Friday, April 9, 2021
CapitalPress.com 5
Forest Service sticks up for Washington sheep rancher
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Environmentalists
on
Monday asked a judge in
Spokane to bar a centu-
ry-old Central Washington
ranch from turning out more
than 3,000 sheep this spring
in the Okanogan-Wenatchee
National Forest.
WildEarth Guardians and
the Western Watersheds Proj-
ect claim that S. Martinez
Livestock’s sheep threaten
bighorn sheep with deadly
Mycoplasma
ovipneumo-
niae, a pathogen harmless to
domestic sheep.
A government lawyer rid-
iculed the environmental-
ists’ evaluation of the risk as
“comically unscientifi c.” The
ranch says the suit poses an
“existential crisis.”
After the 2 1/2-hour video
hearing, U.S. District Judge
Rosanna Malouf Peterson
said she would consider the
arguments and issue a written
ruling.
Martinez Livestock has
been grazing sheep in the
national forest since the
1930s, according to a dec-
laration by Mark Martinez,
whose sheepherder grandfa-
ther immigrated to the U.S.
in 1920.
He and his younger
brother, Nick Martinez, say
the ranch’s grazing schedule
has been developed over gen-
erations. The ranch is the last
to graze sheep in the Okan-
ogan-Wenatchee National
Forest. The ranch hires seven
Peruvian sheepherders.
“To some extent, we rep-
resent the last of a unique
kind of sheep producer in
Washington state,” Mark
Martinez stated.
Historically, the ranch
grazed 10,000 sheep in the
forest, but that number has
dwindled, largely to avoid
bighorn sheep, according
to court records. The ranch
turned out 4,750 sheep on six
allotments in 2020.
WildEarth and Western
Nick Myatt/ODFW
Two environmental groups are suing the U.S. For-
est Service, claiming domestic sheep in the Okano-
gan-Wenatchee National Forest are a risk to bighorn
sheep.
Watersheds want the court
to close off four more allot-
ments, which are within 10
miles of the Cleman Moun-
tain herd. A bighorn sheep in
the herd tested positive for
the fatal bacteria in October.
It’s unknown how the animal
was infected.
The environmentalists’
expert consultant, retired
U.S. Forest Service bighorn
New battle brewing over Oregon trail proposal
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
CANBY, Ore. — Before
the barricade went up, neigh-
bors were regularly aggra-
vated by drinking and may-
hem at a pair of bridges across
Oregon’s Molalla River.
Blockading an access road
— and regular police inter-
vention — eventually dis-
couraged visitors from the
longtime party spot in rural
Clackamas County.
Now that the river crossing
is proposed to become part of
a recreational trail, though,
neighbors fear the eventual
re-opening will bring a return
to the bad old days.
“That is a huge mistake.
The county closed it because
they couldn’t control it,” said
Ken Baker, a neighboring
hazelnut farmer.
Neighbors
complain
that problems with trespass,
camping, shooting, dump-
ing and illicit activities have
already increased since a pri-
vate landowner donated the
3-mile stretch of abandoned
logging road to the City of
Canby in 2017.
“It’s frustrating that there’s
a complete disregard for pri-
vate property,” said Mitch
Magenheimer, a neighboring
landowner.
Apart from safety con-
cerns, the proposed trail’s crit-
ics argue that it would com-
plicate spraying pesticides,
moving farm machinery and
other agricultural operations.
Hazelnuts are harvested
from the ground and adja-
cent orchards would be prone
to contamination by trespass-
ers or their pets, which has
regulatory implications, said
Baker. “Good agricultural
sheep biologist Tim Schom-
mer, declared in a court doc-
ument that the domestic
sheep pose a “high risk” to
bighorn herds.
He pointed to a “risk of
contact” model, acknowl-
edging that direct evidence
of domestic sheep infecting
bighorn sheep “does not often
exist.”
The only way to signifi -
cantly reduce the danger was
to keep sheep in the open
and under close watch in
“non-bighorn sheep habitat,”
Schommer stated.
“In my opinion, it is inap-
propriate to wait for a die-off
of bighorns before deciding
to increase eff ective separa-
tion,” he said.
Assistant Attorney Gen-
eral John Drake, representing
the U.S. Forest Service, said
the “risk of contact” model
assumes that every time a
bighorn sheep steps onto an
allotment, it’s in danger.
The model doesn’t con-
sider the odds a bighorn
sheep and domestic sheep
will come into contact or
for how long or whether the
domestic sheep is infected,
he said. “It’s just essentially
a shot in the dark.”
