MONDAY, OCT. 16

SISTERS, Ore. (AP) — Lightning started a forest fire one August afternoon near this Oregon tourist town, and it was spreading fast. Residents in outlying areas evacuated as flames marched toward their homes.

Just a few months earlier, the U.S. Forest Service and a group of locals representing environmental, logging and recreational interests arranged to thin part of the overgrown forest, creating a buffer zone around Sisters.

Workers removed trees and brush with machines, then came through on foot to ignite prescribed burns. That effort saved homes, and perhaps the community of 2,500 on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Range, by slowing the fire’s progress and allowing firefighters to corral it.

Scrutiny of the condition of the American West’s forests, and of policies that curtailed logging and suppressed wildfires, has intensified amid a devastating wildfire season that has burned a combined area bigger than Maryland and caused widespread destruction in California’s wine country.

Until the advent of aggressive fire suppression at the turn of the last century, forests were historically shaped by low-intensity blazes, with the flames clearing underbrush but not killing tall trees. Forests across the West are now so overgrown they’ve been called powder kegs.

The work by the Deschutes Collaborative Forest Project in central Oregon, where towns and subdivisions sit in a green ocean of Ponderosa and lodgepole pines, shows the potential of forest thinning. And it shows how loggers and environmentalists - normally bitter enemies - can join forces.

But it also highlights the challenges of replicating the forest thinning across the West, where a lack of timber workers and money are among the obstacles.

On a recent morning, Forest Service fire manager James Osborne drove into a section of the Deschutes National Forest outside Sisters that was thinned in May. Widely spaced Ponderosas were blackened to twice the height of a person. But higher up, the bark retained its normal orangey color. Needle clusters shone vibrant green in the sunshine. Four deer trotted through dappled sunlight. This part of the forest looked healthy, not despite of, but due to, the prescribed burn.

“Ponderosa pines are used to low-intensity fires,” Osborne said. “Every five to 15 years, a fire would come through. We’re trying to take it back to low-intensity fires.”

California’s situation is different because its wildfires have generally ignited in chaparral - brush that naturally grows densely packed, said Andrew Latimer, plant expert at the University of California-Davis. The temperate coniferous forests that burn in large wildfires elsewhere are historically less dense.

It is the goal of the Deschutes Collaborative, one of 23 projects in the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration program created in 2009 by Congress, to restore central Oregon forests to their natural state. Overcoming suspicions and stereotypes was one of its first hurdles.

Deschutes Collaborative member Marilyn Miller, an environmentalist, and former member Chuck Burley, who then worked for an Oregon sawmill, used to call each other names, Miller recalled during a recent tour of Deschutes Collaborative projects. But they got to know each other in Bend, home to more microbreweries per capita than anywhere else in America.

“I hate to say this, but beer really is a good conversation starter,” Miller said. “We would sit and talk. We learned we’re real humans with real concerns, and what we care about isn’t that far apart.”

Burley, who’s now employed with the Forest Service, said the Deschutes Collaborative made recommendations on where and how much to thin, and the Forest Service almost always adopted them.

“They had a consensus, a starting point,” Burley said in a phone interview.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, applauds collaborative efforts, including the Good Neighbor Authority under which states can organize restoration of federal lands. Under the programs, a mill removes the timber after agreeing to buy it at a certain rate. The proceeds stay local, helping finance more restoration.

“No. 1, it allows us to put Oregonians back to work in the woods, so there are good jobs,” Brown said. “No. 2, it provides product for the local milling infrastructure. And No. 3, it creates healthier forests. Do I think we need more efforts like this? Absolutely.”

Such groups understand some management is required to keep public lands healthy, said Amy Tinderholt, a Deschutes National Forest ranger.

But replicating the work across the sprawling reaches of the West poses several challenges.

“We really don’t have the capacity in most places to do the work at anything like the scale needed,” said John Bailey, an Oregon State University professor of silviculture and fire management.

There are no longer enough timber outlets such as mills and plants, he said. And things like equipment, trucks, drivers and infrastructure will take time and resources to ramp back up.

