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12 CapitalPress.com November 2, 2018 ‘I feel like I’m kind of in a whirlwind right now’ ELECTION from Page 1 “We have just been so engrossed in what has been happening at the Legislature,” Davis said. “Our business and our farm seem to be affected by everything they’ve done in the legislative sessions over the last four years.” Davis pointed to increases in the state’s minimum wage and a new proposal to cap greenhouse gas emissions as policies that wind up hurting small farms and business- es. She said she wanted to give a voice to rural interests at the state- house in Salem. But how to balance the demands of campaigning, while simultane- ously keeping up with the rigors of farm life? “I feel like I’m kind of in a whirlwind right now,” Davis said. Chuck Thomsen knows the feel- ing. Thomsen, a Republican state senator from Hood River, is run- ning for re-election against Dem- ocratic challenger Chrissy Reitz. At the same time, he owns a 168- acre pear orchard in the heart of the Hood River Valley. Thomsen said he campaigns five days a week, except during harvest, when he cut back to three days a week. “Sometimes I get up at 2 a.m. and write thank-you notes, or I do my bookwork,” Thomsen said. “It’s just less sleep, and you do it Shelly Boshart Davis for seven months.” More than anything, Thomsen credits his longtime foreman, Al- fredo Elisea, with giving him the flexibility to serve as a legislator. “During the week, Alfredo runs the show,” Thomsen said. “He does the day-to-day operations.” Rep. Rich Vial, R-Scholls, is another farmer running for re-elec- tion in House District 26. Vial defeated Dan Laschober in the Republican primary, and will face Democrat Ryan Spiker in the gen- eral election. Vial, 64, and his family operate three farm businesses, including Vial Family Farm in Hillsboro, west of Portland. The farm grows Sen. Chuck Thomsen roughly 30 tons of table grapes every year for Portland metro schools. Harvest begins in late August, when Vial organizes the picking crews and ensures the crop is packed correctly in 20-pound boxes. Then, for five weeks, Vial han- dles all the school deliveries him- self, starting his day at 4:30 a.m. “I’m feeling the effects of that, Rep. Rich Vial and then coming home and chang- ing my clothes and going into my law office for a few hours, and then going out and knocking on doors,” Vial said. “In my district, I do need to do real on-the-ground campaigning.” Legislative Days in September were especially grueling, Vial said, adding committee meetings to the agenda. “In all honesty, there are days when I think, ‘Man, how am I go- ing to get this done?’” Vial said. In all three cases, the candidates say their farm experience and up- bringing has prepared them for long, exhausting days. Davis, who began driving a combine when she was 12, said she has never shied away from putting in the time. “That was instilled in me from a very young age,” Davis said. “Whether I win or lose, or whether this becomes more than two years (in the Legislature), that won’t change me or my goals in life.” Thomsen, a fourth-generation farmer, said the key to campaign- ing is to tap into that intrinsic work ethic. “When you’re raised on a farm, you do what you have to do, when you have to do it, to get the job done,” he explained. “I’ve always said that whoever runs against me is not going to outwork me. They can’t, because I’m a farmer.” Exclusion zone doesn’t include Portland metropolitan area and forestland CANOLA from Page 1 In some cases, topograph- ical features such as the Che- halem Mountains will serve as a natural barrier between canola and other Brassica spe- cies, he said. The revised exclusion zone also doesn’t include the Portland metropolitan area and forestland, where nei- ther canola nor specialty seeds are likely to be grown, Johnson said. Shrinking the exclusion zone was also motivated by an Oregon State University study that concluded canola doesn’t pose a greater pest or disease risk than other Brassica crops, said Alexis Taylor, the agency’s direc- tor. “It has gotten smaller based on the additional in- formation we have now,” Taylor said. At this point, the exclu- sion zone is just a concept that ODA is exploring and it may be paired with oth- er tools, such as buffers and isolation distances, she said. Though it’s called an exclusion zone, canola wouldn’t necessarily be en- tirely prohibited within its boundaries — ODA could allow the crop to be grown within the zone under more stringent rules. Under its existing au- thority, ODA can regulate canola and other Brassicas to reduce pest and