Friday, July 15, 2022
CapitalPress.com 9
Environmentalists lose lawsuit against grazing
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
U.S. District Judge Michael
McShane has dismissed a lawsuit
fi led by environmental advocates
who claimed the U.S. Forest Ser-
vice unlawfully authorized graz-
ing in the 165,000-acre Antelope
Allotment of the Fremont-Winema
National Forest.
“The Forest Service made a
rational decision when it decided
on a course of action that included
continued grazing in the Antelope
Allotment,” McShane said.
The most recent grazing plans
for the allotment opened up more
land for grazing to encourage cattle
to disperse instead of congregating
in areas inhabited by the threatened
Oregon spotted frog.
The Concerned Friends of the
Winema and four other environ-
mental nonprofi ts fi led a federal
lawsuit in 2019 alleging the agen-
cy’s grazing plans were “unsup-
ported and irrational” in violation
of the Endangered Species Act,
National Environmental Policy Act
and National Forest Management
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press File
Cattle graze in an Oregon national forest. A judge has rejected a
lawsuit that opposed grazing on 165,000 acres of national forest
land in Southeast Oregon.
Act.
The judge has now rejected all
those arguments, ruling that the
government adequately analyzed
livestock impacts on the threatened
Oregon spotted frog in light of cli-
mate change and other stressors.
The eff ects of climate change
were front and center during oral
arguments between the environ-
mental plaintiff s and the Forest Ser-
vice in May.
McShane has now disagreed
with allegations that climate change
was ignored in the “BiOp,” or bio-
logical opinion, that examined
whether grazing would jeopardize
the spotted frog’s existence under
the Endangered Species Act.
The BiOp recognized that
drought was “probably the most
severe threat” to the population of
frogs in Jack Creek, which runs
through the allotment, and that his-
toric population losses may poten-
tially be attributed to climate change
and invasive species, the judge said.
As to the specifi c future eff ect
of climate change on the spe-
cies, the plaintiff s “failed to point
to any study” that federal offi cials
should have consulted, he said. The
absence of research on this sub-
ject led the government to con-
clude that any predictions would be
“uncertain.”
“As no studies at the time exam-
ined the eff ects of climate change
on the Oregon spotted frog, any fur-
ther discussion by the agency on
this issue would have been specula-
tive,” McShane said.
Even so, the government took
a “hard look” at past weather data
as well as “future expected trends
of increased average tempera-
tures, reduced snowpack, and other
eff ects of climate change” in an
environmental study required by
NEPA, the judge said.
Aside from climate change, this
“fi nal environmental impact state-
ment,” or FEIS, also complied
with the legal requirements of the
National Forest Management Act,
the judge said.
“The Forest Service adequately
assessed the viability of Oregon
spotted frog, sensitive plants, mol-
lusks, and other sensitive spe-
cies in the FEIS and expert bot-
any report, ultimately fi nding that
the new grazing framework would
not impair these species’ viability,”
McShane said.
Contrary to the lawsuit’s claims,
the government did not disregard
the national forest plan’s goals
improve conditions in riparian
areas, including wetlands and moist
meadows, the judge said.
“Plaintiff s’ argument plainly
ignores the agency’s fi ndings
that the grazing plan will result in
‘greater periods of forage recovery
as well as reduced impacts to soils
associated with trampling,’ and
‘more effi cient use of resources and
a greater likelihood of population
recovery’ as compared to the status
quo,” he said.
The environmental groups
argued there’s no “scientifi c or prac-
tical support” for the most recent
grazing plan allowing livestock
onto 20,000 additional acres of the
allotment, but the judge rejected
this claim.
“The administrative record con-
tains suffi cient support for the For-
est Service to rationally predict
that better dispersal, and therefore
decreased impacts, will occur under
the new grazing management plan
as compared to status quo graz-
ing,” he said.
Mount Pisgah, Polk County designated
University’s
researchers fi nd Oregon’s 23rd American Viticultural Area
possible pesticide,
cancer correlation
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Researchers at the Uni-
versity of Idaho have
found a possible correla-
tion between some agri-
cultural chemicals and
cancer in adults and chil-
dren after analyzing data
in 11 western states.
