CORVALLIS — Vaughn Walton is in his tenth year at Oregon State University, a period that’s coincided with the arrival of invasive, damaging pests.

Spotted Wing Drosophila, or SWD, a tiny fruit fly that lays its eggs primarily in ripening berries and causes them to collapse in a gooey mess, is number one on Walton’s list.

Controlling it costs blueberry and caneberry growers an estimated $14 million to $15 million annually in Oregon alone, Walton said. They’ve gone from perhaps a single clean-up spray before harvest to six or seven sprays per season, he said.

Now comes the Brown Marmorated Stinkbug, or BMSB, which attacks everything the SWD favors plus a wide range of tree fruit and vegetables. It’s mouthpiece is tough enough to pierce hazelnut shells and to puncture apples, pears and cherries. Walton issued a special alert this year for wine grape growers, who are likely to see a late season stinkbug infestations that could taint wine.

“The economic impact may be bigger” than SWD, Walton said.

Last year’s long, warm growing season, followed by a mild winter, allowed for additional generations of Brown Marmorated Stinkbugs to make themselves at home.

“Those populations are going to continue building,” Walton said.

Increased pesticide use is the immediate control tool, but the expense of that in terms of money and public ill will may be unsustainable.

Walton and other OSU researchers continue to press for biological controls of pests. One of the most promising options involves using tiny parasitic wasps, which insert their eggs into stinkbug eggs, for example. The wasp larvae feed on their hosts as they emerge.

In China, a wasp called Trissolcus japonicustakes out 50 to 90 percent of the potential BMSB population. OSU obtained some of the wasps from China for study under quarantine, but the process is complicated and strictly controlled.

Researchers can’t just turn them loose and hope for the best. Among other things, they must show the wasps won’t attack beneficial insects; some parasitoids aren’t particular.

Walton and others are cheered by news that a native population of Trissolcus japonicus has been found in Maryland. That discovery could loosen controls and speed up use of the wasp against BMSB on the West Coast.

Walton wishes biological controls received more attention and funding. Compared to pesticides, targeted bio-control can be self-regulating. As pest populations decrease, parasitoid numbers drop as well, he said.

Meanwhile, OSU reminds growers of simple pest management practices such as using weed fabric, the black mesh berry growers often place around plants. The material retains heat, and can fry pest larvae dropping from the plant.

Increased pesticide use isn’t the only answer, Walton said.

“We really need pesticides, but we need to be less dependent on them,” he said.

Oregon’s water supply development fund is closer to becoming functional now that regulators have proposed rules for its operation that may be finalized in mid-June.

Meanwhile, state lawmakers are considering upping the fund’s size from the already-approved $10 million to $16 million, along with a bevy of other water proposals.

The fund was created by the Oregon Legislature in 2013 but hasn’t yet dispensed any money because irrigators, conservationists and others have been negotiating the environmental conditions that will apply to projects.

Storage projects must dedicate 25 percent of their water for in-stream uses under the law, which is intended to help fish.

They’re also subject to “seasonally varying flow” restrictions that determine how much water can be withdrawn outside the regular irrigation season without disrupting watershed function.

Details about “seasonally varying flow” requirements and other aspects of the fund’s operation were hammered out by two task forces in 2014 and early 2015, with that information now being incorporated into proposed rules written by the Oregon Water Resources Department.

Under the rules, projects will be subject to increased scrutiny depending on their impact to streams and how much environmental data is available about the waterway.

The proposed rules were recently made available for public comment, with OWRD scheduled to hold five rule-making hearing around the state between May 18 and May 22. The Oregon Water Resources Commission is expected to consider adopting the regulations during its June 18-19 meeting.

During negotiations, irrigator groups were concerned that the environmental conditions associated with funding could be too onerous for project developers to apply for funds.

The complexity of the rules remains a concern for Sen. Chuck Thomsen, R-Hood River, who was involved in passing Senate Bill 839, which created the water supply development fund.

Environmental restrictions were necessary to get the legislation passed in a Democrat-controlled legislature, but it remains to be seen if projects will be able to meet the 25 percent in-stream use requirement and the “seasonally varying flow” conditions, he said.

“They just take the common sense out of it,” Thomsen said.

The conditions placed on water projects will make them more expensive to build at a time when Oregon doesn’t have enough reservoirs to store water when it is available, he said.

“We’ve relied on snow pack for so many years. If it’s not going to be there, we’ve got to have a back-up,” Thomsen said.

At this point, it’s important to simply get the water supply development fund up and running to assist project that can work under the proposed rules, said JR Cook, director of the Northeast Oregon Water Association, who is trying to improve irrigation systems in the region and who participated in the negotiations.

