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4 CapitalPress.com October 19, 2018 Ocean temperatures rise, boosting odds of El Nino ahead Weather condition portends mild winter By DON JENKINS Washington State University Capital Press Washington State University officials and Paul Allen, center, celebrated the ribbon cutting of the Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health in 2012. Pacific Ocean temperatures are rising along the equator, a signal that winter likely will be warmer than normal in the Northwest. Federal climatologists peg the odds that an El Nino will form in the next cou- ple of months at 70 to 75 percent, a 5 per- cent increase since mid-September. The warm ocean should influence late winter weather, but El Ninos historically have had little effect on snow accumulation in Washington before Jan. 1, State Climatol- ogist Nick Bond said Monday. “Here’s hoping that holds true to form, and we get reasonably wet and cold weath- er in the mountains pretty soon,” he said. The Climate Prediction Center revised its El Nino outlook on Oct. 11. The federal agency reported that surface temperatures WSU remembers Paul Allen as friend, ‘legendary donor’ By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press Washington State Univer- sity’s leaders remember Paul G. Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, philanthrophist and community builder, for his contributions to the uni- versity and to improving hu- man health worldwide. Allen died Oct. 15 of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He was 65. In 2010, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation donated $26 million to help create the Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health at WSU. The school is unique among other global health programs because it focuses on the health of animals as a way to improve the health of humans and the environ- ment. Guy Palmer, founding director of the school and now senior director of global animal health for WSU, pre- sented the concept to Allen in 2010. The project combined three areas of interest for Al- len — his connection to the university, his passion for science and his connection to communities in eastern and southern Africa, Palmer told the Capital Press. “It was a coming togeth- er of those three things in a fairly unique way that would be very difficult to replicate,” Palmer said. The school would provide updates regularly of their ac- tivities to Allen and his staff. “It’s not like he wrote a check and then walked away from it,” Palmer said. “He re- ally remained very interested in the progress of it.” For example, the school examined what happens when rural livestock owners incorporated vaccines into their animals’ production. They produced more milk, Palmer said, but the house- hold income from the higher productivity translated direct- ly into increased expenditures for girls’ education. “He just loved that,” Palm- er said of Allen. “This was the resource those individuals had and how they translated that into these broader socie- tal gains was what really in- terested him.” WSU and Allen were also working to develop Rabies Free Africa, a program to eliminate human deaths due to rabies on the continent in 12 years. About 30,000 deaths each year are due to rabies. Half of the victims are children, Palmer said, calling the deaths “completely pre- ventable.” The program includes vaccinating dogs and provid- ing medical access to victims. “Paul Allen was a man of great compassion and vi- sion,” WSU President Kirk Schulz said in a press release. “He understood the power of philanthropy to improve the human condition in this coun- try and around the world.” “We are extremely sad- dened to hear of the loss of our friend and legendary donor to Washington State University’s College of Veter- inary Medicine, Paul Allen,” said Bryan Slinker, dean of WSU’s veterinary college, in the press release. “We extend our greatest sympathies to his family and friends both here and abroad.” Some people might see the school being named after Allen through an “egotistical” lens, Palmer said, but noth- ing could be further from the truth. The university can re- cruit more faculty because of Allen’s name on the school, he said. “It also carries his name forward, and we’re delighted that that will happen,” Palmer said. rose across the Pacific during the previous four weeks and that warmer water spread over a larger area. Washington lands commissioner rolls out $55M fire plan By DON JENKINS Capital Press A two-year $55 million spending plan would dampen destructive wildfires by thinning forests and enlarging the Wash- ington Department of Natural Resources firefighting force, Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz says. Speaking at the department’s helicopter hangar in Tumwater, Franz outlined the budget re- quest she will present to state lawmakers early next year. She was joined by Rep. Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake, who praised the package and said wildfires have scorched the earth in his agricul- ture-rich district. “It might be four, five, six years before that ground recov- ers,” he said. “We call that a ‘moonscape.’ We have a couple of those in my district, and it’s awful to see.” The proposal responds to a string of severe fire seasons, which the department blames on climate change and past “inade- quate” forest management. The plan Franz presented was in ad- dition to the $65 million the de- partment will seek to cover the cost of fighting fires in the cur- rent fiscal year, which ends June 30. DNR anticipates the $16.5 million lawmakers previously approved will be far too little. The department estimates wildfires will burn nearly 350,000 acres this year. Al- though fewer acres will burn than in some recent years, the state has had about 1,700 wild- fires, the second-most in state history, according to the de- partment. About 39 percent of the fires have been in Western Washington. Smoke made some summer days hazy west of the Cascades. Dent said the smoke gave west- side legislators a whiff of what’s become typical on the eastside. “We had east winds so it blew smoke to the westside, so folks over here got to experience