2B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
THuRSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2020
BUSINESS & AG LIFE
Farm groups call for ag transportation bill
By Sierra Dawn McClain
Capital Press
WASHINGTON,
D.C. — Farm groups are
pressing Congress to pass
a new bill that would make
transporting agricultural
goods easier.
Advocates say the
Haulers of Agriculture
and Livestock Safety, or
HAULS, Act of 2020,
would help accommo-
date seasonal spikes in
the transportation of
food, fiber, live animals
and other agricultural
commodities.
“Ag is a unique segment
of the transportation sector.
It involves a lot of perish-
able goods, and in some
cases, live animals like
chickens, pigs and cattle.
We need more flexibility
and common-sense legis-
lation,” Andrew Walmsley,
director of congressional
relations at the American
Farm Bureau Federation,
told the Capital Press.
The HAULS Act, if
passed, would do three
main things.
First, it would eliminate
“planting and harvesting
periods” requirements
that exist under current
law. Advocates say these
requirements are outdated
and constrict drivers under
Maegan Murray/EO Media Group File/Capital Press
Advocates say the Haulers of Agriculture and Livestock Safety, or HAULS, Act of 2020, would make transporting agri-
cultural goods safer and easier.
the false assumption that
agricultural products only
need to be moved during
certain times of the year.
Many states have
already adopted exemp-
tions, but some exemptions
are temporary, and some
states still operate under
the rules. The HAULS
Act would accommodate
year-round transportation
nationwide.
Second, the bill would
build in extra time — 150
air-miles worth, typi-
cally equivalent to a few
hours — for drivers. Under
existing law, drivers are
required to stop and rest
once they’ve used up their
hours, even if that means
they stop just short of their
destination with a load of
live animals in their truck.
“It doesn’t make sense.
You can’t just shut down
after 15 hours and sit there
for 10 hours to rest with
a full load of cattle. It’s
not like boxes of T-shirts
or televisions,” said
Walmsley.
Exemptions already
exist on the front end — in
other words, extra time is
built in on the loading side
for animals or commodi-
ties — but this bill would
build in extra time for off-
loading, too.
More than 100 farm
organizations support the
bill.
“(The) legislation allows
producers like myself
to continue to keep the
supply of fresh Amer-
ican lamb running, while
ensuring the safety and
welfare of our sheep and
lambs during transport,”
Benny Cox, president
of the American Sheep
Industry Association, said
in a statement.
Marty Smith, president
of the National Cattlemen’s
Beef Association, said the
bill will relieve livestock
haulers and producers
who have for years been
“unduly burdened.”
Third, the HAULS Act
would broaden the defi-
nition of an “agricultural
commodity” to match
modern agricultural sec-
tors and on-farm pro-
cessing standards.
The bill faces opposi-
tion from truckers’ unions
and labor groups, who
say workers should not
have to drive additional
hours when tired. Advo-
cates respond the bill still
encourages driver safety,
but builds in flexibility.
Legislative experts say
the bill, which was intro-
duced by U.S. Sen. Deb
Fischer, R-Neb., has bipar-
tisan support, but has been
stalled because of COVID-
19, the election and other
priorities.
Walmsley of the Farm
Bureau said his organiza-
tion will continue to advo-
cate the bill this session
— and if need be, again in
January.
BURNS
Continued from Page 1B
the majority of what was
cleaned out through fire a
year ago. Moeller said 942
acres of pile burning was
done last year, compared to
just 167 acres of prescribed
burning.
He said Forest Service
personnel conducting the
burns will move to do so if
the right conditions are met
but added it’s unlikely there
will be much burned this
year.
“The weather will not be
conducive, likely, this fall to
do those,” Moeller said.
Fargo explained the
high number of acres listed
to potentially be burned
by what he termed “good
fire” is partly for planning
purposes.
“We want to have a lot
of opportunities out there,
if conditions are right, for
a prescribed fire,” he said.
“That would be the simple
explanation for why there
are so many acres on board,
so that we have multiple
opportunities across the
landscape.”
Several groups give their
input when areas to receive
Liz Meyer/Contributed Photo
Community Kindness of Eastern Oregon is expand-
ing its store’s physical footprint, taking over the space
next to the nonprofit thrift store at 1315 Adams Ave., La
Grande.
STORE
Mark Moeller/U.S. Forest Service
A prescribed burn takes place in the Puderbaugh fire unit in 2018. Puderbaugh is among
five fire units in Wallowa County, totaling nearly 11,500 acres, under consideration for
prescribed burning this fall, though it’s unlikely all of that acreage will indeed be burned.
The U.S. Forest Service also has plans for large burns in Baker and Union counties.
prescribed burns are recom-
mended, including area fire
management officers, Forest
Service leadership and part-
ners such as Oregon Smoke
Management.
The Northeast Oregon
District is coming off one
of the best summers in
recent history with just
253.5 acres burned and just
more than 10 in Wallowa
County, according to the
Oregon Department of For-
estry. That, though, doesn’t
mean the prescribed burns
should stop.
“The way our fuel man-
agement and prescribed
fires program looks at the
LOGGING
Continued from Page 1B
left in a few hours.”
For several days, it was
touch and go for the couple,
not knowing whether the
fire — which got within one
mile of their property —
would continue marching
toward them or be redi-
rected by winds. They
stayed with family and
friends for a few nights.
“I was on the phone con-
stantly with folks from
Guistina, Cascade Timber
Consulting and Weyerhae-
user,” Hufford said. “And
then my crew got called to
help fight fires. We have
eight guys counting myself
and most have been with us
a long time.”
Hufford said the fire set
his company back 30 years
in terms of equipment.
