Friday, June 3, 2022
CapitalPress.com 7
Grazing accused of worsening climate
change impacts on Oregon spotted frogs
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Brad Carlson/Capital Press
Mike Williamson checks
shoots for frost damage
May 24.
Idaho
vineyard
operators
navigate
cold, wet
weather
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Mike Williamson had 6-8
inches of shoot growth in his
vineyards in late May, far less
than the typical 12 inches or
more.
“Most varieties fared well
through this, with some shoot
loss,” said Williamson, who
co-owns Williamson Orchards
& Vineyards on south-facing
slopes between Caldwell and
Marsing, Idaho.
Cold, wet weather around
the state in April and part of
May caused some frost dam-
age, but growers welcomed
much-needed water.
“Because of the bit of frost
damage we saw, it probably
won’t be a bumper crop,” Wil-
liamson said. “I don’t know if
it will be a deficit, but it won’t
be maxed-out tonnage —
probably down just a hair this
year.”
Nearby, Ron Bitner of Bit-
ner Vineyards said frost around
April 10 caused some damage
in the region but it is too early
to tell how much. Early season
cold can cause primary bud
loss, though frost damage is
variety-dependent.
“Even this week we lost
some buds in low spots” from
earlier cold, he said May 25.
Bitner said seasonal heat
accumulation so far is below
average. Wine grape develop-
ment “might catch up some,
depending on the summer.”
Williamson said each bud
off the cordon — a horizon-
tal, belt-high woody struc-
ture — can produce a primary,
secondary and tertiary shoot.
The secondary can take over
if the primary is damaged,
but its fruit cluster will weigh
30-50% less.
“We’ve made it through
bud break and now we are up
to the first big push, or shoot
flush,” he said. Shoots will
“push hard through to the mid-
dle of June, and by the end
of June will be up to 3 feet”
before crews limit growth.
Williamson said May 23
his vineyards could be about
five days behind schedule,
which could change.
In the Hammett area east
of Mountain Home, Cold
Springs Winery owner Arthur
Reece said his vineyards had
good fruit set, which bodes
well for tonnage.
As for frost, “we had one
night that was kind of scary,
but I think we survived it,” he
said. His grapes so far are on
schedule.
Reece trimmed vineyards
a bit differently. He expects to
increase yield from last year,
when harvest started about a
month early following a pro-
longed period of high heat.
“Last year was so hot, all
the grapes decided they needed
to be picked at the same time,”
he said. And the shorter season
cut management time.
“If we get a normal sum-
mer, everything is going to
work,” Reece said.
Art
McIntosh,
who
co-owns Lindsay Creek Vine-
yards south of Lewiston, said
buds on the property, which is
at a higher elevation than some
in the region, did not emerge
before the freeze.
He said the vineyards look
good but could use more heat.
A return of wet weather would
prompt the team to watch for
powdery mildew.
Cold, wet weather set the
vineyards back about a week
but “we probably won’t put the
sprinkler on for some time,”
McIntosh said. “We have good
moisture in the ground.”
EUGENE, Ore. — A grazing
plan is under attack for allegedly
failing to adequately examine cli-
mate change effects on Oregon spot-
ted frogs in the Fremont-Winema
National Forest.
In a lawsuit, environmental advo-
cates claim that federal officials
didn’t sufficiently analyze how more
frequent and severe droughts will
aggravate impacts from grazing on
the protected species.
“You can’t assume the same
hydrologic conditions that occurred
the last 10 years will occur the next
10 years,” said Lauren Rule, an attor-
ney representing the Concerned
Friends of the Winema and four other
environmental nonprofits.
While climate change was men-
tioned in an environmental review of
the grazing plan, the groups claim it
didn’t account for water conditions
growing worse over time.
“It did not consider all the fac-
tors that it needed to consider,” Rule
said during May 24 oral arguments in
Eugene, Ore.
The environmental plaintiffs filed
a lawsuit against a grazing authori-
zation for the 160,000-acre Antelope
Allotment in 2019, arguing the per-
mit violates the national forest plan,
the Endangered Species Act and the
National Environmental Policy Act.
The nonprofits have now asked
a federal judge to declare the U.S.
Patrick Pennarola/USFWS
An Oregon spotted frog. Environmental nonprofits want a judge
to shut down grazing on roughly 80,000 acres in Oregon’s Fre-
mont-Winema National Forest.