what we’ve been experiencing for decades,” he said. The package includes a $17 million request from the capital budget to thin overgrown forests by logging or controlled burns. The department has a goal of thinning 1.25 million acres in Eastern Washington over the next 20 years. The other $38 million would come from the operating budget. The details of the proposal are: • $12 million to turn 30 sea- sonal firefighter jobs into year- round positions. DNR now has 43 full-time firefighters. The new firefighters would plan fire-prevention forest projects during the winter. The money also would fund a $100,000 study on improving telecommu- nications for firefighters in rural areas. • $6.25 million to add two firefighting helicopters. DNR currently has seven helicopters. • $5.76 million to create a forest health division within DNR. The division would split from the department’s wildfire division. • $4.86 million to employ 350 prison inmates to fight fires, plant trees, thin forests and work in kitchens in fire camps. The DNR already deploys inmates. The proposal is to put 80 more in the field, according to the de- partment. • $4.26 million to assist pri- vate landowners with reducing wildfire danger. The money would create three new posi- tions and transfer 13.5 positions from the capital budget to the operating budget. • $2.2 million to add five full-time employees who will train firefighters to battle wild- land fires. • $1.94 million to add seven employees to educate the public about preventing fires. • $724,240 to assign two employees to manage contracts and grants for forest projects on federal lands. • $234,200 for a half-time position to lead a team of DNR geologists, hydrologists and foresters to assess the danger of floods and landslides after wild- fires. Water infrastructure bill includes provisions for Klamath Project By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press Farmers and ranchers in the Klamath Basin will benefit directly from a massive feder- al water spending bill that au- thorizes more than $6 billion to improve the nation’s ports, dams, harbors and other infra- structure. 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In other El Nino years, snowpacks were below average at the end of the year. “I was surprised by how little effect there was,” Bond said. “It’s almost com- pletely negligible before the first of the year.” The 2014-15 El Nino was particular- ly notable. A “snowpack drought” was followed by a hot and dry spring and summer, combining to cause one of the most severe droughts ever in Washing- ton. This year, however, ocean-surface temperatures just off the coast are not as warm. “That’s one thing we have going for us,” Bond said. “We don’t have a really warm ocean off our coast.” NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announces a meeting of the Washington State Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) on Thursday, October 25, 2018 from 9:30am to 11:30am. This meeting will be held by teleconference. For more information, contact Nick Vira at 360-704-7758. 42-1/999 Water and Infrastructure Act of 2018 is a section that deals spe- cifically with the Klamath Proj- ect, a sprawling 200,000-acre irrigation system that serves more than 1,200 family farms and ranches in southern Oregon and northern California. Congress passed the bill on Oct. 10, which includes up to $10 million annually for the Klamath Project to help agri- cultural producers withstand water shortages and improve efficiency. Scott White, executive di- rector of the Klamath Water Users Association, said the money could pay for pumping groundwater or idling farmland during drought years — like the basin experienced in 2018 — or project improvements like lining irrigation canals to prevent water loss. “If we have $10 million to use for addressing (water) sup- ply versus demand on an annu- al basis, then during good water years we could be using that money for ways to improve our efficiency and make those drought years that much easi- er,” White said. The Klamath Project al- ready faces a strain on water supplies to balance the needs of farms with the needs of endan- gered fish species. Earlier this year, the Klamath Tribes sued the Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service to hold more water in Upper Klamath Lake for en- dangered shortnose and Lost River suckers. Meanwhile, the Yurok and Hoopa Valley tribes also suc- cessfully sued government agencies to send more water down the Klamath River to wash away a salmon-killing parasite known as C. shasta. The lawsuits delayed the start of the 2018 irrigation season by several months, making it harder for farmers and ranchers to know what to plant ahead of time. White said provisions in the America’s Water and In- frastructure Act were original- ly part of the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, a $1 billion long-term agreement that would have also included the removal of four dams on the lower Klamath River. The KBRA failed to pass Congress before expiring in 2015. Three years later, White said they are pleased to see lawmak- ers take action. “It’s not going to solve all the issues here, but it’s a good start,” he said. In addition to the $10 mil- lion in drought relief, the bill also makes it easier for farm- ers to convey groundwater through the Klamath Project canals during water short- ages, and instructs Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to rec- ommend ways the basin can reduce electricity costs, which in some cases have ballooned by 2,000 percent over the last decade. WE SPECIALIZE IN BULK BAGS! BAGS: • Seed Bags • Fertilizer Bags • Feed Bags • Potato Bags • Printed Bags • Plain Bags • Bulk Bags • Totes • Woven Polypropylene • Bopp • Polyethylene • Pocket Bags • Roll Stock & More! HAY PRESS SUPPORT: • Hay Sleeves • Strap • Totes • Printed or Plain • Stretch Film (ALL GAUGES) WAREHOUSE PACKAGING: • Stretch Film • Pallet Sheets • Pallet Covers LOCATIONS: Albany, Oregon (MAIN OFFICE) Ellensburg, Washington CONTACT INFORMATION: Phone: 855-928-3856 Fax: 541-497-6262 info@westernpackaging.com ....................................................... 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