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CapitalPress.com
Friday, September 13, 2019
‘Cowgirl Camps’ expanding
to keep up with demand
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
A Central Washington
sheriff has sworn in hound
handlers to pursue cougars
and black bears, saying
he expects his office to be
quicker and more aggres-
sive in responding to dan-
gerous animals than the
state Department of Fish
and Wildlife.
Klickitat County Sheriff
Bob Songer said he’s heard
increasing concerns from
ranchers and others about
predators.
Since the sheriff took
charge of chasing preda-
tors last last month, a cou-
gar seen in a field with
cattle was chased and euth-
anized, a livestock-protec-
tion measure Songer said
he doubts Fish and Wild-
life would have taken.
“We don’t have to wait
for a killing,” he said. “I
feel very strongly that
prevention is better than
waiting for something to
happen.”
Fish and Wildlife’s
chief law enforcement offi-
cer, Steve Bear, said he
understands the sheriff has
a duty to protect the pub-
lic. He cautioned, however,
against using hounds too
freely.
In the Pacific North-
west, people expect toler-
ance toward wildlife, he
said.
“Generally, if a cou-
gar has not killed live-
stock, we do not euthanize
the animal,” Bear said. “If
we ran dogs every time we
got a report about a cougar
around livestock, the pub-
lic would take us to task,
rightfully so.”
Using dogs to hunt cou-
gars is banned in Washing-
ton, but wildlife managers
can summon hound han-
dlers to track and dispatch
problem cougars. Previ-
ously, the Klickitat County
Sheriff’s Office relied on
Fish and Wildlife to do
that.
State law, however, also
gives sheriffs authority to
use dogs to remove cou-
gars, black bears, bobcats
or lynx to protect livestock,
pets, property or people. A
rancher recently brought
that to his attention, Songer
said.
“Otherwise, I would
have launched this proj-
ect much sooner,” he said.
“My intent is to maintain a
good working relationship
with the wildlife depart-
ment. However, the sher-
iff’s office, under this pro-
gram, will be in charge.
“I feel very strongly that
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this program will benefit
public safety, and certainly
be a big help to farmers
and ranchers, and people
who have domestic pets.”
Klickitat
County
rancher Keith Kreps said
bears and cougars are a
growing threat to livestock
and people. The problem
needs a stronger response
than Fish and Wildlife pro-
vides, he said. “This is
going to be good,” he said.
“We’re going to get on it.”
Songer said his office
now has a posse of four or
five hound handlers.
“We will have the abil-
ity to respond 24/7,”
Songer said. “We can
probably make a quicker
response due to the fact we
have more deputies than
they have wildlife people.”
Fish
and
Wildlife
assigns two law enforce-
ment officers to the county.
They could be patrolling
on the Columbia River and
hours away from a preda-
tor incident, Bear said.
“They aren’t always
available for public-safety
calls,” he said. The sher-
iff’s office will “be able to
provide a better service for
public safety.”
Fish and Wildlife won’t
always pursue a predator
that’s killed another ani-
mal, Bear said. For exam-
ple, the department may
not seek to euthanize a
cougar that killed a goat
tied up in the woods all
night, he said.
“We’ll say, ‘Well, you
really shouldn’t have tied
up the animal there,’” Bear
said. “We talk to people
about their animal hus-
bandry at bad times.
“I think what’s unusual
about the sheriff’s policy is
that he’s using dogs,” Bear
said. “If the sheriff is care-
ful about when he applies
that, he’ll be fine.”
About 100 cougars
were killed statewide last
year after being chased by
dogs called out by Fish and
Wildlife. One cougar that
was euthanized had killed
a cyclist in King County.
Some 244 cougars were
harvested by hunters.
Fish and Wildlife esti-
mates Washington has
3,350 cougars, a number
based on a formula rather
than an actual count. The
department says it’s not
practical to tally cougars
and can’t say whether the
population is increasing.
