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NORTHWEST East Oregonian Page 2A Wednesday, March 8, 2017 Oregon wolf plan moves into next phase due to be reported at the April ODFW Commission meeting, is expected to top that number. ODFW officials have described Oregon’s wolf population growth as a biological success story, and the state commission took wolves off the state endangered species list in 2015. They remain protected under the federal Endan- gered Species Act in areas west of U.S. highways 395, 78 and 95. The state management plan hinges on the number of breeding pairs, defined as two adult wolves that produce at least two pups that survive through the end of the year. Oregon counted nine breeding pairs at the end of 2014, 11 in 2015 and eight at the end of 2016. Western Oregon remains in the first phase of wolf management, with protec- tions matching those imple- mented when wolves were listed as endangered. The eight packs in eastern Oregon are known as the Meacham and Walla Walla packs (Umatilla County); Catherine (Union County); and Snake River, Chesnimnus, Wenaha, Minam and a group of unnamed wolves (Wallowa County). — The Associated Press contributed to this report. By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Bureau SALEM — The latest count of Oregon wolves shows there are eight breeding pairs in Eastern Oregon, meaning state wildlife officials move into a management plan phase that potentially could ease restrictions on killing them if they decimate deer and elk herds or chronically attack livestock. Under Oregon’s wolf plan, three consecutive years of at least seven breeding pairs advances the state into what’s known as Phase III management. The ODFW Commission is scheduled to receive the annual wolf report at its April 21 meeting in Klamath Falls. Oregon Wild, the Port- land-based conservation group that has been heavily involved in development of the state’s wolf plan, called the count of breeding pairs “heartening” but warned it could lead to wolves being killed by “trophy hunting” or under the plan’s “controlled take” provision. “Controlled take” means wolves can be killed if they are causing declines in elk and deer populations or are involved in chronic livestock attacks. Arran Robertson, Oregon Wild spokesman, said the group worries the Courtesy of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Snake River pack captured by a remote camera pho- to taken Feb. 1 in Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. Wildlife officials say the state has eight breed- ing pair and has moved into a new phase of wolf management. policy will be used to kill wolves. He said more deer are lost to poachers than to wolves. ODFW spokesman Rick Hargrave said the wolf plan does not allow a general hunting season on wolves. “This policy differentiates Oregon from other states like Idaho and Montana which currently allow general season hunting of wolves,” he said in an email. Hargrave said ODFW has no immediate plans to propose controlled take of any wolves in Oregon. The five-year update to the Wolf Management Plan will provide clarity regarding this issue. Farmers oppose plan for ‘show-up pay,’ citing unpredictable weather In a prepared statement, ODFW wolf biologist Russ Morgan said the state will continue to prioritize “non-lethal solutions to wolf conflicts.” “Take (killing) of wolves can only be considered as a management response in very specific situations and there are no plans for controlled take at this time,” Morgan said in the state- ment. Oregon’s wolf population has grown steadily in the decade since the first wolves migrated from Idaho into Northeast Oregon. The state had a minimum of 110 wolves at the end of 2015, and the 2016 count, By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Bureau SALEM — Oregon farmers would dodge a key requirement of two bills aimed at improving schedule predictability for workers but still face a “show-up pay” requirement for canceled shifts. Under House Bill 2193 and Senate Bill 828, large employers in the retail, food service and hospitality industries would have to provide workers with addi- tional compensation if their schedules are changed with less than two weeks’ notice, among other provisions. Proponents say the bills are necessary because