Once the fund is operational with a track record, lawmakers can later make “tweaks” to ensure it functions better, Cook said.

“It requires baby steps,” he said. “We can’t fix it all at once.”

The Oregon Water Resources Department is persuading lawmakers to authorize $50 million in bonds to pay for the state’s integrated water resource strategy, which includes an additional $6.25 million for the water supply development fund.

Of that proposal, $30 million would be allocated for loans and roughly $14 million for feasibility studies and other water funding projects.

The response from lawmakers has generally been positive, though time will tell how much political wrangling the $50 million package will undergo, said Richard Whitman, natural resources policy director for Oregon Gov. Kate Brown.

Ideally, the water funding will soon be approved as a standalone bill, separately from broader bond funding discussions later in the legislative session, he said.

“If it moves earlier, it tends to be more straightforward,” Whitman said.

CORVALLIS — About five times a year, architects call Scott Leavengood at Oregon State University to ask about juniper. Usually they have a client who wants to use the beautifully gnarly wood as an architectural detail such as exposed beams.

Normally, architects and engineers can find wood design values — load-bearing properties and so on — by turning to a booklet published by the West Coast Lumber Inspection Bureau.

Trouble is, “Juniper is not in there,” said Leavengood, director of OSU’s Oregon Wood Innovation Center. “It’s a market barrier right now.”

Work at OSU this year could change that. Loads of juniper timbers from Idaho and North Central Oregon will be cut, bent, stressed and broken in the center’s testing facilities.

The certified results could strengthen market demand for a tree that is rooted in Greater sage grouse, ranching and rangeland health issues.

The thing about juniper is, it’s native and invasive at the same time. It controls swaths of Eastern Oregon and beyond. It intercepts precious moisture from sage brush and grasses and provides hawks and other predators a place to perch and spy for prey.

Leavengood of OSU said juniper logs sometimes show false growth rings, periods where the tree basically turned itself off to wait out a drought. They hang tough, he said.

“If I was an ecologist, I think I would study juniper,” he said. “Because it’s such a tough species.”

And now agencies and researchers say we should cut juniper like crazy. They say removing juniper allows for a quick comeback of sage and grasses. This improves habitat for Greater sage grouse, which hangs on in 11 Western states and is a candidate for inclusion on the federal endangered species list. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will make that call in September.

A lot of ranchers connect the dots. Improve habitat, keep the bird off the list, ease the worry of increased grazing restrictions. Necessary management changes are “not onerous” as a Southeast Oregon rancher put it once.

A market for juniper could fuel the whole thing, the thinking goes. But that’s the problem. “It’s expensive to harvest, expensive to cut up, and the yields are low,” Leavengood said.

He believes juniper is best suited for minimally processed uses such as sign posts and guardrails, and for the high-end niche market such as cabinets and flooring. It’s pretty, smells good and is naturally rot resistant.

And juniper has that rangeland “restoration” message that frankly plays well with urban buyers.

“Juniper’s got a story behind it,” Leavengood said.

“I don’t think it’s ever going to be Doug fir or Ponderosa pine,” he said. “But that’s not the point.”

Some landowners now cut juniper and leave it on the landscape or burn it. Leavengood and others hope to convince them juniper should be hauled to small mills operating in Eastern Oregon.

Efforts to establish a juniper logging, hauling and milling infrastructure have come and gone for a couple decades. Leavengood believes establishing its design values, as OSU will do, could help the market. A USDA grant is helping pay for the research.

CAVE JUNCTION, Ore. (AP) — More than 20 years ago, it was touted as a miracle plant — a “hyperaccumulator” able to pull heavy metals, such as nickel, out of the area’s serpentine soil and store it in its leaves.

At least that’s what was told to then-county commissioners who approved planting of yellow-tuft alyssum on eight plots, totaling more than 50 acres in the Illinois Valley.

Now the flowering invasive weed has traveled up and down the Illinois River and is considered a menace that’s keeping local volunteers on their toes trying to control and eradicate the invasive, self-pollinating, perennial plant.

Volunteers Gordon Lyford, Scott Taylor and Wes Brown recently received the Oregon Invasive Species Council’s Ten Fingers in the Dike award for their efforts to coordinate the Alyssum Eradication Task Force and keep the plant at bay. The three regularly pull and destroy alyssum plants that grow at the Illinois Valley Airport and other locations in southwest Josephine County.

The area is known for its bounty of beautiful native wildflowers, many of which are endangered by the invasive alyssum.

“I like wildflowers, but the alyssum crowds them out,” Taylor said, between pulling clumps of alyssum with Lyford on a recent afternoon trek through the airport grounds.

In addition to being a co-owner of Taylor’s Sausage in Cave Junction, Taylor is a private pilot and spends a lot of time at the airport.

