Friday, August 6, 2021
CapitalPress.com 7
Washington Ecology to fund drought relief
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press File
Cattle graze in the Malheur National Forest.
An environmental lawsuit has targeted a
timber project partly aimed at improving
grazing conditions.
Lawsuit targets
40,000-acre Oregon
forest project
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
An environmental lawsuit seeks to halt a
40,000-acre forest treatment project in Ore-
gon’s Malheur National Forest for allegedly
evading federal limits on harvesting large trees.
The complaint, filed by the Blue Mountains
Biodiversity Project, claims the Camp Lick
Project violates the National Forest Manage-
ment Act by permitting the removal of trees
over 21 inches in diameter contrary to the
“Eastside Screens” limit.
“The logging of large trees in projects such
as Camp Lick is primarily driven by economic
interests rather than true forest restoration,” the
complaint said.
Within the project’s boundaries, the U.S.
Forest Service plans to commercially harvest
about 12,000 acres, largely using tractor yard-
ing “where toppled trees are dragged through
the forest by heavy equipment, causing soil
compaction and erosion,” the plaintiff said.
The Eastside Screens standard, which pro-
hibited logging trees over 21 inches in diam-
eter in several Oregon national forests, was
replaced by new guidelines earlier this year
but was still effective when the project was
approved in 2020.
The environmental plaintiff argues the East-
side Screens were established to rectify the
dearth of large trees east of the Cascade Moun-
tains but “this shortage has not been resolved
and continues to this day.”
The lawsuit alleges the Forest Service
unlawfully made changes to the management
plan for the Malheur National Forest to circum-
vent the Eastside Screens even though site-spe-
cific conditions did not justify the changes.
The broader changes to the Eastside Screens
provide “compelling evidence” that exceptions
to the size standard within the Camp Lick proj-
ect weren’t warranted, the complaint said. “If
the alleged need to remove large trees was site
specific, a region-wide amendment would not
be necessary.”
The Washington Depart-
ment of Ecology will distribute
about $700,000 to three other
state agencies for drought-re-
lief projects, exhausting the
amount available to cope with
the emergency.
The Department of Health,
Fish and Wildlife and Washing-
ton State Conservation Com-
mission have submitted spend-
ing proposals for Ecology to
assess.
Funding candidates include
a proposal by the Benton Con-
servation District, via the state
commission, to buy an aquat-
ic-plant cutter to mow water
stargrass, a riverbed weed that
thrives in drought conditions.
Stargrass clogs irrigation
gates on the Lower Yakima
River, conservation district out-
Benton Conservation District
Water stargrass grows in the Yakima River in Eastern
Washington. The Benton Conservation District is seeking
drought-relief funds to mow the aquatic weeds and keep
them from choking irrigation systems.
reach coordinator and biologist
Rachel Little said.
“It’s especially bad in drought
years, for sure. It’s terrible this
year,” she said. “This proposal is
a way we can directly help irri-
gators in a drought.”
During the 2015 drought,
irrigation districts and other
public entities could apply for
grants to alleviate drought hard-
ships. Lawmakers this year
didn’t anticipate a drought and
didn’t budget for one.
Ecology had some money
drought-relief funds leftover
from prior budgets and scraped
up more money saved by vacant
positions in the department.
With the drought well along,
Ecology will distribute what
money it has to the three state
agencies rather than take appli-
cations from other public agen-
cies, Ecology drought coordina-
tor Jeff Marti said.
Moses Lake Sen. Judy War-
nick, the top-ranking Republi-
can on the Senate agriculture
committee, said Tuesday she
wants a joint Senate and House
committee to talk about whether
the state can do more.
The Legislature has a drought
committee that includes Senate
and House members. The com-
mittee has been dormant this
year.
ODFW kills 2 wolf pups from Lookout Mountain pack
By JAYSON JACOBY
EO Media Group
BAKER CITY, Ore. —
Employees from the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wild-
life, firing rifles from a heli-
copter, shot and killed two
wolf pups from the Lookout
Mountain pack on Aug. 1.
On July 29, the agency’s
director authorized either
ODFW employees, or a Baker
County ranching couple or
their designated agents, to kill
up to four sub-adult wolves
from that pack, which has
attacked their cattle at least
four times since mid-July.
The Lookout Mountain
wolves have killed two animals
and injured two others, accord-
ing to ODFW investigations.
The two wolves killed Aug.
1 are 3 1/2-month-old pups,
according to Michelle Den-
nehy, an ODFW spokesperson.