Forest Service’s “allotment manage-
ment plan” to be unlawful. They also
want the judge to shut down grazing
in two pastures, Chemult and North
Sheep, that make up roughly half the
allotment.
U.S. District Judge Michael
McShane asked the environmental
plaintiffs and federal officials to focus
on climate change effects during oral
arguments held May 24 in Eugene,
Ore.
Droughts reduce water levels in
Jack Creek, which flows through
the allotment, as well as the number
pools that attract both frogs and cat-
tle, Rule said. “If much or most of the
creek is limited to intermittent pools,
that’s when we have the problem.”
Cattle drink from these remaining
pools, decreasing water supplies and
polluting them with manure while
trampling or displacing frogs, accord-
ing to the plaintiffs.
Tadpoles are vulnerable when the
waterway dries up earlier than nor-
mal, if they’re not yet mature enough
to hop toward moisture, Rule said. “If
they have not metamorphosized to
find pools in the creek, they will die.”
The Forest Service and the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service did not
recognize that such problems will
become worse while examining strat-
egies to mitigate grazing impacts, the
plaintiffs said.
Their mitigation measures aren’t
specific or timely enough to protect
the frogs when they’re facing multi-
ple stresses from drought, Rule said.
For example, the rules don’t set
clear directives for when or how
quickly cattle must be fenced off or
removed from pasture, she said. “It
all sounds good but it will take time
and these frogs don’t have time.”
Sean Martin, the federal govern-
ment’s attorney, countered that the
environmental review complied with
all the relevant laws and relied on the
best available science.
Federal officials recognized that
recurrent droughts harm the frogs by
drying up water sources, so the plan
requires ranchers to exclude cattle
from Jack Creek when stream levels
are low, he said.
“I don’t think it pulled any
punches,” Martin said.
A “biological opinion” required
under the Endangered Species Act
included mandatory protections that
are meant to prevent injury to the
frogs during drought conditions,
according to the government.
“It has consequences if it’s blown
off, judge,” he said. “If the permit-
tee did not abide by the ESA, they’d
be looking at major problems in the
future.”
The law doesn’t require “perfec-
tion” from the federal government’s
analysis, but it does require a “ratio-
nal framework,” Martin said. In this
case, the conclusions and protective
measures implemented by federal
scientists are entitled to deference.
“Their job is policing the ESA,”
he said. “I don’t think we want to
assume the biologists and rangeland
ecologists acted negligently or in bad
faith.”
Valley Wide Cooperative boosts payout to members
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Valley Wide Cooperative’s total
annual compensation to members
has been increased in part to help
farmers and ranchers deal with
higher input costs.
Valley Wide and Valley Agro-
nomics announced a total patron-
age allocation of $8.2 million, a
record high. Of that, $2.5 million
will be distributed as cash, the rest
in stock equity that members retire
over time following a schedule.
The total allocation will go to
more than 3,000 patrons in Idaho,
Washington, Oregon, Utah and
Nevada.
On average, Nampa, Ida-
ho-based Valley Wide each year
distributes 2% patronage on pur-
chases made through Valley Wide
and Valley Agronomics.
Patronage distributions totaled
$7.58 million a year ago and $4.62
million two years ago. Ag Link
Inc., a Washington-based farmer’s
cooperative, last fall merged into
Valley Wide.
Valley Wide serves more than 60
communities.
Separately, Valley Wide’s board
of directors approved a scheduled,
revolving stock retirement of $4.5
million — of which $2 million is a
special redemption of current-year
equity.
The cooperative said the spe-
cial redemption, to be paid in cash
rather than stock, will go directly to
members to help with rising input
and production costs.
Ben Faulk, Valley Wide chief
financial officer, said in a release
that members’ commitment to Val-
ley Wide and Valley Agronomics
through good times and lean times
“has given Valley Wide the bal-
ance sheet to declare this special
redemption at a time our members
are experiencing inflationary costs
as it relates to fuel and fertilizer.”
Valley Wide also approved a
special redemption two years ago
as COVID-19 challenges increased.
Sales in fiscal 2021, which ended
Aug. 31, totaled about $598.8 mil-
lion for pre-tax net income of $21.3
million.
Erica Louder, communications
director, said sales have increased
recently in step with higher prices
for agronomy inputs and fuel.
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