JORDAN VALLEY, Ore. — Ranchers and others who would be in the middle of a proposed 2.5 million-acre national monument strongly opposed the idea April 3 during a town hall meeting.

People who oppose the proposal should speak up and make sure their voices are heard, said Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., who hosted the meeting, which attracted about 300 people, most of them ranchers.

When someone asked what locals could do to make a difference, Walden said, “Education, education, education. Because people just don’t get it and we’re outnumbered. Your involvement matters and it makes a difference.”

The Bend-based environmental group Oregon Natural Desert Association, backed by the Keen Footwear company of Portland, has proposed the establishment of the Owyhee Canyonlands national monument and wilderness area on 2.5 million acres of Bureau of Land Management land in Malheur County.

The Obama administration, which could establish the canyonlands area by presidential proclamation, has given no sign what it will do.

Though proponents say traditional land uses would be allowed under the proposal, opponents believe having more than 40 percent of the county’s land designated as a national monument would restrict grazing and access to these lands and harm the local economy.

When people who support the proposal say the Owyhee Canyonlands is one of the most extraordinary places on earth, “I say, it’s that way because of how it’s being managed today,” Walden said. “It’s that way because of the way you’re taking care of it.”

He encouraged local residents to repeat that point.

“We need to show them what good stewardship looks like and move the public debate because we have a good story to tell,” he said. “It’s critical to show them the good work being done today on the range.”

Jordan Valley is in the middle of the proposed monument area.

“It would have a huge impact on this area,” local rancher Bob Skinner, former president of the Oregon Cattle Association, told Capital Press. “These people are really scared.”

The April 3 meeting is among several town hall meetings being held to help inform people of the proposal and allow them to weigh in, Skinner said.

“We’re trying to make a statement every time we meet,” he said. “We think it’s going to have an impact ... because politicians listen to numbers.”

Walden said a national monument designation could have a huge negative effect on ranching.

“Their plan is to get cattle off the range. Let’s just say it,” he said.

The proposal would encompass about 33 percent of the county’s total grazing land and local ranchers are concerned about access, not only for grazing but to fight fires, manage noxious weeds and maintain water resources, said rancher Elias Eiguren.

He said locals, in conjunction with federal and state land managers, are doing a good job now managing the area.

“There have been literally decades of cooperation between federal and state management agencies and local people who utilize this land in order to make this resource what it is,” he said.

For most ranchers in the area, half of their grazing season depends on the use of public lands, Eiguren said.

“We would be affected 100 percent by” a national monument designation, he said. “It will change our businesses.”

The actions of two rural Oregon sheriffs during an armed standoff at a national wildlife refuge were striking: One worked with federal officials to end the siege while the other questioned the FBI’s authority and offered words of support for the occupiers.

Sheriff Dave Ward of Harney County, where the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is, cooperated with federal and state police, urging standoff leader Ammon Bundy and his followers to stand down and respect the law.

Meanwhile in neighboring Grant County, Sheriff Glenn Palmer called the occupiers “patriots.” When Bundy and others were arrested during a Jan. 26 traffic stop, they were on their way to his county. An Arizona rancher who police fatally shot when they say he reached for a gun shouted he was on his way to meet Palmer.

Palmer is a member of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, a group that bills itself as “the last line of defense” against a federal government they contend overreaches on gun control and other issues. They see sheriffs as the ultimate law enforcement authority in their dispute with the federal government over control of federal lands.

The group’s founder said they are recruiting people to run against sheriffs that don’t support their cause and that the group’s website includes lists of county sheriffs and whether they need to be “recalled or replaced.”

Critics say the group’s views are far outside the mainstream. Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which for decades has advocated against groups it considers extremist, called the CSPOA “a remarkably radical organization, considering who their members are.”

“Many constitutional sheriffs believe they can pass a local law and forbid federal authorities from coming into a county,” he said. “That is patently false.”

Richard Mack, a former Arizona sheriff and CSPOA founder, said he didn’t support the occupation of the wildlife refuge, “but I understand the complete frustration people have in this country towards this government.” Mack said the group will work to defeat Ward in the November election.

Mack’s group, founded in 2011, claims more than 400 of the nation’s more than 3,000 county sheriffs support its positions, which hold that elected county sheriffs should oppose federal agents whose conduct appears to violate the U.S. Constitution.

