KENNEWICK, Wash. — The state’s largest farm labor association, WAFLA, has hired a new chief operating officer and opened a new office and training center in Kennewick.

Both moves are intended to help the former Washington Farm Labor Association with its exponential growth as the largest H-2A visa guestworker provider on the West Coast.

George Zanatta left his position as CEO of Atkinson Staffing, an agricultural and industrial labor contractor in Washington and Oregon, to become COO of WAFLA on Nov. 1. He continues to live in Kennewick and operates WAFLA’s new office and training center at 3180 W. Clearwater Ave.

“George has previous COO experience as well as he is a very experienced bilingual trainer, among many other traits that are important to WAFLA in our mission for growth and serving members’ needs,” said Kimberly Bresler, a WAFLA spokeswoman.

“We are excited to have him on board with us,” she said.

WAFLA will host an open house at the new center from 3 to 6 p.m. Dec. 1. The 2,200-square-foot facility includes audio-visual equipment, a video studio and space to train groups of 50 or more workers and growers.

The facility is closer to the majority of WAFLA’s more than 800 members and 160 client contracts, Zanatta said. It can be used by members for their own training, he said.

WAFLA hired about 10,000 H-2A workers in 2016 for growers mostly in Washington but also in Oregon and Idaho.

“We plan to bring in 12,000 in 2017 and our goal is 25,000 — maybe 50,000 as we grow into other states,” Zanatta said.

“My job is to lay the foundation for a system strong enough to accommodate that,” he said.

A new pilot program next year is complete worker management for a couple of small growers, he said. WAFLA will handle applications, recruitment, transportation, housing, payroll and in-field supervision, he said.

Zanatta, 58, was born and raised in Mexico, obtained a degree in business administration from the University of Mexico in 1978 and said he came to the U.S. illegally for business opportunities in the 1980s. He gained legal status through the Simpson-Mazzoli Act of 1986 and spent years in manufacturing, import-export and advertising, he said. He has done business consulting and coaching through his firm, Results Oriented Strategies, in Las Vegas and later Kennewick.

Zanatta was a motivational speaker at WAFLA’s annual labor conference in Ellensburg, Wash., last February. Any consulting or coaching he does now will be from his position with WAFLA, he said.

Dan Fazio will continue as WAFLA CEO from the association’s headquarters near Olympia. Zanatta will help Fazio with the processing and tracking of H-2A applications with state and federal agencies and coordinating recruitment, transportation and orientation of workers, most of whom come from Mexico. He will help with training and mock compliance audits.

Heri Chapula, WAFLA field services director, also will work in the new Kennewick center. He previously managed WAFLA’s 96-bed Ringold Seasonal Farmworker Housing southwest of Basin City. Greg Vazquez, member relations manager, is in WAFLA’s Yakima, Wash., office.

With the federal government seeking public comment on the Columbia-Snake river system, the Washington Association of Wheat Growers reaffirmed their opposition to breaching dams on the Snake River.

“It would be devastating to the industry,” said executive director Michelle Hennings.

Removing the dams would mean the river would not be useful for transporting wheat, Hennings said.

“It is vital that we keep our transportation system intact,” she said.

According to WAWG, the river system is the top wheat export gateway in the United States and the third-largest grain export gateway in the world.

To move the same amount of wheat by road or rail would require 137,00 semi-trucks or 23,900 railcars, increasing fuel consumption, emissions and wear-and-tear on roads and railways.

“Do we really want to put more trucks on the road?” Hennings said. “We don’t want to do that. This is one way to alleviate, if we want to have clean air.”

Roughly $3 billion of commercial cargo moves on the system, giving growers in the Midwest access to international markets.

Barging is one of the lowest cost, most environmentally friendly modes of transportation available, according to WAWG. A typical four-barge tow moves the same amount of cargo as 140 railcars or 538 trucks, and uses less fuel.

WAWG members are attending various scoping meetings put on by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Bonneville Power Administration. The deadline to comment is Jan. 17.

Some environmental groups claim breaching the dams would “save the environment,” Hennings said.

WAWG is monitoring the situation closely, and hopes to offer insight during hearings about the river system, Hennings said.

“It is very important ag tells their story to the ones who don’t necessarily understand the situation,” she said.

Five legislators have been named “Friends of Nurseries” by the Oregon Association of Nurseries, the trade group representing the growers, retailers, landscapers and suppliers who work in the state’s ornamental horticulture industry.

As described in an association news release, honors went to:

Rep. Caddy McKeown, D-Coos Bay, who spoke up for agriculture as the Legislature considered increasing the minimum wage. McKeown also supported the state’s “right to farm” rules and favors improving transportation systems to help move products to market.

Sen. John Lively, D-Springfield, who enjoys a good relationship with nursery producers. He met with industry leaders at a local nursery to discuss the minimum wage issue and other labor problems, and voted against the wage hike.

Rep. Mark Johnson, R-Hood River, known for his bi-partisan approach. He led the effort to create a conditional driver’s license card for residents who are not eligible for a full license and has cast tough votes for the nursery association.

Rep. Brian Clem, D-Salem, considered well-versed in the details of agriculture. He was chief sponsor of a 2007 Estate Tax bill favored by ag, supported the urban and rural reserves land-use process to protect farmland and worked with House Speaker Tina Kotek to make the minimum wage bill less harmful.

Sen. Fred Girod, R-Stayton, a veteran legislator known as a strong supporter of the nursery and greenhouse industry and a respected voice on both sides of the aisle. He takes into consideration how bills would affect agriculture if they became law.

Oregon’s nursery industry is annually the first- or second- most valuable commodity in the state. Sales hit $895 million in 2015. An estimated 75 percent of the nursery plants grown in the state are shipped out of Oregon.

A USDA official, Alexis Taylor, has been nominated to head the Oregon Department of Agriculture, replacing former director Katy Coba.

Taylor is currently the USDA’s Deputy Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agriculture Services and will begin serving as ODA director on Jan. 23, once confirmed by the Oregon Senate.

