Friday, January 11, 2019 CapitalPress.com 3 NW Ag Show returns to state fairgrounds Show location At a glance Jackman-Long Building and Columbia and Cascade halls at the Oregon State Fairgrounds & Expo Center 2330 17th Street N.E., Salem, Ore. 97301 What: The Northwest Ag Show Show dates Wed., Jan. 16, 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. Thurs., Jan. 17, 9 a.m.- 7 p.m. Fri., Jan. 18, 9 a.m.- 2 p.m. Where: Oregon State Fair- grounds and Expo Center, 2330 17th St. NE, Salem, Ore. Contact n erto Silv d Roa Michael Keith, NW Ag Show Director P.O. Box 2048 Salem, Ore. 97308 • Phone: (800) 882-6789 • Email: events@eomediagroup.com/ • Online: northwestagshow.com/ . N.E When: Wednesday, Jan. 16, through Friday, Jan. 18 Admission Prices reflect $2 off our regular admission fee, courtesy of Ron’s Nut Farm & Nursery Sales & Simplicity by Hayden Homes. Adults: $3 Seniors: $1 Children (12 & under): Free Friday: Free admission Columbia Hall Main entrance (Courtesy Oregon Ag in the Classroom Foundation) Jackman Long Building Hy ac 99E ATTENDEE PARKING N i nth St reet N .E . Exit 258 Oregon State Fairgrounds & Expo Center Cascade Hall N.E . 5 Sunnyview Road N .E. Stree t N.E. N 200 feet Su n n yview R Hawthorne Ave. N.E. Po rtla nd R oad d N.E. n R oa erto Silv SALEM 17th SALEM — The North- west Ag Show returns to the Oregon State Fair and Expo- sition Center on Jan. 16-18. It is the fi rst time in more than 45 years that the show is being held in Salem — and a fi rst for Capital Press and its parent company, the EO Media Group. The newspaper is producing this year’s show. The 2019 edition of the Northwest Ag Show will feature Oregon’s major farm-equipment retailers and a whole slate of new activities, ranging from sem- inars and presentations to a career expo. In addition, the show will serve as the signature event and launch of the fi rst-ever Salem Ag Week, a week- long celebration of agricul- ture in the heart of the Wil- lamette Valley. “This has been a learn- ing experience for us,” Joe Beach, editor and publisher of the Capital Press, said. “The people at the (Ore- gon State) Fair have been an immense help in setting up this fi rst show.” In addition to the Ag Show, Salem Ag Week 2019 Northwest Ag Show moves to Salem 17th Street N.E. By MITCH LIES For the Capital Press oad N.E. Exit 256 t N.E. Market Stree Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group activities include: • Oregon Aglink’s annual meeting, which will be Jan. 17 in the fairgrounds’ Cas- cade Hall. • Oregon Agriculture in the Classroom’s fi rst ever Agricultural Career Expo, which will be Jan. 18, also in Cascade Hall. • The Salem Area Cham- ber of Commerce’s SAIF Agri-Business Banquet, which will be Jan. 18 at the Salem Convention Center, 200 Commercial St. S.E. • The Oregon Dairy Prin- cess-Ambassador program’s coronation on Jan. 19. It will also be at the Salem Con- vention Center. More than 110 vendors, Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Thursday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday Jackman-Long Hall at the Oregon State Fair and Exposition Center is one of several building that will house Northwest Ag Show exhibitors, seminars and presentations. ranging from large-scale farm-equipment dealers to insurance and fi nancial companies, vineyard sup- ply companies and others will showcase their goods and services in two halls, the Jackman-Long Building and adjacent Columbia Hall, and on the grounds at the Fair and Exposition Center. Seminars on topics such as farm fi nancing, estate planning, worker safety, employment law, water rights and drone technol- ogy will take place in Cas- cade Hall on Jan. 16-17. Par- ticipating organizations said they were excited to be part of the launch of Salem Ag Week and to partner with the Northwest Ag Show. “We are looking forward to where our members are able to come to the annual meeting and also enjoy everything the Northwest Ag Show has to offer,” said Mal- lory Phelan, executive direc- tor of Oregon Aglink, which moved its annual meeting from Woodburn to Salem to be part of the proceedings. Capital Press moved the show from Portland, where it was held from the early 1970s through 2016, primar- ily because of traffi c issues, a decision that has elicited widespread support from vendors and others associ- ated with the show. “We have received really Admission: $3, $1 for seniors. Children under 12 are free. On Friday, the admission is free for all attendees. Website: www.northwe- stagshow.com good response,” said Michael Keith, marketing manager for the EO Media Group and the Northwest Ag Show director. “I think people are excited that we are having it in Salem, just because it is easier to get into and out of the venue.” Also, Keith said, with Marion County being the No. 1 agricultural county in Oregon, “It just makes sense to have the show here in Salem.” Wolf attacks continue to frustrate SW Oregon rancher By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press The start of the new year was like déjà vu for cat- tle rancher Ted Birdseye in southwest Oregon. Birdseye, who runs the Mill-Mar Ranch in rural Jackson County, awoke on Jan. 1 to fi nd an injured, 5-month-old calf about 200 yards from his house, with 2 feet of intestine sticking out of its backside. Wildlife offi - cials arrived later in the day to investigate, and later con- fi rmed the calf was attacked by wolves from the Rogue pack. It was almost a year ago to the day that Birdseye lost his fi rst animal to the Rogue pack, a 250-pound calf par- tially eaten in a fenced pas- ture on the property. The Courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service OR-7 trots past a trail camera carrying what a wildlife biologist said is an elk leg in the Southern Oregon Cascades, April 14, 2017. Oregon’s famous wandering wolf formed the Rogue pack in 2014 and is responsible for a recent spate of livestock attacks in Jackson and Klamath counties. wolves returned again the following week, killing and eating two more calves down to the rib cage and spinal column. All told, wolves killed at least fi ve calves and one guard dog, a Tibetan Mas- tiff, at the ranch in 2018. The