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CapitalPress.com
Friday, June 3, 2022
People & Places
Horse vet inspires generations
of large-animal veterinarians
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
NEWBERG, Ore. — In
his cramped office inside a
horse barn, Dr. Jack Root,
owner of Oakhurst Equine
Veterinary Services in New-
berg, was scratching out a
drawing.
His client, Jean Marie
Marsh, leaned in, watch-
ing the veterinarian sketch
a horse’s spine. As he drew,
Root described to Marsh
how he would perform inci-
sions on her horse for a pro-
cedure called “kissing spine
surgery,” intended to correct
“kissing,” or overlapping, spi-
nal vertebrae.
Root, 68, has performed
more than 100 of these surger-
ies using a technique and sur-
gical tools he invented. Com-
pared to traditional kissing
spine surgery, Root’s method
is gentler and less expensive.
“He is one of the few vets
in the nation that has this
down,” said Marsh.
Root is widely consid-
ered to be an innovator in his
field, and his work has cre-
ated ripple effects in farm-
ing communities across the
Northwest. Root is a farmer,
expert horseman and accom-
plished equine veterinar-
ian whose legacy includes
inventing new surgical meth-
ods, treating lameness, devel-
oping famed genetic lines and
training the next generation
of large-animal veterinarians.
On the morning the Cap-
ital Press visited, Root’s
schedule was packed: collect-
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DR. JACK ROOT
Hometown: Born in Du-
rango, Colo. Childhood in
Farmington, N.M. Moved to
Oregon in high school.
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
Dr. Jack Root feeds a tube into a horse’s nose. Riley Erickson, right, veterinary assis-
tant, helps.
ing semen
from a stal-
lion to ship
to
Texas;
treating
a
horse with
a
blocked
Dr. Jack
intestine;
Root
checking the
health of a
day-old foal; and between
veterinary tasks, feeding farm
animals.
“Ehhh — Monday morn-
ings,” he said.
He shook his head and
chuckled.
Outside veterinary work,
Root and his wife, Cookie,
run a working farm with cattle
and pigs on 147 acres in New-
berg that they bought in 1996.
“This is both a veteri-
nary practice and a working
farm. I love that about it,” said
Cookie Root.
Horses, however, are Jack
Root’s favorite animal — he
has 35 of them. Root even
kept two Kentucky Derby
winners as studs at Oakhurst:
Giacomo, the 2005 winner,
and Grindstone, the 1996
winner, who died in March.
Root’s love for horses
started when he got his first
horse at age 6. By age 9, he
knew he wanted to be a vet.
He was captivated by
race horses since early child-
hood and got his first Thor-
oughbred broodmare while
an undergraduate at Oregon
State University.
Root studied veterinary
medicine at Iowa State Uni-
versity, interned with equine
veterinarians around the U.S.,
then returned to Oregon,
where he set up a practice in
1979.
Today, Root’s passion
includes training young
large-animal veterinarians.
“There are fewer and fewer
people doing large-animal
practice,” he said.
Root has seven veteri-
narians on staff at Oakhurst.
They help one another and
draw from Root’s wealth of
knowledge.
One of the biggest chal-
lenges rural veterinarians face,
Root said, is lack of work-life
balance. To combat burnout,
Root has his veterinarians take
turns with emergency shifts.
Root said he knows that’s
not possible for everyone,
but he encourages even solo
vets in rural regions to con-
nect with other nearby vets
and form partnerships, cov-
ering each other’s emergency
shifts.
Root told the Capital
Press that he has a neurolog-
published every Friday.
Capital Press (ISSN 0740-3704) is
published weekly by EO Media Group,
2870 Broadway NE, Salem OR 97303.
Age: 68
Education: Joint B.S.
degrees in biology and
general science from Ore-
gon State University, 1974.
Doctorate of Veterinary
Medicine from Iowa State
University, 1978. Currently
pursuing certification in
International Society of
Equine Locomotor Patholo-
gy (ISELP).
Occupation: Equine
veterinarian and owner of
Oakhurst Equine Veterinary
Services in Newberg, Ore.