Much of that time is taken up with noxious weed eradication efforts, since alyssum grows and seeds throughout the year. Some plants are a few inches tall, others nearly three feet tall.

Lyford said there are many reasons to get rid of the plant.

“It’s a non-native, opportunist plant and will take over, not to mention, it is toxic to livestock. I’ve heard two bulls died from eating it,” he said.

The plants’ variation of heights when ready to drop seeds is one reason it is difficult to harvest or eradicate alyssum, said Larry Graves, Josephine County airport manager.

Alyssum is a member of the mustard family and native to Turkey and elsewhere along the Mediterranean coast.

Although many objected to the county’s decision to plant alyssum, a previous airport manager OK’d the plan, Lyford said.

Graves has been the county’s airport manager for the past four years, and inherited the “unfortunate situation,” he said.

When he came on board, there were piles of the pulled plants stacked in an area at the airport, which, according to Lyford, had sat there for 8 to 10 years.

Lyford tells a tale of how difficult it is to destroy the plants.

“We burned (the stacked plants) four years ago in October. In the spring, there were alyssum germinated in the black ashes. They survived the fire,” he said.

The county isn’t on its own, however, to eradicate alyssum.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture has taken the lead, coordinating the task force and performing helicopter surveys to locate patches and escapees, single plants that have strayed to neighboring locations, said Carri Pirosko, the region’s noxious weed coordinator for the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

Although it may seem difficult at first glance to distinguish the weed from other yellow wild flowers, the structure of the plant, which has a more rigid stem so it doesn’t sway in the wind like many other flowering plants, makes it fairly easy to spot from the air, Pirosko explained.

An upcoming helicopter survey is planned in the Illinois Valley on June 16.

Pirosko said her department uses two methods to eradicate alyssum — manual volunteer efforts and with chemicals. Manually pulling and destroying the plants is the preferred method, she said.

She calls Taylor, Lyford and Brown some of the “extraordinary volunteers” involved in the eradication effort. But, there are several other local volunteers also involved.

Pirosko said an alyssum pulling party last week on private property near the airport yielded more than 600 of the plants.

Two species of alyssum were planted in the Illinois Valley, murale and corsicum. Both are difficult to destroy, but they are also listed as A-level noxious weeds because there is a chance of eradicating them, with enough effort.

The common name “yellow tuft” refers to two both Alyssum murale and A. corsicum. Originally from eastern Europe, these two mustards were planted in the Illinois Valley for phytomining — a process in which plants that accumulate high amounts of metals are used to extract these materials from the soil.

The major difference in the look of the two weeds is the stem. Murale has a red, speckled stem, and corsicum has a carrot-like corkscrew root, Lyford described, as he held out two of the plants, being careful so as not to allow the gentle breeze at the airport carry away any of the tops of the plants.

Volunteers pulling the plants generally change shoes or boots upon entering and leaving the sites where alyssum grows, so as not to transport parts of the plants on their feet.

That was especially important in recent years, when a fence was built around the airport, since it would have been easy to transport seeds from the Illinois Valley to elsewhere across the state, had officials not had contractors decontaminate heavy equipment on a daily basis, Graves said.

Though it is a daily struggle to destroy the weed, the escapees are the biggest problem, according to Lyford.

“The goal is to not have any seeds in the ground, but they just keep coming,” Lyford said.

“It’s like a big metal spring, we’ve pushed that spring down, but we can’t let it back up. We’ll declare it eradicated five years after you don’t find one plant. But, that five years hasn’t started yet,” he said.

LANGLOIS — The Langlois Lions Club will be holding the Mary Hildebrand Memorial Plant Sale 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, May 16, at the Club House, 48136 Floras Lake Loop Road, in Langlois.

Oregon water regulators are aiming to close a loophole in the rules governing the state’s $10 million water supply development fund.

The legislature created the fund in 2013 with the goal of funding water projects that meet certain environmental conditions.

For example, storage reservoirs must comply with a “seasonally varying flows” requirement to ensure that enough water is left in-stream outside the irrigation season to ensure the proper functioning of watersheds.

While developing regulations for the fund, the Oregon Water Resources Department noticed that project developers who get a water right permit before applying for money could circumvent this requirement.

House Bill 2400 would clarify that water storage projects that receive state funding must comply with the “seasonally varying flow” conditions regardless of when the permit was obtained.

The bill has already passed the House 47-10 and is now being considered by the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.

During a May 4 hearing, some lawmakers said they were concerned about provisions in the bill that extend deadlines for the completion of key reports on the fund’s operations.

Sen. Alan Olsen, R-Canby, said he was concerned why the work wasn’t done in the time frame set by lawmakers.

