BURNS, Ore. (AP) — With the FBI tightening its ring around them, the last four holdouts in the armed takeover of a national wildlife refuge in Oregon surrendered Thursday, ending a 41-day standoff that left one man dead and exposed simmering anger over the government’s control of vast expanses of Western land.

Federal authorities in six states also arrested seven other people accused of being involved in the occupation and brought charges against a leader of the movement who organized a 2014 standoff. Two more suspects remained at large.

The last occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge gave up without incident a day after federal agents surrounded the site.

Nearby residents were relieved.

“I just posted hallelujah on my Facebook,” said Julie Weikel, who lives next to the nature preserve. “And I think that says it all. I am so glad this is over.”

At least 25 people have now been indicted on federal charges of conspiracy to impede employees at the wildlife refuge from performing their duties.

Meanwhile, Cliven Bundy, who was at the center of the 2014 standoff at his ranch in Nevada, was arrested late Wednesday in Portland after encouraging the occupiers not to give up. Bundy is the father of Ammon Bundy, the jailed leader of the Oregon occupation.

The elder Bundy appeared in federal court Thursday in Portland to hear the charges against him, all of which stem from the 2014 confrontation with federal authorities in Nevada.

He’s accused of leading supporters who pointed military-style weapons at federal agents trying to enforce a court order to round up Bundy cattle from federal rangeland. The charges include conspiracy, assault on a federal officer, obstruction of justice and weapons charges.

Federal authorities have not said why they chose to arrest the 69-year-old now. They may have feared Bundy’s presence would draw sympathizers to defend the holdouts.

At the court hearing, the elder Bundy asked for a court-appointed attorney. U.S. Magistrate Judge Janice Stewart said she wanted to see financial documents first. She set a detention hearing for next Tuesday, and Bundy will stay in jail until then.

Bomb squads planned to go through the refuge’s buildings to make sure no explosives were left behind, said Greg Bretzing, the agent in charge of the FBI’s Portland division.

The refuge will remain closed for weeks as specialists collect evidence and try to determine whether the occupiers damaged any tribal artifacts and burial grounds sacred to the Burns Paiute Tribe, he said.

Videos posted online showed members of the armed group exploring buildings at the site and criticizing the way tribal artifacts were stored there.

The last four occupiers had been living in a rough encampment on refuge grounds. The videos sometimes showed group members living in tents or gathered around a campfire, driving vehicles and setting up barricades. They erected a canopy next to a pickup truck and an old car and put camping chairs and coolers around it. The area appeared strewn with plastic water bottles, cardboard boxes, clothes, packages of bullets and beer cans.

The last four occupiers were scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Portland. They are 27-year-old David Fry of Blanchester, Ohio; Jeff Banta, 46, of Elko, Nevada; and married couple Sean Anderson, 48, and Sandy Anderson, 47, of Riggins, Idaho.

The FBI began moving in Wednesday evening, surrounding their encampment with armored vehicles. Over the next several hours, the occupiers’ panic and their negotiation with FBI agents could be heard live on the Internet, broadcast by a sympathizer of the occupiers who established phone contact with them.

The Andersons and Banta surrendered first on Thursday. Fry initially refused to join them.

“I’m making sure I’m not coming out of here alive,” he said at one point Thursday, threatening to kill himself. “Liberty or death, I take that stance.”

After ranting for a while, he too gave up.

Federal authorities were criticized during the occupation for not acting sooner to end it. But some experts said the FBI’s strategy of letting tensions die down before moving in ensured there would be no bloodshed.

“This was beautifully executed,” said Brian Levin, a criminal justice professor at California State University-San Bernardino. “This siege and the way it was handled will go down in law enforcement textbooks.”

The standoff began when Ammon Bundy and his followers took over the refuge south of Burns, demanding that the government turn over the land to locals and release two ranchers imprisoned for setting fires.

Federal agents, Oregon state troopers and sheriff’s deputies monitored the occupation to avoid a confrontation. As the weeks passed, there were growing calls for the FBI to act, including from Oregon’s governor.

They did, on Jan. 26. On that day, Ammon Bundy and other occupation leaders were heading for the town of John Day to give a talk on federal overreach. FBI agents and Oregon state troopers stopped the group’s two-vehicle convoy. Robert “LaVoy” Finicum was shot dead in that confrontation. The FBI said he was reaching for a pistol inside his jacket pocket.

A total of 12 people were arrested that week, including Ammon Bundy. Most of the occupiers fled the refuge after hearing they would not be arrested if they left quickly. Four stayed behind, saying they feared they would be arrested if they left.

Oregon elected officials rejoiced at the end of the long occupation but said it will take a while for the rural area to recover. Gov. Kate Brown called the episode “very traumatic.”

“The level of harassment and intimidation by folks who were staying in the Burns community was horrific,” she said. “And the healing will take a long time.”

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Bellisle reported from Seattle. Associated Press writers Terrence Petty in Portland, Oregon, and Ken Ritter in Las Vegas and AP videographer Manuel Valdes in Burns contributed to this report.

SALEM — A proposal to give local governments in Oregon the power to regulate biotech crops has been scrapped in favor of a labeling requirement for genetically engineered fish.

Lawmakers recently considered overturning the state’s prohibition against local restrictions on genetically modified crops, which was passed in 2013.

Biotech critics claim that local ordinances are necessary to prevent cross-pollination between transgenic, conventional and organic crops because the state and federal governments have failed to act on the issue.

Opponents of the proposal, House Bill 4122, argued that it would complicate farming across county lines, reduce crop options and put a strain on local governments that would have to enforce such ordinances.

The House Committee on Consumer Protection and Government Effectiveness heard extensive testimony from both sides during a Feb. 9 hearing but ultimately decided to “gut and stuff” the bill with language that requires labeling for genetically engineered fish sold at retail.

On Feb. 11, the amended bill was approved 5-3 and is headed to the House floor with a “do pass” recommendation.

Prior to the amendment’s approval, Rep. Mike Nearman, R-Dallas, said it would be unfortunate if the current system of voluntary cooperation among farmers were replaced with a “bureaucratic solution” for cross-pollination concerns.

“They try to solve their problems by talking with each other and working with each other,” Nearman said.