Family: Cookie Root, his
wife, and four sons
ical autoimmune disease that
almost took his life at one
point, but he survived and
was able to continue teaching
young veterinarians.
“I think God sent me
back from the edge of death
to make these young people
into vets, so that’s what I’m
trying to do,” he said.
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Community college students cruise timber to determine its volume
By CRAIG REED
For the Capital Press
ROSEBURG, Ore. —
Four Umpqua Community
College Forestry Club stu-
dents took a recent break
from classroom work to
take a cruise — through the
timber.
They were able to experi-
ence an actual boots-on-the-
ground timber cruise and do
the work themselves on 57
acres of private property sev-
eral miles northwest of Rose-
burg. Their goal was to esti-
mate the volume and value
of merchantable timber on a
steep north facing slope that
was a mix of Douglas fir and
incense cedar trees.
Timber cruising normally
involves only coming up with
a volume of board-feet figure,
but Isaac Cherry, the project
leader and a UCC freshman,
planned to add an extra step
and determine a value esti-
mate for the timber.
Craig Reed/For the Capital Press
Javier Goirigolzarri, left, discusses timber data with
Umpqua Community College students Isaac Cherry and
Joe Godawa during a recent timber cruise. Goirigolz-
arri, a professional forester, was helping the students
learn the basics of timber cruising.
“Knowing the price (from
a sawmill) per thousand
board-feet per species and
including logging and truck-
ing costs, you can figure the
value of the stand for that spe-
cies,” he said.
“Being out here is
extremely valuable,” Cherry
said of taking data from ran-
dom plots within the acreage.
“It’s an experience where
you’re able to connect tech-
nical knowledge from the
classroom with real world job
experience.”
Each plot was 1/20th of
an acre and all merchant-
able trees within the plots
were recorded. After locat-
ing each plot using GPS, the
students measured a radius
out to 26.3 feet to identify
the plot boundary. Then the
species, diameter and height
measurements of each tree
that measured 10 inches or
greater in diameter at chest
height within that area were
recorded. A hypsometer was
used to measure the height of
the trees.
The project came about
when Cherry, who is major-
ing in forest management,
was asked by a family friend
if he’d be interested in cruis-
ing the timbered property.
Cherry accepted the chal-
lenge. He contacted Javier
Goirigolzarri, a forestry con-
sultant who owns Resource
Management Services in
Roseburg, for advisory help.
Goirigolzarri
volun-
teered his time, meeting with
Cherry to discuss mapping
of the property and mark-
ing desired plot locations
with GPS. On the day of the
timber cruise, Forestry Club
members Jake Gerrard, Joe
Godawa and Thomas Wil-
liams joined Cherry and Goi-
rigolzarri for the hike in the
woods.
“They’ve done the class-
room work and had occa-
sional field trips, but this was
actually getting out on the
ground and doing it,” Goi-
rigolzarri said. “It adds to
their depth of understanding,
the practical experience any
student needs to develop into
a professional.
“I was truly impressed
with these guys and their
eagerness to learn more about
forestry … whatever aspect
they decide to pursue,” he
added. “Their objective was
to learn about timber cruis-
ing, but they were eager to
talk about so many other
aspects of forestry.”
Greater Idaho map shrinks after primary election
By JOE SIESS
EO Media Group
The Greater Idaho movement
reconfigured its map after two
coastal and southern Oregon coun-
ties rejected ballot measures last
week that would have required
county commissioners to study
becoming part of a different state.
While the setback does not spell
the end for the Greater Idaho move-
ment, which seeks to move the bor-
der of Idaho to include all of Eastern
Oregon, it is a sign most of the peo-
ple who hope to see the movement
succeed are in rural counties east of
the Cascades.
The likelihood the border would
be changed is remote, as it would
require the approval of the Oregon
and Idaho legislatures and Congress,
but for the movement’s leaders, part
of the point is to send a message to
Salem and to get more rural Orego-
nians to the ballot box.