workers in these sectors often contend with schedule disruptions that prevent them from pursuing an education, obtaining adequate childcare or even getting sufficient sleep. Critics say it’s unrealistic for employers to plan two weeks ahead for canceled events, family emergencies, unforeseen worker depar- tures and other incidents that can upend schedules. While agriculture isn’t included in the two weeks’ notice requirement, farmers would nonetheless have to compensate workers who show up for a shift that’s shortened or canceled with less than 24 hours’ notice. The employer would then pay workers at their regular wage for the missing hours, or four hours, whichever is less. Farmers have objected to this provision because foul weather can unexpectedly delay harvests or other oper- After hard winter, Oregon snowpack rebounds GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press The average statewide snowpack for Oregon is well above normal for March after a harsh winter that featured heavy snow across much of the state. However, hydrologists warn that an early thaw could quash hopes for above-average summer stream flows. Snowpack levels as of March 1 were 138 percent of normal, according to numbers released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. The service conducts the surveys monthly during the water year, which runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, said Scott Oviatt, a snow survey supervisory hydrologist for the USDA service. The last time Oregon’s snowpack was well above normal on March 1 was in 2008, when it was 157 percent of normal. Last year, the snowpack was 94 percent of normal at the end of February. The news came as a boon for farmers, ranchers and irrigators who have weath- ered several years of drought in much of Eastern Oregon. If the weather remains cool and the snow doesn’t melt until late spring, above-average stream levels could replenish drinking water supplies and also mean good news for migrating salmon, Oviatt said. “Snow accumulation during February was twice the normal amount at many monitoring locations,” he said. Last year, excitement about near-average snow- pack levels evaporated when unusually warm April weather melted the snow early, depriving farmers, salmon and reservoir oper- ators of late-season runoff they needed. All basins in the state have received well-above- average precipitation for the 2017 water year. Lake County and Goose Lake basins have gotten the most, at 152 percent of average, while Mt. Hood, Sandy and the Lower Deschutes basins have had 111 percent of normal precipitation, the service said. Lake Owyhee Reservoir, near the Idaho border, is now at 128 percent of average after several years of water levels that were well below average. The lake is now storing more than 500,000 acre-feet of water for the first time since 2012, Oviatt said. Heavy snow has also meant reservoirs in Malheur and Baker counties are the fullest they’ve been in years, he added. Didn’t receive your paper? Call 1-800-522-0255 before noon Tuesday through Friday or before 10 a.m. Saturday for same-day redelivery — Founded Oct. 16, 1875 — 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211 333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211 Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed major holidays SUBSCRIPTION RATES Local home delivery Savings off cover price EZPay $14.50 41 percent 52 weeks $173.67 41 percent 26 weeks $91.86 38 percent 13 weeks $47.77 36 percent *EZ Pay = one-year rate with a monthly credit or debit card/check charge www.eastoregonian.com To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255 or go online to www.eastoregonian.com and click on ‘Subscribe’ East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday, Monday and Dec. 25, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Single copy price: $1 Tuesday through Friday, $1.50 Saturday Copyright © 2017, EO Media Group REGIONAL CITIES Forecast TODAY FRIDAY THURSDAY Cloudy with a shower Chilly with periods of rain 48° 42° 49° 46° A couple of showers SATURDAY Cloudy PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 58° 37° 55° 43° 58° 42° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 51° 46° 52° 42° PENDLETON through 3 p.m. yesterday TEMPERATURE HIGH LOW 