The CSPOA is unequivocal about gun rights. It supports the right of criminals and the mentally ill to carry firearms and opposes gun registration or background checks.

In conservative Kootenai County, Idaho, popular sheriff Ben Wolfinger has drawn two opponents who support the concept of constitutional sheriffs. Tina Kunishige, one of the candidates, said sheriffs need to decide which laws are constitutional.

“I’m very comfortable with that,’ said Kunishige, who has no law enforcement experience. “I’ve studied the Constitution for a number of years.”

Wolfinger said he doesn’t need an outside group like the CSPOA to approve how he does his job. “I believe that the people I serve in Kootenai County will hold me accountable to do the job that they elected me for,” Wolfinger said.

Sheriffs who support the CSPOA have faced backlash.

Palmer, the sheriff who sided with the Oregon occupiers, has drawn an opponent in the November elections who criticized him for making his own interpretations of the Constitution.

And Palmer, who did not respond to interview requests from The Associated Press, is being investigated by the state for his actions during the Oregon standoff. If Palmer is found to have violated standards, he could lose his police certification.

The Oregon occupation started on Jan. 2 and ended Feb. 11 when the last holdouts surrendered to authorities. It began as a protest amid mounting tension over the case of local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond.

The Hammonds lit fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006 to protect their property from wildfires and invasive plants. The two were convicted three years ago and served time — the father three months, the son one year. But an appeals court ruled the sentences were too short under federal law, and a federal judge ordered them back to prison for about four years each.

Mack backs Palmer in the ongoing investigation into his actions.

“He’s an honorable man who has done nothing wrong.” Mack said.

SATURDAY, APRIL 2

ONTARIO, Ore. — Water will start flowing into the Owyhee Irrigation District’s 400 miles of canals, laterals and ditches a week earlier than planned.

OID board members have decided to start the system on April 4 rather than April 11 in part because persistent high winds have dried soils out and a lot of farmers have already planted, said district manager Jay Chamberlin.

“We figured if we waited until the 11th, we would be behind the eight ball,’ he said.

OID provides irrigation water for 1,800 farms and 118,000 acres in Eastern Oregon and part of southwestern Idaho.

OID board member and farmer Frank Ausman said there are spots on the system near Adrian with lighter soils that dry out quicker than other soil in the area.

“Those guys have a lot planted and they’re needing a drink,” he said.

That area near Adrian didn’t receive some of the rainstorms other areas did, said farmer and OID board member Bruce Corn.

Temperatures are also starting to reach into the 70s.

“It will take seven to 10 days for the water to get clear to the end of the system,” Corn said. “I think everybody will be ready for it by the time it comes.”

The board set the 2016 allotment for OID patrons at an initial 3 acre-feet but it’s expected to increase as the Owyhee Reservoir continues to fill.

The board opted not to increase the allotment during its March 30 meeting, Chamberlin said, in part because reservoir in-flow levels decreased a little bit recently as cooler temperatures slowed the pace of snow melt.

Corn said board members are conservative on where they set the allotment.

“It’s easy to raise it but if we over-allocate and then have to lower it, that would be difficult on people who have already made plans,” he said.

Corn anticipates the allotment will be increased April 19 during the board’s regular monthly meeting but he said it’s too soon to say whether patrons will receive their full 4 acre-foot allotment.

“I think everybody knows the allotment will be increased some amount. How much still remains to be seen,” he said.

The Owyhee Reservoir had 402,000 acre-feet of usable storage water as of March 30, which is 56 percent of it’s total capacity.

Based on U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Natural Resources Conservation Service estimates, between 250,000 and 400,000 acre-feet of water is still headed for the reservoir this year.

Farmers in the region have received only a small portion of their full 4 acre-foot allotment the past three years and this year’s positive water outlook couldn’t have come too soon, said Ausman, who owns a dairy and normally grows his own feed on 300 acres.

However, he hasn’t received enough water to meet all his feed demands recently and has had to purchase it elsewhere.

“Between that and low milk prices, it’s starting to take a toll,” he said. “The last three years have been a killer for me.”

Oregonians listening to the Pandora streaming music website might hear a seemingly surprising commercial about Gov. Kate Brown and the environment.

