Friday, July 8, 2022
CapitalPress.com 5
Late berry crop creates bear
problems on Oregon coast
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
A late wild berry crop due
to this year’s cool and wet
spring means hungry black
bears are entering Oregon’s
coastal communities looking
for food.
According to the Ore-
gon Department of Fish and
Wildlife, across the coast-
line, bears have recently
killed livestock, dug through
garbage cans and stripped
young trees owned by timber
companies.
“We have seen an increase
in bear activity,” said Adam
Baylor, ODFW spokesman.
The bears are hun-
gry because the spring’s
stormy weather damaged or
delayed a major food source
bears rely on: wild berries,
including salmonberries and
thimbleberries.
Salmonberries typically
are ripe in May, but the
extended cool, wet weather
this spring on the Oregon
coast slowed or disrupted
the ripening process. In some
areas, blossoms didn’t get
pollinated and fewer salmon-
Rick Swart/ODFW
Coho salmon in an Oregon creek. An Endangered
Species Act lawsuit alleges a private irrigation dam
in Oregon unlawfully harms threatened salmon.
Lawsuit seeks removal
of Oregon ranch’s
private irrigation dam
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Operators of an Ore-
gon ranch fear its irriga-
tion supply is under threat
from an Endangered Spe-
cies Act lawsuit alleging its
dam blocks upstream fi sh
migration.
WaterWatch of Oregon,
an environmental nonprofi t,
has fi led a federal complaint
accusing Q Bar X Ranch of
unlawfully harming threat-
ened salmon by operat-
ing its Pomeroy Dam near
Kerby, Ore.
The lawsuit seeks an
injunction requiring the
ranch’s owners to either
remove the dam or install a
fi sh passage that meets state
and federal regulations.
“The Pomeroy Dam is
a passage impediment and
hazard for migrating adult
and juvenile Southern Ore-
gon Coast Coho on the Illi-
nois River,” the plaintiff
claims.
All the ranch’s irrigation
water is drawn from the
reservoir above the dam,
which it primarily needs
for grass hay, according to a
member of the ranch family
who refused to be named.
Losing that water would
be “devastating” to the
ranch, whose owners may
not fi nd an alternative
source of irrigation, he said.
“We’ll cross that bridge if
we come to it.”
Pomeroy Dam has
existed since the 1940s but
its removal has recently
become an objective for the
environmental group, the
family member said.
“They just really don’t
want to have any dams,” he
said. “I don’t see the logic
of it.”
The Oregon Farm
Bureau
isn’t
directly
involved in the lawsuit but
is concerned the case may
represent a new litigation
strategy for WaterWatch,
said Mary Anne Cooper, its
vice president of govern-
ment aff airs.
“I think this will be
another tool in Water-
Watch’s tool box,” she said.
“From a precedent stand-
point, we will defi nitely
be paying attention to the
case.”
The lawsuit may be a
foreboding sign for other
irrigators who rely on pri-
vate water impoundments,
Cooper said. “You can get
hauled in and even if the
lawsuit is baseless, you can
have to spend hundreds of
thousands of dollars prov-
ing that.”
According to Water-
Watch, the structure vio-
lates the Endangered Spe-
cies Act’s prohibition
against “take” of protected
fi sh. That includes kill-
ing them or harming them
through “signifi cant habitat
modifi cation.”
“The passage imped-
iment and dam hazards
impede migration and
spawning as well as caus-
ing direct harm to Southern
Oregon Coast Coho,” the
complaint said.
Apart from preventing
salmon from reaching about
100 miles of “high-quality
spawning and rearing hab-
itat,” the dam has raised
water temperatures to their
detriment, the complaint
said.
The dam has created
“pool conditions” that
increase predation on juve-
nile salmon, the complaint
said. Meanwhile, “inad-
equate screening” of the
irrigation diversion causes
adult fi sh to get stranded
and die in irrigation canals
and ditches.
Upstream fi sh pas-
sage past Pomeroy Dam
is a top priority for state
wildlife regulators but
the ranch owners have
rejected the plaintiff ’s
off er to remove the bar-
rier for no charge, accord-
ing to the lawsuit.
“WaterWatch’s experi-
ence with reaching out to
defendants causes Water-
Watch to be concerned that
defendants will refuse and
fail to respond to this com-
plaint and/or to any order
of this court to remove or
fi x the Pomeroy Dam,” the
plaintiff said.
Piva Rafter P Ranch
Custer County, ID
1,410 Acres | $13,000,000
berries are available.