49° 53° 75° (1904) 33° 33° 19° (1931) PRECIPITATION 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date Trace 0.36" 0.25" 4.28" 2.81" 2.76" HERMISTON through 3 p.m. yesterday TEMPERATURE HIGH Yesterday Normals Records LOW 51° 55° 75° (1979) 30° 32° 14° (1931) PRECIPITATION 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date 0.01" 0.15" 0.23" 3.61" 1.92" 2.47" SUN AND MOON Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today Full Last Mar 12 Mar 20 55° 43° 62° 44° Seattle 43/38 ALMANAC Yesterday Normals Records 61° 35° New 6:21 a.m. 5:52 p.m. 1:55 p.m. 4:00 a.m. First Mar 27 Apr 3 Today SUNDAY Cloudy with a couple of showers Spokane Wenatchee 39/30 41/27 Tacoma Moses 44/37 Lake Pullman Aberdeen Olympia Yakima 48/32 41/34 43/35 43/36 50/31 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 47/41 49/43 Lewiston 53/40 Astoria 47/37 47/39 Portland Enterprise Hermiston 50/44 Pendleton 43/36 The Dalles 52/42 48/42 54/37 La Grande Salem 46/39 52/48 Albany Corvallis 51/47 53/49 John Day 52/44 Ontario Eugene Bend 53/39 53/49 50/40 Caldwell Burns 57/43 44/34 Astoria Baker City Bend Brookings Burns Enterprise Eugene Heppner Hermiston John Day Klamath Falls La Grande Meacham Medford Newport North Bend Ontario Pasco Pendleton Portland Redmond Salem Spokane Ukiah Vancouver Walla Walla Yakima Hi 47 48 50 53 44 43 53 47 52 52 51 46 43 56 50 55 53 54 48 50 53 52 39 43 49 49 50 Lo 39 35 40 49 34 36 49 40 42 44 40 39 37 48 46 51 39 38 42 44 37 48 30 36 44 43 31 W r c sh r sh c r c c c c c c sh r r sh c c r sh r c c r c c Hi 50 49 52 55 50 45 57 49 51 54 56 48 47 61 53 56 52 50 49 52 57 55 41 46 52 48 50 Today Beijing Hong Kong Jerusalem London Mexico City Moscow Paris Rome Seoul Sydney Tokyo Lo 32 63 49 48 50 33 51 43 26 64 38 W s c s r pc s sh s pc c pc Lo 43 38 43 47 35 40 47 43 46 48 39 44 43 46 47 49 43 45 46 46 41 48 37 41 47 45 38 W r r r r c r r r r r c r r r r r c r r r r r r r r r c Thu. Hi 60 69 71 59 72 43 57 65 49 73 55 (in mph) Klamath Falls 51/40 Boardman Pendleton Lo 30 67 51 45 50 31 47 44 27 64 41 W s c s c pc s sh s s pc s REGIONAL FORECAST Coastal Oregon: Rain at times today into tomorrow. Friday: cloudy with a couple of showers. Eastern and Central Oregon: Cloudy today. A couple of showers; arriving during the afternoon in the south. Western Washington: Occasional rain today. Eastern Washington: Ice in the mountains today; a shower near the Idaho border. Cloudy across the south and Cascades. Partly sunny in north, central parts. Cascades: Cloudy today with spotty show- ers. Rain at times tonight. Periods of rain tomorrow. Northern California: Mostly cloudy today; periods of rain; however, dry in the interior mountains. Today Thursday WSW 7-14 WSW 6-12 NNE 4-8 ENE 6-12 UV INDEX TODAY Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. 0 2 2 1 0 NEWS • To submit news tips and press releases: • call 541-966-0818 • fax 541-276-8314 • email news@eastoregonian.com • To submit community events, calendar items and Your EO News: email community@eastoregonian.com or call Tammy Malgesini at 541-564-4539 or Renee Struthers in at 541-966-0818. • To submit engagements, weddings and anniversaries: email rstruthers@eastoregonian.com or visit www.eastoregonian. com/community/announcements • To submit a Letter to the Editor: mail to Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com. • To submit sports or outdoors information or tips: 541-966-0838 • sports@eastoregonian.com COMMERCIAL PRINTING Production Manager: Mike Jensen 541-215-0824 • mjensen@eastoregonian.com Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. WORLD CITIES Hi 55 67 62 57 72 40 57 60 42 72 50 Classified & Legal Advertising 1-800-962-2819 or 541-278-2678 classifieds@eastoregonian.com or legals@eastoregonian.com NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY Thu. WINDS Medford 56/48 Corrections The East Oregonian works hard to be accurate and sincerely regrets any errors. If you notice a mistake in the paper, please call 541-966-0818. Advertising Director: Marissa Williams 541-278-2669 • addirector@eastoregonian.com Advertising Services: Laura Jensen 541-966-0806 • ljensen@eastoregonian.com Multimedia Consultants: • Terri Briggs 541-278-2678 • tbriggs@eastoregonian.com • Danni Halladay 541-278-2683 • dhalladay@eastoregonian.com • Jeanne Jewett 