Because of complaints
about cougars by rural
residents,
particularly
in Eastern Washington,
the department is study-
ing whether to increase
recreational hunting in
2020.
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press File
Cheney, Wash., rancher Beth Robinette, left, talks about managed grazing during a
“Cowgirl Camp” session.
family operation to a retired
airline pilot looking for a sec-
ond career.
“We get people from all
across the spectrum, which is
really cool,” Robinette said.
Some participants might
not ever want to own their
own ranch, but are interested
in land management issues.
Robinette said she wel-
comes the opportunity to
familiarize urban residents
with the realities of ranch
life, and for ranchers to be
more sensitive to their cus-
tomers’ needs.
If these camps are
“Ranching 101,” Robi-
nette and Matheson are con-
sidering what a 200-level
course might look like. Next
summer they’ll add more
in-depth, focused and shorter
classes.
“It’s an intense five days
and we cover a lot of ground,
but you can only get so deep
into topics when you’re try-
ing to cover so much stuff,”
Robinette said.
Robinette and Mathe-
son also offer a new rancher
camp, essentially the same
program, but open to men
and women.
“We’re just trying to cre-
ate more space for peo-
ple interested in land man-
agement to learn what they
should know before they
jump into the deep end,”
Robinette said.
They’re also looking
for other collaborators to
increase their offerings.
Robinette will speak about
grazing management and
animal husbandry in October
during a butchery course for
women in Rice, Wash.
She says the camps are
living up to their hopes.
“Sandy and I are both
women in ranching, we’ve
both experienced the iso-
lating nature that that role
can bring, and we’ve both
experienced a benefit from
being around other women
doing that work and creat-
ing a space that feels safe
for new people to come
in and try stuff, maybe
ask silly questions,” she
said. “It’s a very support-
ive, encouraging environ-
ment ... and I think peo-
ple are really responding to
that.”
Robinette expects to
announce the schedule for
next year’s camps soon.
The cost to attend the camp
is $995.
Judge halts 50% pay hike for blueberry pickers
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP)
— A federal judge has
blocked the government
from imposing a 50% wage
hike for blueberry pickers.
The Olympian reports
U.S. District Court Judge
Salvador Mendoza Jr. tem-
porarily stopped the Depart-
ment of Labor from imple-
menting a July order raising
wages for pickers.
Zirkle Fruit southeast of
Seattle sued to prevent the
government from starting
the new wage structure.
The government notified
Zirkle of the new pay rate
on July 24, a day after the
increase actually took effect.
Zirkle said it was blind-
sided by the mid-harvest pay
hike. The blueberry harvest
began in June and continues
through September.
The injunction will
remain in effect until it is
lifted or the case is resolved
at trial.
In the interim, Zirkle is
required to deposit the dif-
ference between the old and
new wages, as well as taxes,
into a trust account.
Aliya Hall/Capital Press
A federal judge has blocked the government from
imposing a 50% wage hike for blueberry pickers.
Dispute over NORPAC payments to farmers resolved
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
PORTLAND — Con-
cerns that an agricultural
lender was pushing ahead of
farmers to be repaid for loans
to the bankrupt NORPAC
cooperative were resolved
during a Sept. 10 court
hearing.
In late August, the farm-
er-owned vegetable proces-
sor announced it was selling
most of its assets to entrepre-
neur Frank Tiegs for $155.5
million as part of a Chapter
11 bankruptcy, which allows
companies to operate while
restructuring debt.
While the cooperative
said suppliers would be “paid
in the ordinary course of
business,” two farms raised
objections to a financing
agreement intended to keep
NORPAC solvent until the
asset sale is completed by the
end of October.
CoBank, part of the Farm
Credit System of agricultural
lenders, is owed about $125
million by NORPAC and is
prepared to extend another
$15 million, without which
the cooperative and its sub-
sidiaries said they “will not
be able to continue the opera-
tion of their business.”