Lisa Hanson, ODA’s deputy director, was a finalist for the position and has served as the agency’s chief since Coba left in October to lead the state’s Department of Administrative Services.

In her position at USDA, Taylor was charged with advocating for international trade policies that benefit U.S. agriculture and led the agency’s Women in Agriculture Initiative, which supports female farmers.

Prior to the USDA, she negotiated provisions that ended up in the 2008 and 2014 farm bills as a legislative advisor to congressional committees.

A graduate of Iowa State University, Taylor was raised on an Iowa farm and served in the U.S. Army Reserve for eight years, including a tour in Iraq.

When Coba announced she was leaving ODA, eight of Oregon’s agriculture industry groups wrote a letter to Gov. Kate Brown, urging her to install Hanson as the permanent agency chief.

However, the Oregon Farm Bureau has welcomed the news of Taylor’s appointment, citing her “track record of success” at the USDA.

“We believe Ms. Taylor’s experience at a high level in Washington, D.C. gives here the background she needs to be successful in helping the industry recognize and overcome its challenges in Oregon,” OFB said in a statement.

LONG CREEK, Ore. — It rained last night, and Sharon Livingston couldn’t be happier about it.

Recently named Agriculturalist of the Year, the welfare of her ranch is never far from her mind.

Born and raised in Long Creek, Livingston, now 77, still works the ranch she grew up on. She leases her Angus and Angus-cross cattle to a local rancher, Jim Jacobs, and helps when she can.

Livingston works seven days a week and doesn’t take vacations outside of work. She’s deeply involved in Oregon agriculture and is the former president of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association and a member on both the Oregon Board of Agriculture and the Oregon Beef Council.

In recognition, Livingston has been named the 2016 Agriculturalist of the Year by Oregon Aglink. She will receive the award at the annual Denim & Diamonds Dinner and Auction in Portland, Nov. 18.

Livingston is one of only two women who have been president of the cattlemen’s association.

“I taught school for years with men, and if we went through the lunch line and they let me go in front, I would say, ‘Thank you.’ I’m appreciative,” she said. “However, if you choose not to, it’s OK. We’re all working here together.”

Grant County Commissioner Boyd Britton has known Livingston for roughly two decades and speaks highly of her.

“Sharon Livingston is one of the reasons Grant County will always be strong,” Britton said. “She loves the land, and she stands up for the rights of the agricultural community.”

The award is presented by Oregon Aglink, a marketing and public relations association for the agricultural industry founded in 1966. The organization’s goal is to educate urban Oregonians on where their food comes from and how farmers produce it, Aglink Executive Director Geoff Horning said.

Agriculturalist of the Year is “the most prestigious award” in the agriculture industry, he said.

“It’s something that has to really be a career achievement,” Horning said. “It’s really more of an award to present someone who has gone above and beyond over a long period of time.”

It’s for this dedication that Livingston is being honored.

“Sharon has been an extraordinary advocate for Oregon agriculture on so many fronts for her entire life,” Horning said. “She represents everything that is good about our industry and about her community. She’s very selfless, very outgoing and very willing to do whatever it takes to help her industry do better.”

Livingston is appreciative of the recognition, but gets her satisfaction from being a steward of the land, a provider for her community.

“I just try to pay my bills, be a good citizen, honor the Constitution and flag and vote,” she said.

Livingston, like many in the area, is conservative. She said many in the agricultural industry are excited about President-elect Donald Trump and the chance to have a Republican in the White House.

However, she is worried about Trump’s stance against the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would help the industry export products.

She is committed to helping give agriculturalists a voice in state government in a time where she says they deal more and more with government regulations and oversight. Livingston cites the Agricultural Water Quality Management Act, also known as Senate Bill 1010, as a prime example.

The bill requires the Oregon Department of Agriculture to help reduce water pollution from agricultural sources to improve the health of watersheds throughout the state. Livingston has stayed involved with the board of agriculture to make sure they are able to use water to produce crops and sustain their industry.

“Land ain’t no good without water,” she said, quoting a line from her favorite book, “Half Broke Horses.”

Livingston said she will always be an advocate for taking care of water and using it in a sustainable way.

Livingston has watched the community she grew up in slowly dry out. She said the evidence is all around her: Smaller classes in schools, fewer open businesses and a lack of jobs are all proof Long Creek is hurting.

“It’s a whole different society, a different area, a different community,” she said.

However, Livingston believes the town has a future, which is something that drives her to advocate for the needs of local agriculturalists.

Livingston said she will continue to work in agriculture as long as she can but is uncertain to whom she will pass on the tradition. She lost her husband, Fred, in 1992 to cancer and her oldest son, Clayton, to a heart attack in 2013. Both had been involved in the ranch. She has two other children who have moved away but is hopeful a grandchild will show interest in the tradition.

Livingston said she never intended to get rich and plans to hang on to the ranch as long as she can.

“It’s my life, and it’s what I do,” she said. “I’ll do it as long as I can.”

Portland pot attorney Amy Margolis has joined a Florida firm that is expanding its cannabis law practice group across the U.S. as more states legalize production, sale and use of medical and recreational marijuana.

At least two other attorneys join Margolis in the new Portland office of Greenspoon Marder, which is based in Boca Raton, Fla., and has offices in Miami, New York, Denver, Las Vegas, San Diego and elsewhere. Attorneys Sara Bateman and Kristin Stanckiewicz will work in Portland with Margolis, who joins the law firm as a shareholder.

Margolis is a significant figure in Oregon’s marijuana industry, and the Florida law firm’s expansion into Oregon is part of a noteworthy trend as well. Other Pacific Northwest law firms have agricultural practice lawyers who work with producers and processors on a wide range of business and environmental issues, and some of them have recently added or assigned cannabis work to their ag teams.

