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4 CapitalPress.com September 7, 2018 WDFW takes steps to shoo elk, but no success reported Lawsuit against Westland Irrigation District dismissed Damage to farms still a problem An Oregon judge has re- jected several Umatilla Ba- sin farmers’ allegations that they’ve been cheated out of water, ruling that the Westland Irrigation District properly al- located water. At the conclusion of an Aug. 30 hearing in Hermiston, Ore., Baker County Circuit Court Judge Greg Baxter dis- missed a lawsuit filed against the district by the plaintiffs, ELH LLC, Oregon Hereford Ranch LLC, Paul Gelissen, Maurice and Lucy Ziemer, Craig and Cynthia Parks and Richard and Kristine Carpen- ter. Baxter presided over the case because judges in Uma- tilla County had recused them- selves. “It validates the way they’ve been distributing wa- ter,” said Nicole Hancock, the irrigation district’s attorney. Mike Haglund, attorney for the plaintiffs, said his clients plan to appeal the decision, which essentially holds that Oregon’s “prior appropria- tions” water rights doctrine doesn’t apply to irrigation dis- tricts. “We think he’s dead wrong on his legal conclusion,” Ha- glund said. The complaint filed against Westland Irrigation District in 2016 claimed that small- er growers with senior water rights had been deprived of water to benefit larger opera- tions with junior rights. However, the judge found the district’s system of dis- tributing water was lawful and that the plaintiffs’ claims were regardless time-barred by the statute of limitations, said Hancock. “The judge made a very By DON JENKINS Capital Press The Washington Depart- ment of Fish and Wildlife re- ports it has increased hunting, put up fences and issued per- mits to landowners to shoot elk, but doesn’t claim success yet in keeping the animals off farmland in Skagit County. In a new report to legisla- tors, the department outlines its response to complaints that the North Cascades elk herd is a problem for farmers and a hazard to motorists. Fish and Wildlife’s north Puget Sound director, Amy Windrope, said Tuesday she’s hopeful the measures will work, given time. “I think we’re putting in place the tools to make it better, but I don’t think it’s better than last year. I can’t say that.” Fish and Wildlife and Native American tribes suc- ceeded in reviving the herd over the past 15 years. The department estimates there are 1,600 elk in the herd’s core area, including several hundred in valleys. With the growth has come reports of agricultural damage and ve- hicles colliding with elk. Legislators in 2016 di- rected Fish and Wildlife to minimize the number of elk on private land and to report back by Sept. 1. The depart- ment issued a report to meet the deadline and is expected to provide more details this month in a new 10-year herd plan. Besides hunting, fences LEGAL PUBLIC LIEN SALE U-STORE SELF STORAGE SAT, September 15, 2018 1st location starts at 10am. 2nd location starts at 12pm. 1501 Hawthorne Ave NE Salem, Oregon Daryen Ackerman, 2B14; Alexia Agee, 1F48; Ben Anitok, 2G09; Anthony Bahler, 1G17; Cassandra Bills, 1E07; Sara Boring, 2G01; Diane Comer, 2F03; Katrina Crawford, 2D49; Richard Cross, 2G08; Rocky Orvel Dawson, 1E38; Erin Elliot, Y225; Rebecca Fery, 1D27; Brenda L Garcia, 1D11; Cali Guthrie, Y223; Amanda Nicole Lee, 2D42; Samuel Lindsey, 1C01; Elisa Lopez, 2D43; Joshua McCoy, 2B62; Kristina Mcdaniel, RE01; Chiloris Morgan, Y1-7; Kimberly Munz Y217; Shane Neal, 1C06; Michelle Pedersen, 2E11; Sol A Pichardo, 2C24; George Reitzer, 2A56; Maribel Resendiz Cervantes, 2D05; Angela Lynn Rue, 2B63; Michael W Russell, Y2-1; Dallas Sadler, 2A14; Kieth Siegmund, Y211; Joseph Zerkel, 1F10; 1668 Industrial Way SW Albany, Oregon Henry Desamias, Y013 Don Jenkins/Capital Press Elk graze in a valley in eastern Skagit Count in northwest Washington. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife issued a report Aug. 31 outlining how it will reduce the number of elk on farmland. and permission to shoot elk on private property, the de- partment reports trying to create more elk habitat on public lands. Landowner Randy Good, vice president of the Skagit County Cattlemen’s Associ- ation, said Tuesday he was disappointed in Fish and Wildlife’s report. The department’s plan to reduce farm damage amounts to continuing the same methods that aren’t working, he said. “The report just promotes continuing their unworkable solutions,” he said. The department issued 52 damage-control permits over a nine-month period that end- ed March 31, up from 40 the year before. The shootings are meant to warn elk off private land, not reduce the overall population. Good said such hazing is ineffective. “Elk are becom- ing domesticated. You shoot one, and they move to the other side of the field, or your neighbor’s field, but they come right back,” he said. Windrope said the depart- ment may have to find new techniques to haze elk. “We need to be smarter than the elk, and change our behavior, and the question is what will be effective.” State Sen. Keith Wagoner, a Republican who represents eastern Skagit County, said he favors letting landowners shoot an elk causing damage without waiting for a permit from Fish and Wildlife. “I think when the elk are caus- ing an economic hardship for a person, they have the right to protect their investment,” he said. “For all the good in- tentions, we haven’t found a solution that’s making farm- ers whole again.” House Agriculture Com- mittee Chairman Brian Blake, D-Aberdeen, said elk damage is a concern