The agency confirmed ear-
lier this year that the pack’s
breeding female and male —
neither of which can be killed
under the permit — produced
a litter of seven pups this year.
During the helicopter flight
on Sunday, ODFW employees
ODFW/Baker City Herald
A trail cam photo from May
30 of one of the two year-
ling wolves in the Lookout
Mountain pack.
saw at least five pups and the
two adult, Dennehy said. They
didn’t see either of the two
yearlings wolves, which were
born in the spring of 2020.
ODFW employees and the
ranchers, Deward and Kathy
Thompson, also tried to find
the wolves on July 30, but they
saw only the two adult wolves,
both of which have tracking
collars.
The permit is valid through
Aug. 21, or until up to four
wolves have been killed,
whichever happens first.
Dennehy said the permit
is intended to stop chronic
attacks by wolves on livestock
“by reducing the pack’s food
needs and disrupting the pack’s
behavior so they don’t associate
livestock with an easy meal.”
Baker County Commis-
sioner Mark Bennett requested
the kill permit on July 27.
Bennett, who is chairman of
the county’s wolf commit-
tee, included with his request
to ODFW a letter from the
Thompsons. They wrote
that the attacks on their cat-
tle started this spring after the
Lookout Mountain pack’s lat-
est, and so far largest, litter of
pups was born.
“Killing pups is not some-
thing we want to be doing,”
Dennehy wrote to the Baker
City Herald. “But in this case,
despite nonlethal measures,
chronic depredation continues
which we have a responsibility
to address. We hope to avoid
killing the breeding male and
female, so that the pack per-
sists and the remaining pups
still have two experienced
hunters to provision them.
Killing the breeding male or
female increases the chance
that the pack will break up.
“Reducing the caloric needs
of the pack reduces the amount
of killing they need to do in
order to feed the pups. The
Lookout Pack had at least seven
pups this spring and late sum-
mer is a lean time for wolves.
With two pups removed there is
less need for meat for the pups.”
The group Defenders of
Wildlife decried ODFW’s
actions.
“We are enraged by the Ore-
gon Department of Fish and
Wildlife’s aggressive action
to kill vulnerable 14-week-old
gray wolf pups in response to
livestock conflict,” said Sristi
Kamal, senior representative
for the Northwest Program
at Defenders of Wildlife.
“The use of lethal measures
is never a long-term solution
to depredations and killing
pups is simply unacceptable.
Defenders will continue to
work with livestock produc-
ers to help implement pro-
active non-lethal practices
and strategic grazing prac-
tices. It is possible for people
and wolves to share the same
land and ODFW must step up
to their role to facilitate coex-
istence. They can, and they
must.”
Winter Wheat Growers:
Don’t Snooze on Wireworms This Season
Teraxxa ™ F4 Seed Treatment Can Help Eliminate Wireworms and Protect Your Yields
Winter wheat growers: A silent assassin is lurking in your
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winter wheat crop and into your wallet.
We’re sorry to say,
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“There’s a misconception that wireworms are only a serious
threat for spring cereal growers,” said Curtis Rainbolt, BASF
technical fi eld representative. “While wireworm damage is more
visible in spring cereals, they still feed on winter cereal crops,
creating signifi cant yield loss for winter wheat growers.”
Not all wireworms in the fi eld (the resident population) may feed
in a given season, but their populations expand exponentially.
Over the course of three years, two adult click beetles can
grow to more than 200 adults and 1,000 wireworms.
Wireworm damage to a spring wheat crop can look more
dramatic than it does to winter wheat. You can’t always see the
damage wireworms are doing to winter wheat, so controlling
wireworms just isn’t top of mind for growers. “Winter wheat
growers are often focused on disease control, so if they don’t
visibly see a wireworm problem, they don’t think to protect
against it,” Rainbolt adds.
So, are growers faced with choosing between protecting against
the silent threat of wireworms or the many fungal pathogens
present in the soil?
Nope. Growers can protect against both with the arrival of a
powerful new seed treatment from BASF.
Untreated
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“When you treat your winter wheat seed with Teraxxa F4 Seed
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Its active wireworm-fi ghting ingredient is paired with the addition
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diseases such as Fusarium root rot and seedling blight, Pythium
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“It’s a worthwhile investment to put Teraxxa F4 Seed Treatment
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Find out more at TeraxxaF4.com.
Always read and follow label directions. Teraxxa is not registered in all states. Teraxxa is a trademark of BASF.
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