Tim Bernasek, head of the agricultural practice group at Portland’s Dunn Carney law firm, said the company’s leadership analyzed the issue thoroughly and decided to take on marijuana work. The decision is consistent with the approach many trade associations have taken, Bernasek said, including the Oregon Farm Bureau.

“The voters have spoken,” Bernasek said. “This is a legitimate agricultural crop and it’s important for people getting into the business to have good legal representation in dealing with, number one, understanding the agricultural regulatory environment that they are now formally a part of.”

It’s important that cannabis producers and entrepreneurs understand the risks of lending and other transactions, because marijuana remains illegal under federal law even though states have legalized it, he said. Some traditional farmers are diversifying into marijuana, and need solid advice.

“That’s the analysis our firm went through,” Bernasek said. “It isn’t a values judgment. If we serve an industry, this is part of that industry. The bigger thing as a legal community, particularly when it’s so tricky and difficult, is people need good legal counsel.”

Veteran attorney David Zehntbauer is Dunn Carney’s point person on cannabis issues.

Margolis, head of the new Greenspoon Marder branch in Portland, founded and was executive director of the Oregon Cannabis Association, a nonprofit professional organization representing growers, processors, dispensaries and other businesses. Margolis has testified and lobbied before the Oregon Legislature and other governing bodies on legalization issues.

Margolis previously worked at the Emerge Law Group, which drafted Measure 91. The measure legalized recreational cannabis use, possession and cultivation in Oregon. Voters approved it in 2014 and it took effect July 1, 2015. Emerge Law, based in downtown Portland, remains focused on cannabis business and regulatory compliance issues.

In a prepared statement issued by Greenspoon Marder, Margolis said she is “thrilled” to join the firm as it expands its national cannabis practice.

“Having represented clients in the cannabis movement and industry for more than fifteen years, I am excited to partner with a firm that has (a) deep bench of experience with heavily regulated industries coupled with a commitment to cannabis reform,” Margolis said in the statement. She did not immediately respond to an interview request.

Greenspoon Marder estimates the recreational and medicinal marijuana market at $5.4 billion annually. Counting results from the Nov. 8 election, 29 states and Washington, D.C. now allow adult pot use in some form, according to the law firm.

On its website, the firm said state votes are “creating an environment of rapid growth in the cannabis industry” even though the federal government still classifies it as illegal. The law firm said it helps businesses “navigate the complex and evolving laws and regulations governing the cannabis industry.”

Online

http://www.gmlaw.com

OLYMPIA — The minimum wage for H-2A visa foreign guestworkers in Washington and Oregon likely will rise 5.44 percent to $13.38 per hour in 2017, making it the highest in the nation, according to WAFLA, formerly the Washington Farm Labor Association.

The rate has been $12.69 for the past year and goes up every Jan. 1 based on government surveys of regional prevailing wages.

“It appears that the large percentage increases and higher wages for field and livestock workers are symptomatic of a dramatic labor shortage nationwide,” said Dan Fazio, WAFLA director.

“It’s good news for workers but very tough for farmers,” he said.

As it increases, it’s increasing farmers’ production costs, he said.

The mandatory minimum wage for H-2A workers, known as the Adverse Effect Wage Rate, is set by the U.S. Department of Labor based on surveys of prevailing wages of domestic workers by region. It is above state minimum wages and intended to prevent wages of domestic workers from being adversely affected by the importation of foreign workers.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service calculates the AEWR, adopted by DOL, from surveys of field and livestock workers conducted during one week each calendar quarter, Fazio said. On Nov. 17, NASS published the third- and fourth-quarter wage rates along with the entire year’s calculations, he said.

Wage surveys conducted by the Washington Employment Security Department are not considered by NASS or DOL but DOL encourages states to do their own surveys, he said.

These rates are not official until issued by DOL, but it looks like California’s AEWR will increase 5.72 percent from $11.89 to $12.57 per hour, Fazio said.

The rate for Idaho, Montana and Wyoming likely will decrease slightly from $11.75 to $11.66 per hour, he said. The rate in Colorado, Utah and Nevada probably will drop from $11.27 to $11 per hour and Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin likely will increase 5.74 percent from $12.02 to $12.75 per hour, he said.

The national average will probably go up 3.92 percent from $11.74 to $12.20, he said.

Washington growers hired 13,641 H-2A workers in 2016, mostly from Mexico, for pruning and picking tree fruit. Often those workers make more than the AEWR on piece rate, which is pay for the volume of fruit they pick.

But at a minimum, growers using H-2A workers must pay all their workers, foreign and domestic, the highest of the AEWR, the prevailing hourly wage, a collective bargaining wage, if applicable, or the state or federal minimum wage, Fazio said. “The AEWR becomes the de facto minimum wage for farmers who use H-2A and pay workers by the hour,” he said.

The H-2A program allows agricultural employers to hire foreign guestworkers on temporary work visas to fill seasonal jobs. Employers must show a shortage of U.S. workers in the area and provide housing, transportation and a minimum wage.

PORTLAND — In the wake of its defeat in passing a $3 billion corporate sales tax measure, A Better Oregon announced Thursday it plans to push for legislation next year to boost state revenue and increase corporate income transparency.

During a press conference Thursday at a Planned Parenthood in Northeast Portland, the union-backed coalition, which sponsored Measure 97, released no details about possible proposals.

Coalition leaders said the 10-to-15-percent cuts to state services that Gov. Kate Brown has said will be needed to balance the 2017-18 budget are unacceptable.

“The issue is our largest corporations are not paying their fair share,” said coalition leader Linda Roman, director of health policy and government relations for the Latino Health Coalition. “We cannot continue to tax working families and small businesses. That is just too large of a burden for Oregonians.”

Coalition leaders’ messages Thursday seemed to echo many of its campaign slogans. But coalition leader Andrea Paluso, executive director of Family Forward Oregon, said A Better Oregon is willing to negotiate with businesses and corporations that opposed the ballot measure on a potential revenue package.

Lawmakers have said they plan to consider a revenue package next year to help fill a nearly $1.4 billion revenue shortfall on maintaining existing services.