in oth- er places, but eastern Skagit County stands out. “I can’t think of a place with as much of a conflict,” he said. “I feel for Fish and Wildlife trying to unravel this.” The Skagit County As- sessor’s Office is surveying elk damage to agriculture. The survey won’t be done until the end of the year, but the office projects the annu- al damage could total about $1.4 million. Farmers can apply for up to $10,000 in compensation from Fish and Wildlife. Farmers must hire an adjuster, submit business records and open their land to hunters. No one has filed a claim since 2016. By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press solid factual legal ruling,” Hancock said, adding that she’s confident the decision would survive a potential ap- peal. “The plaintiffs never had a viable claim that could gain any traction.” The irrigation district wants to rebuild its relationship with the plaintiffs and do its best to represent the interests of all pa- trons, she said. Haglund, the plaintiffs’ at- torney, said the irrigation dis- trict pushed water to all the acres it served on a equal basis, which meant that senior water rights owners were forced to stop irrigating instead of hav- ing a longer season. According to the plaintiffs, the district had consistently ignored and failed to account for the “priority dates” of se- nior water rights holders when distributing water from the Umatilla River and the McKay Reservoir. Instead, the district’s policy has been to distribute as much water to the maximum acreage possible while disregarding the “first in time, first in right” principle of Oregon water law, the plaintiffs claimed. The plaintiffs requested that the judge nullify contracts that allow a “select group of farmers” to use water they al- legedly have no right to divert. The irrigation district called these claims “frivolous” and argued the plaintiffs ignored case law that recognizes irri- gation districts are “created for the purpose of sharing resourc- es and risk.” Plaintiffs in the case have never been deprived of water while junior water rights hold- ers continued to irrigate, and they wrongly claim that irri- gation districts lack discretion over when and how water is allocated, the district said. Labor issues compounded by wage inflation By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press A strong U.S. economy is delivering a double whammy to agriculture, putting additional stress on profitability at a time of depressed prices. A new study by CoBank finds as unemployment dwin- dles, agricultural employers are having to pay higher wages to compete for workers. “It comes down to a strong economy,” Ben Laine, a senior economist with CoBank told Capital Press. The economy is humming, unemployment is down, it’s a tight labor pool and agriculture is having to pay high wages to attract workers, he said. Manual laborers are chasing higher wages offered in other industries such as transporta- tion, construction, hospitality and mining. Wages in those other indus- tries have always been higher than in agriculture, but those jobs weren’t as widely avail- able. Agriculture is having to increase wages at a faster rate than other industries, he said. “It’s a different situation than we’ve been in for the last several years,” he said. Wages in agriculture have some catching up to do and, in Legal-35-3-1/999 many cases, the increases are more than some operations can handle, he said. “Labor accounts for a sig- nificant share of overall oper- ational costs for many types of farms, particularly specialty crops and dairies,” he said. That’s where the most chal- lenges are, as well as meat pro- cessing, he said. “That’s probably where they’re feeling the most pain right now,” he said. In 2016, labor costs on all farms made up 10 percent of gross income. In specialty crops, that share was closer to 27 percent. In some cases, labor costs are more than the price farmers are getting for their production, he said. The scarcity of farm labor due to the strong economy LEGAL 35-2-102 PURSUANT TO ORS CHAPTER 87 Notice is hereby given that the following vehicle will be sold, for cash to the highest bidder, on 9/10/2018. The sale will be held at 10:00am by COPART OF WASHINGTON INC 2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR 2008 TOYOTA TACOMA PU VIN= 5TEUU42N08Z486228 Amount due on lien = $1,455.00 Reputed owner(s) Custom Gaskets NW Toyota Motor Credit Cop Photo courtesy of UCANR Farmworkers pick jalapeno peppers this summer in Gilroy, Calif. The risk to the agriculture sector is that wages will increase to the point where it becomes more cost effective for the U.S. to import commodities rather than produce them domestically. is exacerbated by tightening immigration controls, declin- ing birthrates in Mexico and Mexican populations moving to urban areas – leaving fewer people with agricultural back- grounds who would be interest- ed in U.S. farm work. The concern he sees for ag- riculture is if employers can’t compete on wages with other industries, the U.S. would have to look to imports from other areas, he said. “It’s hard to put a date to it, But depending on the industry (commodity), some are getting close,” he said. There is also the possibility that some agricultural produc- ers, like those in California’s Central Valley, could move production to Mexico. That could be feasible for some but certainly not for all, he said. “And it really comes down to what consumers will bear,” he said. Employers would be willing to pay higher wages as long as their revenue keeps pace, he said. 36-1/999 36-2/106