“Some districts are see-
ing failures of salmonberry
crops,” said Stuart Love,
wildlife biologist at ODFW’s
Charleston offi ce.
On the north coast, thim-
bleberries are also behind
schedule.
As a result, black bears are
drawing closer to communi-
ties in search of something
to eat. According to ODFW,
hungry bears are digging into
residents’ garbage cans, bird
feeders, barbecue grills, pet
food and chicken and live-
stock feed. In a few cases,
bears have killed livestock.
“ODFW wildlife biolo-
gists have their hands full
with bear complaints,” the
agency said.
Jason Badger, wildlife
biologist at ODFW’s Gold
Beach offi ce, has recorded 56
complaints so far this year.
The South Coast, Bad-
Court rejects R-CALF Beef Checkoff appeal
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
The U.S. Supreme Court
on June 27 denied a petition
by R-CALF USA to review
its case in a lawsuit against
USDA and more than a
dozen state beef councils
challenging the legality of
Beef Checkoff promotions
by the state councils.
The 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals in July
2021 rejected R-CALF’s
argument that state beef
councils support advertising
that’s contrary to the inter-
est of independent beef pro-
ducers and isn’t protected as
“government speech.”
The 9th Circuit upheld an
earlier ruling by the Mon-
tana District Court that
determined state beef coun-
cil promotions are ulti-
mately under USDA author-
ity, even when third parties
develop the advertisements
without preapproval from
the agency.
R-CALF, represented by
Public Justice, petitioned
the U.S. Supreme Court in
December seeking its review
of the 9th Circuit’s ruling.
Succor Creek Cattle Ranch
Chilly Valley Lifestyle Estate
Klamath County, OR
27 Acres | $3,250,000
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
Hungry black bears are entering Oregon’s coastal com-
munities looking for food because a prolonged cool,
wet spring damaged or delayed the wild berry crops
that bears typically eat.
ger said, has had two live-
stock depredations in 2022.
In one incident, a bear killed
sheep. In another case, a bear
destroyed a chicken coop and
killed chickens.
Paul Atwood, wildlife
biologist for ODFW’s Tilla-
mook offi ce, said the North
Coast Wildlife District has
logged 12 complaints so far
in 2022, all related to garbage
or public safety.
“We haven’t had any live-
stock depredations reported
so far this year, but we have
talked to a number of folks
concerned about chicken
coops when they hear there’s
a bear in the area,” said
Atwood.
Jason Kirchner, ODFW’s
mid-coast district wildlife
biologist in Newport, said his
offi ce has received 27 com-
plaints so far this year, 15 of
those in June. He said bears
have broken into about fi ve
chicken coops in his district.
“This year, it seems like
chicken coops are a hot com-
modity, so they’re break-
ing into chicken coops, kill-
ing chickens and a couple
ducks,” said Kirchner.
Malheur County, OR
1,052 Acres | $5,900,000
Rio Vista Ranch
Okanogan County, WA
114 Acres | $3,350,000
www.HaydenOutdoors.com
While R-CALF is obvi-
ously disappointed in the
Supreme Court’s decision
not to review the case, gains
have been made, said Bill
Bullard, R-CALF’s CEO.
“Our objective in this
case was to bring an end to
the corrupt manner in which
the Beef Checkoff program
was being operated. Specif-
ically, we set out to stop the
U.S. Department of Agricul-
ture from unconstitutionally
compelling U.S. cattle pro-
ducers to fund the private
speech of private state beef
councils,” he said.
“R-CALF largely suc-
ceeded in that eff ort early
in its case. In response to
our lawsuit, the USDA took
steps to assume necessary
control to limit state beef
councils’ ability to express
private messages with the
money that cattle producers
are mandated to pay into the
program,” he said.
R-CALF fi led that law-
suit in September 2020 in
U.S. District Court for the
District of Columbia.
The National Cattle-
men’s Beef Association said
the Supreme Court’s deci-
sion eff ectively ends another
R-CALF attack on the Beef
Checkoff and prevents the
attorneys at Public Jus-
tice from further diverting
checkoff and beef industry
resources.
“For too long we have
allowed R-CALF and their
attorneys to divide our
industry and draw attention
away from the important
job of beef promotion and
research,” said Colin Wood-
all, CEO of NCBA.
“The Supreme Court’s
rejection of R-CALF’s peti-
tion confi rms the Beef
Checkoff , and its overseers,
are adhering to the letter and
spirit of the laws that protect
and guide producer invest-
ments in the program,” he
said.
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