The new ad, from the environmental advocacy group Oregon Wild, complains about how Brown has handled issues ranging from Portland air pollution to endangered wolves. It charges that she “is failing to protect the things that make the state special.”

Brown has received plenty of favorable publicity on environmental issues. She recently won national praise from many environmentalists for signing major climate-change bills aimed at phasing out coal and reducing the use of fossil fuels in vehicles.  

But many Oregon environmental activists say she hasn’t done enough on some of the state’s long-running conservation issues. And they hope to use the 2016 campaign season to push her into developing a more vigorous agenda.  

“We’re looking for that leadership from her, and so far we haven’t seen that to the degree we would like,” said Doug Moore, executive director of the Oregon League of Conservation Voters.  

Moore’s group, which serves as the political arm of the environmental community, has so far not issued an endorsement in the gubernatorial race. Moore praised many of the governor’s decisions but said she hasn’t staked out a strong vision for what she wants to accomplish if she wins election. Brown faces little opposition in the May 17 Democratic primary and is considered the favorite in the fall against either of the two main Republican contenders, businessman Allen Alley and Salem physician Bud Pierce.  

Brown’s communications director, Kristen Grainger, said in a statement that during Brown’s first 13 months in office, “she has successfully advanced many of the environmental community’s priorities.” In addition to the climate-change bills, Grainger said Brown had a long list of legislative accomplishments that includes winning additional funding for the state’s fish and wildlife agency and a measure reducing toxic chemicals in children’s products.  

Moore and other environmental activists say they recognize that Brown, catapulted into the governor’s seat when John Kitzhaber resigned in early 2015, didn’t have time to craft a prepared list of environmental priorities or even her own environmental staff.  

But Sean Stevens, executive director of Oregon Wild, said his members are troubled by what they’ve seen over the last year. Thus the Internet ad.  

“It doesn’t seem like the environment is high on her priority list,” he said. He noted, for example, that Brown was not the driving force behind either of the climate change bills the legislature passed in 2015 and 2016.

Stevens, whose group focuses on protecting wilderness and wildlife, criticized Brown for not pushing legislators last year on legislation putting new restrictions on aerial spraying in forests. And he said that the long-delayed release of information about alarming air pollution from Portland glassmakers reflected long-standing concerns about the Department of Environmental Quality’s enforcement.  

DEQ Director Dick Pedersen resigned as the pollution scare attracted major news coverage, and Brown outlined several steps she was taking to deal with the problem in a Feb. 15 statement. She acknowledged that “federal and state regulatory programs are clearly inadequate to assure the public that their health is being protected.”  

Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, who has worked closely with the environmental community, said the governor moved quickly once the pollution problems came to light. And he praised Brown’s work in the passage of the coal and clean-fuel bills. 

“But I would agree that her positions have so far been reactive, even if reactive in what I would consider to be a good way,” Dembrow said in an exchange of texts with OPB while traveling abroad. He said Brown needs to “articulate a proactive vision of how Oregon can be a leader in protecting the environment.”  

Stevens, however, said too many of Brown’s reactive decisions have gone in the wrong direction. He said the “straw that broke the camel’s back” and helped spark his group’s ad was Brown’s signing of a wolf bill this month. The measure seeks to shut down a lawsuit challenging the removal of the gray wolf from state’s endangered species list.  

Stevens said efforts to bar environmental litigation have long rankled conservation activists, and he worried that Brown was setting a bad precedent for her administration.  

When she signed the wolf bill, Brown said she was committed to recovering the species in Oregon. She pledged to make sure that state regulators work with a wide variety of groups on wolf recovery. Her decision to sign the bill was praised by many rural legislators and agricultural groups who have often charged that environmental groups resort to lawsuits as a delaying tactic.  

Several environmental activists said they didn’t want to speak publicly about Brown’s record because they wanted to maintain good relations with the governor. Many acknowledge they have little alternative to Brown since the Oregon Republican Party is more closely allied with the natural resource industries.  

Moore, of the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, said that the support of environmentalists is important to Brown. He noted that she not only faces an election in 2016, but another in 2018 if she wins.   

“This is a governor who has two elections back to back,” Moore said, “and having an uninspired part of her base is something that no politician would want to see.”

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will kill four Imnaha Pack wolves involved in five confirmed livestock attacks in the past month.