Rep. Susan McLain, D-Hillsboro, said she agreed that an ideal solution would allow all types of farmers to co-exist.

“Let’s not pre-empt that possible pathway,” she said.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eugene, said he also wishes such problems could be worked out amicably, but farmers who fear cross-pollination from biotech crops don’t currently have a system to prevent economic losses.

After the legislature pre-empted local regulation of seeds — including biotech crops — in 2013, their concern hasn’t been addressed, he said.

“I think they have a legitimate issue that needs to be solved,” Holvey said. “I hope the Department of Agriculture solves it or the legislature does in the future.”

Committee Chair Shemia Fagan, D-Clackamas, said she hopes the recent discussions in the legislature will pressure the Oregon Department of Agriculture to come up with a solution.

Fagan noted that heirloom crop varieties cannot be replaced once they’re lost, so she hopes to give farmers some method to protect such cultivars.

“There is some urgency to this issue,” she said.

A similar bill that would have more broadly reversed Oregon’s seed pre-emption law, House Bill 4041, recently failed to clear the committee.

As for labeling of genetically engineered fish, Holvey said the proposal will likely be subject to further revisions in the Senate if it’s approved in the House.

Transgenic salmon received regulatory approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year but its sale is on hold until the agency devises possible labeling rules.

If the FDA does require such labeling, those regulations would likely pre-empt any rules enacted in Oregon, Holvey said.

SALEM — Gov. Kate Brown said that Oregon will focus on helping the community of Burns to recover, after the remaining four occupiers at a nearby national wildlife refuge surrendered to FBI agents on Thursday.

Brown said she continues to seek federal reimbursement of state and local government costs associated with the occupation, and she is also talking to federal officials about federal land management issues.

“I’ll certainly be having conversations with our Congressional delegation, and will continue the conversations that I’ve started with folks at the federal level, for example the Department of Interior, (Secretary of the Interior) Sally Jewell,” Brown said. “So we’re just beginning those conversations now, but we’ll be working closely with our federal delegation.”

In late January Brown said the federal government should do more to engage with people on how to manage federal lands. On Thursday, Brown declined to provide any specifics on what she hopes to achieve through discussions about federal land management.

Brown said Oregon has work to do, now that the occupation has ended.

“For the Harney County residents, this has been very traumatic,” Brown said. “The level of harassment and intimidation by folks who were staying in the Burns community has been horrific and the healing will take a lot of time. And I think that is our first mission is to support the Harney County community as they heal, and provide them with the resources and the tools they need to recover.”

Brown also noted that the incident affected the Burns Paiute Tribe.

“This entire incident has been extremely devastating to them,” Brown said. “We will be working with them to provide them with the support and assistance they need as well.”

In January, Brown said Oregon’s response to the occupation had cost roughly half a million dollars. On Thursday, the governor did not have an updated cost figure but said she expects the state will pick up the tab in the short term.

“I think in total costs for Harney County, as well as the local sheriff’s association, will run probably higher than that,” Brown said. “But I’m confident there is bipartisan support in the building for reimbursing those costs.”

Brown said her administration is working with the staffs of U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley to seek federal reimbursement for Oregon’s costs.

The Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group. Hillary Borrud can be reached at 503-364-4431 or hborrud@eomediagroup.com.

SALEM — Oregon hemp growers would be free to propagate the crop from cuttings and propagate it from cuttings under a bill that’s headed for a vote in the House.

Under current law, hemp can only be seeded directly outdoors in fields at least 2.5 acres in size, which was intended to facilitate industrial production but proved too inflexible for growers.

At the time Oregon lawmakers originally legalized hemp production in 2009, they enacted these restrictions with the expectation the crop would be used for oilseed and fiber instead of human consumption.

Since then, the Oregon Department of Agriculture found that many hemp producers were more interested in growing the crop for cannabidiol, a compound used for medicinal purposes, than for such traditional products.

To this end, they wanted to use greenhouses, clone desirable plants and produce the crop on a smaller scale.

Under House Bill 4060, which was passed by a key legislative committee, the minimum 2.5 acre field requirement would be scrapped and hemp farmers would be given the same flexibility in production and propagation methods as growers of other crops.

The Oregon Farm Bureau is supporting HB 4060 because it wants hemp treated like other crops.

The bill was approved 8-1 by the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources on Feb. 11 after a last-minute amendment that clarified hemp would be subject to the same Oregon Department of Agriculture water and pesticide regulations as other crops.

The amended version of the bill, which will soon be subject to a vote on the House floor, also clarifies that growers can cultivate all varieties of hemp and that the crop won’t be considered a food adulterant, among other provisions.

Growers can also send crop samples to accredited laboratories for required testing, which is expected to be cheaper than using ODA staff and facilities.

During the Feb. 11 hearing, the committee also unanimously approved House Bill 4007, which creates a new way to form rangeland protection association, which fight wildfires.

Landowners must currently win approval from the Oregon Board of Forestry to create such associations, but HB 4007 would also allow them to be approved by county governments.

Currently, 20 rangeland protection associations staffed by volunteers protect 4.6 million acres in Eastern Oregon.

New associations organized by counties would still have to submit annual budgets to the Oregon Board of Forestry and enter into cooperative agreements with the Oregon Department of Forestry.

BURNS, Ore. (AP) — A live stream of a telephone call indicates three of the four remaining occupiers of an Oregon wildlife refuge have surrendered, but one is refusing to budge.

The surrender is playing out over a phone call on an open line streamed live on the Internet by an acquaintance of occupier David Fry, who delayed leaving Malheur National Wildlife Refuge after he said the other three walked out.

They are the last remnants of armed group that seized the refuge on Jan. 2 to oppose federal land use policies.

The FBI hasn’t confirmed that the three surrendered, and the area was too far away for reporters at the scene to see.

Fry is on the call with his acquaintance and a Nevada legislator who drove to the site to aid in the surrender. Fry said Jeff Banta of Nevada and married couple Sean and Sandy Anderson of Idaho have left.

Fry says he “declares war against the federal government.” The holdouts have been indicted with conspiracy to interfere with federal workers and have previously said they wanted assurances they won’t face arrest.