Racquel Rancier, senior policy coordinator for OWRD, said the delay was caused by the untimely appointment of two task forces that were charged with writing the reports last year.

April Snell, executive director of the Oregon Water Resources Congress, urged the committee to pass the bill because the reports are now finished and being used to write regulations for the water fund.

As for the permit loophole, Snell said the intention of lawmakers all along was to condition funding on environmental requirements being met, and HB 2400 simply corrects the statutory language.

“We want to see it up and running and we want to see it workable,” she said of the water fund.

The committee also heard testimony on other bills that have already passed the House:

• House Bill 2445, which provides farm regulators with additional ways to notify people of agricultural quarantines beyond newspaper ads.

• House Bill 2474, which creates licenses for veterinary facilities that are owned by non-veterinarians.

• House Bill 2047, which corrects map boundary mistakes made in a previous bill dealing with urban and rural reserves.

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Oregon State University says a Benton County ballot measure that seeks to ban the cultivation of genetically modified crops in the county could hurt GMO-related university research projects.

Backers of Measure 2-89, the Local Food System Ordinance of Benton County, say the ordinance is limited to food crops. Its goal is to protect farmers from GMO contamination and keep corporations that sell GMO seeds from taking over the county’s agricultural base.

The measure would also grant legal rights to soil, plants and water.

University officials fear the measure could affect a host of non-food university projects that use genetic engineering techniques or GMO’s, The Corvallis Gazette-Times reports.

OSU officials point to a section of the ordinance that states: “It shall be unlawful for any corporation or governmental entity to engage in the use of genetically engineered organisms within Benton County.”

“Our general counsel’s office has done a review of the ballot measure as written and has a strong concern that that language, whether intended or otherwise, would impact the use of genetically engineered organisms at Oregon State University,” said university spokesman Steve Clark.

Projects that could be affected, the university says, include testing on transgenic mice to discover tumor-suppressing therapy, genetically engineering poplar trees to make them tolerant to herbicides and unable to cross-pollinate, or genetically engineering viruses to protect vineyards from disease and insect damage.

Research on possible treatments of ALS, a degenerative neurological disorder, could also come to a halt. OSU researcher Joe Beckman uses genetically engineered bacteria to produce proteins with potential therapeutic value, and he tests those proteins on laboratory mice genetically engineered to develop ALS.

Thanks to genetic engineering, Beckman’s lab has been able to develop a drug that appears to slow or even halt the progression of ALS in mice. If the measure passes, Beckman said he worries he may no longer be able to pursue his work.

“We’re working with the FDA, and we’re hopeful to be testing in humans within a year,” he said.

Private biotech firms operating in Benton County have also expressed concern about the measure. Siga Technologies, which has a $433 million contract to provide anti-smallpox drugs to the Strategic National Stockpile, uses genetic engineering to develop drugs.

Philomath-based company Gene Tools is working on a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. In an email to the newspaper, the company’s CEO Jim Summerton said the measure could spell a major setback for researchers like him.

“We are now experiencing a quantum leap in humanity’s ability to improve the properties of plants and animals,” Summerton said, “except perhaps in Benton County if our local Luddites (anti-technology folks) succeed in getting voters to pass Measure 2-89.”

Proponents of the measure insist the GMO ban would not affect most university or private research.

OSU would have to take out its field tests of agricultural GM crops, they say. But any other non-food related projects could go on unhampered, said Stephanie Hampton of Benton Food Freedom, the coalition of organic farmers and anti-corporate activists behind the measure.

Hampton said a ruling by Benton County Circuit Court Judge Locke Williams made it clear the measure contains only one subject, protecting the local food system — a constitutional requirement for a citizen initiative to be placed on the ballot in Oregon.

But Benton County Counsel Vance Croney — who would have to defend the measure from legal challenges if it passes — said the measure includes the whole spectrum of research involving GMOs.

If it passes, it’s unclear whether the ban would have any teeth — the Oregon Legislature in 2013 prohibited ballot measures and local governments’ GMO bans. According to the measure’s backers, a local food system ordinance would pre-empt that state law.

Voters will get a say on the measure on May 19.

ADRIAN, Ore. — The arrival of a lone wolf in Malheur County has ranchers in the state’s top cattle producing county concerned.

“It’s plum serious,” said Malheur County Cattlemen’s Association President Chris Christensen. “There’s nothing positive from a cattleman’s standpoint in the fact that a wolf showed up.”

The wolf, which separated from a Northeast Oregon pack in February, entered the county April 10 and has been living mostly in sagebrush county south of Vale and west of Adrian.

The adult male wolf, which has a tracking collar and is known as OR22, has been seen by several farmers during brief forays into farm country.