The “lethal take” order, adamantly opposed by a key conservation group, involves a Wallowa County pack with a long history of attacks on cattle and sheep and an equally significant influence on the growth of other wolf packs in the state.

ODFW wolf coordinator Russ Morgan said four wolves targeted for killing include an aging alpha male, OR-4, and an alpha female, OR-39, that has limped with a back leg injury for the past couple years. The male is nearly 10 years old, which Morgan said is “very old for a wolf in the wild.”

Morgan said it’s possible the male’s age and the female’s disability caused the wolves to turn on livestock instead of deer and elk. Two younger wolves, possibly yearlings, are believed to be traveling with them. The four appear to have split off from the rest of the Imnaha Pack, which numbered at least eight at the end of 2015.

In March alone, the group led by OR-4 has struck multiple times on private pastures in the Upper Swamp Creek area of Wallowa County. A calf was killed March 9; a sheep on March 25; two calves were attacked on March 26, with one dead and the other euthanized due to bite injuries; another calf was found dead March 28; and a sheep was found injured March 30, according to ODFW depredation reports.

Morgan said Imnaha Pack members commonly visit the area of the attacks but it’s unusual for them to remain there, as the four have this time. That suggests there’s been some change in the pack dynamics, he said.

Morgan said ODFW will shoot the wolves from the air or the ground, and intends to carry out the order immediately. He said the agency is following guidelines of the state’s wolf management plan, which is up for review this year.

He called the decision unfortunate, but said it is a necessary response to the pack’s chronic livestock attacks.

“The (wolf) plan is about conservation, but it’s also about management,” Morgan said.

ODFW has not killed any wolves since May 2011, when two Imnaha Pack members were dispatched for livestock attacks. The agency sought to kill two more pack members in September 2011, but conservation groups won a stay of the order from the Oregon Court of Appeals.

Oregon Wild, a Portland based conservation group with long involvement in wolf issues, opposes lethal control.

“ODFW should not be killing members of the Imnaha Pack, or any wolves for that matter, while the wolf plan remains under review and out of date,” Executive Director Sean Stevens said in a prepared statement.

“Given ambiguity in the current wolf plan, increased poaching, premature (state endangered species) delisting, and renewed calls from special interest groups for aggressive killing, the public has every reason to be concerned for Oregon’s recovering wolf population.”

Oregon Wild questioned whether the livestock producers involved have taken sufficient defensive measures against wolves.

Morgan said the sheep producer had three protection dogs with the sheep, checked the livestock three times a day, employed a range rider to haze the wolves and used midnight spotlighting. The cattle producer delayed pasture rotation to keep cattle closer to a public road, pastured yearlings with cows, frequently checked calving cattle and used range rider patrols as well, Morgan said in a news release.

The onset of lambing and calving season made more attacks a possibility, he said.

“Even more cattle and sheep will be on these private lands soon as calving and lambing season continues, increasing the risk for even more losses from this group of depredating wolves,” he said.

Cascadia Wildlands, a Eugene-based conservation group, said it was “deeply saddened” by the ODFW action but said it appears the state agency “has meaningfully deliberated over its decision.”

The group said it doesn’t condone using public taxpayer money to “kill wolves on behalf of private interests” but acknowledged the “situation appears to be escalating in Wallow County.” The group said lethal control is allowed under the state’s wolf plan.

The inclusion of OR-4 in the kill order is particularly difficult because he’s sired many wolf pups over the years and “fueled wolf recovery across the state,” said Josh Laughlin, executive director of Cascadia Wildlands. “His role and that of the other three wolves should be celebrated and remembered.”

The Oregon Cattlemen’s Association supports the kill order, acknowledging it is a “difficult” decision.

“It’s an unfair situation for the livestock owners and the wolves themselves,” said OCA wolf committee chair Todd Nash, a Wallowa County rancher.

“Wolves are doing what they naturally do, but have been put in a situation in Oregon where they are going to be in constant conflict with livestock and hunter’s game,” Nash said in a prepared statement.

Eliminating specific, problem animals so that multiple species can live together is sometimes necessary, Nash said.

The ODFW Commission this spring began review of the state’s wolf management plan, an effort that may take nine months.

Oregon farmers who want to crack the organic market might think about growing strawberries. Raspberries and dry bean varieties such as garbanzos, pintos and black beans wouldn’t be a bad bet, either.