Coalition leaders said they plan to unveil A Better Oregon budget in coming weeks, revenue package proposals and legislation to disclose what corporations pay in taxes to the state. Some of the revenue proposals already exist, but A Better Oregon has not yet released them, Roman said. The coalition hopes to work with a bipartisan group of lawmakers on the legislation but was not prepared Thursday to name any sponsors.

The coalition has no existing plans to propose another ballot measure to raise revenue. Leaders are waiting to see what the Legislature will come up with next year.

Coalition leaders will be looking for “real attempts at and success in raising revenue that closes some of our budget shortfalls but also looks to the future,” Paluso said.

“It’s not enough anymore to just stop cutting,” she said. “We actually need to invest in the future.”

One of A Better Oregon’s proposals will aim at making public the amount of taxes corporations pay the state, Roman said.

“Time and time again in this debate as we were really asking corporations to pay their fair share for the common good, as they should, we came up against the fact that there really was a dearth of information about what they actually pay,” said coalition leader Brian Rudiger, deputy executive director for SEIU Local 503, “and we think as we move forward into this 2017 legislative cycle and beyond, that it is going to be critical for legislators and the general public to have more information.”

The coalition is working with lawyers to explore legal options for greater transparency, Paluso said.

“We feel confident there are ways we can require corporations to disclose more about their profits and tax rates,” she said.

Valerie Cunningham, a spokeswoman for the Portland Business Alliance, declined the comment on the proposal at this time. Ryan Deckert, president of the Oregon Business Association, was not immediately available for comment Thursday.

Voters soundly rejected Measure 97 by a 19-point margin. The measure would have levied a 2.5 percent tax on certain corporations’ Oregon sales exceeding $25 million.

The campaign against the measure emphasized that the tax applied only to one type of corporation, leaving out others with equal sales. The “No on Measure 97” campaign also drove home that lawmakers could spend the revenue in any way they chose, and that the tax could cost consumers hundreds of dollars more per year in the form of higher prices and slowed job growth.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Lawyers for a second set of defendants to be tried for the occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon say they want a pool of 2,000 jurors to be summoned as soon as possible. But the prosecution wants a delay while it “evaluates its position” on the defendants.

The opposing stances were contained in a status report filed in federal court in Portland, three weeks after a jury acquitted seven other defendants — including two of the occupation leaders — of the same conspiracy charge: conspiring to impede federal workers from their jobs.

Even though the government said it wanted to evaluate its position, attorneys on both sides agreed to file pretrial motions by Dec. 16 and for arguments over the motions to take place the week of Jan. 16. The trial is scheduled to start on Feb. 14.

Defense attorney Jesse Merrithew told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Wednesday that the larger jury pool is needed because the acquittals of seven other defendants will make it harder to seat an impartial jury.

“It will be more difficult to find jurors that have not heard of the case and come to some conclusion about what happened,” Merrithew said, adding that “the reaction of the public to the verdicts was extremely negative.”

However, some potential jurors in the upcoming trial might believe the previous jury was justified in acquitting the defendants, Merrithew acknowledged.

The armed group seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2 and occupied it for 41 days to oppose prison sentences for two local ranchers convicted of setting fires and to protest federal control of public lands in the West. One occupier, LaVoy Finicum, was shot to death by state police at a roadblock as he and occupation leaders were driving to a meeting in an adjacent county.

Merrithew’s client is Jake Ryan, whom Merrithew described as “a very low-level guy” among the occupiers.

“The government has provided no information what he was doing in the refuge,” the attorney said. “I believe he operated a backhoe to dig a trench after LaVoy Finicum was shot.”

Besides Ryan, defendants in the second trial are Dylan Anderson, Sandra Anderson, Sean Anderson, Duane Ehmer, Jason Patrick and Darryl Thorn.

Andrew Kohlmetz, Patrick’s attorney, said he believes the prior acquittals — including of occupation leaders Ammon and Ryan Bundy — should be taken into account by prosecutors.

“As a matter of fairness, I don’t see how the federal government can say we respect that jury’s verdict and then turn around and try less culpable defendants,” Kohlmetz said in a telephone interview.

Wednesday’s status report said, regarding the jury pool, that “Defendants’ position is that the summonses have to go out as soon as possible, and they request 2000 summonses be issued.”

The prosecution’s response was that it “requests that the issuance of the summonses be delayed while the government evaluates its position regarding the February defendants.”

Kevin Sonoff, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office, had no immediate comment when asked for clarification on what that meant.

In an earlier interview with AP, Tung Yin, a law professor at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland who has been closely following the case, said prosecutors might be more rigorous in jury selection, sweeten plea deals or even go for lesser charges instead of the felony conspiracy charge.

Eleven other defendants pleaded guilty under plea bargains before the acquittals in the first trial on Oct. 27.

MOUNT HOOD, Ore. (AP) — Up to 4 inches of snow had fallen on Oregon’s Cascades by Wednesday morning.

The Oregonian reported that the National Weather Service said higher elevations had picked up even more with Mt. Hood Meadows reporting 9 inches of powder overnight.

The weather service added that temperatures were expected to rise briefly Thursday and storm clouds were likely to lessen.

Another wet system is expected to roll through this weekend.

EUGENE, Ore. — A federal judge has refused to dismiss a former student’s allegation of unjust enrichment against his Oregon State University professor.

Earlier this year, former OSU professor Neil Forsberg accused his ex-student, Yongqian Wang, of stealing trade secrets from his company, Omnigen Research.

The Corvallis, Ore.-based company manufactures a feed additive that’s popular in the U.S. dairy industry and that it hoped to market in China.

According to Omnigen’s complaint, Wang was employed at the company while an OSU graduate student and had access to confidential information about research and ingredients that he used to file a “sham” patent for a similar feed additive in China.

Wang acknowledged starting two feed additive companies in China but denies he relied on Omnigen’s trade secrets.