Local leaders say they are dismayed with the renewed effort to demolish four Klamath River dams, three of which are in California.

Siskiyou County Supervisor Grace Bennett, District 4, said she feels like Siskiyou County, Calif., leaders were left behind in the decision-making process. Bennett said she believes lawmakers prioritize the needs of upper Klamath Basin communities and the downstream Basin tribes before Siskiyou County.

Bennett said she believes taking the dams out will have a negative impact on the county’s economy, especially in the summer months when the reservoirs attract recreationists from around the region.

“Siskiyou County has been working since 1986 to improve water quality and quantity. For them to take out the dams would be a shame. It would be devastating to Siskiyou County. It would impact us greatly,” Bennett said.

Bennett’s comments came on the heels of an announcement last week by the Department of Interior, stating the agency will work with Oregon, California and the dams owner, PacifiCorp, to amend the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement — known by the initials KHSA — and move forward with plans to remove the J.C. Boyle, Copco 1 and Copco 2 and Iron Gate dams from the Klamath River.

The renewed effort will rely on administrative processes governed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, a news release said.

Siskiyou County Supervisor Ed Valenzuela, District 2, said he is concerned about property values declining after the reservoirs created by the dams disappear. He said although to him the benefits of dam removal are not obvious, he isn’t altogether contesting dam removal.

“I’ve always said it’s a private party matter. It’s not like it’s a government entity, where the county has a lot of say,” Valenzuela said.

Klamath County Commissioner Jim Bellet said he opposes dam removal, but supports private property rights.

“I don’t like tearing out infrastructure I think is important to the Klamath River, but a private company owns the dams and if they want to tear them out, it’s sure their right to do that,” Bellet said.

Malin Irrigation District Manager Luke Robison said his district supported the KHSA when it was being proposed as a joint agreement with the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, which is known by the initials KBRA.

“We were never in support of the KHSA as a stand-alone agreement,” Robison said. “The agreement (the KBRA) that benefited the irrigators expired on Dec. 31.”

Tulelake Irrigation District Manager Brad Kirby said the biggest concern shared by project irrigators is getting left behind without a path to water certainty and having the dam removal move forward. Kirby said like other irrigators, he does not support dam removal as a stand-alone effort.

“All the things that were part of the KBRA were a package deal,” Kirby said.

District 1 Siskiyou County Supervisor Brandon Criss agreed.

“There’s no need for the dams to be removed,” Criss said. “I see no benefit to Klamath Basin agriculture because it takes away water storage and replaces it with no water storage.”

Oregon Rep. Gail Whitsett, R-Klamath Falls, said she believes the decision about whether the dams should be removed belongs with FERC.

“I typically am not in support of removing dams, but I think to go through the FERC process is the way to go if we’re going to do it so it’s not a political decision.”

“FERC has traditionally decided if dams come out or if don’t dams come out. … Hopefully they will base it on the science,” she said. “To turn it over to FERC is the right path, versus deciding politically whether to do that.”

Cliven Bundy, the father of the jailed leader of the Oregon refuge occupation and who was the center of a standoff with federal officials in Nevada in 2014, was arrested in Portland, the FBI said.

Authorities arrested the 74-year-old Nevada rancher after he arrived at Portland International Airport from Las Vegas Wednesday night. He was booked into the lockup just before 11 p.m., according to Multnomah County Jail records. No charges were listed and his projected release date was listed as unknown.

The FBI confirmed Bundy was taken into federal custody but declined to provide a reason or other details, saying further information would be released by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Las Vegas, which did not respond to a phone call early Thursday.

The Oregonian reported Bundy will face a conspiracy charge of interfering with a federal officer related to the stalemate at his ranch in 2014.

In March of that year, Bundy clashed with federal officials over grazing rights on government land. Federal officials eventually backed away from seizing his cattle, but the dispute remains unresolved.

The Bureau of Land Management says the family has not made payments toward a $1.1 million grazing fee and penalty bill.

Armed group leader Ammon Bundy had been demanding that the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon be handed over to local control for ranching, mining, logging and other uses and that that two jailed ranchers in the area be freed.

Authorities arrested Ammon Bundy, his brother Ryan Bundy and other group leaders as they traveled to a community meeting Jan. 26 north of the refuge when authorities set up a road block.

Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, the group’s spokesman, was killed in a confrontation with the FBI and Oregon State Police on the remote road.

Bundy and others arrested in conjunction with the standoff face felony charges of conspiracy to impede federal officials in their official duties through the use of force, intimidation or threats.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The FBI surrounded the last four occupiers of a wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon on Wednesday night as the holdouts argued with a negotiator and yelled at law enforcement officers in armored vehicles to back off.

The tense standoff between law enforcement officers and the four occupiers was being played out on the Internet via an open phone line being livestreamed by an acquaintance of one of the occupiers, David Fry.

Fry, 27, of Blanchester, Ohio, sounded increasingly unraveled as he continually yelled, at times hysterically, at what he said was an FBI negotiator.

“You’re going to hell. Kill me. Get it over with,” he said. “We’re innocent people camping at a public facility, and you’re going to murder us.”

“The only way we’re leaving here is dead or without charges,” Fry said, who told the FBI to “get the hell out of Oregon.”

Fry said the group was surrounded by armored vehicles.

A Nevada legislator, Michele Fiore, called in to try to get the occupiers to calm down. Fiore said she could help them only if they stayed alive.

“I need you guys alive,” said the Republican member of the Nevada Assembly who was in Portland earlier in the day to show support for Ammon Bundy, the jailed leader of the occupation.

Fry and the three others are the last remnants of an armed group that seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2 to oppose federal land-use policies. The three others are Jeff Banta, 46, of Elko, Nevada; and married couple Sean Anderson, 48, and Sandy Anderson, 47, of Riggins, Idaho

Greg Bretzing, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon, said in a statement that the situation had reached a point where it “became necessary to take action” to ensure the safety of all involved.

The four remained despite the arrests of group leader Ammon Bundy and others Jan. 26 on a remote road outside the refuge.

Sandy Anderson said after the group was surrounded: “They’re threatening us. They’re getting closer. I pray that there’s a revolution if we die here tonight.”