But a new analysis from Oregon Tilth, which certifies organic operations, makes it clear that figuring out what to grow is only part of puzzle. The report, on-line at https://tilth.org/resources/organic-market-in-oregon/, says supply gaps, infrastructure problems and technical issues hamper what is otherwise a strong segment of Oregon agriculture.

Make no mistake, organic sales aren’t hurting. Nationally, sales expanded 12 to 21 percent annually between 1997 and 2008, slowed during the recession and picked up again in 2012, according to the analysis. By 2014, organic sales hit nearly $36 billion, an 11.4 percent increase over the previous year.

But a closer look at Oregon’s organic scene shows producers will have to step it up, according to Oregon Tilth. A number of issues snag production, processing and distribution, the report showed.

“A look at trends in the mainstream grocery industry suggests that even if Oregon farmers are meeting the majority of market needs now, continued expansion of grocery chains’ organic offerings will necessitate a crop supply increase to keep up with demand,” report author Tanya Murray wrote.

Generally, buyers want more organic berries and stone fruit and more of the less common vegetable crops, baby vegetables, heirloom varieties and varieties that have exceptional flavor, according to the report. Some also want a certain level of processing — items that are cut a certain way, peeled or roasted, for example.

Other gaps persist. Buyers want producers trained on food safety regulations and grading standards. Farmers are sometimes stymied by the organic certification process, including the need to develop new record-keeping systems, affording certification fees and waiting out the three years it takes to certify a field. Appropriate crop rotations, necessary for field health, have to be planned out as well.

Farmers also need assurance that the market will still exist after the three-year transition period, during which “yields might be down, costs might be up and the premium prices that certified organic crops earn aren’t accessible,” the report concludes.

The analysis suggests one-on-one relationships between buyers and farmers are important. Such relationships can protect confidential company information while shielding farmers from downward price pressure that comes with supply gluts.

To help solve those problems, Oregon Tilth created the Transitioning to Organic Network, or TON, an on-line service directly connecting farmers, processors, handlers, buyers and other service providers and stakeholders. Members can ask questions, share information and stay informed about educational opportunities. The listserv is at

http://goo.gl/forms/iTPJTpeiSa.

In compiling the analysis, Oregon Tilth considered responses from 31 processors and manufacturers, three natural food grocery store buyers and four wholesale produce distributors.

The report was funded by a USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant administered by the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — One of the four finalists to become chancellor of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has withdrawn his name.

Several Washington state media outlets have reported that Sabah Randhawa has been selected to become president at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington.

University of Nebraska spokeswoman Melissa Lee says Randhawa told University of Nebraska President Hank Bounds about his decision Wednesday.

Randhawa is Oregon State University provost. His withdrawal leaves three candidates to replace Lincoln’s chancellor, Harvey Perlman: Ronnie Green, University of Nebraska interim senior vice chancellor for academic affairs; April Mason, Kansas State University provost; and Daniel Reed, University of Iowa vice president for research and economic development.

Lee says Bounds doesn’t plan to name Perlman’s successor this week. Bounds’ selection is subject to a Board of Regents confirmation vote.

PENDLETON, Ore. — After five months of pregnancy, “Magnificent Mary” was so big she could barely walk.

Finally on March 24, the nanny Nigerian dwarf goat was ready to give birth. She had four kids in just half an hour, which was remarkable enough. But it was the fifth that came an hour later and really took Mary’s owners, Richard and Jeannie Prowse, by surprise.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Richard Prowse said. “It just blew my mind when number five popped out.”

The Prowses, who live outside Pendleton, have raised dairy goats for 30 years and they’ve never seen quintuplets before. Goats usually have between one and three kids per litter, but five are extremely rare; the odds are about one in 10,000, according to one estimate.

As Mary — short for Marigold — got bigger and bigger, Jeannie Prowse said she knew multiple births were coming. Prowse thought triplets or maybe even quadruplets were possible, but she certainly didn’t count on delivering quintuplets.

“It was total shock and surprise,” Jeannie Prowse said. “It’s pretty sensational to have five live babies.”

All of the kids survived, and on March 30 they were already prancing and jumping lively around the Prowses’ red barn in front of their house. There’s Minnie and Benson (who was born back-end first, Mariota (named after the former Oregon Ducks quarterback), Polly and fifth and final: Cinco.

