A6
OREGON
East Oregonian
Thursday, March 17, 2022
Emergency rental assistance deadline extended
By PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
SA LEM — O regon
households behind on their
rent will have a few more
days to apply for emergency
rental assistance because of
a late infusion of $16 million
in federal aid.
The new deadline for
applications is 11:59 p.m.
Monday, March 21. Incom-
plete applications, which
must be started by the fi rst
deadline, must be completed
by March 28.
The Oregon Housing
and Community Services
Department had announced
last week it would close the
online portal for applications
on March 14. It had closed
the portal on Dec. 1, then
reopened it on Jan. 26. Since
the reopening, almost 25,000
new applications have been
fi led in addition to thousands
that have not been processed.
Under state law, tenants
are shielded from eviction
proceedings for nonpay-
ment of rent if they show
proof of application to their
landlords, and as long as the
application is under review.
Approvals are based on
need, not on a fi rst-come,
fi rst-served basis.
The $16 million from the
U.S. Treasury is in addition
to $100 million approved by
the Oregon Legislature at a
Dec. 13 special session, plus
$1.1 million released by the
Treasury afterward and $13
million that the state hous-
ing agency was able to divert
from housing stabilization
programs.
Still, Gov. Kate Brown
and Oregon’s congressio-
nal delegation had urged the
Treasury for $198 million
in addition to the state’s
original allocation of $289
million, which the housing
agency and its partners have
now committed or spent
to help more than 40,000
households. Oregon also has
spent $200 million in state
funds approved in Decem-
ber 2020.
“Our message to U.S.
Treasury remains loud and
clear: If other states have
money they can’t use, send
those dollars to Oregon,” Jill
Smith, inter director of hous-
ing stabilization for the state
agency, said in a statement.
Oregon is among the top
states in its share of emer-
gency rental assistance
paid out, according to the
National Low-Income Hous-
ing Coalition. The Treasury
is in the process of reallocat-
ing emergency rental assis-
tance that other states and
communities failed to spend.
The state program is
assisted by Public Partner-
ships LLC and community
action agencies through-
out Oregon. Five counties
and the city of Portland also
received federal money for
rental assistance.
DOJ hires anti-poaching prosecutor
Republican, as a member of
his traveling security detail
and handled veteran legisla-
SALEM — The Oregon tive issues.
Department of Justice has
Upon ret ur ning to
hired a special prosecutor to Oregon, Hall initially
crack down on illegal poach- worked as a reserve deputy
ing.
sheriff in Deschutes County.
Jay D. Hall joined the DOJ He went on to earn his law
in February as a new assis- degree from the University of
tant attorney general after 12 Oregon, graduating magna
years with the Lane County cum laude. From there, he
District Attorney’s Offi ce in joined the Lane County
Eugene, where he made his District Attorney’s Offi ce.
mark prosecuting fi sh and
T he hir ing of an
wildlife crimes.
anti-poaching pros-
ecutor marks the
In 2010, Hall was
named Prosecutor
fi nal step in a three-
pronged campaign
of the Year by the
Oregon State Police
to fi ght poaching in
for using the Rack-
Oregon.
eteering Infl uenced
In 2019, state
and Corrupt Orga-
lawmakers
approved
Hall
nization statutes, or
$4.2 million to
RICO, to topple an organized establish the Stop Poaching
poaching ring that killed Campaign. Part of the money
more than 300 deer and elk. was set aside for education
Capt. Casey Thomas, and awareness; part was
with OSP’s Fish and Wild- used to hire four new OSP
life Division, said Hall will Fish and Wildlife troopers
work with state troopers, the and one new sergeant; and
Oregon Department of Fish part was earmarked for the
and Wildlife and local pros- new prosecutor.
ecutors to provide training
Yvonne Shaw, campaign
and resources that will help coordinator with ODFW,
discourage poaching.
said hiring Shaw is “a
“(Hall) brings an impres- big step forward in our
sive resume to this position,” campaign.”
“This is a wake-up call
Thomas said.
Before he was a prosecu- for poachers,” Shaw said.
tor, Hall served as a sergeant “There are going to be some
in the U.S. Marine Corps. He repercussions for what
later worked for former U.S. they’re doing.”
Rep. Bill Young, a Florida
According to the latest
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Audrey Comerford/Contributed Photo
An agritourism farm stand by County Line Flowers in Harrisburg.
OSU Extension Service
off ers agritourism course
By SIERRA DAWN
MCCLAIN
Capital Press
CORVALLIS — The
Oregon State University
Extension Service is start-
ing a new online training
course this year for farmers
statewide interested in start-
ing or expanding agritourism
ventures.
The purpose of the course
is twofold. First, it is to help
producers explore new oppor-
tunities for generating income.
Second, it is to help them avoid
common pitfalls of agritourism.
“As a participant, you will
learn about the types of agri-
cultural tourism and deter-
mine if it is a good fi t for your
whole farm business,” said
Melissa Fery, associate profes-
sor of practice with the Small
Farms Program and one of the
program’s instructors.
Agritourism is on the rise in
Oregon. Many farmers say it is
an opportunity to make addi-
tional income, boost a farm’s
popularity and expose urban-
ites to farm life.
