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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 21, 2020)
A2 THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2020 IN BRIEF Warrenton man dies after arrest A Warrenton man died in the Clatsop County Jail after having a medical emergency, offi cials said. Alexander Jimenez, 34, was arrested Friday eve- ning by Warrenton police for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Offi cials said offi cers took Jimenez to Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria for medical clearance prior to bringing him to the jail. After Jimenez arrived at the jail, offi cials said he experienced a medical emergency in the sally port and medical staff and deputies tried to save him. He was taken to Columbia Memorial, where he later died. The major crimes team and the county medical examiner are investigating. — The Astorian Two coronavirus cases reported in Pacifi c County LONG BEACH, Wash. — Two locally confi rmed cases of the coronavirus in Pacifi c County were announced on Saturday and Sunday. Both people were isolated at home, the county said in press releases. No other details were provided. “Pacifi c County public health nurses are conduct- ing a thorough investigation to identify potential expo- sures and notify close contacts. Contact investigations are critical to track and prevent the spread of disease,” the county said. Another person who listed Pacifi c County as a resi- dence tested positive for the virus in another state. — Chinook Observer Unemployment claims near 2,500 in county Another 605 people in Clatsop County applied for unemployment insurance over the past week, part of 53,800 more claims statewide. Nearly 2,500 people in the county have applied for unemployment over the past month since President Donald Trump declared a national emergency over the coronavirus, part of around 22 million claims nation- wide and nearly 300,000 in Oregon. More than half of the claims in the county have come from the accommodations and food services industries. More than 300 retail workers have fi led for unemployment in the county with the economic slow- down, along with more than 220 health care work- ers as hospitals and clinics restrict nonemergency procedures. — The Astorian Popular osprey cam is off SEASIDE — The osprey cam at Broadway Park will not be running this year. The camera appears to have been damaged some- time over the last year and isn’t functioning, Angie Reseland, the executive director of the Necanicum Watershed Council, said. — The Astorian CORRECTION Number incorrect — The Warrenton-Hammond In School Brief District has loaned out over 150 computers to help students during the coronavirus pandemic. A story on A1 on Saturday incorrectly said the district Correction had loaned out over 500. ON THE RECORD DUII • Eva Puckett, 40, On the Record • Kiley Kristine of Warrenton, was Holdiman, 20, of War- renton, was arrested Sun- day on Olney Avenue in Astoria for driving under the infl uence of intoxi- cants. Her blood alcohol content was 0.16%. arrested Friday on N.E. Skipanon Drive in War- renton for DUII and two counts of reckless endan- germent. Her blood alcohol content was 0.16%. PUBLIC MEETINGS TUESDAY Union Health District of Clatsop County Board, 8 a.m., (teleconference). Port of Astoria Commission, 4 p.m., workshop, 10 Pier 1, Suite 209, (Zoom teleconference). Astoria Historic Landmarks Commission, 5:15 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St. Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District Board of Directors, 5:15 p.m., regular meeting; 6 p.m., budget meeting, Bob Chisholm Community Center, 1225 Avenue A, Seaside. Seaside School District Board of Directors, 6 p.m., bud- get committee meeting immediately followed by regular meeting (Zoom teleconference). WEDNESDAY Clatsop County Board of Commissioners, 5 p.m., work session; 6 p.m., meeting, (teleconference). THURSDAY Sunset Empire Transportation District Board, 9 a.m., (teleconference). PUBLIC MEETINGS Established July 1, 1873 (USPS 035-000) Published Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday by EO Media Group, 949 Exchange St., PO Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103 Telephone 503-325-3211, 800-781-3211 or Fax 503-325-6573. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Astorian, PO Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103-0210 DailyAstorian.com Circulation phone number: 503-325-3211 Periodicals postage paid at Astoria, OR ADVERTISING OWNERSHIP All advertising copy and illustrations prepared by The Astorian become the property of The Astorian and may not be reproduced for any use without explicit prior approval. COPYRIGHT © Entire contents © Copyright, 2020 by The Astorian. MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MEMBER CERTIFIED AUDIT OF CIRCULATIONS, INC. Printed on recycled paper Subscription rates Eff ective May 1, 2019 MAIL (IN COUNTY) EZpay (per month) ...............................................................................................................$11.25 13 weeks in advance ...........................................................................................................$37.00 26 weeks in advance ...........................................................................................................