“He’s started moving around a little bit more and has gone a few new places but he’s still in that same general area,” said Philip Milburn, a district wildlife biologist in the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Ontario office.

Milburn said two cow carcasses were found in the area last week, which might be part of the reason he’s staying in that region.

ODFW officials removed the cow carcasses, which are believed to have died before the wolf found them, Milburn said.

“There’s no evidence the wolf was involved (in the cows’ deaths),” he said. “There’s still no evidence he’s killed anything since he’s been here.”

Christensen said ranchers should ensure their dead animals are disposed of quickly and properly.

“They don’t want to give him any easy meals,” he said. “That’s probably why it’s staying around.”

This is the first time a wolf has stayed in the county for more than a brief period, ODFW officials said, but there have been multiple wolf sightings in the county and confirmed wolf tracks have been found in several places, including at the Oregon State University research station a few miles outside of Ontario.

OSU livestock extension agent Sergio Arispe said OR22’s arrival has caused some concern among the county’s 150 beef cattle producers, especially since the industry realizes it’s probably only a matter of time before wolves establish a permanent presence in the area.

At today’s cattle prices, a producer can lose a lot of money from a single wolf kill, he said.

“It’s not a matter of if they’re going to be here, but when,” Arispe said. “There is some big concern from cattle producers who are trying to make a living.”

Milburn said the Northwest part of the county, in particular, contains what could potentially be some good wolf habitat.

“(There is) a fairly high potential of wolves settling in that area eventually,” he said.

Christensen said Malheur County ranchers need to start learning from their colleagues in Northeast Oregon on how to operate with wolves present in the area.

“We’re not up to speed on wolves like the guys up north are and we need to be aware of what’s going on,” he said. “Malheur County is the No. 1 cattle producing county in the state. It’s certainly an issue to have a wolf show up.”

BEND, Ore. (AP) — As competitive high school forestry declines statewide, instructor Rex Cowther brought students from eight schools together Saturday to immerse themselves in the industry.

The Bulletin reports the Scio High School forestry teacher said the Central Oregon Community College competition includes components like mock job interviews and calculating the volume in a stand of trees to prepare students for an industry that has become increasingly sophisticated.

Cowther said the physical component is also important. Students wore spiked boots to scale trees, threw axes, crosscut logs, and raced to set choker cables, among a variety of other competitions.

Researchers expect this to be a bad year for bugs in Oregon’s vineyards.

Oregon State University’s Wine Research Institute issued a warning saying wine grape growers can expect increased pressure from brown marmorated stinkbugs in particular and spotted wing drosophila to a lesser degree.

A warmer-than-average growing season last year and a mild winter set the stage for high populations of both, according to OSU.

The pair are two of agriculture’s most damaging pests; both feed on tree fruit and berries, including cherries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries.

For wine grape growers, the highest risk areas for stinkbug damage are the Chehalem Mountains, Dundee Hills, Eola-Amity Hills, and McMinnville American Viticultural Areas, or AVAs. Southern Oregon and Columbia Gorge AVAs are at somewhat reduced risk.

Brown marmorated stinkbugs eat plant tissue and the grape berries, potentially contaminating the grapes and hurting wine quality. They apparently move into vineyards late in the season after other crops have been picked. An OSU news release said they engage in “hill topping” behavior, meaning they overwinter at higher elevations. Many vineyards are planted on rolling slopes, putting them in favored stinkbug habitat. Wineries have found them in buildings and dead bugs have been found in fermenting wine, according to OSU.

Vaughn Walton, a professor and horticultural entomologist at OSU, is researching the use of tiny parasites to control the stinkbugs.

Spotted Wing Drosophila prefer other crops, particularly berries. It saws a hole in berries and lays an egg inside, which hatches and feeds on the host from the inside, causing it to collapse in a gooey mess.

The tiny flies may be drawn to grapes damaged by rain, birds or fungus, according to the Wine Research Institute.

A horse from a Marion County, Ore., stable was diagnosed with contagious Equine Herpes Virus, and veterinarians warn horse owners to watch for neurologic symptoms in their animals.

The horse was treated at Oregon State University’s veterinary hospital. Twenty other horses at the Marion County stable were quarantined.

The horse showed signs of acute illness April 28 and a diagnosis of EHV-1 was confirmed the following day. Horses from the stable were at events at the Linn County Fairgrounds in Albany April 16-19 and at the Oregon Horse Center in Eugene April 25-26.

Owners who also had horses at the events or have questions about the virus should contact their vet, said Dr. Ryan Scholz, the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s western district veterinarian. He said there was no immediate sign of neurologic problems among the horses quarantined at the stable.