Her husband, Sean Anderson, said in the livestream: “We will not fire until fired upon. We haven’t broken any laws, came here to recognize our constitutional rights. Help us.”

The occupiers said they saw snipers on a hill and a drone.

The standoff was occurring on the 40th day of the occupation, launched by Ammon Bundy and his followers to protest prison terms for two local ranchers on arson charges and federal management of public lands.

Bundy was arrested on Jan. 26 on a remote road as he and other main figures of the occupation were traveling to the town of John Day. Four others were also arrested in that confrontation, which resulted in the shooting death of the group’s spokesman, Robert “LaVoy” Finicum. The FBI said Finicum was reaching for a gun.

Most of the occupiers fled the refuge after that. Authorities then surrounded the property and later got the holdouts added to an indictment charging 16 people with conspiracy to interfere with federal workers. The four recently posted a series of defiant videos in which Fry shows a defensive perimeter they have built and takes a joyride in a government vehicle. Fry says the FBI told him he faces additional charges because of the barricades.

At first, Bundy urged the last holdouts to go home. But in response to the grand jury indictment, he took a more defiant tone from jail.

“Taking over the refuge was not only right, it was the duty of the people to do,” Bundy said in a recording released by his family on Feb. 4.

AP writer Lisa Baumann contributed to this report from Seattle.

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — Lee and Glenda Stilwell of Country Inn Cattle Co. were surprised and pleased after their success in last weekend’s 56th annual Klamath Bull & Select Ranch Horse Sale at the Klamath County Fairgrounds.

The Stilwells, who have a small ranch in nearby Algoma, had the sale’s supreme bull that sold for $12,500, the champion halter Limousin bull that sold for $7,500, and the top judged pen of replacement heifers that sold for $10,250.

“We had an outstanding day,” said Glenda Stilwell, a fourth-generation rancher, who said the showing was unexpected because of the sale’s many outstanding bulls and heifers. “It’s always a surprise — and always a good surprise.”

Pleased, too, was Jolene Moxon, the sale’s cattle manager, who said 90 bulls were sold for a total price of $403,850, an average price of $4,487.22. Eight pens of replacement heifers, including the Stilwells’, were sold for $62,300, an average price of $7,787.50. Four horses were sold in the select horse sale for a total of $22,550, an average of $5,637.50.

In comparison, last year’s sale price for 56 bulls averaged $5,397, the select ranch horse sale averaged $6,090 for five horses while replacement heifers sale averaged $2,480 per head on six pens. She said this year’s sale will have nine pens of heifers.

Jason Chapman, a bull sale committee member, said he expected prices would be lower this year but noted the overall total sale prices, because of the volume of bulls, was up over 2015. “I expected it would be lower than it was,” he said of the decreased sale prices.

“We had a great turnout,” Moxon said, noting there were 114 registered buyers and strong participation in a variety of sale-related events, including a ranch rodeo she said drew thousands of spectators.

Other activities included stock dog trials, a Beef N Brews, brandings, Klamath County Cattlewomen’s dinner and dance, an “amazing” trade show and several kids functions, including goat roping and a stick horse boot race.

Erin Daughtery of Bly was named the contributor of the year for the four-day sale that began last Thursday and ended Sunday.

“People really seemed to enjoy the variety of activities,” Moxon said.

“The whole event ran really well,” Chapman agreed, who credited bull sale chairman Stan Gorden and other committee members. “We had great participation in all the events. It was really a well-run, smooth sale.”

Glenda Stilwell, who said her family has participated in sales for many years, shared Chapman’s and Moxon’s enthusiasm.

“We’ve participating in the bull sale as long as I can remember,” she said, giving credit to event organizers with the Klamath Cattlemen’s Association. “I think this year’s sale was an outstanding event with all the activities. I think the committee really stepped up. It’s a good event for the entire community.”

Winners in the ranch rodeo was Gorden Ranches of Bonanza with team members Clay and Steve Gorden and Flint Lee.

In the stock dog finals, Kathy Garner took first in the open and nursery divisions with Rango and Vaquero while Gayle Hybarger and her dog Zeva won the intermediate category.

The Stilwells’ supreme bull was bought by Don-Lo Ranch of Macdoel, Calif., which also bought their champion halter bull limousin. A third bull, another limousin, was bought by Jimmy Lyman of Tulelake, Calif. Drost Ranch of Klamath Falls bought the Stilwell’s pen of replacement heifers.

“We’re a small operation so we try to have good ones,” Stilwell said of Country Inn Cattle, which has about 60 cows.

Nicholas Sheridan, 15, of Yamhill, Ore., who was featured in a previous bull sale story and was the sale’s youngest ever consigner when entered and sold a reserve champion bull in 2014, again did well. One of Sheridan’s Angus bulls sold for $5,500 to Matt Merkley of Bly, Ore., while a second bull sold for $4,500 to Bryan Penterman of Santa Helena, Calif.

Stilwell had praise for Sheridan and other young participants in the various events, noting, “There were lots of young kids, lots of young families. It made my heart happy.”

The Oregon Department of Agriculture proposes to spray 8,674 acres in North Portland this spring to head off a potential infestation of destructive gypsy moths.

Aerial sprayings tend to cause public scrutiny and worry, however, even when it involves a biological insecticide that’s been successfully used against gypsy moths for more than 30 years. For that reason, the department is hosting a pair of meetings to explain the project. The first is Wednesday, Feb. 17, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at James John Elementary School, 7439 N. Charleston Ave., Portland. The second is Saturday, Feb. 20, from 9 a.m. to noon at the same place.

Gypsy moths are voracious eaters and multiply rapidly. Unchecked, they could kill trees and or heavily damage Pacific Northwest forests and crops such as Christmas trees. Agencies monitor their presence with traps and spray from time to time to control them.

Two Asian gypsy moths were found in North Portland traps this past summer and another was found across the Columbia River in Washington. Asian gypsy moths are more mobile than the European variety sometimes trapped in the Northwest.

The area proposed for spraying includes Hayden Island, St. Johns, and Forest Park in Portland. ODA proposes three aerial applications in late April and early May, using Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki, commonly known as Btk.