$71.00 52 weeks in advance ........................................................................................................ $135.00 Out of County Rates available at 800-781-3214 DIGITAL EZpay (per month) .................................................................................................................$8.00 Climate has changed farming in the Northwest By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press Pat Dudley and her hus- band, Ted Casteel, began growing wine grapes more than 40 years ago in the Eola-Amity Hills of Oregon’s lush Willamette Valley. About 50 miles south- west of Portland, their vine- yard lies in the direct path of the Van Duzer Corridor — a low point in the Coast Range where cool winds from the Pacifi c Ocean travel inland, creating the perfect cli- mate for pro- ducing pinot noir grapes. W h i l e most grapes used to make red wine varieties prefer warmer weather, pinot noir is a nota- ble exception. Lower night- time temperatures in the Eola-Amity Hills help to keep the fruit fresh, imparting higher acidity and lower alco- hol content by comparison. But climate change poses a new challenge for Oregon winemakers and their $200 million industry. Dudley, president of Bethel Heights Vineyard and a former mem- ber of the state Board of Agri- culture, said the delicate bal- ance of growing conditions may be at risk. “Everybody is talking about it,” she said. “People are starting to make diffi cult choices.” Rising average tempera- tures are affecting farm- ers and ranchers across the Northwest, altering growing seasons, threatening water supplies and, in some cases, prompting farmers to change crops or fallow land. According to the latest census by the U.S. Depart- ment of Agriculture, the aver- age age of farmers is now 58. Over their lifetime, scientifi c data reveals a warming trend correlated to an increase in greenhouse gases. Studies are now showing how that will affect everything from pre- cipitation to pest and disease pressure. Andrea Johnson Workers harvest wine grapes at Bethel Heights Vineyard in Oregon, makers of pinot noir, chardonnay and other varieties. are up 143.2% since 1970. Mote is quick to acknowl- edge that Earth’s climate is naturally variable, though scientifi c consensus is clear that the current trend is human-caused. For example, Mote com- pared the year 2015 — which saw record low snowpacks at 80% of his monitoring sites — to 1934, a similarly warm year in the Northwest. Both years were hotter than aver- age, Mote said, due partly to natural variability. How- ever, 2015 was an additional 2 degrees warmer, a phenom- enon Mote attributes to more heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. “The last few decades, (trends have) clearly emerged to the point where we can now distinguish non natural climatic changes from nat- ural climatic changes,” he said. “We’ll continue to see reduced spring snowpack and lower summer stream fl ow.” ‘EVERYBODY IS TALKING ABOUT IT. PEOPLE ARE STARTING TO MAKE DIFFICULT CHOICES.’ Snowpack declines Water supply Perhaps the biggest con- sequence of climate change for Western agriculture is decreasing mountain snow- pack, which acts as a natural reservoir for streams and riv- ers that provide fi sh and wild- life habitat, as well as irriga- tion for crops and livestock. Philip Mote, who until recently served as director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at Oregon State University, has pub- lished several studies chart- ing snow levels at nearly 700 monitoring stations across the West. The most recent study published in 2018 shows that, compared to 1955, 90% of sites had a snowpack decline. Of those, 1 in 3 sites saw sig- nifi cant declines. The biggest drops were measured during the spring in parts of West Coast states with typically mild winters. To put that in perspec- tive, Mote said the volume of water lost by April 1 each year is comparable to the West’s largest reservoir, Lake Mead, which can hold more than 26 million acre-feet of water. “It was a much larger impact than I expected,” Mote said. “It jumped off the page.” At the same time, global temperatures have gener- ally risen between 1 and 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1980 and worldwide carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and cement production Drier, warmer winters in the mountains affect run- off and irrigation supplies in many of the Northwest’s most productive agricultural regions. Irrigation means every- thing to Owyhee Produce, a sprawling operation strad- dling the arid Oregon-Idaho state line where farms typ- ically receive less than 7 inches of rain per year. Owyhee Produce is the packing and marketing arm of Froerer Farms, a third-gen- eration farm based in Nyssa. Shay Myers serves as CEO of the operation, growing 4,200 acres of onions, aspara- gus, beans, corn, mint, wheat, alfalfa and hemp. “Everything grown is dependent on irrigation,” Myers said, pointing to the desert climate. Here, sum- mer high temperatures can reach 95 degrees. Without the intricate network of irriga- tion ditches and canals, pro- ductive farms become noth- ing more than sun-baked sand and sage. Froerer Farms gets its water from the Owyhee Irrigation District, which includes Owyhee