In all, Marigold gave birth to three billies and two does, each one inheriting the striking blue eyes of their father, Picasso. The Prowses say they will likely keep both females for their herd, which is registered with the American Dairy Goat Association. The rest they will sell the others to families looking for a pet or 4-H animal.

Nigerian dwarf goats are smaller and easier to handle, Jeannie Prowse said, but still deliver a good amount of milk for their size. The Prowses use goat milk to make cheese, yogurt and are venturing into making soap.

It will take two months to wean the quintuplets off their mother. Until then, Jeannie Prowse watches closely over the babies, bottle feeding when they’re hungry and setting up a heating lamp in the pen where they huddle up to sleep.

Successful breeding starts with good genetics and ends with good feeding and care, she said.

“We’ve always worked hard at what we do,” Jeannie Prowse said. “And then, when something like this happens, we just feel very blessed.”

BANDON -- Entries are being sought for the 2016 Will & Celia Piehl Youth Poetry Contest. This year's theme is "What Makes Me Happy" and the contest is open to all students in grades 5-12 who live in Bandon, Langlois…

BANDON -- The Southern Coos Hospital & Health Center will host a show of artworks created reflecting upon the theme of “Home.” The show will feature art from local and regional artists responding to the theme and what home means…

THURSDAY, MARCH 31

The Oregon Department of Agriculture is looking to fill 74 openings on its 23 agricultural and commercial fishery commodity commissions.

That includes seven commissions looking for public members, according to an ODA press release.

Public members cannot be directly associated with the production or handling of the commodity a commission addresses.

ODA Director Katy Coba appoints commissioners and is expected to begin making appointments as early as next month. Successful public member candidates will join producers and handlers — those who are first purchaser of the commodity — to make up each of the commissions.

Commission activities are funded through self-assessments. While those activities and accomplishments vary from commission to commission, each have the same general mission — to fund projects for research, promotion or education.

Commission members meet four to seven times a year. It’s a volunteer position with reimbursement for travel and meals associated with meetings. Sometimes, public members have an opportunity to travel as part of a trade mission involving the commodity.

For information on all commodity commission openings, including public member openings, go to http://www.oregon.gov/ODA/programs/MarketAccess/Pages/OregonCommodityCommissions.aspx or contact Commodity Commission Program Manager Kris Anderson at 503-872-6600.

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Food manufacturers and pesticide applicators could be subject to “stop work” orders under new regulatory authority being considered by Oregon’s farm regulators.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture may seek new regulatory power to halt specific unlawful actions that endanger public safety.

Currently, the agency can suspend or revoke the license of a food establishment or pesticide applicator that’s violating the law, but such sanctions may be overkill in some situations, said Lauren Henderson, ODA’s assistant director.

“We don’t have anything that’s specific to an activity. It’s all or nothing,” he said during this week’s meeting of the Oregon Board of Agriculture in Corvallis.

Revoking a license or obtaining a temporary restraining order in court also involves fairly high legal hurdles, Henderson said.

Taking such drastic steps would be overly burdensome for the agency and the business in the case of minor violations, such as a faulty thermometer in a refrigerated meat cooler, he said.

Under the proposed “stop work” authority, the ODA could simply require a company to cease using that cooler until it’s fixed, he said.

“We’re looking at something very narrow and probably short-term,” Henderson said.

At this point, the proposal is in a very early stage but the agency is considering it as a possible “legislative concept” for the 2017 legislative session, he said.

Henderson acknowledged the “stop work” idea has met with some trepidation among regulated companies.

“The industry as a whole is pretty nervous about us having that authority,” he said.

Aside from possibly affecting pesticide applications, the proposal could impact on-farm processing, such dairymen who make farmstead cheese.

Doug Krahmer, a blueberry farmer and board member, said companies should have a way to challenge a “stop work” order.

“I would caution you to put some sort of judicial mechanism in there, so if a grower or an owner takes issue with a stop work order, there is a quick way to get adjudication,” he said.

The U.S. Department of Labor did not provide such recourse when it issued “hot goods” orders in 2012 that halted the sale of perishable fruit based on alleged labor violations, he said.

Krahmer said he would characterize the DOL’s actions as “tyrannical” and he doesn’t ever want to describe ODA that way.