An environmental assessment of the project will be available Feb. 12 from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. It can be seen at www.aphis.usda.gov/planthealth/ea/. A comment period ends March 14. Comments should be directed to Christopher.Deegan@aphis.usda.gov or gypsymoth@oda.state.or.us.

Btk kills gypsy moths in their caterpillar stage. A publication from Purdue University said the product has several advantages over other means. First, caterpillars killed or sickened by Btk aren’t dangerous to birds or other animals that feed on them. The product breaks down within three to five days after application, so it doesn’t multiply or accumulate in the environment, according to the Purdue bulletin. Btk does not appear to pose a significant threat to humans or pets, according to Purdue.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A man who had been with the armed occupiers at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge has been arrested on an unrelated warrant.

The Oregonian reports that 31-year-old Brandon Dowd is being held in the Harney County Jail under a warrant from Kansas in connection to a theft case. He was not arrested for anything he might have done while on the refuge. He was arrested Monday.

Dowd was seen about three weeks ago guarding the main entrance to the refuge. He is not among the last four holdouts still occupying the space.

A Riley County, Kansas, Police Department spokesman says Dowd is accused of stealing a firearm worth about $600 from a 65-year-old man last May.

SALEM — Local government authority over genetically engineered crops is being reconsidered by Oregon lawmakers roughly three years after they prohibited most city and county seed restrictions.

Critics of biotechnology claim that lawmakers haven’t enacted meaningful policies for genetic engineering since adopting a 2013 law pre-empting local governments from setting their own seed rules.

The pre-emption bill was included in a broader legislative package that included public employee retirement system reforms that the Oregon Supreme Court later invalidated.

Proponents of House Bill 4122, which would repeal statewide pre-emption specifically for genetically engineered crops, claim local governments should be permitted to prevent cross-pollination between organic, conventional and biotech cultivars.

“In an ideal world, farmers will work together, but in reality, people are stubborn and do as they please,” said Jared Watters, a Jackson County farmer, during a Feb. 9 hearing before the House Committee on Consumer Protection and Government Effectiveness.

“Transgenic contamination” is recognized as an economic threat to organic and conventional producers who sell into markets that don’t accept biotech traits, according to supporters of H.B. 4122.

While opponents of the bill claim that genetic engineering is best regulated at the state level, supports of H.B. 4122 claim that local governments are in the best position to understand how farmers in their area are affected by biotech crops and restrictions on them.

“You don’t have to deal with any of that. This bill puts that decision with the local government,” said Elise Higley, director of Our Family Farms Coalition, which supports stronger regulation of biotech crops.

Physical barriers, geographic distances and staggered plantings can prevent cross-pollination among conventional crop varieties and work just as well with biotech cultivars, according to opponents of H.B. 4122.

“Farmers need to work that out among themselves, not by voters at the ballot box deciding what can grow on their own property,” said Scott Dahlman, policy director of Oregonians for Food and Shelter, an industry group that opposes the bill.

Lawmakers passed a bill last year that allows farmers of potentially conflicting crops to seek mediation, which the Oregon Department of Agriculture is now in the process of “fleshing out,” said Greg Loberg, manager of the West Coast Beet Seed Co. and president of the Oregon Seed Association.

H.B. 4122, by contrast, is meant to give preferential treatment to non-biotech crops, he said. “It’s not about co-existence. It’s about exclusion.”

Supporters of the bill say they’re not opposed to mediation, but claim it’s not enough to guard against cross-pollination or compensate for the lack of regulation by the state and federal governments.

However, the idea that rules for biotech crops would vary across county lines is one of the main arguments against H.B. 4122.

“Cities and counties are not equipped to micromanage which crops can and cannot be grown in the State of Oregon,” said Anna Scharf, whose family farms in the Willamette Valley.

Another proposal recently considered by the committee, House Bill 4041, would effectively have reversed statewide pre-emption entirely, not just for biotech crops but for all seeds.

However, that bill will not receive further hearings and would have to be resurrected in a future legislative session, said Shemia Fagan, D-Clackamas, who chairs the committee.

H.B. 4041 was written so broadly that it could have applied to non-biotech crops, including grass seed, said Marie Bowers Stagg, whose family farms in Lane and Linn counties

Crop decisions are based on soil conditions, market demand and available equipment but should not be complicated by government interference, she said during a recent hearing on the bill.

“We already have enough risks in our day-to-day life,” Bowers Stagg said.

ONTARIO, Ore. — Two long-time leaders of the Idaho and Oregon onion industries who worked side by side on many issues important to onion growers in both states have been inducted into the Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onion Hall of Fame together.

Reid Saito, past president of the Malheur County Onion Growers Association, and Ron Mio, past president of the Idaho Onion Growers Association, were inducted into the group’s joint hall of fame on Feb. 2.

Both farmers said it was appropriate they entered the hall together since they worked together on issues important to the onion industry for almost 14 years while they served as presidents of the states’ respective onion growers associations.

“It was an honor to go into the hall of fame with Reid,” said Mio, who farms in the Fruitland, Idaho, area. “We worked side by side for so many years and I really appreciated going into the hall of fame with him.”

“I was really honored to be considered for the hall and going in with Ron made it even more special,” said Saito, who farms in Nyssa, Ore.

Saito, who grew up on his family’s farm, plans to retire from farming this year.

Mio stopped growing onions in 2013 because pressure from the iris yellow spot virus, an onion disease, has greatly reduced onion acreage in that area, but he still grows mint, seed beans and wheat.

Saito said the two worked closely on several issues that were critical to the industry, including a successful effort to bridge the once wide communication gap between onion growers and shippers.

That paid off in a major way nine years ago, he said, after several growers in the area were investigated and fined for using carbofuran, a pesticide that controlled onion thrips but wasn’t approved for onion use.

“Growers worked with shippers, the state and EPA and got that worked out,” Saito said. “The way we worked that out, it was the best outcome for consumers, for growers and for shippers.”

More recently, onion growers and shippers worked together to provide input to the Food and Drug Administration on the agency’s proposed produce safety rule. Onion industry leaders said the rule’s strict agricultural water standards would put many onion farmers in the region out of business.

But the FDA altered those rules after hearing the outcry from onion farmers and shippers in the region and visiting the area in 2013 and the rules are now something the industry says it can live with.