Bighorn sheep are not
a federal or state protected
species. The environmen-
talists’ attorney, Elizabeth
Potter, said protecting the
“iconic” bighorn sheep out-
Washington state farm groups:
Low-carbon fuel bill better, still bad
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
From left, neighbors Georgia Baker, Jason Paolo and
Ken Baker stand on an old bridge over the Molalla Riv-
er that’s long been an attractive nuisance. Critics worry
about a proposal to turn the crossing into part of a rec-
reational trail.
practices are a huge concern.”
Critics argue that extend-
ing culverts and fi lling wet-
lands along portions of the
trail, and then maintaining the
corridor, will consume money
that Canby could put to bet-
ter use.
“I don’t think they’ve been
forthcoming with the people
who are going to be paying for
this. All they’re talking about
is rainbows and kittens,” said
Jason Paolo, president of a
neighboring gun club.
A similar proposal in
Oregon’s Yamhill County
— turning three miles of
abandoned railroad into a rec-
reational trail — was repeat-
edly blocked by the state’s
Land Use Board of Appeals.
In its two most recent rul-
ings, LUBA ruled that Yam-
hill County had failed to fully
analyze farm impacts from
the project in granting a con-
ditional use permit.
At this point, though,
opponents of the Canby proj-
ect prefer to avoid the legal
route and instead want to con-
vince the city it’s not a worth-
while investment.
“We hope that through dia-
logue we can take the steam
out of this,” Baker said.
The City of Canby is also
seeking to strike a concilia-
tory tone with neighbors to
solve potential problems with
the trail, said Greg Parker, a
city councilor and liaison to
the bicycle and pedestrian
committee that’s steering the
project.
“From the very beginning,
I’ve said I want to do every-
thing that we can to ensure the
safety, privacy and sanctity
of neighboring landowners,”
Parker said.
It’s unlikely the aban-
doned logging road would
become populated by home-
less encampments, such as the
infamous Springwater Corri-
dor in Portland, since it’s so
far from an urban center, he
said.
weighs any interests the
ranch has or inconvenience
it will face.
The suit was fi led against
the Forest Service. Martinez
Livestock intervened.
The ranch’s attorney, Car-
oline Lobdell, said that fi nd-
ing another place to graze
the sheep would be a “gigan-
tic” economic and logistical
problem.
“We’re within spitting dis-
tance of when the sheep turn
out, your honor,” she said.
The Washington Depart-
ment of Fish and Wild-
life established the Cleman
Mountain herd by introducing
bighorn sheep into the area.
The department has drawn
from the herd to stock other
areas.
In his declaration, Mark
Martinez said the ranch has
managed its sheep to avoid
contact with the herd. He
said he knew of no case of
bighorn sheep mingling with
his sheep on the allotments
involved in the suit.
OLYMPIA — The Senate moved closer
last week to adopting a clean-fuels stan-
dard, amending legislation to back-up
claims that phasing in biofuels would be
a boon to farmers.
The Ways and Means Committee called
for at least one-quarter of the feedstock
for biofuels used in Washington to come
from Washington. Farm groups sought the
guarantee. Even with it, the groups remain
opposed to the bill.
“We’ve been upfront about that. We’re
not going to support the bill,” said lob-
byist Mark Streuli, who represents the
Washington Cattlemen’s Association, and
onion and potato growers.
“But we’re also realistic and see the
bill moving. So why shouldn’t we be
proactive and make it better?” he asked.
“Farms are trying to survive out there. If
the incentives are right and it’s profi table,
they will grow it.”
A low-carbon fuel standard, already
adopted by California and Oregon, would
command a higher percentage of biofuels
in on-road gasoline and diesel. Gov. Jay
Inslee asked for the climate bill, and the
House already has passed the legislation,
House Bill 1091.
Although forecasts are speculative,
California and Oregon regulators agree
that renewable fuels push pump prices up.
Farm groups oppose the policy because it
would increase transportation costs.
Proponents of the bill argue farm-
ers could profi t by growing crops such as
canola and corn and capitalize on the gov-
ernment-created demand for biofuels.
“We kept hearing that, but we’re not
really hearing that from farmers,” said Ben
Buchholz, executive director of the North-
west Agricultural Cooperative Council.
“Finally a couple of us looked at each
and said, ‘If it’s true, let’s put it in the bill.’”
Senate agriculture committee chair-
man Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim,
sponsored the amendment. If by 2026,
one-quarter of the feedstock for biofuels
isn’t from Washington, the program will
pause.
Environment and Energy Commit-
tee chairman Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle,
backed the amendment. “We do want to
see active participation from the agricul-
tural community,” he said.
Washington Farm Bureau director of
government relations Tom Davis said it
was a case of “trying to make a bad bill a
little less bad.”
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