disease risk, but the agency may ask for additional legal authori- ty when it presents a report to Oregon lawmakers that’s due in mid-November, Tay- lor said. The agency’s goal is to allow a new industry — Eric Mortenson/Capital Press An exclusion zone of 889,000 acres is being contemplated for canola in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, down from 1.96 million acres under an earlier proposal. canola production — into the Willamette Valley while limiting and managing the associated risks, she said. The Willamette Valley Specialty Seed Associa- tion, which is concerned about the impacts of cano- la, would like to extend a “non-voting affiliate mem- bership” to canola growers, said Greg Loberg, public relations chairman for the organization and manager of the West Coast Beet Seed Co. That way, canola farmers could participate in WVS- SA’s “pinning map,” which identifies where certain spe- cies are grown to prevent cross-pollination, he said. Canola growers would be non-voting because they’d likely outnumber WVSSA members and effectively take control of the associa- tion, he said. The Willamette Valley Oilseed Producers Associa- tion, which supports easing canola restrictions, favors canola farmers using the WVSSA pinning map with- in ODA’s proposed exclu- sion zone, said Anna Scharf, the association’s president. Outside the exclusion zone, however, the pinning map for canola and other Brassicas should be man- aged publicly by ODA and possibly OSU, with rules developed through an ad- ministrative process, Scharf said. Oregonians for Food and Shelter, an agribusiness group, would be amendable to an exclusion zone based on pest and disease risk, but not one that would favor specialty seeds over other crops for market-based rea- sons, said Scott Dahlman, the group’s policy director. “We don’t think the de- partment should be in a po- sition of picking winners and losers,” he said. Orcas have become central in debate whether to remove the Lower Snake River dams ORCAS from Page 1 Inslee created the task force in May. Public atten- tion on ocras increased in July, An orca nicknamed Tahlequah by a whale mu- seum had a calf that lived for half an hour. Tahlequah carried the calf for 17 days over more than 1,000 miles in “what was widely seen as a display of deep mourning,” according to the task force report. Orcas have become cen- tral in the long-running de- bate whether to remove the Lower Snake River dams to produce more salmon. As of Oct. 29, more than 653,000 people had signed an online petition to remove the dams to save orcas. Farm groups say the dams are important for barging wheat. The task force is consid- ering whether to recommend Washington, in conjunction with Idaho and Oregon, hire a “third-party neutral” to lead a study on whether re- moving the dams would be worth the costs. The costs would include replacing barges, losing hydroelectric- ity and sediment washing over salmon spawning beds. The study would be due by spring of 2020 to con- tribute to a court-ordered environmental review of the federal Columbia River hydropower system operat- ed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to the task force. The task force may rec- ommend spending $60 million over the next two years for salmon recovery projects. Blake said that he didn’t think flooding farms was necessary. “I think there are folks outside the task force who are critical of agriculture,” Blake said. “I didn’t get the sense from taking to other people on the task force that attack- ing agriculture was high on their list.” The task force also may recommend that state agen- cies work with tribes and National Oceanic and At- mospheric Administration to determine whether pin- nipeds, such as sea lions and harbor seals, are lim- iting the number of orcas. The fish-eating marine mammals are federally pro- tected. Other potential recom- mendations include increas- ing fish hatchery production, decreasing fishing, limiting whale-watching boats, ban- ning off-shore oil drilling, stiffening penalties for pol- luting water or degrading habit, getting the Navy to be quieter during military exercises and charging boat- ers $10 a year to fund a “Be Whale Wise” campaign. Joe Jaszewski/The Idaho Statesman via AP, File Water pours out of the Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River near Pomeroy, Wash. The issue of breaching four dams on the Snake River to help endangered salmon runs has percolated in the North- west for decades, but the idea has gained new momentum. Farmers, shipping companies and other dam supporters fiercely defend the structures as key players in the region’s economy.