“We lost our best, newest
and fastest equipment,”
Hufford said. “Our yarder
was a 1999 and was 70 feet
tall. Now, we’re using a
backup that was made in
1987 and is 50-feet tall. It’s
OK as a backup, but it’s
pretty old to be using every
day.”
A new yarder costs about
$1.2 million, plus another
$10,000 for rigging.
Also lost was a stroker,
valued at $500,000, a
shovel (excavator) valued
at $400,000 and a sky car
valued at $100,000.
“Now, we don’t have any
backup equipment,” Huf-
ford said. “We have insur-
Pete Sikora/Contributed Photo
A timber faller provided by one of Giustina Resource’s log-
ging contractors work to remove snags from the Holiday
Farm Fire east of Eugene. Many timber companies have
been impacted by wildfires this year.
ance, but we are waiting
to hear how that plays out.
It will probably take six to
eight weeks to get it figured
out. This could put us out of
business, but I think we will
survive.”
On the fire lines
Hufford said his crew
was off work for a couple
days and then they got
called to help fight fires.
“Nobody knew what was
going on those two days,”
Hufford said.
Hufford’s crew fought
the fire for seven days on
property owned by Camp-
bell Global above Cougar
Reservoir.
“It was so smoky,” Huf-
ford said. “We were on the
front line of the fire and at
one point, we were told to
‘get out now.’”
Hufford said that Brett
Graham of Sweet Home
brought in a bulldozer and
cut several miles of fire
line. Hufford said the fire
kept producing sparks or
embers that were carried by
the wind to start new fires.
His crew worked from his
1,000-gallon fire truck.
Hufford said that in addi-
tion to the loss of equip-
resources is over the long
term — over a five-, 10-,
15-, 20-year and more
period,” Fargo said, “and
anticipating that the vegeta-
tion will continue to grow,
and in the absence of ben-
eficial fire, (there will) be
conditions that are primed
for more destructive fires.”
ment, huge log decks were
destroyed.
“Nobody thinks about
that, but there were lots of
logs that had already been
harvested and were decked
up waiting to be hauled,”
Hufford said. “Lots of hours
went into building those
decks and they were worth
a lot of money.”
Hufford said he isn’t sure
if he will be paid for that
loss.
“The cutters who felled
the trees also don’t know if
they will get paid,” Hufford
said.
Hufford said he has con-
sidered “getting out of log-
ging,” but he doesn’t know
what he would do instead.
“A lot will depend on
whether we will be allowed
to salvage the trees,” Huf-
ford said. “There is a two-
to three-year window to do
that. There’s also the long-
term question of whether
there will be enough seed-
lings to replant since there
have been about seven
million acres burned in
California, Oregon and
Washington.”
Hufford said that even
when the fire is deemed out,
it may be difficult to work.
“Our yarder needs strong
trees or stumps to anchor to
so it won’t tip over,” Huf-
ford said. “And, for cutters
and choker setters, there is
no underbrush to hold rocks
and stuff from sliding. This
winter, rain could make
things really slick since
there isn’t any grass left.”
The cause of the Hol-
Continued from Page 1B
online. Meyer said this
helps keep track of inven-
tory, and the website will
be updated frequently with
new selections. Online
purchases are for pickup
only and must be retrieved
by the next businesses day.
“We will sell to anyone
who can pick up their pur-
chase at our physical loca-
tion the next day we are
open,” he said. “Basically,
we are mainly selling to
iday Farm Fire remains
unknown, but at its peak,
the fire had a 260-mile
perimeter. The blaze con-
sumed more than 500 struc-
tures. The Holiday Farm
Fire was one of three major
fire complexes that started
on Labor Day.
The Beachie Creek Fire
that began in the Opal
Creek Wilderness Area
and the Lionshead Fire that
was blown into the San-
tiam Canyon from Cen-
tral Oregon devastated the
towns along the North San-
tiam River at the same time
the Holiday Farm Fire was
blasting Linn and Lane
county.
Freres battles back
The Freres family has
operated mills and tree
farms for nearly 100 years
in the Lyons area. They lost
7,500 acres of timber lands,
but according to company
president Rob Freres, did
not lose any logging equip-
ment, although contractors
working for them did.
“The owner of Skycar
Logging lost three pieces
• At freeway exit
• Fuel
• Restaurant
• Clean bathrooms
• Convenience Store
• Interesting Gifts
• Food to go
• Bus Terminal
• Barber Shop
• Showers
• Shorepower electric
• LPG
• Dump Station
• 4 hotels adjacent
• 1 mile from downtown
local people. We want to
be sure to keep our sales
as local as possible. Our
items have been donated
locally and we really do
try to offer them back to
our local community.”
The move online also
will help the store gain
more exposure in the
community, Meyer said,
which means more growth
and more ways for the
nonprofit to stay true to its
motto: “Serving our Com-
munity through Acts of
Kindness, Integrity and
Love.”
of equipment,” Freres said.
“He is of retirement age
and decided to not pur-
chase new equipment, but
another company lost a
couple pieces of equipment,
ordered new equipment
while the fires were still
burning and has already
received them.”
The Freres family has
operated businesses in the
Santiam Canyon since 1922
and posted a message on
the internet that they plan
to begin salvage logging
immediately.
“We are putting seven
logging sites into com-
pany grounds this week and
next,” Freres said. “We plan
to stay there this year and
into the next.”
Freres said there is a
two-year window to sal-
vage the burned timber. The
company plans to harvest as
much as it would typically
harvest in a year’s time in
the next few months.
It is important to harvest
quickly, the company notes
because the prime wood
retains its quality for just a
short time.
Old Fashioned Hospitality
6 am to 12 am Daily
Take out and Catering is Available.
515 Campbell Street Baker City
541-523-4318