Katy Coba, ODA’s director, said the agency is still examining similar authority in other states and recognizes the importance of protecting due process while ensuring public safety.

“It’s finding in statute the right balance,” she said.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30

LANGLOIS -- The Langlois Lions Club will hold its annual spaghetti feed and dessert auction on Saturday, April 2, with dinner starting at 5 p.m. and the dessert auction starting at 6 p.m., followed by dancing with live music by…

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Two weeks after the signing of new legislation that upholds in state law the delisting of the gray wolf as endangered, Oregon’s top attorney has now launched an effort to end wolf advocates’ lawsuit once and for all.

Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum filed a notice with the state appellate court on Monday, using an attached copy of the new law, House Bill 4040, as justification for why wolf advocates’ complaint against the state is likely no longer relevant.

This is what conservative lawmakers hoped to accomplish with HB 4040 and what environmentalists had feared. In December environmentalists sued state wildlife officials over their decision to remove the gray wolf from the state’s Endangered Species Act list, saying the decision was premature.

Nothing is settled yet and the judge will have the final say. But parties on both sides agree the situation is gloomy for the wolf advocates’ case.

“We don’t have a next step yet,” said Arran Robertson, a spokesman for Oregon Wild, adding they’ll be discussing a game-plan this week with the other environmentalists that are part of the suit.

The issue dates back to November, when the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission determined the gray wolf’s population was robust enough to remove the species from the state’s endangered list. Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands and the Center for Biological Diversity followed with their lawsuit, arguing the commission used flawed scientific evidence and the delisting decision should therefore be independently re-examined.

That’s where HB 4040 — backed by the Oregon Cattleman’s Association and others concerned with wolves’ attacks on livestock — comes into play.

HB 4040 essentially says the commission did everything it was supposed to do by law in reaching its final decision to delist. That’s the very thing wolf advocates want re-examined, but with the Legislature’s seal of approval now established in state law, their “challenge is likely moot,” Rosenblum wrote in Monday’s court filing.

Rosenblum’s filing — submitted about a week after the wildlife commission began revising its wolf management plan — stands in contrast to the way HB 4040 was initially portrayed at the Legislature in early February.

In hearings, GOP lawmakers in the Oregon House repeatedly denied claims that the intent was to end the lawsuit.

“Does this basically prevent litigation? ... and the answer that I have come up with, or the answer that I could find was, no it doesn’t,” Rep. Greg Baretto, a Republican who helped sponsor HB 4040, said during a Feb. 12 House floor session when the bill was up for vote.

“They can still have their day in court. But what this does is it’ll allow the Legislature to affirm or agree with this commission, this Fish and Wildlife Commission, that has basically approved delisting, and that is what this bill does.”

Rep. Chris Gorsek, a Democrat, was among the first vocal critics, who followed Baretto’s comments during that February floor session by saying, “I’m concerned that the Legislature is being asked to step in a process that could involve any endangered species ... it’s not about the wolf, it’s about due process.”

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Oregon farm regulators are objecting to USDA’s proposed deregulation of a genetically engineered grass variety that escaped field trials more than a decade ago.

Last year, USDA reached an agreement with Scotts Miracle-Gro, which developed the glyphosate-resistant biotech creeping bentgrass, to lift federal regulations on the crop as long as it’s not commercialized.

Scotts would also conduct a 10-year management plan to control the grass, but some farmers have complained that the proposal will allow the company to eventually wash its hands of the problem while leaving them with spray costs and potential export barriers.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture has come out against the proposal, arguing it’s inappropriate to deregulate the bentgrass while it’s still infesting areas of Central and Eastern Oregon.

“We think it needs to be eradicated,” said Lisa Hanson, ODA’s deputy director, during the March 29 meeting of the Oregon Board of Agriculture.

The ODA claims the biotech bentgrass doesn’t meet the federal requirements for deregulation because it “clearly falls into the category of a plant pest and noxious weed,” according to a letter sent to USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

“It is invading irrigation canals and displacing native species in riparian areas in the affected Oregon counties,” the ODA letter said, noting that the crop should remain regulated until “a means to eradicate this pest becomes available.”

ODA also recommends that USDA convene a task force to evaluate the impacts of deregulation.