However, agritourism also
carries risks and costs. Accord-
ing to Jim Johnson, land use
and water planning coordina-
tor at the state Department of
Agriculture, common chal-
lenges in agritourism include
land use violations, permitting
problems, unhappy neighbors
and liability issues sometimes
escalating to litigation.
The new training course
was designed in part to help
farmers navigate or avoid
these issues.
LEARN MORE
Comerford
Fery
The course was funded by
a grant from USDA’s National
Institute of Food and Agricul-
ture managed by the Western
Center for Risk Management
Education.
The curriculum was
created by OSU Extension
instructors Audrey Comer-
ford, agritourism coordinator
and Fery, of the Small Farms
Program.
“We felt agritourism is an
opportunity for farmers, but
there’s also a lot that goes into
decision-making, including
laws and regulations,” said
Fery. “We wanted farmers
and ranchers that are consid-
ering some kind of agritourism
to be able to do so on a correct
pathway.”
The online course, Fery
said, will be self-paced so that
farmers can complete it at their
convenience.
The curriculum includes
text, videos and worksheets
about managing risk, under-
standing legal requirements,
marketing farm businesses
effectively, hospitality and
customer service. Farmers
will also have the opportunity
to consult with course instruc-
tors.
Fery said OSU plans to
off er the course long-term and
eventually hopes to make it
available year-round, but for
Register:
To get more informa-
tion and register for the
course, visit the class
website Developing a
Successful Agritourism
Business in Oregon or the
OSU Agricultural Tourism
website.
Partner organizations
supporting the course
include:
Travel Oregon
High Desert Food and
Farm Alliance
Benton, Deschutes, Jack-
son, Lane, Linn, Marion
and Polk counties
Oregon Farm Bureau
Willamette Valley Visitors
Association
Strategic Economic De-
velopment Corporation
SALEM — The Oregon
Transportation Commission
has decided the state’s share
of flexible funds from the
federal government should
not go toward new highway
expansions.
The commission directed
the staff of the Oregon
Department of Transportation
to revise its options. About
$400 million in transportation
money from the federal infra-
structure bill, which President
Joe Biden signed Nov. 15, will
be divided among mainte-
nance projects for roads and
bridges, safe routes to school
and improvements on state
highways that function as
main streets in communities.
The commission heard
more comments at a meeting
Thursday, March 10, after
which members refi ned what
had been four scenarios for
spending $214 million of the
$412 million in fl exible funds.
“We are committed to
preserving the existing trans-
portation network and invest-
ing in a range of improvements
to reduce congestion and
harmful emissions, and to
support improved safety, elec-
tric vehicles, transit and local
improvements,” commis-
sion Chairman Robert Van
Brocklin said. “The proposed
scenarios will allow ODOT to
invest in Oregon’s transporta-
tion system in these and other
important ways.”
The commission will
decide March 30 on the exact
mix to be divided among the
list of maintenance projects,
known as Fix-It, plus safe
routes to school and improved
highways that function as
main streets. It will decide
March
26-27
Saturday 9:00 am–5:00 pm
Sunday
9:00 am–3:00 pm
DESCHUTES COUNT Y
FAIR & EXPO CENTER
REDMOND
the first year, the course is
only open to new participants
this spring. The deadline to
register for the 2022 course is
March 31.
The cost is $20, which pays
for maintenance of the website
learning platform. Schol-
arships are available upon
request.
Fery said she’s excited
about the opportunity for
farms to expand or begin
successful agritourism enter-
prises. There are many possi-
bilities, she said, ranging from
a crop farm selling value-
added products to a sheep
rancher teaching an on-farm
fi ber arts class.
State panel: No new federal funds to
be used for highway enhancements
By PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
data from ODFW, poachers
illegally killed at least 447
big game animals in 2020
— up from 324 in 2019.
That includes 220 deer, 161
elk, 15 pronghorn, 13 bears,
four bobcats, two wolves,
one cougar and one bighorn
sheep.
Several wolf poaching
cases have also garnered
headlines in recent months.
Eight wolves were poisoned
in northeast Oregon last year,
including all fi ve members of
the Catherine wolf pack in
Union County.
Two wolves were also
found killed in the same
region earlier this year,
including one near Wallowa
on Jan. 8 and one near Cove
on Feb. 15.
Only a fraction of cases
are reported to authorities,
Shaw said. Oregon has vast
landscapes and waterways,
and the crimes often take
place at night, which makes
poaching diffi cult to detect.
“That is why it’s so
important to have this
campaign,” Shaw said. “We
really rely on public involve-
ment to report these cases.”
Oregon relies on its Turn-
In-Poachers program, or TIP,
on which callers can anon-
ymously report poaching
and claim a cash reward.
The program is coopera-
tively managed by OSP,
ODFW and the Oregon
Hunters Association.
money afterward for specifi c
projects within these catego-
ries; some projects will start
this summer.
The $400 million-plus is
part of Oregon’s $1.2 billion
that will come to the Depart-
ment of Transportation during
the next fi ve years.
This amount counts about
$800 million the federal
law earmarks for specific
purposes, such as bridge
repairs, charging stations for
electric vehicles and programs
to reduce greenhouse gases.
It excludes about $200
million that larger metropoli-
tan areas will get for transpor-
tation directly from the federal
government. It also excludes
money for broadband, water
and sewer line upgrades that
will not go through ODOT.
Transit agencies also will
share $200 million they will
get directly.
•
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