Also, smoke from controlled burns can surpass legal limits, though it’s much less than smoke from out-of-control wildfires. Some wilderness areas and habitats for endangered species could be off-limits.

Another challenge is money.

“All of those funds will take you only so far across the landscape, and we’ve got pretty large landscapes,” Tinderholt said.

Restored areas also would have to be thinned again after some years, unless fires are allowed to burn the vegetation that grows back.

In Oregon, many locals are proud of the Deschutes Collaborative’s work, and want to see more done in the state and other parts of the West.

“As it unfolded, the community has really come behind it. It’s amazing,” said Kevin Larkin, a senior Deschutes Forest ranger. “Scaling up, that’s our hope.”

Wildlife biologists set leg-hold traps for 13 consecutive days before finally catching a young female wolf from the Rogue Pack in the Southern Oregon Cascades and putting a tracking collar on it.

The pack’s movements haven’t been tracked since the collar worn by its breeding male, the famous OR-7, went dead in 2015. Trail cameras set up by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have captured images of Rogue Pack wolves, but the tracking collar will help provide location information that can reduce “conflicts” with livestock producers, according to an ODFW Facebook post.

The recently collared wolf is designated OR-54. It is not the mate of OR-7, which in 2011 dispersed from the infamous Imnaha Pack in Wallowa County and traveled diagonally across the state into California. It was the first wolf documented in that state since 1924; Northern California now has at least two wolf packs.

Although approaching old age for a wolf in the wild, OR-7 was seen on a trail camera about two weeks ago, ODFW spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy said.

TOKYO — Gov. Kate Brown last week led an Oregon delegation to Japan focused on doing business with the state’s top export market for agricultural products, but she said the Trump administration’s rejection of the Trans-Pacific Partnership has put a damper on any new business.

Brown told the Capital Press the delegation of Oregon businesses had conversations about the TPP with the Japanese business leaders it met, as well as with the U.S. embassy.

“We are clearly right now in a no-person’s-land, where there’s a lack of clarity about federal policy,” Brown said of TPP. One of President Donald Trump’s first acts after he entered office was to reject the TPP, a trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations, including Japan and U.S. He said he intends to negotiate one-on-one treaties with the nations involved.

Brown said her role as Oregon governor is to make sure that exporters are continuing to build relationships to ensure that the state’s products find lucrative markets.

But she said uncertainty over tariffs hinders trade on both sides.

“I certainly raised this issue when I was speaking to (U.S. ambassador to Japan William) Haggerty, letting him know that our agricultural products are very reliant on the markets in Asia, particularly in Japan, and that we need to make sure that we can get our products to market in a cost-efficient manner,” Brown said.

Headed by Oregon Director of Agriculture Alexis Taylor, the contingent of eight food and beverage exporters included Willamette Valley Fruit Co. of Salem, OFD Foods of Albany, Northwest Hazelnut Co. of Hubbard, Ponzi Vineyards of Sherwood, 2 Towns Cider of Corvallis, Bossco Trading Co. of Tangent, Weaver Seed Processing of Scio and Pacific Seafood of Clackamas.

One of the things the agribusiness side of the tour focused on was helping companies build additional relationships with importers if they are already exporters, or helping introduce them to the market if they are first-time exporters here, Taylor said.

To help build those relationships, organizers set up more than 36 meetings between the Oregon food and beverage companies and various importers.

“In Japan, relationships and introductions are very important,” Taylor said.

Among the newer Oregon products vying to come to Japan are hazelnuts and blackberries. “We’ve also done a lot of work with craft beverages,” Taylor said.

She said some Japanese food companies are also investing in Oregon and starting businesses there, so they can source the products that they are looking for directly.

“Also, what we have found is there are Japanese food companies that are investing in Oregon and then are finding that there is a market for them” in the state, Taylor said.

On a stopover in Hong Kong Oct. 9 before the four-day trip to Japan, Brown met with officials of Cathay Pacific Airways, which nearly a year ago began direct air cargo flights between Portland and Hong Kong.

