September 21, 2018
CapitalPress.com
9
Wyoming, Idaho grizzly hunts stay on hold
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
At the request of the Earth-
justice environmental law
firm, a federal judge in Mis-
soula, Mont., has extended his
temporary restraining order on
grizzly bear hunts in Wyoming
and Idaho another 14 days.
U.S. District Judge Dana
Christensen issued a 14-day
stay on Aug. 30 and renewed
it on Sept. 13. The hunts were
scheduled to begin Sept. 1 and
would have allowed for up to
23 bears to be killed outside
Yellowstone National Park in
the Greater Yellowstone Eco-
system, with 22 in Wyoming
and one in Idaho.
If the judge rules in the
states’ favor at the end of the
month, there still could be time
for hunts, said Rebekah Fitz-
gerald, a Wyoming Game and
Fish Department spokeswom-
an.
“We are disappointed the
hunt continues to be post-
poned. We feel Wyoming has
put together a strong grizzly
bear management program that
allows for protection of the
bear population and conserva-
tive hunting,” Fitzgerald said.
She said she does not know
the likelihood of further re-
straining order extensions and
that the season is scheduled to
go through Nov. 15.
The Sierra Club of Greater
Yellowstone issued a statement
calling the extension a critical
win for grizzlies still on the
road to recovery.
The department has said
718 grizzlies are in the ecosys-
tem and the criteria for recov-
ery was 500.
Ranchers support the hunts,
having lost cattle and sheep to
grizzly bears. Wyoming paid
$455,000 for grizzly livestock
kills in 2016, $509,000 in
2015 and $301,000 in 2014,
according to the state.
One
rancher,
Mary
Thoman, wrote in an Aug. 29
USA Today column that if the
grizzly population continues
to grow unchecked it will be
impossible for ranchers to
earn a living. Her ranch lost
445 sheep to grizzlies in one
year and has given up federal
grazing permits because the
loss has been so great, her at-
Grizzly bear hunts in Wyoming and Idaho remain on hold for two more weeks.
torney said.
Associated Press File
Volunteers harvest corn for Puget Sound food banks
More than 8,000
ears picked
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press File
The Organic Trade Association wants to establish a voluntary
checkoff to fund organic research and promotion.
OTA continues efforts
for organic checkoff
Down but not defeated
after the USDA nixed an offi-
cial organic research and pro-
motion program, the Organic
Trade Association is forging
ahead with efforts to establish
a voluntary checkoff program.
The organization last week
pledged not to walk away
from an industry-funded pro-
gram and has formed a steer-
ing committee to coordinate
and lead the efforts.
“The Organic Trade Asso-
ciation recognizes great de-
mand for coordinated organic
research and promotion, and
the organic sector is ready to
work together on innovative
solutions that will have key
benefits for organic,” Laura
Batcha, OTA executive direc-
tor and CEO, said.
There is a critical need to
educate consumers about or-
ganic, to provide more tech-
nical assistance to help more
farmers transition to organic
and to promote the organic
brand, she said.
OTA lost its long battle
for an organic checkoff when
USDA pulled the plug on the
formal process to establish a
checkoff in May.
After reviewing nearly
15,000 comments from in-
dustry stakeholders, including
farmers, USDA terminated its
proposed rule for a checkoff
citing a “split within the in-
dustry in terms of support” for
a checkoff.
The No Organic Checkoff
Coalition, representing 6,000
organic farmers across the
country, led the charge against
a checkoff — contending a
federal, mandated checkoff
was not the right solution for
the growing domestic indus-
try.
The coalition found many
faults in the OTA proposed
checkoff, primarily that it was
more likely to promote the
needs of large processors over
those of family farmers.
Jim Gerritsen, an organic
farmer and president of the
Organic Seed Growers and
Trade Association — which
was an early member of the
coalition — told Capital Press
last week OTA represents
large-scale corporate proces-
sors.
“So that’s who was going
to benefit from the checkoff
anyway. So they might as well
go to them directly,” he said.
“OTA is becoming pretty
inconsequential. Their direc-
tion has nothing to do with
organic agriculture. Their un-
willingness to stand up for or-
ganic integrity is the real cut-
ting-edge issue here,” he said.
The organization just
wants to see an increase in
organic sales and doesn’t care
how that comes about, he said.
He doubts OTA’s efforts
for a voluntary checkoff will
get any buy-in from organic
farmers.
“I can’t imagine any organ-
ic farmers earning their living
from organic farming signing
up for this. It’s going to be the
corporations,” he said.
And with corporations
paying for the program, he
doesn’t think much of the
funding will go to research for
organic production, a priority
for farmers, he said.
If those corporations want-
ed to support domestic organ-
ic farmers, they could make a
pledge to buy U.S.-produced
organic crops and not import
dubious, so-called organic
crops, he said.
Snohomish Conservation District
Volunteers pick corn Sept. 7 in Snohomish County, Wash. They picked approximately 8,750 ears of
corn for Puget Sound food banks.
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38-4/102
38-2-3/102
Capital Press
About 100 volunteers
in Snohomish County,
Wash., harvested approxi-
mately 8,750 ears of corn
for Puget Sound food
banks Sept. 7, reviving a
gleaning tradition that had
been dormant for several
years.
Dan Bartelheimer of
Sno-Valley Farms grew
the corn on about 3 acres.
“We’ve been doing some-
thing like this for eight to
10 years,” he said.
The last couple of
years, however, there
were no volunteers to
harvest the field. Bartel-
heimer said the Rev. Jim
Eichner of the Holy Cross
Church of Redmond, an
Episcopal church, orga-
nized volunteers for an
unprecedented turnout.
Eichner also oversees the
Food Bank Farm.
“It worked the first
year we tried it, and we’re
definitely going to contin-
ue it,” Bartelheimer said.
The harvest gave peo-
ple a taste of farming, he
said. “It’s always fun for
the first half-hour, hour.”
Bartelheimer,
who
is also president of the
Snohomish County Farm
Bureau, said other farm-
ers in the county are in-
terested in hosting glean-
ers at the end of their
harvest.
“I think something like
this creates a lot of good-
will between the farmers
and community,” he said.
The Snohomish Con-
servation District helped
organize the event.
38-4-3/106
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press