Alan Kolok, direc-
tor of the university’s
Idaho Water Resources
Research Institute, and
Naveen Joseph, a postdoc-
toral fellow at the insti-
tute, with colleagues at the
Northern Arizona Univer-
sity analyzed federal and
state health and agricul-
tural data and found that
some agricultural pesti-
cides — primarily fumi-
gants — may be associ-
ated with cancer among
adults and children in the
western U.S.
“What we wanted to
do was do a geographic
approach to cancer and to
address whether or not the
trends that we saw could
be related to one or more
chemicals,” Kolok said.
They were hoping to
get closer to a causative
agent than other studies
that looked at geographic
variation in cancer untied
to any prospective initi-
ating factor. What they
found was that cancer
appeared to be linked to
the pesticide load, he said.
The researchers ana-
lyzed pesticide use and
the incidence of cancer,
weighted for population.
“We saw the same thing
over and over. Fumigants
tended to be associated
or correlated with cancer
incidence,” he said.
Digging deeper, they
found a strong association
between cancer incidence
and metam, the fumigant
used most often.
“It
doesn’t
mean
metam is causing can-
cer, but rather that it was
found to be associated
with increased cancer
incidence. We’re not try-
ing to be alarmists,” he
said.
The fi ndings mean
more research needs to be
done by laboratories that
can perform carcinogen
assessment, such as long-
term exposure in mice and
rats or cell culture experi-
ments, he said.
The research focused
on 22 pesticides used most
in the western states. They
tended to be fumigants or
herbicides.
Of the 11 states, fumi-
gants dominate in the
western region of Idaho,
Washington,
Oregon,
California and Nevada.
Herbicides dominate in
the eastern region that
includes Wyoming, Col-
SALEM — Oregon con-
tinues to add to its portfo-
lio of distinctive wine-pro-
ducing regions with the
approval of Mount Pisgah as
its 23rd American Viticul-
tural Area, or AVA.
The area, 15 miles west
of Salem in Polk County,
includes 5,530 acres, making
it Oregon’s second-smallest
AVA next to Ribbon Ridge.
However, it is one of the
state’s most densely planted
AVAs with 584 acres of
winegrapes, including Pinot
noir, Chardonnay, Pinot gris,
Pinot blanc and Tempranillo.
AVAs are designated by
the Alcohol and Tobacco
Tax and Trade Bureau,
denoting
characteristics
such as geography, climate
and soil that produce unique
or special wines. Winemak-
ers may use the appellation
as a marketing tool, adding
to the value of their product.
Brad Ford, owner and
president of Illahe Vine-
yards and Winery in Dallas,
orado, Montana, New
Mexico and Utah. The
pesticides are applied at
roughly equivalent rates
in Arizona.
Prior to the study, the
researchers weren’t aware
that fumigants dominated
in the western region of
the West and herbicides
dominated in the eastern
region.
“That was striking.
That in itself was a really
surprising fi nding that we
did not expect,” he said.
The research found
more incidences of cancer
in the states where fumi-
gants are used to produce
food such as vegetables
and fruit — as opposed to
the states that use mostly
herbicides to grow grains.
“In general, the states
farther west have higher
per capita rates of both
pediatric and adult can-
cer relative to further east.
That was surprising. …
We didn’t expect the dif-
ference in states to be as
dramatic as they are,” he
said.
It doesn’t necessarily
mean fumigants cause can-
cer; there could be another
cause. But it should be
investigated, he said.
“The power in what we
found was that we didn’t
just fi nd it once, we found
it three times,” he said.
The
same
results
showed up in two stud-
ies that assessed county
and state levels in the 11
states and the county level
in Idaho, and the fumigant
metam showed a signifi -
cant association to cancer
incidence in each study, he
said.
“Our work is really a
call to action. … It’s not a
call to alarm,” he said.
More research needs to
be done to take a closer
look, he said.
Interestingly,
the
researchers found no asso-
ciation between glypho-
sate and cancer incidence.
The herbicide has been the
target of lawsuits seeking
to associate it with cancers.
“That was surprising
to us, both atrazine and
glyphosate. We expected
them to light up (as they
have been indicated in
cancer incidence in other
studies), however, we
didn’t see that,” he said.