EHV-1 is one of the most common respiratory viruses among horses; by age 2 most horses have been exposed to it, Scholz said. It’s a lifelong infection, but lies dormant most of the horse’s life. But every once in a while, triggered by stress or other factors, it pops up and attacks the nervous system, he said.

The virus in this case is a common form, Scholz said. It is not the mutated form of the virus that caused an outbreak among horses at a national cutting horse competition several years ago, he said.

The virus can’t be transmitted to people but spreads among horses through animal-to-animal contact or contaminated equipment, clothing or hands.

Symptoms include fever, decreased coordination, nasal discharge, dribbled urine, loss of tail tone, hind limb weakness and poor balance, according to an ODA news release. Sick horses may be unable to rise.

The virus can cause pregnant mares to abort. Severe cases can kill horses. Vaccinations are available, but Scholz said they are short-lived and must be combined with good bio-security management practices. The department does not recommend for or against the vaccine, but encourages horse owners to discuss it with their veterinarian, he said.

BANDON — The Port of Bandon's Old Town Marketplace opens this weekend, offering 60 vendors and a new indoor restroom for its fourth season.

Livestock ranchers and farm groups approached the April 24 meeting of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission with a clear mindset: Oregon’s rapidly-growing wolf population has increased to the point that gray wolves can be removed from the state endangered species list.

Given the emotion and politics of the issue, however, they didn’t necessarily expect a decision that day. The commission, facing a crowd in which delisting opponents were the majority, asked ODFW staff to come back with information beyond the 64-page biological status review they had in front of them.

The commission wanted more information on the options of delisting wolves in the eastern half of the state, in the entire state, or taking no action. It may be September before staff reports back.

The state’s wolf plan calls for beginning the delisting process when the state has at least four breeding pairs for three consecutive years. Oregon reached that standard at the end of 2014, when eight breeding pairs were counted. Four breeding pairs were confirmed in 2013 and six in 2012.

Ranchers, who with some compensation available bear the cost of livestock attacks and non-lethal defensive measures, expected ODFW to begin drafting rules for delisting. Generally, delisting would give livestock producers more leeway to shoot wolves in order to protect cattle, sheep and guard dogs.

Follow the plan, multiple speakers told the commission during its meeting in Bend.

“We lived up to our promise,” said rancher Todd Nash, wolf committee chairman for the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association. “We wholly expect the agency and this committee to live up to theirs.”

Nash said later he favors statewide delisting of wolves. A partial delisting in only the eastern portion invites complication and lawsuits, he said.

“I think it will delay the process, and I’m not in favor of that,” Nash said.

Meanwhile, conservation groups say the breeding pair count is not an automatic trigger for delisting, and showed up in force to make that point.

Amaroq Weiss, West Coast wolf organizer with the Center for Biological Diversity, arrived from Petaluma, Calif. Suzanne Stone, Northern Rockies representative with Defenders of Wildlife, traveled over from Boise. Quinn Read, Oregon Wild’s wildlife coordinator, was there from Portland, as was Danielle Moser with the Endangered Species Coalition. Rob Klavins, Oregon Wild’s Northeast Oregon field coordinator, attended from Enterprise.

They said Oregon’s 77 confirmed wolves — ODFW believes there may be 90 to 100 — is far too small a population to loosen protection.

Weiss, of the Center for Biological Diversity, said an outbreak of disease could wipe out packs.

“Science tells us we need vastly more numbers” to assure longterm population viability, she said afterward. By that standard, Oregon needs “on the magnitude of thousands” of wolves, she said.

A 2006 study by Tad Larsen and William Ripple of Oregon State University’s Department of Forest Resources estimated the state could support 1,450 wolves.

Weiss said ODFW has done a good job of making its actions “transparent” to the public in the past couple years.

“It’s brought the hysteria level down,” Weiss said. “There have been no wolves killed. In that time the wolf population doubled. (Confirmed) Depredations have gone down and the hysteria has gone down.”

In a move to catch up with the state’s fast-moving hazelnut industry, Oregon State University is in the process of hiring an orchard management specialist.

A committee will review applicants for the job on Friday and choose finalists for interviews in May.

Michael Bondi, director of OSU’s North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora, said the person hired will devote about 80 percent of his or her time to hazelnuts, a $120 million annual crop. Oregon produces nearly all of U.S. hazelnuts, and growers have been adding 3,000 to 5,000 acres a year. The state went from 29,000 acres of hazelnuts in 2009 to an estimated 47,000 acres by the end of 2014.

“It’s definitely in a significant growth mode,” Bondi said. “There’s a huge number of new acres. We see steady growth for the next several years.”