541-564-4531 • jjewett@eastoregonian.com • Chris McClellan 541-966-0827 • cmcclellan@eastoregonian.com • Stephanie Newsom 541-278-2687 • snewsom@eastoregonian.com • Dayle Stinson 541-278-2670 • dstinson@eastoregonian.com • Audra Workman 541-564-4538 • aworkman@eastoregonian.com Subscriber services: For home delivery, vacation stops or delivery concerns: 1-800-522-0255 ations, so requiring “show-up pay” would unreasonably impose a heavy financial strain. “Weather plays a big role and we have no control over this,” said Anne Krahmer, whose family raises blueber- ries in the Willamette Valley, during a March 6 hearing on HB 2193. Krahmer said she closely watches weather forecasts and communicates with workers, but has nonetheless been forced to cancel berry- picking after only an hour or two due to rain. If she had to pay 150 workers an average of $15 for each of the four hours they didn’t harvest fruit, the cost would come to $9,000 for a single day. “It would only take a few days to put me out of business at this rate,” Krahmer said. Apart from “show-up pay,” growers are concerned about provisions related to a worker’s right to request a flexible schedule, said Jenny Dresler, state public policy director for the Oregon Farm Bureau. Employers must keep records of every conver- sation with workers about requested schedule changes, creating another unrealistic paperwork obligation, she said. “If those conversations are happening out in the field, that’s really absurd,” Dresler said. Under the bills, inter- fering with a worker’s right to request schedule changes would be considered retali- ation, an unlawful employ- ment practice that’s penal- ized by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries. The Oregon Farm Bureau is concerned that “inter- fering” can be interpreted too broadly to accuse employers of retaliation, Dresler said. “It sets up a ‘gotcha’ for small business.” Bills would require compensation for canceled or shortened shifts 0 8 a.m. 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m. 0-2, Low 3-5, Moderate 6-7, High; 8-10, Very High; 11+, Extreme The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index™ num- ber, the greater the need for eye and skin protection. Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2017 -10s -0s showers t-storms 0s 10s rain 20s flurries 30s 40s snow ice 50s 60s cold front 70s 80s 90s 100s warm front stationary front 110s high low National Summary: Showers and thunderstorms will mark the leading edge of colder air along the Atlantic coast today. Winds will roar over the North Central states. Rain and mountain snow will push inland over the Northwest. Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 89° in McAllen, Texas Low -4° in Bryce Canyon, Utah NATIONAL CITIES Today Albuquerque Atlanta Atlantic City Baltimore Billings Birmingham Boise Boston Charleston, SC Charleston, WV Chicago Cleveland Dallas Denver Detroit El Paso Fairbanks Fargo Honolulu Houston Indianapolis Jacksonville Kansas City Las Vegas Little Rock Los Angeles Hi 68 69 57 64 46 69 55 56 79 62 53 56 74 66 51 80 -7 27 80 72 58 81 68 77 70 85 Lo 41 43 46 41 27 42 43 38 47 42 30 34 57 38 30 51 -27 9 67 61 37 53 38 56 44 58 W pc pc pc pc c s pc r pc s s pc pc s pc pc s pc pc pc s pc s s s s Thur. Hi 72 74 59 65 30 74 57 49 76 67 45 44 79 69 44 83 3 19 79 77 59 80 71 81 71 86 Lo 41 54 39 36 17 55 46 30 52 44 25 29 62 40 22 50 -8 -7 67 64 30 55 32 58 56 58 W s s s s sn s c s s s pc pc pc pc pc pc pc pc sh t pc s pc s pc s Today Louisville Memphis Miami Milwaukee Minneapolis Nashville New Orleans New York City Oklahoma City Omaha Philadelphia Phoenix Portland, ME Providence Raleigh Rapid City Reno Sacramento St. Louis Salt Lake City San Diego San Francisco Seattle Tucson Washington, DC Wichita Hi 64 71 80 48 35 68 69 61 72 62 61 85 50 57 68 51 60 68 67 56 78 64 43 87 65 71 Lo 43 46 68 27 21 43 60 43 46 32 44 57 34 38 43 28 36 46 44 40 57 51 38 53 45 41 W s s pc s s s pc pc s s pc pc r r pc pc pc pc s pc s s r pc pc s Thur. Hi 70 73 81 43 35 74 75 57 79 57 62 86 43 52 76 42 66 73 72 60 77 65 44 87 68 76 Lo 42 55 67 21 7 52 63 37 48 23 39 59 21 29 47 14 38 48 35 42 57 51 42 54 43 37 Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice. W pc pc s c c s pc s pc pc s s s s s c pc pc t pc s pc r s s pc