He also filed a counterclaim against Omnigen, alleging that Forsberg had reneged on a promise to pay Wang a portion of the profits for his work on the feed additive.

Attorneys for Omnigen requested that U.S. District Court Michael McShane dismiss the counterclaim, arguing that the allegation of unjust enrichment was “pure fiction” and “not plausible.”

At a hearing in Eugene, Ore., McShane refused to dismiss the motion, saying the request was “frivolous” at this stage of litigation.

It would be too early to reject the argument before discovery of evidence had occurred in the lawsuit, he said.

McShane admonished the attorneys for Omnigen for “dog piling” on the defendant’s attorney with the request and awarded Wang attorney fees for having to fight this motion.

“This is litigation for the sake of litigation,” McShane said. “This isn’t the type of litigation that occurs in federal court.”

The judge then urged the parties to move on with the next stages of litigation.

Omnigen products are used to treat hemmorhagic bowel syndrome in dairy cows.

The company was launched by Forsberg in 2002 and was bought a decade later for $23 million by Phibro Animal Health Corp. of New York.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Rodents, insects and microscopic bacteria: All these hazards can exist in food and where it is stored, and it is up to the Oregon Department of Agriculture to ensure they’re not there.

But the department’s Food Safety Program, which is charged with carrying out inspections of dairies, grocery stores, food processors and other establishments, has a backlog that could cause an increase in dangerous and even fatal illnesses, Oregon’s secretary of state said in an audit published on Tuesday.

The Food Safety Program is responsible for regulating more than 12,000 food safety licenses in Oregon. The auditors found that, as of October, 2,841 licenses were overdue for an inspection by more than three months.

The 28-page report cites a scary scenario that was discovered during an inspection in one locale.

In June 2015, two food safety inspectors found hundreds of rodent droppings scattered throughout a grocery store in Portland, the report said.

“Seven dead mice were still locked in snap traps ... During a later visit, the inspectors found thousands of insects on glue traps and dead insects visible inside wrapped packages of lettuce. This time, the rodents spotted were alive; one stuck to a glue trap behind the bread display, another running near the front of the store,” said the audit from Secretary of State Jeanne P. Atkins office. The inspectors closed and condemned the store until the problems could be resolved.

The audit pointed out that not all violations are so obvious, and that health hazards could come from an establishment failing to properly sanitize a food preparation area or storing food at an improper temperature — which could allow bacteria to grow — or not labeling allergens like peanuts.

Each year, one in six Americans gets sick from contaminated foods or beverages, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. The CDC estimates that of the roughly 48 million people who get sick from a foodborne illness each year, 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die.

The backlog of inspections in Oregon was “caused by an increase in the number of licensed businesses ... and an inspection staff busy with other duties,” said the audit, which is accessible via the secretary of state’s website. It recommended the agriculture department use stronger management practices, improve use of data and use its resources more strategically.

“Inspectors are also spending significant amounts of time on duties that are not related to inspections, such as attending training courses in specialized license types or answering customer questions on the phone,” the audit said.

It noted that the Food Safety Program has a contract with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to conduct some of its inspections in exchange for reimbursement. It recommended doing fewer FDA contract inspections.

Lisa Hanson, acting director of the state agriculture department, wrote in a response that the department will implement the report’s recommendations.

The audit stressed that adhering to food safety regulations is crucial to minimize the risk of contamination, and that it’s up to food safety inspectors to make sure those regulations are followed.

An Oregon livestock producer must pay $13,700 to the Oregon Department of Agriculture for filing a “frivolous” lawsuit against the agency, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. Magistrate Judge John Acosta found that ODA is entitled to collect attorney fees from William Holdner, a rancher in Columbia County who filed a complaint claiming he’s not subject to state water quality regulations.

Before his problems with water quality regulations began, Holdner raised about 500 cow-calf pairs on his property.

Holdner was repeatedly cited by ODA for pollution violations on his property. He was found guilty of felony water pollution charges in 2012 and sentenced to five days in jail and $300,000 in penalties.

In response, he claimed to be exempt from state and federal water regulations, arguing that ODA had abused its power in regulating his operation under the Clean Water Act.

In 2009, 2012 and 2015, Holdner filed lawsuits arguing that his “land patent” prohibited the enforcement of water regulations on his property, but those claims were all rejected by federal judges.

In light of the past rulings, Holdner’s claims in the most recent case “could not be considered viable at the time they were filed,” since he “had clearly been warned any additional complaints attacking the legality of defendants’ regulation of Holdner’s livestock operation would not succeed,” Acosta said.

Because the complaint was “frivolous, unreasonable or without foundation,” ODA’s attorneys are entitled to recover their fees, the judge said.

However, Acosta did not grant the full $23,800 the state’s lawyers sought in court filings and reduced the amount by more than $10,000 because some of the hours billed by the state were duplicative, among other reasons.

In 2014, Holdner was prohibited from owning cattle after being convicted of animal neglect, which resulted in a sentence of five years of probation.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — When he visited Eugene last spring, Donald Trump promised to revive Oregon’s timber industry, which for decades has been hamstrung by severe curbs against logging in federal forests west of the Cascades summit.

“Timber jobs (in Oregon) have been cut in half since 1990,” he said during his May 6 stump speech to a revved-up crowd at the Lane Events Center. “We are going to bring them up, folks, we are going to do it really right, we are going to bring them up, OK?”

Trump didn’t offer specifics as to how — or how much — he would revive logging and milling, but he alluded to loosening federal restrictions.

Now, Trump supporters and critics in Oregon will see if he can live up to his promise.

Trump’s election as president brings optimism to the state timber industry and acute uneasiness to environmental groups that have fought for decades to ensure that logging on federal lands complies with federal environmental law.

Both sides now wonder if and how Trump’s administration­ and Republican lawmakers might seek to weaken long-standing key environmental laws, such as the Endangered Species Act, reports The Register-Guard. Enforcement of that law and the National ­Environmental Policy Act were key in the late 1980s and early 1990s to halting the intensive, widespread logging that had prevailed for decades on federal forests in Western Oregon, Western Washington and Northern California.