The flights are important for the export of Oregon’s perishable ag products such as fresh cherries, live Dungeness crab and cut greens.

During the heavy Oregon cherry harvest season, Cathay Pacific added two shipments two its usual three a week.

“It’s enabling us to get very good Oregon products, from cherry to crab, to market expeditiously so the people of Asia can enjoy those products,” Brown said.

SOUTH COAST – Oregon schools received new ratings last week.

LANGLOIS - Dragonfly Farm will hold a Pumpkin Patch Party from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14. Dragonfly Farm is located two miles north of Langlois on at 49295 U.S. Highway 101.

LANGLOIS - Dragonfly Farm will hold a Pumpkin Patch Party from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14. Dragonfly Farm is located two miles north of Langlois on at 49295 Highway 101.

BREWER, Maine (AP) — An Oregon brewery is demanding that a Maine beer maker change the name of its signature India pale ale.

Mason’s Brewing Co., owned by Chris Morley in Brewer, says it received a letter from 10 Barrel Brewing demanding it stop using the name “Hipster Apocalypse.” The Bangor Daily News reports the Oregon brewery has brewed “Apocalypse IPA” since 2009.

Morley said Wednesday he plans to challenge the request, calling it “another great example of a corporation trying to keep the little guy down.”

Morley’s brewery has been in operation for less than two years. 10 Barrel was purchased by Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2014, a company that also owns Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois.

Representatives from 10 Barrel and AB InBev did not respond to requests for comment.

BOSTON (AP) — Not everyone is celebrating the return of the wild turkeys.

After being wiped out from New England in the 1800s, the birds have stormed back in what’s considered a major success story for wildlife restoration. But as they spread farther into urban areas, they’re increasingly clashing with residents who say they destroy gardens, damage cars, chase pets and attack people.

Complaints about troublesome turkeys have surged in Boston and its suburbs over the past three years, causing headaches for police and health officials called to handle problems, according to city and town records provided to The Associated Press. It’s a familiar dilemma for some other U.S. towns from coast to coast that have been overrun by turkeys in recent years.

Boston city officials say they received at least 60 complaints last year, a threefold increase over the year before. Nearby Somerville, Belmont and Brookline have seen similar upticks, combining for a total of 137 turkey gripes since the start of last year.

“Several years ago it was more of an isolated situation here and there,” said David Scarpitti, the wild turkey and upland game biologist for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. “Now it’s starting to spread into communities all around Boston.”

Often the grievance is little more than a wayward turkey blocking traffic, but in at least five cases turkeys became so aggressive that police said they had to shoot them as a matter of public safety. Some area residents have suffered minor injuries from the birds, including a 72-year-old woman who told police she was bruised in August after a gang of turkeys scratched and pecked her during a walk.

Turkeys in the wild are far stronger and faster than the ones that land on Thanksgiving tables, experts say. Males in particular are driven to show physical aggression as a way to climb the social pecking order, and they sometimes view humans as potential competitors.

“Turkeys don’t really mean to harm people — it’s just tied to their social dynamics within the flock,” Scarpitti said. “They lose perspective that humans are humans and turkeys are turkeys. They just want to assert dominance over anything.”

Even the earliest Americans picked up on that characteristic, with Ben Franklin famously writing that the turkey is a “Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.”

In the town of Brookline, Tess Bundy has come to loathe the turkeys that roost behind her home and often come charging when she leaves. She called police in April after a big tom repeatedly launched itself at her and her infant daughter, backing down only after Bundy whacked it several times with a shovel.

“They’re terrible. Every year they’re worse,” said Bundy, a history professor at Merrimack College. “I really do think that they’re a menace to the town.”

The complaints have sent some cities searching for answers, including in Cambridge, where the City Council says it’s working on a plan. Officials in Brookline issued new guidance for fowl encounters in August, telling residents to “step toward the turkey and act confidently.”

Wildlife experts say much of the problem can be blamed on residents who leave out food for turkeys, which entices flocks to settle in and helps them survive winters.

