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Friday, June 19, 2020 Volume 93, Number 25 CapitalPress.com $2.00 EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER WOLF CALL Wolf population growth compared to reported depredations Minimum known wolf population 112 137 158 124 110 ODFW Confirmed depredations 24 9 Oregon ranchers frustrated by criteria of state investigators when cattle are killed 2015 2016 28 17 16 2017 Source: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife 2018 2019 Capital Press graphic By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press E George Plaven/Capital Press Rod Childers, of RL Cattle Co., runs livestock during the sum- mer about 40 miles north of Enterprise, Ore., in Joseph Creek Canyon. NTERPRISE, Ore. — Two days after Easter, rancher Rod Childers rode on horseback down Joseph Creek Can- yon in far northeast Oregon, herding cattle through the steep and remote countryside. His dogs were the first to spot the dead calf, its carcass chewed down to the bones. Instinc- tively, Childers suspected wolves. But rather than report the gruesome discovery to state wildlife biologists, he simply cursed to himself and kept going. The reason, he would say later, was the rigid criteria state biologists use to confirm whether wolves had indeed killed the calf. That, plus the fact that evidence of wolf-related trauma was already lost to scavengers or the elements, made the effort futile despite the fact the Chesnimnus pack had been seen in the area. “You can go murder somebody and be con- victed quicker than you would convict a wolf, with the criteria they have,” said Childers, owner of RL Cattle Co. in rural Wallowa County, where livestock and poultry sales totaled more than $23 million in 2017. “It just makes it so difficult that ranchers have given up on it.” The issue boiled over again April 16, when the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife See Wolves, Page 9 George Plaven/Capital Press A cow grazes on grass over- looking the Zumwalt Prai- rie in Wallowa County, Ore. Farmer fined for pesticide drift in Washington By DON JENKINS Capital Press A grower has been fined $4,950 in a pesticide drift incident last year that sickened 65 farmwork- ers picking apples in a neigh- boring orchard in Walla Walla County, Wash. The state Department of Agri- culture finalized the sanction against Doug Strebin of Basin Farming on June 9. The inci- dent occurred Oct. 13. Workers reported symptoms such as irri- tated eyes and nausea. Twen- ty-two were treated at a hospital. The department originally planned to fine Strebin $6,600. The penalty was reduced after the department met with Strebin in May. The fine remains the larg- est levied this year for a pesticide violation. Strebin blamed the pesticide drift on a power outage that took place 15 minutes after the work- ers arrived to pick apples, accord- ing to the department. The outage caused a center pivot in Strebin’s field to stop moving at about 6:45 a.m. on a Sunday morning. The pivot was at the point closest to the orchard. Pesticide-laden irrigation water drained and pooled on the surface. The workers were outside a 765-foot buffer zone, but the puddling of the pesticide signifi- cantly contributed to gases drift- ing in their direction, according to department records. Within an hour of the power outage, the workers were sick, some vomiting. The department also noted that Strebin had checked several times with the orchard manager over the previous week about whether workers would be in the orchard. The orchard manager said repeatedly, including the day before the incident, that the apples were not ready to pick, according to the investigation. The department, however, faulted Strebin for not inform- ing the orchard in writing about the application, in which a pesti- cide was injected into the irriga- tion system. The 107-acre field was being treated with Vapam HL over 50 hours to prepare it for potatoes. The application began Friday afternoon, about 39 hours before the drift incident. Strebin also did not post warn- ing signs, another requirement, according to the department. The vans and buses that brought the workers to the orchard on Sunday morning parked in the buffer zone, according to the investigation. Strebin is a licensed applica- tor, but his soil-fumigant certifi- cation was expired, according to the department. Besides paying a fine, Strebin agreed to take online training. The department credited See Drift, Page 9 Asian giant hornet panic is oversized – and threatens native insects By SIERRA DAWN MCCLAIN Capital Press The U.S. has 3,141 counties, but just one, Whatcom County in north- ern Washington state, has docu- mented sightings of the Asian giant hornet, dubbed “murder hornet.” Even there, only three specimens have been confirmed. But news reports about the hor- nets that went viral early May have sparked nationwide panic. For over a month, entomologists coast to coast have been swamped with questions and false sightings, and they say the frenzy has prompted a backlash: people are indiscriminately killing beneficial bumble bees, wasps, hor- nets and native species. “I think the issue was blown way out of proportion with over-the-top headlines and even the term ‘mur- der hornets.’ It’s caused people to react in a very uninformed way,” Karla Salp/WSDA An Asian giant hornet. said Scott Black, executive direc- tor of the Xerxes Society, a Port- land-based invertebrate conserva- tion group. Chris Looney, an entomologist at the Washington State Depart- ment of Agriculture who is driving the hornet research, said his team has received thousands of calls — from people with “ideas, demands, reports, questions” — in a matter of weeks. The callers are not just from Washington state, said Looney. People are calling from Alabama, Maine, even overseas. Entomologists across the country have received a similar avalanche of public inquiry. Matthew Bertone, director of the Plant Disease and Insect Clinic at North Carolina State Univer- sity, told the Capital Press he has received 173 emails about “murder hornets” since May. Many of the emails contain images of squished insects people mistook as Asian giant hornets, including European hornets and southern yellow jackets. In the West, researchers say peo- ple are killing native species. “People keep submitting pictures asking me if they’ve killed an Asian See Hornet, Page 9