Paul Skeen, current president of the Malheur County Onion Growers Association, said Saito’s and Mio’s practical and forthright leadership skills were most evident during the carbofuran crisis.

“They are real leaders who stood up and called a spade a spade and did what we had to do,” Skeen said. “On top of that, they are both really good farmers.”

SALEM — With advocates for the poor lamenting Oregon’s “affordable housing crisis,” lawmakers are considering altering land use laws to allow more home-building.

The proposals have encountered resistance from agriculture and conservation groups, which claim cities should focus on building within existing “urban growth boundaries” rather than expanding onto farmland.

Young and beginning farmers face a problem similar to that of urban residents who can’t find affordable housing, as farmland ownership is often financially out of reach, said Peter Kenagy, a farmer from Benton County.

“We also have an affordable farmland issue,” Kenagy said during a Feb. 8 hearing on Senate Bill 1575.

Among other provisions, SB 1575 would “expedite” the process of expanding urban growth boundaries to create more affordable housing, which critics say would create communities without readily accessible services and transportation.

Meanwhile, people who live in areas surrounded by farmland are bothered by common farming practices, said Mary Anne Nash, public policy counsel for the Oregon Farm Bureau.

“We see a continued conflict between urban and rural issues,” said Nash.

Mary Kyle McCurdy, policy director of the 1,000 Friends of Oregon conservation group, said directing affordable housing development to grow onto farmland “does not work for either side of the UGB.”

The costs of bringing water, roads and other infrastructure onto such rural properties costs about $100,000 per housing unit, so housing development makes more sense on undeveloped land within cities, she said.

“We’re picking on agricultural land because there are fewer people there and it’s cheaper compared to urban land,” McCurdy said.

Proponents of easing the UGB expansion process argue that restrictive land use rules have contributed to the lack of affordable housing in Oregon and must be part of the solution.

Oregon’s land use statutes have improved livability and preserved agriculture but “they have not come without costs,” said Jon Chandler, CEO of the Oregon Home Builders Association.

The impact of SB 1575 would be complicated for home builders. While the bill would speed up the process of expanding UGBs, it would also allow cities to adopt a form of “inclusionary zoning,” under which a portion of housing units must be priced to fit the median income of local families.

Home builders have traditionally opposed such zoning as posing a threat to real estate markets, and the practice is currently prohibited in Oregon.

Chandler said he’s willing to have a “thoughtful conversation” about inclusionary zoning in SB 1575. If the legislature sets the right parameters for such zoning, his group may not object to the proposal and even support it, he said.

In testimony supporting another proposal, House Bill 4079, Chandler said that Oregon should be generating about 25,000 housing units a year to keep up with population growth.

In 2015, though, only about 15,000 units were built, and the state has developed a backlog of about 100,000 units in recent years, he said.

Under HB 4079, the legislature would allow two 50-acre pilot projects in which the UGB expansion process would be expedited to accommodate affordable housing — one located in a community with fewer than 30,000 residents, and the other with more.

The bill would allow developers to demonstrate that their ideas can alleviate the housing shortage, but if the pilot projects harm the agricultural economy, “you’re out 100 acres,” Chandler said.

Farm and conservation groups oppose HB 4079, arguing that it will “short-circuit” the UGB process rather than focus on land where suitable infrastructure already exists.

SALEM — The removal of wolves from Oregon’s list of endangered species has been approved by a key legislative committee, potentially jeopardizing a lawsuit that challenges the delisting.

Last year, Oregon wildlife regulators found that wolves had sufficiently recovered to delist them under the state’s version of the Endangered Species Act.

Because wolves remain protected by the federal Endangered Species Act across much of Western Oregon, the state delisting only has effect in the eastern portion of the state.

Several environmental groups, which worry that delisting will eventually lead to wolf hunting, filed a legal complaint accusing the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission of ignoring the best available science.

That lawsuit prompted two lawmakers from Eastern Oregon to propose House Bill 4040, which would ratify the commission’s delisting decision as having properly followed the state’s endangered species law.

On Feb. 9, that bill passed the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources 8-1 and is now heading for a vote on the House floor with a “do pass” recommendation.

Chair Brad Witt, D-Clatskanie, noted that H.B. 4040 was amended from its original version to eliminate language that would require wolf populations to decline substantially before the species could be re-listed as endangered.

Rep. Sal Esquivel, R-Medford, said that worries the delisting will lead to “automatic slaughter” of wolves are unfounded.

“This does not mean we’re going to hunt wolves to extinction again,” he said.

Rep. Chris Gorsek, D-Troutdale, was the committee’s only member to vote against the bill.

While he doesn’t have a problem with the delisting, Gorsek said he was concerned about the precedent set by the legislature inserting itself into the process.

Environmental groups that are fighting the delisting in court — Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands and the Center for Biological Diversity — fear that a ratification by the legislature will hamstring their lawsuit.

Sean Stevens, executive director of Oregon Wild, recently argued that if the commission’s decision was scientifically sound, there is no reason to pass H.B. 4040.

While the plaintiffs groups seek judicial review to determine if the commission acted correctly, they have not asked for an injunction and so the delisting will remain effective while the litigation is pending, he said.

Laurel Hines, a member of Oregon Wild, said that wolf management in Oregon has emphasized the protection of the livestock industry, so conservationists should be allowed to proceed with the lawsuit to protect their interests.

The Oregon Cattlemen’s Association disagrees with the claim that H.B. 4040 will preclude environmental groups from obtaining judicial review, said Rocky Dallum, the group’s political advocate.

H.B. 4040 would not prevent the plaintiff from filing a lawsuit, and since their complaint has already been filed, its merits will still be decided in state court, Dallum said.

A judge may find the commission acted properly regardless of the legislature’s action, or may decide that the question about the delisting’s legality was answered by H.B. 4040, if it passes, he said.

“It’s up to a judge to decide whether the case is moot,” Dallum said.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture stopped sales of a pesticide statewide Feb. 5, a follow-up from the mid-January report that a private laboratory testing cannabis found an active ingredient that wasn’t listed on the pesticide label.

The lab, Oregon Growers Analytical of Eugene, found a commonly used insecticide, abamectin, in Guardian Mite Spray. Its label says its active ingredients are cinnamon oil and citric acid, and that it is 100 percent natural, according to the ag department.