pack was also blamed for kill- ing four calves in neighbor- ing Klamath County in Octo- ber, and at least one heifer at another ranch northeast of Medford, Ore., in November. “It’s just been the same old story,” Birdseye said during a recent interview. “It’s not a good situation.” The Rogue pack was started by OR-7, the famous “wandering wolf” that trav- eled from northeast Oregon to California before fi nding a mate in the southern Oregon Cascades. As of 2017, the pack was estimated to have seven members, including two new pups that survived to the end of the year. For Birdseye, living alongside the wolves has forced him to get creative protecting his small herd of cattle, while causing plenty of sleepless nights. When the wolves howl at night, Birdseye said it puts him on edge. Despite lining the perimeter of the ranch with fl adry — lines of rope mounted along the top of a fence with nylon fl ags that fl ap in the wind to scare off predators — and hanging automatic fl ashing lights, the pack continues to prey on his livestock. Biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser- vice have even camped over- night at the ranch to haze wolves when they approach. “I don’t really know what Wolf: It’s time to move on to the next step Continued from Page 1 Rodger Huffman, who ranches near Catherine Creek in Union County, said the “chronic depredation” standard of two confi rmed kills in nine months is a win for the livestock commu- nity. He was also pleased the agency will continue to make GPS collars a priority to help ranchers know when wolves are around their pastures. “I appreciate where we’re at with a lot of these pieces,” Huffman said. Jim Akenson, conserva- tion director for the Oregon Hunters Association, said at some point the state needs to look at specifi c wolf man- agement zones with hard population caps to protect deer and elk herds, but for now he is comfortable mov- ing forward with the pro- posed plan revisions. “It’s time to move on to the next step,” Akenson said. Environmental groups, however, claim the Wolf Plan is now weaker than it was before they started, with ODFW cowing to industry demands and racing to kill wolves in response to live- stock depredation. Amaroq Weiss, West Coast wolf advocate for the Center for Biological Diver- sity, said the mediation pro- cess “failed miserably, because wildlife managers wouldn’t listen to the most recent science or Oregon res- idents who say we need to stop killing wolves.” “We’ve tried for years to come to an agreement, but the state won’t fi x its broken, outdated approach to wolf management,” Weiss said. ODFW is supposed to update the Wolf Plan every fi ve years to refl ect the wolf population and distribution statewide. According to the most recent annual report in 2017, Oregon has at least 124 known wolves, and the min- imum population has risen every year since 2009. The latest Wolf Plan review began in 2015. The Fish and Wildlife Com- mission was set to adopt a revised plan in April 2018, but after hearing from oppo- nents on both sides of the issue, they postponed voting and ordered ODFW to try and build more compromise. That is when the agency hired Deb Nudelman, a pro- fessional mediator with the fi rm Kearns & West in Port- land, and convened the work group to begin negotiations. At one point, it appeared they were on the verge of a breakthrough, discussing a framework for ranch-specifi c wolf deterrence plans empha- sizing non-lethal deterrence. Hurn said it was a good idea in theory, but would have required the agency to hire more than 20 new full-time staff across the state, costing more than $3 million. “That’s a big request,” Hurn said. In her proposed budget, Gov. Kate Brown does set aside roughly $1.2 million to help implement the updated Wolf Plan. The money would go toward hiring fi ve new full-time employees, who would help with wolf surveys, collaring and assisting ranch- ers with non-lethal deterrents. Environmental groups the answer is,” Birdseye said. “There may be a place for wolves, like Yellowstone (Park), but they sure don’t belong in my backyard, eat- ing my property.” Unlike the majority of the state’s wolf population in Eastern Oregon, the species is still federally protected under the Endangered Spe- cies Act west of highways 395, 78 and 95. That limits options for management to strictly non-lethal tools. Birdseye said he has worked with staff and volun- teers from wolf conservation and advocacy groups, includ- ing Defenders of Wildlife, a nonprofi t organization that has helped to clean up animal carcasses and maintain fl adry at the ranch. Suzanne Stone, senior Northwest representative for the group, said it was a carcass that initially lured the Rogue pack out of the woods and down to the ranch last year. “Wolves are scavengers, and they can smell dead livestock from miles away, which for them is like ringing the dinner bell,” Stone said. Looking forward, Stone said they will consider try- ing other wolf deterrents at the ranch, including infl at- able “tube men” powered by electrical fans. The product is normally used to advertise outside stores and businesses in cities. While it may be “outside the box” for predator con- trol, Stone said at least one rancher in northeast Oregon has had success with tube men keeping wolves away that had previously preyed on his llamas. “There’s really cre- ative, effective ways to pre- vent these kinds of livestock attacks, but you have to be proactive and you have to able to implement the right one for the right situation,” Stone said. “That is what we’re trying to fi gure out now.” Grass Expertise. sharply criticized other parts of the plan, such as lower- ing the proposed defi nition of “chronic depredation” in Eastern Oregon from three conformed attacks over 12 months to two attacks in nine months. Once that condition is met, ODFW can consider killing wolves from these packs, as it did with the Pine Creek pack in Baker County in 2018. LET’S TALK! Over 40 Years Experience AN EXCELLENT COVER CROP IS PLANTING ANNUAL CLOVER WITH ANNUAL RYEGRASS. DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY! 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