The movement’s new map now
excludes Douglas, Coos, Curry,
Josephine and Jackson counties,
but includes nearly everything east
of the Deschutes River. The Bend
area would remain in Oregon, but
other parts of Deschutes, Jeffer-
son, and Wasco counties would be
annexed to Idaho. Most of Klamath
County, which in Tuesday’s election
became the ninth county to support
the movement, would be annexed as
well.
Jefferson
County
narrowly
approved the Greater Idaho ballot
measure in 2020. It asked county
residents if they wanted the Jeffer-
son County Commission to meet
twice a year to discuss the initiative.
Kelly Simmelink, a Jefferson
County commissioner, said while
he is willing to do what he can to
honor the people’s vote, he does not
have high hopes for the movement’s
success.
“I applaud the efforts of peo-
ple that want to be represented,”
Simmelink said. “I get it. Eastern
Oregon, anything east of the Cas-
cades, has a long record of being
underrepresented.
“We need to make Oregon work
for all of us. … I want my Oregon to
be the best it can be. The state is run
in a fashion that it is a one size fits
all, and what works in Multnomah
County doesn’t work in Jefferson....”
Mike McCarter, president of the
Greater Idaho effort, said the move-
ment intends to push forward, and
the main goal at this point is to
start the conversation in the state
Legislature.
“We are working hard trying to
find the champions in the state Leg-
islature that want to start the discus-
sion,” McCarter said. “I think that
what we are doing does send a mes-
sage to the Oregon Legislature that
they need to work across the state.”
McCarter said the movement’s
intention from the beginning was
never to force an issue on anybody,
but getting it on the ballot was an
important step in figuring out where
the focus should be moving forward.
“Our move right now, we have
ready to turn in the signatures for
Morrow County, to get them on the
ballot in November,” McCarter said.
“And we have signatures lined up to
put Wallowa County on next May’s
election. And we are trying to work
with Wheeler and Gilliam counties
to get them a petition going so we
can get them on the ballot.”
“So, we are going to continue on.
This is not a step back. It’s maybe
a change of direction a little more,”
he added.
CALENDAR
Submit upcoming ag-related
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talpress.com.
MONDAY-TUESDAY
JUNE 6-7
Idaho Cattle Association Sum-
mer Roundup: Red Lion Hotel,
Pocatello, Idaho. The conference
will focus on industry issues. Web-
site: https://www.idahocattle.org
Idaho Water Users Associa-
tion summer seminar: Sun Val-
ley, Idaho, Resort. The seminar cov-
ers water law and water resource
issues. Website: https://www.iwua.
org
TUESDAY JUNE 7
NRCS Idaho State Technical
Advisory Committee Meeting
(online): 9 a.m.-noon. The commit-
tee meets quarterly to advise the
Natural Resources Conservation
Service and other USDA agencies
on carrying out natural resource
conservation provisions of the fed-
eral Farm Bill. Includes representa-
tives of federal and state resource
agencies, tribes, agricultural and
environmental organizations. Web-
site: https://bit.ly/3sHRJVt Con-
tact: Mindi Rambo, Mindi.Rambo@
usda.gov
WEDNESDAY- FRIDAY
JUNE 8-10
World Pork Expo: Iowa State
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Opinion ...................................................6
Fairgrounds, Des Moines. The
world’s largest pork industry trade
show will feature education, inno-
vation and networking. Website:
https://www.worldpork.org
FRIDAY-SATURDAY
JUNE 10-11
Lind Combine Demolition
Derby: Starts at 6 p.m. Friday and
10:45 a.m. Saturday at the Lind,
Wash., Arena. Join the fun for this
year’s Combine Demolition Derby
and truck races. Website: www.lind-
combinederby.com
SATURDAY JUNE 11
Forest and Range Owners Field
Day: 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Casa Becca del
Norte Tree Farm, 2716 Moser Road,
Chewelah, Wash. Washington State
University Extension field day offers
information specific to landowners’
needs. Cost: $30-50. Contact: Sean
Alexander, 509-680-0358, sean.alex-
ander@wsu.edu
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