Capital Press
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Friday, June 10, 2022
Volume 95, Number 23
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ROYLENE
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Washington State
Conservationist
Roylene Comes At
Night at rancher Ben
Merrill’s pasture in
Cheney, Wash.
Courtesy photo
Roylene Comes At Night, Washington State Con-
servationist, and her husband, Michael, have been
married three years.
ROYLENE COMES
AT NIGHT
Title: Washington State Con-
servationist, USDA Natural Re-
sources Conservation Service
Washington state conservationist helps
connect farmers, others to the land
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
S
POKANE VALLEY, Wash. —
Roylene Comes At Night, the
Washington state conservation-
ist, wanted to talk about soil.
It was 2014, and she asked
Lynn Bahrych, then a member
of the Washington State Conservation Com-
mission, to develop a new educational cam-
paign focusing on soil health.
At the time, soil health wasn’t widely
discussed by farmers — or anyone else,
Bahrych said.
“It’s just not a really sexy topic, you
know, talking about dirt,” Bahrych said.
“People would sort of say, ‘Really, is this a
problem?’ And of course it is. It’s the source
of our food and fi ber, it keeps our water
clean and our air clean.”
Today, soil health is top-of-mind for most
of Washington’s farmers and ranchers, in
part because of those eff orts.
The initial program provided grants for
small, innovative pilot projects. It led to the
state developing its current soil health initia-
tive, Bahrych said.
“... Roylene got the ball rolling,” Bahrych
said. “All of the soil health eff orts and aware-
ness in our state from 2014 to now, really
she got that going. She made it work and it’s
going strong, right now.”
Roylene is quick to share any credit with
others such as Bahrych.
“I am still very awed at the fact that a
small program could lead to a larger eff ect
...,” Roylene said. “I have a philosophy that
I only need to plant the seeds, nurture them,
and then stand back and watch them grow.
See Roylene, Page 9
Matthew Weaver/
Capital Press
Age: 52
Hometown: Browning, Mont.
Current location: Spokane
Married: Husband Michael
Comes At Night, dogs Cody
and Rex, mom Cynthia,
brother Ron and sister-in-law
Michelle, nephews and nieces
Brett, Quinn, Rylee and Jada
Education: Bachelor’s degree
in range management, minor
in soils from Montana State
University
Hobbies and interests: Sun-
dancing, hiking, biking and
walking.
Website:
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/
wps/portal/nrcs/site/wa/
home/
Courtesy photo
Roylene Comes At
Night works with land-
owners in 1996. Over
her 30-plus-year career,
she has held positions
across all levels of the
organization, from
fi eld and area offi ces,
and now at the state
level.
Cheney, Wash.,
farmer Ben Mer-
rill and Wash-
ington State
Conservationist
Roylene Comes
At Night share a
laugh.
Idaho rancher loses 143 sheep
in ‘pileup’ caused by wolf attack
California drought expected to
raise energy costs in Northwest
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
BOISE — A mid-May
wolf attack resulted in the
deaths of 143 ewes and
lambs in Idaho, the state
Rangeland
Resources
Commission reports.
Two adult wolves
attacked a band of sheep
grazing on the back side
The wholesale price of
electricity will rise in the
Northwest this summer as
drought-stricken California
buys energy from neighbor-
ing states to off set a nearly
50% reduction in hydro-
power, the U.S. Energy
Information Administration
projects in a new report.
California can cover
about half of the 6 mil-
lion megawatt-hour cut in
hydropower by ramping up
natural gas plants but will
need to purchase electricity
on Western power markets
to make up the rest, accord-
ing to the EIA.
California’s
demand
for electricity will in turn
put pressure on power
supplies elsewhere. The
EIA estimates the Golden
State’s drought will push
up peak-demand whole-
sale prices by 5% in Idaho,
Oregon and Washington
to an average of $59 per
megawatt-hour.
“California has a diverse
electricity fuel mix and is
highly interconnected with
the regional electric grid,
but our study shows that
a signifi cant decrease in
hydropower generation this
Idaho Rangeland Resources Commission File
An example of a sheep pileup that resulted in deaths.
More than 140 sheep died in a pileup caused by wolves.
of Shaw Mountain east of
Boise and pushed them
into a “pileup” in a steep
gully, according to the
commission.
“The wolves scared
the hell out of them and
pushed them into that lit-
tle canyon and piled them
in there,” rancher Frank
Shirts said in a commis-
sion news release. The
wolves “didn’t consume
anything. The sheep just
suffocated in the pileup
and died.”
The mid-May attack
occurred during the day,
a rarity. Herders saw the
two wolves running into
the band and saw the
sheep fall into the gully.
Two herders chased off
the wolves. Two Great
Pyrenees dogs guard-
ing the sheep were not
injured.
The sheep were among
about 2,500 ewes and
lambs that crossed State
Highway 55 north of
Eagle in mid-March. They
grazed the Boise Foot-
hills, following green-up
to higher pastures.
Shirts
said
the
wolf-predation loss is his
largest ever. He said he
See Attack, Page 9
Capital Press File
The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects
a sharp decline this summer in the amount of electric-
ity generated at Shasta Dam and other hydropower
facilities in California.
summer could lead to higher
electricity prices, among
other eff ects,” EIA Admin-
istrator Joe DeCarolis said
in a statement.
The EIA’s report supple-
mented a forecast on retail
electricity prices. Assum-
ing a cooler summer than
last year, the EIA projected
customers will pay about
4% more in the West than in
2021, though rates will vary
widely by utility.
Wholesale
prices
are more volatile than
retail rates, refl ecting the
ever-changing demand for
and supply of energy, espe-
cially on the hottest summer
days, according to the EIA.
Drought blankets Cal-
ifornia. About 60% of the
state is in an “extreme”
or “exceptional” drought,
the two worst catego-
ries, according to the U.S.
Drought Monitor.
California’s snowpack
was 54% of normal on April
1. With little snow to melt
into already lower reser-
voirs, the state will generate
48% less hydroelectricity
between June 1 and Sept. 30
than in a non-drought year,
See Drought, Page 9