Biotech bentgrass is of particular concern near waterways because they can allow the crop to spread to new areas and potentially get out of control, said Helmuth Rogg, ODA’s plant program director.

There are also limited chemical methods for treating the bentgrass, he said. Not only is it resistant to glyphosate, but other herbicides often can’t be used in irrigation canals without potentially harming crops.

Canals can be treated with herbicides before they’re used to convey summer irrigation water, but that time window poses another challenge, Rogg said.

“The problem in early spring is it’s not easy to identify,” Rogg said.

At that point, the variety looks much like any other grass, he said. The crop is more distinctive in late summer.

Scotts developed the bentgrass for golf courses and began testing it with USDA’s consent in a “control area” in Central Oregon designated by ODA, but the cultivar escaped field trials in 2003 and continues to be found in Jefferson and Malheur counties.

TANGENT, Ore. — From Oregon 34, cutting west off Interstate 5 toward Corvallis, it looks like a tractor graveyard. Skeletons of old International, Case and John Deere tractors, combines and other farm and construction equipment sit in neat rows. Most have been plucked of parts.

That was Randy Raschein Sr.’s original vision for Farmland Tractor Supply when he started the business in 1980. A recession was draining the country’s economic life, and Raschein figured a tractor salvage yard would find a market with farmers who were patching old equipment instead of buying new.

“There was a need here, for sure,” Raschein said.

His instinct was on the money, and the business has grown steadily over the past 36 years. The view of the original salvage yard from the highway is misleading, because Farmland Tractor Supply now covers 30 acres and has two acres of covered parts storage plus a machine shop and other manufacturing, storage and office space. Individual parts are tagged and tracked by computer.

“A lot of people think it’s an old junkyard, but it’s not,” Raschein Sr. said.

The business still carries used parts, from crankshafts to radiators and rims, but in many cases they were salvaged from newer equipment that was damaged in a fire or accident. Farmland also carries after-market parts made by other manufacturers to fit various equipment lines. The business also overhauls and sells engines.

A significant number of customers are small or beginning farmers. For them, a business such as Farmland could fill an important niche, said Garry Stephenson, director of Oregon State University’s Center for Small Farms and Community Food Systems.

New and small farmers are interested in used equipment for the cost savings and because older equipment is often smaller and a better fit for the scale of their farms, Stephenson said by email.

Fellow OSU Extension small farms specialist Heidi Noordijk agreed, noting that new farmers who don’t inherit family gear struggle to buy new equipment. A tractor is the biggest need for most farmers, she said.

Thanks to the Internet, new farmers and even international customers find their way to Farmland Tractor Supply.

“We’ve sent parts to Africa, Greenland, Australia — we had a guy in here from New Zealand,” Raschein Sr. said. His son, Randy Raschein Jr., has traveled to China to meet with suppliers. He’s also introduced a new line of LED lighting systems called Tiger Lights that can be plugged into existing equipment and provides more light, for longer periods, with less demand on the tractor’s electrical system.

Farmland remains a family business. Randy Raschein Sr.’s grandsons, Ty and Dustin, also work in the business, as does his daughter, Suzy Klein. His 9-year-old great-grandson, Wyatt Eastman, spends time at the business as well.

The family worked together to pull off a surprise for Raschein Sr.

In 1963, when he was farming in California, he bought an unusual narrow-tracked 1941 International Harvester from the U.S. Forest Service. He sold it when he quit farming, but always retained a fondness for International equipment. He sold parts for them at dealerships, including one that brought him to work at a store in the Willamette Valley before he started his own business.

About a decade ago, his son, Randy Jr., came across his father’s paperwork from the sale. He tracked down the buyer, convinced him to sell back the International and set about restoring it in secret. “I didn’t want to let it get away,” he said.

The family hauled the restored tractor to a show in Brooks, Ore., and took Raschein Sr. to look around. Coming across the tractor, and not yet knowing it was his, he expressed surprise because he’d never seen another one. “It’s not even in the parts book,” he said. A sign at the display told the story, and he happily realized he’d been had.

“They rebuilt it under my nose,” he said with a laugh.

He’s low-key about it, but Raschein takes pride in seeing how the business has expanded and adapted over the years. The business has only a handful of competitor in the Pacific Northwest.

“We started from scratch, one tractor at a time,” he said. “Anyway, it worked out fine.”

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30