But Oregon hasn’t had a statewide hazelnut specialist since Yamhill County Extension’s Jeff Olsen died unexpectedly in January 2014.

Michael Klein, executive director of the Hazelnut Marketing Board, said the industry needs someone who can carry the work of OSU researchers to growers in the field. “It’s something our industry feels is critically needed,” Klein said. “We could really use the help.”

Turkey is by far the world’s largest hazelnut growing region, but has been hit hard by weather problems in recent years. Oregon growers received record prices this past year due to a freeze that wrecked much of the Turkish production.

Bondi, the North Willamette director, said the Extension position will focus on production, including the establishment of new orchards and pest management and nutrition problems. Hazelnut genetics work is covered by OSU breeder Shawn Mehlenbacher on campus is Corvallis, Bondi said, but the North Willamette specialist will carry out basic field research and demonstrations in collaboration with growers.

The job pays $70,000 to $80,000 annually, Bondi said.

The new person will work out of the North Willamette center just east of Interstate 5 near Aurora.

SALEM — Advertising raw milk is one step closer to becoming legal in Oregon while hunting and fishing with drones is a step closer to being outlawed.

The Oregon Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources voted unanimously to approve House Bill 2446, which repeals the state’s longstanding prohibition against raw milk ads.

The bill was referred to the Senate floor with a “do-pass” recommendation by the committee on April 27 after previously being passed by the House, 56-1.

The Oregon Dairy Farmers Association, which generally opposed looser restrictions on raw milk due to safety concerns, did not take a position on HB 2446.

While the ban is still law in Oregon, it hasn’t been enforced since state farm regulators settled a lawsuit filed by a raw milk producer in 2014.

Christine Anderson of Cast Iron Farm in McMinnville was instructed by an Oregon Department of Agriculture inspector that raw milk prices, pathogen test results and information posted on her website were unlawful, prompting her to file a lawsuit claiming free speech violations.

Producers who violate the raw milk advertising ban face up to a year in jail and a $6,250 fine.

Attorneys from the state advised ODA the advertising prohibition was likely unconstitutional, leading the state to stop enforcing the statute and seek a legislative fix this year.

All other restrictions on raw milk — such as a limit on herd size and an on-farm sales requirement — will remain in place if HB 2446 goes into effect, said Michael Bindas, an attorney for the Institute for Justice nonprofit law firm, who represented Anderson.

“The bill is not intended to expand access to raw milk,” he said.

During the same hearing, committee members also voted unanimously to approve House Bill 2534, which bans the use of drones for tracking or locating wildlife while hunting or angling. The legislation has already passed the House.

The bill is intended to preserve “fair chase” in the sports, said Rep. Brad Witt, D-Clatskanie, who introduced HB 2534. “There simply is no room for this technology in hunting and fishing.”

Lobbyists representing hunter and angler groups supported the bill, which creates exemptions for using drones to manage wildlife.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife would need to endorse such use of drones, such as scaring birds away from airports or landfills, said Witt.

Landowners in three fire-prone Central Oregon counties can apply for grants that will help pay for forest thinning projects.

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service allocated up to $100,000 to pay for pre-commercial thinning in Deschutes, Jefferson and Crook counties. The program pays up to $400 acre. Owners of private, non-industrial woodlands are eligible to apply. The deadline is May 22.

The intent is to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires in the region by removing smaller, unhealthy trees from thick stands. Priority treatment areas include sites around the cities of Bend, Sisters and LaPine in Deschutes County, and residential developments in Jefferson and Crook counties.

The NRCS and Oregon Department of Forestry estimate about 2,500 acres of woodlands within the priority areas should be thinned.

Information

Application and eligibility information is available at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/or/programs/?cid=stelprdb1193512

For more information, call the USDA’s Redmond Service Center at 541-923-4358 or email Tom.Bennett@or.usda.gov.

SALEM — For the 28th straight year, hundreds of volunteers joined sponsoring businesses and 4-H and FFA members to help Oregon Ag Fest educate thousands of children — and their parents — about agriculture.

In addition to the usual hands-on agricultural experiences such as digging potatoes, planting marigolds to take home and watching chicks hatch, this year’s weekend event included an expanded petting zoo in the animal barn, an accredited llama show and sale and several new sponsors.

Sherry Kudna, past Ag Fest chair and executive assistant to Oregon Department of Agriculture director Katy Coba, spoke about the event April 25 at her station in the Information Booth in Cascade Hall at the Oregon State Fairgrounds. Between fielding questions from volunteers and the public and responding to other requests, she had praise for everyone involved.

“We are so grateful to our sponsors and were thrilled to add Franz Bread and Home Depot this year,” Kudna said. “One of the most popular activities was Home Depot’s kids’ workshop program that first taught the kids about tools and led them through the process of building a miniature tool box.”