Capital Press File
A worker checks mixed vegetables flowing toward
bagging machines at a NORPAC plant. A conflict was
recently resolved among farmers and an agricultural
bank who’d disagreed over priority for repayment when
the bankrupt cooperative’s assets are sold.
The problem, according
to the farms that raised objec-
tions, is that CoBank had
structured the agreement so
that it would be repaid from
sale proceeds ahead of grow-
ers who sold crops to NOR-
PAC and whose liens on the
cooperative’s assets have pri-
ority for repayment.
J&M Farming of Echo,
Ore., said it’s still owed more
than $800,000 for sugar snap
peas delivered to the proces-
sor in June and July and fully
supports the cooperative’s
continued operations.
However, the company
said it’s concerned that
CoBank would immediately
be repaid from sale proceeds
while growers would be paid
by Tiegs afterwards, even
though he’d acquired NOR-
PAC’s assets “free and clear
of the growers’ liens.”
Castle Rock Farming
of Boardman, Ore., like-
wise said it had supplied an
unspecified amount of sweet
corn to NORPAC and com-
plained CoBank wanted to
have its “liens attach to the
sale proceeds ahead of pro-
ducer liens.”
“It’s something I don’t
think is reasonable,” said
Oren Haker, attorney for
Castle Rock, during the Sept.
10 bankruptcy court hearing.
The financing agreement
must be amended so that
CoBank isn’t paid before
growers who have priority
liens, he said. “There needs
to be a mechanism to ensure
that’s what’s going to be
what happens here.”
CoBank’s attorney, Teresa
Pearson, said the dispute
resulted from a “misunder-
standing” of the financing
agreement, which preserves
the seniority of farmers’ liens
over the lender’s liens.
The bank simply wants
assurances that if it extends
another $15 million to keep
NORPAC operational, it will
be repaid at the time of the
sale instead of the repayment
being postponed while con-
flicts among other lien hold-
ers are resolved.
“Our concern is just tim-
ing,” Pearson said.
At one point during
the hearing, Bankruptcy
Judge Peter McKittrick
said he would not sign an
order approving the financ-
ing agreement if CoBank is
repaid ahead of priority lien
holders and later gave the
parties time to modify the
agreement.
CoBank, the farms and
other creditors who had
filed objections ultimately
reported to the judge that
they’d agreed to changes and
would submit the financing
agreement for an approval
order.
Under the provisions
related to crop payments,
farmers would be paid
directly out of the sale pro-
ceeds or their liens would
be assumed by Tiegs, who’d
deduct those amounts from
the purchase price for NOR-
PAC’s assets.
LEGAL
37-3/106
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold, for
cash to the highest bidder, on
9/27/2019. The sale will be held at
10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2013 CHRYSLER 200 4DR
VIN=1C3CCBCG9DN556474
Amount due on lien $1,485.00
Reputed owner(s)
TANYA L SPEAR
WELLS FARGO AUTO
37-2-3/999
Washington sheriff takes
lead in pursuing cougars
36-4-1/103
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
A Washington state sheriff will use hunters with
hounds to track down cougars that cause problems
in his county.
Another successful season
of “New Cowgirl Camps”
recently concluded, and more
sessions are being planned.
“It turns out there are a
whole bunch of women out
there who are curious about
ranching,” said Beth Rob-
inette, the Cheney, Wash.,
rancher who, with retired
veterinarian Sandy Mathe-
son, puts on the event.
The camp provides an
introduction to ranching for
women. Topics include holis-
tic management, low-stress
livestock handling, animal
husbandry, fencing and facil-
ities, and business and finan-
cial planning.
Robinette and Mathe-
son held two workshops this
year, in June and August.
They typically draw 11 to 15
people for each session. This
was the camp’s third year.
This year, they added a
demonstration on sheepdog
herding and cattle roping.
Their inclusion in a New
York Times article about the
growing number of female
ranchers also increased atten-
tion. Robinette and Matheson
offered the second camp to
accommodate the increased
interest.
Participants this year
ranged from a fifth-genera-
tion rancher taking over her