rfc-nw.com www.rfc-nw.com 32-3/100 By CAROL RYAN DUMAS WE SPECIALIZE IN BULK BAGS! 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