The Northwest Forest Plan, implemented by the Clinton administration in 1994, has severely restricted logging on federal lands in the region ever since.

But undoing the Northwest Forest Plan and rolling back environmental laws are not necessarily easy tasks — even with a Republican in the White House and a GOP-controlled House and Senate.

Timber interests in Oregon welcome Trump as president.

“We’re cautiously optimistic it’s going to present some opportunities for us to put people back to work in rural communities and certainly to improve the health of our forest,” said Jim Geisinger, executive vice president of the Associated Oregon Loggers. “For the last two decades, we’ve just seen too many catastrophic wildfires, too many mills close, too many rural communities fall apart socially and economically, and I think this will be an opportunity to restore some of that.”

The Salem-based trade association represents 1,000 logging companies in Oregon.

For 40 years, Geisinger has been a voice for logging in the state, traveling to Washington, D.C., to speak about how federal policies affect the industry.

Cause for concern for environmentalists

The worry among environmental groups contrasts the optimism of timber interests in regards to how Trump and the officials he appoints will manage public forests.

Possibilities for agriculture secretary, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service, include Texas Agriculture Secretary Sid Miller, and possibilities for interior secretary, who oversees the Bureau of Land Management, include former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Lucas Oil co-founder Forrest Lucas, according to news reports. All of them lean toward resource extraction rather than preservation.

Federal forests in Western Oregon are split between the Forest Service and the BLM.

“We don’t think Trump has a mandate to weaken environmental protections or return to old-growth clearcutting on public lands,” Arran Robertson, spokesman for Oregon Wild, wrote in an email Friday. The Portland-based nonprofit group advocates for old-growth protection.

“Clearly, those were not major issues in the presidential campaign,” he wrote. “However, there are certainly folks in the logging industry who feel the time is ripe to repeal the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, etc. ... and prioritize their interests in public lands over other values (like tourism and recreation, clean drinking water and wildlife).”

For decades, environmental groups brought and won lawsuits based on the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and other environmental laws.

“Everything appears to be on the table at this point,” said Josh Laughlin, executive director of environmental group Cascadia Wildlands in Eugene. “I would like to think that the decades of progress that have been made, in terms of safeguarding the values that these unique landscapes in the Northwest and that the laws provide, will be upheld through the power of the people.”

Both senators and four out of five Oregon congressmen are Democrats. U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, is the lone Republican representing Oregon.

Some in the past have carefully calibrated their positions, calling for more logging on federal lands, but also increased environmental protections — two seemingly contradictory goals.

“Sen. (Ron) Wyden will continue to stand up for clean air and clean water, will keep working to find real solutions to bring jobs back to rural areas and continue fighting to protect Oregon’s and the nation’s treasured public lands,” Keith Chu, a spokesman for the Oregon Democrat, wrote in an email.

Resistance in Congress could be enough to stop changes to environmental laws, Travis Joseph, president of the American Forest Resource Council, wrote in an email.

The Portland-based association advocates for sustained-yield timber harvests in public forests.

“Even under Republican control, it’s difficult to imagine Congress will make major revisions or changes to (the) ESA or the Clean Water Act,” he wrote. “Those changes would take 60 votes in the Senate, and those votes aren’t there. However, federal timber harvests can be meaningfully increased in a manner that is entirely consistent with the ESA and Clean Water Act.”

The GOP held onto its slim majority in the Senate in Tuesday’s election. Republicans have 51 out of the 100 seats and may win one more in a December run-off in Louisiana. Democrats have 46 seats, and independents hold two.

Trump talks timber

During his May visit, Trump read to the audience at the Lane Events Center facts his statisticians compiled for him about Oregon. Timber topped the list.

“Timber is a crucial industry but it has been hammered by — oh, why are we surprised? — by federal regulations, right?” Trump said. “Oregon lost three-fourths of its timber mills since 1980. Is that possible? Three-fourths? That is a lot of timber mills, right?”

Since then, Trump has provided no specifics about how he would change regulations.

Protection of the northern spotted owl — which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in 1990 — and old-growth timber contributed to the timber industry’s drastic decline in Oregon.

Ruling in a lawsuit brought by environmental groups, a federal judge halted most logging on federal lands west of the Cascades summit. Then, the federal government put the Northwest Forest Plan in place to protect the owl and other wildlife, prioritizing preservation of old-growth forests on which the owl relies.

The plan also, on paper, allows for considerable logging, but those logging levels have never been met because of the environmental damage they were expected to cause. That has prompted increased criticism of the Northwest Forest Plan.

Experts differ on how much harm the federal­ logging cutbacks did to timber employment. Some studies found that jobs were lost because of mill automation not environmental rules.

Federal officials have begun to consider revisions to the Northwest Forest Plan, Geisinger said. “It’s antiquated,” he said of the plan.

Trump’s choices for public-lands posts will lead that revision.

“It’s too early to tell what a Trump administration will look like, who will serve in key positions and what the priorities will be,” wrote Joseph of the American Forest Resource Council. “But the Northwest Forest Plan is already being revised by the Forest Service, and the Trump administration will play a significant role in the development of a new plan.”

The numbers Trump used about timber when he visited Oregon — three-fourths of the mills closed since the 1980s and half of the timber jobs cut since 1990 — are reasonably correct, “but they are incomplete,” said Ernie Neimi of Natural Resource Economics in Eugene.

For decades, Neimi has followed the timber economy in Oregon. He said the state used to have many more smaller mills. As the industry moved to larger mills and more automation, the number of mills and jobs dropped.

Even if Trump, his cabinet and lawmakers change federal forest regulations, Geisinger said he doesn’t expect to see new mills opening around Oregon.

Instead, he said timber companies would likely first add shifts and then upgrade their existing mills if the federal government allows more harvest on public lands. It typically costs millions of dollars to build and equip a new mill.