But volunteers remain the foundation of a successful Ag Fest, she said.

“Among the more than 800 volunteers, we had an increase in Willamette Valley 4-H and FFA volunteers this year. They were a big help, and so professional,” she said.

Between the good weather and coverage from three Portland television stations, she said Ag Fest reached a lot of families.

First-time Ag Fest visitor Jessica Morgan and her husband brought their daughters and made a day of it.

“We are amazed at this event,” she said. “Our girls are 2 and 5. We started with the breakfast and then moved out to the hands-on activities and then out to see the animals. I can see that we are going to be here all day. It is definitely the best family value event around.”

Many of the nearly 18,000 people who attended Ag Fest got their first introduction to agriculture, Kudna said. The event is aimed at educating children but many of the parents learn, too.

Online

More information: www.oragfest.com

BEND, Ore. (AP) — A new lone wolf has been tracked into Central Oregon.

The Bend Bulletin reports the wolf’s GPS tracking collar indicates the wolf left the Imnaha Pack in Northeast Oregon weeks ago. The wolf program coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the young male gray wolf wandered into Washington before returning to Oregon and going into the Mount Hood National Forest.

John Stephenson says the wolf just started taking off in the past few weeks.

State scientists captured and collared the wolf they call OR-25 last year. It is now about 2 years old, which scientists say is about the right time for them to start wandering.

Two other solitary young males from the Imnaha Pack have trekked into Central Oregon in previous years. One became the first wolf seen in California in nearly 90 years.

Myrtle Point graduate Chris Platano anchored the Portland Running Company team to a new course record in the annual Roseburg to Coos Bay Relay last weekend.

BEND, Ore. — Encouraged by a sharp jump in wolf population counts and breeding pairs, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission Friday voted to begin the process that could remove gray wolves from the state endangered species list.

It won’t be a fast process. The commission unanimously asked ODFW staff to return, perhaps in August or September, with information on delisting wolves in the eastern part of the state, the entire state, or not at all.

Commission members heard nearly four hours of testimony Friday, much of it from people who believe wolves still need full protection under the state Endangered Species Act.

Commission members said the Oregon Wolf Plan continues to guide management of wolves in the meantime.

Oregon’s wolf population grew from 14 in 2009 to a minimum of 77 at the end of 2014. The report estimates Oregon could have 100 to 150 wolves in one to three years. Program coordinator Russ Morgan said the state probably has 90 to 100 wolves now; 77 is the number that have been documented.

“The numbers look really strong,” Commissioner Holly Akenson said.

There is room for wolves to disperse; they occupy only about 12 percent of their potential range in Oregon.

“This is a success story,” Morgan said.

Many of those who testified oppose delisting. Several called for an independent scientific review of ODFW’s study.

Rob Klavins, Northeast field coordinator with the conservation group Oregon Wild, said delisting is premature.

“The idea that 77 animals of any kind represents recovery doesn’t pass the laugh test,” Klavins said.

Klavins said wolf recovery is a core value among many Oregonians, but anecdotes from “people wearing cowboy hats” are taken seriously while the concerns of “Prius drivers” are dismissed.

Investigators confirm wolves killed 76 sheep, 36 cattle and two goats from 2009 through 2014. Ranchers believe wolves are responsible for many more livestock deaths. They say grazing cattle often simply disappear.

No wolves have been killed while attacking or chasing livestock in Oregon. ODFW killed four for chronic depredation on livestock. Five were illegally shot since 2000; one died when hit by a vehicle.

Amaroq Weiss, West Coast representative for the Center for Biological Diversity, said there is “simply no science anywhere on earth” that would support delisting such a small population.

A disease outbreak could “bring the state’s population to its knees,” Weiss said.

Wally Sykes, who serves on Wallowa County’s wolf compensation panel, said 77 wolves is far too few to provide genetic diversity.

Suzanne Stone of Boise, Northwest representative for Defenders of Wildlife, said ODFW’s field staff has earned the public’s trust, but said delisting is not warranted.

Others disagreed. Dave Wiley, representing the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, urged commission members to follow the plan adopted in 2005, which calls for delisting when four breeding pairs survive for three years running. The latest count said the state has more. Jenny Dresler, with the Oregon Farm Bureau, made the same point.

“We lived up to our promise,” said rancher Todd Nash, wolf committee chairman for the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association. “We wholly expect the agency and this committee to live up to theirs.”

“Life has been hell for us,” Northeast Oregon rancher Eric Porter said. He said someone has to be with his cattle at all times in the last two weeks before they are shipped. Weight loss caused by wolf stress can cost him thousands of dollars, he said.