The insecticide was found on cannabis intended for eventual use by medical marijuana patients.

In January, the ag department took Guardian off the list of products approved for use on marijuana while it investigated. Washington and Colorado, which like Oregon have legalized marijuana, followed suit. Oregon’s stop-sale order, issued last week, is the regulatory hammer.

The order means people can’t sell, buy, use or distribute the Guardian pesticide until the ag department and fellow regulatory agencies such as the Oregon Liquor Control Commission and the Oregon Health Authority take a closer look. In Oregon, it’s against the law to adulterate a pesticide product, misbrand it and make false or misleading claims about it, according to the ag department.

The stop-sales order is vindication for Rodger Voelker, Oregon Growers Analytical’s lab director and a former ODA chemist.

Sensing an economic opportunity as Oregon and other states moved to legalize pot for medical and recreational use, Voelker and others joined Executive Director Bethany Sherman in founding the testing lab in Eugene about 2 1/2 years ago.

Voelker said he began finding abamectin in cannabis samples in October 2015, and again in November and December. Some growers went ballistic when he told them, and insisted the lab made a mistake or introduced the contamination itself.

“I was pulling my hair out,” Voelker said. “Could we be doing something wrong in the lab?”

But the growers with problems had been using Guardian. When he tested the product directly, Voelker found abamectin as an active ingredient. “Sure enough,” he said.

Voelker said Eugene-area pot growers have a strong organic ethic, and want to use natural products such as Guardian claimed to be. It seemed to work “amazingly well,” he said, and word spread.

He reported his findings to the Department of Agriculture, which seemed skeptical at first, but removed Guardian from the list of approved pesticides as it began its own investigation. Two and half weeks later, the department confirmed Voelker’s findings and issued the stop-sale order.

“They did a great job of moving on it,” Voelker said. “That is the government working at record speed.”

Voelker said pesticide testing is complicated, and state employees understand the potential liability involved. “You’ve really got to get this thing right.”

Guardian Mite Spray is made by All In Enterprises, Inc. of Machesney Park, Ill. The company could not be reached for comment, but a man who identified himself as the owner spoke to The Oregonian/Oregonlive.com in mid-January. The news outlet reported the man said he wasn’t aware he had to list all active ingredients on the label.

Voelker, of Oregon Growers Analytical, said that explanation doesn’t make sense.

It’s unclear whether abamectin poses a health hazard to people who may have smoked it or consumed it in other forms. It is highly toxic by itself, but most formulated products containing it are of low toxicity to mammals, according to a pesticide profile developed by Cornell University.

Online

http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/24d-captan/abamectin-ext.html

ONTARIO, Ore. (AP) — What a difference a year makes.

Portions of southeastern Oregon are experiencing the highest snowpack levels due to above-normal precipitation that fell as snow throughout January, according to a report from the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Oregon.

“The Owyhee Basin in Malheur County measures the highest in the state today for snow water equivalent at 153 percent of normal,” the report said.

Snow water equivalent is the amount of water that is stored inside the snowpack.

That is the good news.

The bad news is that most of Oregon’s major reservoirs were storing below-average amounts as of the end of January, the report said.

The southeast corner of the state has been hit the hardest with a multi-year drought, resulting in current reservoir storage volumes of less than 30 percent of average, the report said.

Lake Owyhee and Warm Springs reservoirs in the Owyhee and Malheur basins are among the lowest in the state with 28 percent and 23 percent of average, respectively, according to the report.

However, with the good snowpack area farmers should have water this year, Jay Chamberlin, Owyhee Irrigation District manager, said.

“I think we are going to have a good water year, he said, but the jury is still out on whether Owyhee Reservoir will fill, he said.

Chamberlin said he flew over the Owyhee Basin recently and saw snow everywhere, even on lower valley floors at the southern end of the county, where he does not usually see it.

“Stock ponds are full and running over,” he said. “The ground is saturated.”

Rock Springs SNOTEL site, in the Malheur Basin, recorded the second highest Feb. 1 snowpack since records began in 1981, the report said. The site had 7.2 inches of snow water content, 26 inches of snow depth and was 153 percent of normal.

Water reports in Idaho are also good.

Precipitation since the water year started Oct. 1 closely mirrors the snowpack percent of averages,” said Ron Abramovich, water supply specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, in the Idaho report.

The West Central Mountains along with the Panhandle Region have received 110 percent to 120 percent of normal, he said.

The highest water year precipitation totals are 130 percent to 155 percent of average in the Owyhee, Bruneau and Salmon Falls basins, he said.

January precipitation in the Southside Snake River basins were less than the previous two months, but still above average for January, with the Owyhee Basin receiving the least precipitation in January at about 108 percent of average, according to the report.

The Southside Snake River basins continue to lead the state with the best snowpack with respect to normal, with all basins coming in at about 140 percent to 155 percent of normal for Feb. 1.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The last four occupiers of an Oregon wildlife refuge have posted a series of defiant videos in which one of them calls FBI agents losers, shows a defensive perimeter they have built and takes a joyride in a government vehicle.

The videos were posted Sunday on a YouTube channel called Defend Your Base, which the armed group has been using to give live updates. The holdouts are among 16 people charged with conspiracy to interfere with federal workers in the armed standoff over federal land policy that has surpassed five weeks.

In one of the new videos, occupier David Fry says the FBI told him he faces additional charges because of defensive barricades the four have built.

“We just got done talking with the FBI,” said the 27-year-old Blanchester, Ohio, resident. “They consider fortifying a crime.”

Fry said he, Jeff Banta of Nevada, and husband and wife Sean and Sandy Anderson of Idaho have “every right” to defend themselves from the “oncoming onslaught of people with fully automatic rifles (and) armored vehicles.

“I’m tired of you guys telling us what we can and can’t do,” he says.

Then Fry shows government vehicles they have been using without permission. He walks up to a white truck and says, “I think I’m going to take it on a little joyride.

“Now you’ve got another charge on me FBI. I’m driving your vehicle.”

FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele said the agency had no comment on the videos.