Piva Rafter P Ranch
Custer County, ID
1,410 Acres | $13,000,000
Ore., initially petitioned the
TTB over fi ve years ago to
establish the new AVA in
the Willamette Valley. His
application was approved
June 3 and took eff ect July
5.
To diff erentiate from a
diff erent Mount Pisgah —
also in the Willamette Val-
ley, near Eugene — the full
name of the AVA is “Mount
Pisgah, Polk County.”
“Thanks to an excel-
lent group of growers who
helped identify the most
important aspects of our
little mountain, I have no
doubt we will continue to
work together to build a
beautiful destination for
people willing to go the
extra mile,” Ford said.
Mount Pisgah is charac-
terized by several unique
geographic features, includ-
ing the warmth of the
nearby Willamette River;
mild infl uence from the Van
Duzer Corridor that funnels
cool air into the valley from
the Pacifi c Ocean; and a
rain shadow cast by Laurel
Mountain to the west.
Shallow soils covering
the area were formed over
millions of years by marine
sediment that pushed up
from the ocean. Soil type
can infl uence a wine’s color
and taste, with Pinot noir
grown in marine sediment
often described as dark
fruited with notes of black
pepper.
Plans for waterfront ballpark in Oakland move forward
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
A California agency has
cleared the way for the Oak-
land Athletics, a Major League
Baseball team better known as
the A’s, to continue planning a
$12 billion waterfront ballpark
project at a site that is currently
a shipping terminal.
The
decision
could
have ripple eff ects for ship-
pers, including agricultural
exporters.
The San Francisco Bay
Conservation and Develop-
ment Commission voted 23-2
last week to reclassify the
56-acre Howard Terminal, a
slice of industrial land at the
Port of Oakland, as a mixed-
use area where a new ballpark
and residential development
could potentially be built.
Howard Terminal cur-
rently has a 22-acre waterfront
“pop-up” yard for agricultural
exports. It stores thousands of
containers to ease congestion
at the port.
Leveraging $12 billion in
private fi nancing, the baseball
team aims to convert the site
into a waterfront ballpark that
could seat 35,000, along with
housing, a hotel and commer-
cial and retail spaces on the
land where Howard Terminal
now stands.
The government commis-
sion’s decision last week to
reclassify the site as mixed
Succor Creek Cattle Ranch
Chilly Valley Lifestyle Estate
Klamath County, OR
27 Acres | $3,250,000
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
The Illahe Vineyards near Dallas, Ore., are within the new Mount Pisgah, Polk County
American Viticulture Area.
Malheur County, OR
1,052 Acres | $5,900,000
Rio Vista Ranch
Okanogan County, WA
114 Acres | $3,350,000
www.HaydenOutdoors.com
Oakland Athletics
A rendering of the stadium and surrounding develop-
ments Oakland Athletics plans to build at Howard Ter-
minal.
use doesn’t guarantee the ball-
park and other developments
will be built, but it is the fi rst
major legal hurdle the A’s had
to overcome to get permission
to break ground for the project.
In a statement, Dave Kaval,
president of Oakland Athletics,
called the commission’s vote
“a huge win for our waterfront
ballpark project and the future
of Oakland and the A’s.”
Kaval says the project will
create jobs, housing, open
parks and “countless benefi ts
for Oakland residents.”
Oakland Mayor Libby
Schaaf also applauded the
commission’s vote.
“Today’s vote moves Oak-
land toward a more prosper-
ous future,” said the mayor.
“…We will continue to work
closely with our community
to bring this bold vision into a
beautiful reality and keep our
A’s rooted in Oakland for gen-
erations to come.”
In contrast, Thursday’s
vote came as a blow to ship-
pers, including agricultural
exporters, who say the site is
important to their industry.
Peter Friedmann, execu-
tive director of the Agricul-
ture Transportation Coalition,
recently said taking the termi-
nal space offl ine would be a
“brain-dead idea.”
At a shipping indus-
try event last month, Matt
Schrap, CEO of the Harbor
Trucking Association, a coa-
lition of intermodal car-
riers serving America’s
West Coast ports, similarly
expressed concern about
removing terminal space
from port use.
Although the A’s won the
commission’s vote, the proj-
ect still has an uphill battle
moving forward and faces
litigation.
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