“People are not going to make that investment with a veiled promise that the timber is going to be there,” he said.

BOISE — The 2017 water season was kick-started with abundant rain in many parts of the Northwest during September and October.

Many areas received record amounts of precipitation, Natural Resources Conservation Service water supply specialist Ron Abramovich said Nov. 10 during a water supply outlook conference in Boise.

“This is exciting,” he said.

Abramovich also said soil moisture levels are better than last year heading into winter. “This is more good news. We will feel the impacts of that next spring when the snow starts melting.”

A persistent series of storms made October the wettest on record in Idaho and the second wettest in Oregon, said Kathie Dello of the Pacific Northwest Climate Impacts Research Consortium.

Other parts of the Pacific Northwest also received lots of rain in October. Much of the Columbia River Basin received 200 percent of normal or more, said Troy Lindquist, senior hydrologist at the National Weather Service’s Boise office.

“A lot of records were set,” he said. “It was a really good start to the water year.”

Although November has gotten off to a dry start that could change starting the middle of next week, as a new weather pattern is expected to bring more precipitation to the Northwest.

Lindquist said there is a 70 percent chance of La Nina conditions developing during the fall and continuing through the winter.

La Nina conditions typically mean cooler and wetter conditions than normal in the Northwest, he said. Stream runoff is also typically above normal during a La Nina, he added.

The not-so-great news for irrigators who depend on a good water supply is there “wasn’t a lot of carryover in some of the major reservoirs, so we need to wait for winter to play out,” Dello said.

“I hope La Nina comes through for us,” said Brian Sauer, a water operations manager for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

There is some uncertainty among various forecasts over what a La Nina pattern will mean to the region and that is a little concerning, said Jay Chamberlin, manager of the Owyhee Irrigation District, which provides water for 1,800 farms and 118,000 acres in Eastern Oregon and part of Southwestern Idaho.

But the general forecast for cooler weather and above-normal precipitation is encouraging, he added.

The Owyhee reservoir hasn’t filled since 2011. This year was the first time since then that OID patrons have received their full allotment of 4 acre-feet of water.

The reservoir ended this water year with 166,000 acre-feet of carryover water, much less than normal but much more than the previous three years.

“The cards are still out there but the potential for the 2017 water season I think is better for us,” Chamberlin said. “We’re carrying some extra water over and the (forecast for) cooler, wetter weather certainly feels a lot better.”

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — Pacific Northwest wheat leaders say they want to maintain their competitive edge in the global marketplace no matter what the future holds for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

“The PNW positioned itself in a very solid spot with our overseas customers — we’ve been very transparent, have a lot of dialogues,” said Mike Miller, chairman of the Washington Grain Commission and vice chairman of U.S. Wheat Associates. “The rest of the world is gunning for us right now. We have to be prepared.”

The trade environment in the current marketing year will be critical to price both this year and next, said Randy Fortenbery, economics professor at Washington State University.

The 12-nation TPP, which President-elect Donald Trump said he would reject, was important for keeping the U.S. competitive with Australia in Asia, he said.

“Even in the absence of TPP, the potential tariffs that can legally be imposed on us don’t have to be,” Fortenbery said. “Quality can still matter. If we can deliver the best product, then the buyers and traders may not impose the maximum tariff because they’d still like to have a quality product at a price that’s reasonable for them.”

It will be important to maintain a dialogue and be involved in trade discussions moving forward, Fortenbery said.

“The biggest danger is if we get aggressive in terms of trying to restrict trade, agriculture ... is the sector that will likely be punished by potential trading partners,” he said.

Miller recalled part of a conversation with buyers from the Philippines about how to maintain the region’s trading position, and likened wheat farming to producing “widgets.”

“You build a widget that nobody else can build, and you create the need for it,” Miller said. “You don’t jeopardize the integrity of the widget, you service the widget to where they continually need you to build upon, adapt, modify. Once you find a customer, make sure you understand exactly what he wants, then you service that need.”

Darren Padget, chairman of the Oregon Wheat Commission. said the three commissions work together to maintain wheat quality. He spoke of a visit to Japan with other Northwest wheat producers and farmers from elsewhere in the U.S., and visiting the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

“They immediately looked at the three white wheat guys and said, ‘We’re good,’ and all the eyes went down to the hard red spring guy and said, ‘So, we’ve got a problem,’” Padget said.

To show overseas customers the region is serious about wheat quality, the three commissions have elevated the requirements to consider a wheat variety desirable, Padgett said.

Bill Flory, a member of the Idaho Wheat Commission, encouraged farmers to interact with visiting trade teams when they are in the region.

Oregon’s Willamette Valley wine producers are on a definite roll. Distinguished awards for individual vintages, investment by some of the industry’s biggest names and now this: Wine Enthusiast, one of the industry’s bibles, has named the valley its 2016 Wine Region of the Year.

The Willamette Valley was up against heady competition: the Champagne and Provence wine regions of France, Sonoma in California, and the Greek island of Crete.

The magazine cited the valley’s rapid evolution, beginning from scratch 50 years ago when a handful of pioneering winemakers — only one of whom had agricultural experience — began cultivating Pinot noir grapes, a cool-weather varietal notoriously touchy about being ushered into a bottle.

They figured it out. The valley has since become recognized as one of the world’s premier Pinot noir regions, and is home to 530 wineries and nearly 20,000 acres of grapes.

The valley grows multiple other varietals as well, and skilled viticulturists have taken up the torch in Southern Oregon, the Columbia River Gorge and Eastern Oregon, all of which are expanding vineyard acreage and producing well-regarded wines.

Big companies from outside the state have taken notice, most notably Jackson Family Wines of California and Louis Jadot of France, both of which bought Oregon vineyards and set up shop.

“Outside investment has accelerated,” Wine Enthusiast said in announcing its 2016 Wine Star award winners, “propelled by the recognition that Willamette Valley Pinor noir can challenge Burgundy (France) in its ability to capture the nuance and power of the grape.”