Reservoir. The 13,900-acre reservoir provides water to more than 167,000 acres of farmland. At full allotment, farmers receive 4 acre-feet of water per acre of farmland. However, Myers said lower spring runoff over the past decade has meant less water from the reservoir. Fre e Est Fast ima tes Call me ti Any Jeff Hale Painting • • • • Residential Commercial Cedar Roof Treatments Exterior Repaint Specialist Over 25 years local experience 503-440-2169 For the fi rst time since his grandfather started the farm in the late 1950s, Myers said, the farm had to leave several hundred acres fallow in 2015 and 2016, at a cost of about $400 per acre. Canals that would normally carry water through September instead went dry in August. “We’ve had less consis- tent fi lling of our reservoir, and more fallowing of our ground,” Myers said. “It’s been more exaggerated over the last 5 to 10 years.” Myers said he expects water supply volatility to continue across the region. In response, he said some farmers have drilled wells as a backup water supply, and switched from fl ood irriga- tion to drip irrigation to con- serve water. Over 90% of the onion crop is now drip-irrigated compared to just 10 to 20% 15 years ago, Myers said. The warming climate has not been entirely negative for Jeff Hale, Contractor LICENSED BONDED INSURED CCB#179131 Owyhee Produce. One bene- fi t is a longer growing season. With 30 more days on aver- age between the last frost in spring and the fi rst frost in autumn, the farm has begun growing sweet potatoes, nor- mally a subtropical crop, he said. “We could see the window of opportunity,” Myers said. Changing seasons Changes in the length and intensity of the growing sea- son also present new chal- lenges for other Northwest farmers. Gregory Jones, director of the Evenstad Center for Wine Education at Linfi eld College in McMinnville, gave a pre- sentation on climate change at the annual Oregon Wine Symposium in February. He used data from 13 long- term weather stations in agri- cultural regions around the state to illustrate the warm- ing trend between 1948 and 2015. The stations — includ- ing fi ve in the Willamette Valley, four in the Columbia Basin and six in the Rogue and Umpqua basins of s outh- ern Oregon — show aver- age temperatures during the growing season increased between 2.2 and 2.9 degrees over those 67 years. Each sta- tion also saw an additional 5 to 15 days each year of tem- peratures above 95 degrees. Growing seasons are also getting longer, with the last spring frost happening 19 to 23 days earlier, and the fi rst fall frost happening 10 to 17 days later. The longer the frost- free period, Jones said, the more likely insects can sur- vive through the winter and potentially cause more crop damage. “You can look at almost any measure of climate — warming, drying, less cold — and fi nd something that could be detrimental,” he said. A 2019 survey of more than 1,700 wine industry members showed that half of those represented expect climate change will have a strong or very strong effect on their businesses. Jones said growers are especially concerned about water scar- city, lower yields and higher demand for products like pes- ticides and herbicides. Bethel Heights Vineyard has about 50 acres of grape- vines, primarily pinot noir and chardonnay. Dudley said harvest has typically taken place during October in the Willamette Valley. In hotter years, Dudley said harvest has been pushed forward to August to avoid the wines becoming too “jammy,” referring to wine with a cooked berry sweet- ness. But that, too, poses a predicament, as picking early might not give grapes enough time for their fl avor and acid- ity to come into balance. If earlier harvests become more commonplace, Dudley said the farm is considering planting more warm-weather grape varieties such as syrah to adjust. “Every grape has its own preferences,” she said. “It’s all dependent on the climate.” While agriculture is on the front lines of climate change, growers are also in a unique position to mitigate its effects through farming practices that sequester carbon and build the soil. “When we speak to poli- cymakers and legislators, that is certainly part of the story we’re telling,” said Chris Schreiner, executive director of Oregon Tilth, a nonprofi t organization that certifi es organic farms and ranches in 49 states. Schreiner, whose family also runs a 200-acre commer- cial iris garden north of Salem, said practices like reducing tillage, planting cover crops and pasture-based livestock grazing can help to reduce erosion and improve water retention on the soil, thus making farms more resilient to a warmer climate. A study published in 2017 by the National Soil Project at Northeastern University in Boston found that soils from organic farms had 26% more potential for long-term car- bon storage and 13% more organic matter than soils from non organic farms, based on over 1,000 soil samples taken from nearly all 50 states. “Some of those organic practices that are used by organic farmers and required by organic standards have been incorporated on non- organic farms,” Schreiner added. “Non organic farms can also contribute to climate solutions by selective adop- tion of organic practices.” WANTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500