The four have refused to leave the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon since the compound nearly emptied out after the Jan. 26 arrests of group leader Ammon Bundy and other main figures. The group seized the property on Jan. 2, demanding federal lands be turned over to locals.

The traffic stop on a remote road outside the refuge also led police to shoot and kill Robert “LaVoy” Finicum. The FBI says the Arizona rancher was reaching for a pistol in his pocket, but Finicum’s family and Bundy’s followers dispute that and say his death was not justified.

Authorities surrounded the refuge after the arrests. The FBI has been negotiating, but the holdouts have said they won’t go home without assurances they won’t be arrested.

In another video posted Sunday, Sean and Sandy Anderson are sitting together and the husband says they feel like hostages because they can’t leave without being arrested.

“What are they to do with us?” Sean Anderson says. “They either let us go, drop all charges because we’re good people, or they come in and kill us. How’s that going to set with America?”

SALEM — A bill to set three different minimum wage rates in the state is headed to the Senate floor next week.

The bill would hike wages to $14.75 in the Portland metro area, $12.50 in rural and coastal areas with struggling economies and $13.50 in the rest of the state by 2022. The rates are based on median income and cost of living in those regions and what it takes to be “self-sufficient” — to pay basic expenses such as food, housing and transportation, said Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, chairman of the Senate Workforce and General Government Committee.

The committee passed the proposal Friday 3-to-2.

“Passing minimum wage is not going to be a silver bullet for problems faced by low-income Oregonians,” Dembrow said.

Dembrow said lawmakers still need to increase the earned income tax credit, address the cost of child care and find ways to increase affordable housing in the state, where prices, particularly in the Portland area, have skyrocketed.

The vote fell along party lines with the committee’s two Republicans, Sens. Tim Knopp of Bend and Kim Thatcher of Keizer, voting no.

“I really feel the impact of this is going to negative in many ways,” Knopp said. “I think it is going to hurt the people you’re trying to help.”

He said small businesses would take an economic hit and employees would lose jobs.

The Republicans said they plan to write a minority report and offer an amendment to the bill on the Senate floor. The bill could reach the Senate floor as early as Tuesday, Dembrow said.

Dembrow authored the bill after months of meeting with stakeholders and consulting research on self-sufficiency thresholds for every county in the state, he said. The bill was intended to offer an alternative to ballot initiatives that would raise the minimum to $15 or $13.50 statewide and would repeal a ban on municipalities and counties from setting a higher wage.

The first pay bump would start in July, increasing the wage from $9.25 to $9.75 statewide.

The minimum gradually will climb to $14.75 in 2022 in the Portland urban growth boundary, which includes parts of Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties. It will rise to $13.50 in Benton, Clatsop, Columbia, Deschutes, Hood River, Jackson, Josephine, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Polk, Tillamook, Wasco, and Yamhill counties, and parts of Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties outside Portland’s urban growth boundary.

In rural areas, the minimum will increase to $12.50. Those areas include Malheur, Lake, Harney, Wheeler, Sherman, Gilliam, Wallowa, Grant, Jefferson, Baker, Union, Crook, Klamath, Douglas, Coos, Curry, Umatilla and Morrow counties.

The Legislative Fiscal Office determined that the cost of raising minimum wage for the state and local governments is indeterminate because it’s impossible to know how many positions will affected by the time the increases take effect in the next seven years.

Dembrow’s amendment, first offered Wednesday, nudged out a proposal by Gov. Kate Brown that would have set two minimum wage rates in the state.

No polling has been done in the Senate on Dembrow’s specific proposal, according to Senate President Peter Courtney’s Office. Lindsey O’Brien, spokeswoman for House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, said Kotek supports raising minimum wage but is still reviewing the Senate proposal before taking a stance on it.

The Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group.

Oregon farms shouldn’t be converted to wetlands unless county governments agree they won’t disrupt nearby agricultural operations, according to growers who support a bill before the Legislature.

Wetlands are currently allowed in Oregon farm zones, but Senate Bill 1517 would require local governments to first determine they won’t significantly change local farm practices, drive up costs or alter agricultural land use patterns.

“Farmers don’t have a meaningful opportunity to engage in that process right now,” said Mary Anne Nash, public policy counsel for the Oregon Farm Bureau, which supports the bill.

Farmers who testified in favor of SB 1517 during a recent legislative hearing listed numerous problems created by wetlands, which are often created in agricultural areas to offset the impacts of development elsewhere.

Wetlands can increase the frequency of flooding and impede the drainage of nearby farmland, as well as attract birds and noxious weeds to an area, according to growers who support the proposal.

Joe Rocha, who farms near the Tillamook Bay, said the changes in hydrology can kill grasses that dairies depend on for feed.

“They brought the saltwater closer to us,” he said.

Kathy Hadley, a farmer in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, said a 500-acre wetland bordering her property increases erosion during the wet season and attracts elk that damage fences.

Such problems can discourage potential buyers when farmers are looking to sell property, said Sharon Waterman, whose farm in Coos County is near a 400-acre wetland.

“Can we even sell our property? I don’t know,” she said.

Supporters of the bill emphasized that it would not block wetland conversions, but would enable a collaborative process in how they’re sited and designed.

“This bill allows rural Oregon and local governments to have a say in what happens in their communities,” said Mark Labhart, a Tillamook County commissioner.

Under current Oregon law, landowners who convert their property to wetlands are protected from legal liability for adverse effects on neighbors, the Farm Bureau’s Nash said.

In some cases, conservation groups that create wetlands also take over ownership of the property and benefit from this protection, she said.

The bill would clarify that this protection does not only apply if the landowner is also the designer or contractor who performs the work, Nash said.

Kelley Beamer, executive director of the Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts, said she’s concerned about this provision because many landowners put in wetlands themselves.

If they’re faced with liability, it may discourage landowners from undertaking wetland projects, said Jerry Nicolescu, executive director of the Oregon Association of Conservation Districts.

Nicolescu said he’s like to see better definitions of key terms in the bill, such as the “significant change” to farmland that can impede wetland projects.

“Significant to one person is not significant to another, he said.

Beamer said she’s also concerned about the level of review that wetlands will be subjected to across different counties. She also questioned why the current approval process by the Oregon Department of State Lands is insufficient.

“Where is that breakdown happening?” she said.