The Willamette Valley earned the award due to the “outstanding quality of its wines and the tectonic shift in wine investments these have engendered,” the magazine said.

Earlier this fall, Wine Enthusiast chose a Pinot gris by Eugene’s King Estate Winery as its best value of the year.

In a prepared statement, Oregon Wine Board Chairman David Beck said the state’s producers are primarily small- to mid-size farmers, more than half of whom make less than 5,000 cases a year.

“This award is the direct reflection of the attention and care given by Oregon’s grapegrowers and winemakers from vine to bottle,” he said.

The magazine’s Wine Star award for American Winery of the Year went to Bonterra Organic Vineyards, of Mendocino County, California.

MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — Jackson County’s attorneys say a legal strategy to oppose an expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument wouldn’t succeed in court.

The Mail Tribune reports that James Carlson, a Kansas-based consultant who fights national monuments, wanted to charge Jackson County $60,000 to stop the proposed expansion. County commissioners turned down the offer Thursday.

Commissioner Doug Breidenthal says he paid out of pocket to fly Carlson in because he thinks the county needs to try a new anti-monument effort. But Commission Rick Dyer called Carlson’s strategy “futile,” saying it hasn’t succeeded in court.

Commissioners left open the possibility of working with Carlson after they have a chance to review a strategy document he prepared for a Utah community fighting the proposed Bears Ears National Monument.

Harney County Judge Steven Grasty watched as a news crew from a Portland TV station cornered people in Burns a couple weeks back, asking for reaction to the confounding news that the Malheur Wildlife Refuge occupiers had been acquitted.

He half expected his constituents to complain about the jury because the case had seemed so obvious to many county residents, who endured a 41-day occupation by armed men who came from elsewhere and disrupted their lives.

But he said county residents told the TV news crew, “Look, we’re sick of this stuff. We’re moving on.”

Grasty liked that response. The verdict, he said, was not worth more argument. “It is what it is,” he said. “It’s a system that works whether you like it or dislike it. Were they the right charges? There’s lots of Monday morning quarterbacking about that.”

But in the criminal justice system, he said, “You don’t get a re-do.”

Grasty is moving on, too. He’d said earlier this year that this would be his last go-round as county judge, and he didn’t stand for re-election after three six-year terms. He leaves office at the end of the year, and Commissioner Pete Runnels, who won enough votes in the May primary to avoid a November runoff, will take over as judge. Only a handful of Oregon counties, all of them rural, sparsely populated and east of the Cascades, maintain the county court system of government. They aren’t about to change.

Harney County is deep red Republican. President Obama only got 25 percent of the county vote in 2008, and only 23 percent in 2012. But Eastern Oregon’s votes have always been swamped by Portland, Salem and Eugene, and always will be, which is partly why there is loud disagreement with federal land management policies. The Bundy occupiers figured they’d find support in Harney County.

For the most part, they didn’t. People such as Grasty and Sheriff Dave Ward told them to go home. There were a lot of factors for that, but the main one was that you don’t show up as an armed militia in Harney County, take over a public place where county residents work and visit, and expect to be welcomed — no matter how much people may agree with your baseline message about government.

In addition, this was a county that in 2014 forged the first collaboration between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and private landowners on conserving Greater sage grouse habitat. It was a remarkable series of agreements: Cattle ranchers agreed to manage their rangeland in a way that benefited the bird, while the feds promised 30 years protection from additional regulation even if sage grouse were added to the endangered species list. The agreements were quickly and widely copied in other Oregon counties and in other states. Many people credit them with the government’s decision to keep sage grouse off the list.

That was all in the background when the occupiers arrived, took over, riled up the county, got arrested and went to trial.

Then the federal jury acquitted the occupiers because prosecutors overreached on the conspiracy angle instead of sticking with simpler weapons, trespass and work interference charges. Marty Goold, director of the Harney County Soil & Water Conservation District, said the verdict was like pulling a bandage off a wound that hadn’t healed.

The district served as mediator between federal wildlife officials and local landowners. Despite the verdict, Goold said people involved in the sage grouse agreements are hanging together.

“I’ve seen no ripple in our organization that would tell me or indicate to me that there is a feeling of animosity or distrust in working through the process,” she said. “It’s a continuing discussion. We discuss hard issues with U.S. Fish and Wildlife but do it in a respectful manner to the best of our ability.”

Goold said she’d like to see more consistent land management “across the fencelines,” where private land bumps up against federal land. She said people have to keep talking to each other.

“That’s the critical piece I think a lot of people have to keep in the forefront of their minds when they take on an effort like we did,” Goold said. “There will be some real tough times but there will be some really great rewards.”

Grasty, the county judge, said the fractures remain despite the county’s inclination to move on.

“So you worry,” he said. “I’ve had a couple people say the verdict was precedent setting.”

He disagrees. “That verdict is a verdict of a jury trial; we’re not talking about a Supreme Court decision. They didn’t make a decision on who owns the refuge.

“What people do from this point forward with that decision, or how they interpret it, I don’t know,” he said.

“Worried? Not at this point.”

Grasty went hunting on election day. Next up he’ll be going to the annual Association of Oregon Counties conference, which is in Eugene this year. When the year ends, he’ll leave office. Next spring, he’s volunteered to go out and count birds at a ranch that has a lek, a sage grouse breeding area.

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — For the fifth time since 2012, voters in Josephine County have rejected a tax increase to restore cuts in law enforcement made when the federal government slashed timber payments.

The Grants Pass Daily Courier reports 60 percent of voters opposed the levy. It was the worst defeat of proposed levy since 2008, when 66 percent of voters rejected the idea of an independent law enforcement district.

The measure would have raised property taxes $1.42 per $1,000 of assessed value. That’s on top of the permanent rate of 59 cents, the lowest in Oregon for county government.

Retired TV producer Bill Hunker campaigned heavily against the measure. He said he felt “proud as a peacock” after Tuesday’s vote.