Friday, March 12, 2021
Volume 94, Number 11
CapitalPress.com
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DUCK, DUCK, GOOSE
World-renowned waterfowl breeder retires
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
P
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press photos
ABOVE: Millie Holderread, left, with her
husband, Dave.
TOP: African Geese at the Holderread
Waterfowl Farm and Preservation Center.
HILOMATH, Ore. —
Peak to the west and snow-mantled
When Dave Holderread,
Mount Jefferson to the east, Holder-
read and his wife, Millie, raised more
one of the world’s leading
than 20 heritage goose variet-
waterfowl breed-
ies and 40 heritage duck variet-
ers, announced in
ies they shipped to hatcheries
2019 he would
and homesteads nationwide.
retire in 2020, it shook the
During his career, Hold-
poultry and waterfowl
erread developed a new
communities.
duck breed and improved
“I’m still trying to absorb
existing breeds. He taught
the news of his retirement,”
people around the world
said Jeannette Beranger,
about the benefits of raising
senior program manager for
waterfowl for pest and weed
the Livestock Conservancy.
control, eggs, meat, down, as
There are few waterfowl
protection against predators
breeders of his caliber and
and for companionship.
knowledge in the world, said
Holderread says as his
Beranger.
“His retirement is huge. Sierra Dawn McClain body has slowed down, it’s
I mean, he’s the man.
Capital Press gotten harder to catch and
handle birds, and the work-
In hockey, it’s Wayne A Silver Apple-
load is no longer manage-
Gretzsky. In basketball, yard Duck.
able. It’s time to move on.
it’s Michael Jordan. And in
“It’s hard giving them
waterfowl, it’s Dave Hold-
erread,” said Colin Davis, owner of
up,” said Holderread.
Apricot Valley Waterfowl Preserva-
His glance strayed leftward, where
tion, a farm in Ontario, Canada.
his remaining geese grazed on pasture
Holderread, 68, has bred and
and ducks rooted under leaves.
raised waterfowl for six decades in a
“It’s been an adventure.”
lifelong game of duck, duck, goose.
See Waterfowl, Page 9
Here in Philomath, between Mary’s
Holderread Waterfowl Farm
and Preservation Center
Penciled Runner drake
Holderread Waterfowl Farm
and Preservation Center
Pair of black East Indie ducks
Critical water year on tap for Klamath Basin
Bureau of Reclamation
expects water supply
to meet 32% of demand
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — If
2020 was a difficult water year for
the Klamath Basin, then 2021 is
likely to be even more challenging.
With record-low inflows com-
ing into Upper Klamath Lake, the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation antici-
pates it will not have anywhere near
enough water this summer to meet
minimum requirements for endan-
gered fish — let alone enough
water to meet irrigation demands
for farmers and ranchers.
George Plaven/Capital Press
With record-low inflows coming into Upper Klamath Lake, the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation anticipates it will not have anywhere near
enough water this summer to meet minimum requirements for
endangered fish — let alone enough water to meet irrigation de-
mands for farmers and ranchers.
Jeff Payne, deputy regional
director for the bureau, said the
basin in Southern Oregon and
Northern California appears to
be entering a second consecutive
year of extreme drought, exacer-
bating what was already a critical
situation.
“I think everyone in the Klam-
ath Basin felt like they weren’t able
to get what they needed last year,”
Payne said. “This will be the second
year in a row that those conditions
are experienced again.”
As of March 1, total precipita-
tion in the Klamath Basin was 75%
of average for the water year dat-
ing back to October, and snowpack
was 87% of normal, according to
the latest hydrology report from the
USDA Natural Resources Conser-
vation Service.
That might not seem too bad, but
Payne said Upper Klamath Lake
is filling at a disproportionately
low rate. Since Oct. 1, cumulative
net inflow into the reservoir was
370,000 acre-feet, or about 74% of
normal, which is the worst year on
record since 1981.
Payne said he is not sure why
so little rain and runoff has made
its way into the lake, but suspects
more water may be soaking into the
dry ground rather than draining into
streams.
“It is getting intercepted some-
where,” he said. “The sponge is a
little dry in the upper basin, it would
appear.”
Upper Klamath Lake feeds into
the Klamath Project, a federally
managed irrigation system that pro-
vides water for 230,000 acres of
farmland on both sides of the Ore-
gon-California border. Every year,
the Bureau of Reclamation allo-
cates water for the project based on
See Water, Page 9
Critics claim Oregon overtime bill would hurt farmworkers
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Andrea Johnson
Workers harvest Oregon winegrapes in this file photo.
Lawmakers in Oregon are considering ending the ag-
riculture industry’s exemption to having to pay higher
overtime wages.
March is about Honoring our
Ag Producers.
THANK YOU!
SALEM — Critics claim that requiring
Oregon’s agriculture industry to pay higher
overtime wages would be a “false promise”
of help to farm employees, who’d actually
lose work opportunities.
Unlike most other employers, farmers
don’t have to pay workers one-and-a-half
times their normal rate if they work more
than 40 hours per week, but House Bill 2358
seeks to eliminate that exemption.
Proponents of the bill claim it would
end an unjust labor policy with “racist and
exclusionary origins” while recognizing the
essential role that farm workers have in the
state’s economy and community.
“They do not belong to a lower class of
workers in Oregon,” said Rep. Ricki Ruiz,
D-Gresham, its chief sponsor. “Exploiting
human beings is never a good thing.”
Supporters argue that agriculture
shouldn’t receive unique treatment under
the law because other industries, including
the construction and retail sectors, also have
peak seasons with higher labor demands.
California passed a law in 2016 that’s
phasing in overtime pay for farmworkers
while Washington’s Supreme Court found
that an agricultural exemption to overtime
pay was unconstitutional last year, the bill’s
supporters said.
According to the bill’s proponents, pro-
WE UNDERSTAND YOUR WORK
AND DEDICATION. WHAT YOU
NEED TO BE SUCCESSFUL.
TO EACH OF OUR AG PRODUCERS.
See Overtime, Page 9
Bank of Eastern Oregon’s Mission
has always been to provide
Financial Support for the Ag Industry.
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OREGON
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