Towns with similar problems in New Jersey, Iowa and Oregon have banned turkey feeding in recent years, and Montana enacted a similar statewide ban in May. But the idea hasn’t spread to the Boston area, where some residents say they enjoy the return of native wildlife.

Not far from two sites where turkeys were shot by police, Brookline resident Suzette Abbott says she’s had no problems with the turkeys that roam her block.

“I don’t think they’re dangerous,” Abbott said. “In the spring they look pretty amazing when the males are displaying their colors. I think they’re quite beautiful if you actually look at their feathers.”

A bill sponsored by several U.S. House members from the Northwest aims to overturn two recent court decisions on Columbia and Snake river dams.

Last year, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon rejected the federal plan for managing dams to protect salmon in the Columbia River Basin.

He then ordered federal agencies to spill more water through the dams to help fish and to consider removing Snake River dams.

A new bill in the U.S. House of Representatives would allow Congress to overrule those decisions. House Bill 3144 reinstates the rejected plan and cancels court orders for spilling water and analyzing dam removal.

At a hearing before the House Committee on Natural Resources Thursday, Washington Republican Cathy McMorris Rodgers, one of the bill’s sponsors, said the goal is to reassert congressional authority over the dams and keep hydropower affordable.

With Bonneville Power Administration already hiking electricity rates, she said, utilities are shopping for other options.

“Unnecessary litigation and unnecessary spill requirements by this Oregon judge only add onto the cost,” she said. “Dams and fish can co-exist, but we must get out of the courtroom and allow fish recovery to continue.”

Conservation groups say the bill would hurt already imperiled salmon and steelhead. They’re worried it will get attached to a must-pass bill in the coming months.

Liz Hamilton, director of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association, told the committee that the bill would lock in “an approach that isn’t working for fish.”

She said increasing the amount of water spilled for fish, which reduces the amount of hydropower produced, has produced positive results for fish in previous years.

“We know dams and reservoirs are the salmon’s main cause of human-caused mortality,” she said. “Spill is our most effective near-term tool. What we want are adult (salmon) coming back, and there’s overwhelming evidence that spilling gets adults back.”

NYSSA, Ore. — The onion crop in the Treasure Valley of Idaho and Oregon will be significantly smaller this year but growers are seeing prices that are much higher than normal.

“Yields are definitely down and size is off a little bit but prices are significantly better,” said Bruce Corn, one of the 300 farmers in the area who grow the Spanish bulb onions this region is famous for.

Most growers and shippers Capital Press spoke with said yields will be off 20-30 percent this year. Size profile is also off and fewer colossals and super-colossals, the largest bulb onion sizes, will come out of the region this year.

But prices are way up.

For example, a 50-pound bag of jumbo yellow onions is selling for $10-11 right now, up from $5.50 to $6 this time last year.

“As you drive around, there are a lot of empty bins,” said Paul Skeen, president of the Malheur County Onion Growers Association. “The bottom line is prices are up because there is a shortage.”

Buyers from Mexico are purchasing a lot of onions right now and that’s also impacting the market, said Snake River Produce Manager Kay Riley.

“The market is about as good as we’ve seen it for this time of year,” said Riley, the marketing order chairman for the Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onion Committee.

Corn said the higher prices mean grower returns will be much better this year, despite the smaller crop.

“Last year, we had incredible yields but low prices. There was no return after you paid packing charges and storage,” he said. “This year is significantly better that way.”

Although this year’s crop is much smaller than normal, quality is excellent, said Murakami Produce Manager Grant Kitamura.

“They are coming in in really good shape,” he said. “They are beautiful.”

Kitamura said it’s likely the higher prices will hold throughout the year, which typically happens during a year with limited supply.

“You could see higher prices later; I don’t know for sure,” he said. “But I can’t see them going down. Overall, we’re hoping for a lot better year than we had last year.”

This year’s onion crop was impacted by late planting due to a harsh winter and wet spring that was followed by a hotter than normal summer, and then September rains crusted the ground and made harvest more difficult, said Stuart Reitz, an Oregon State University cropping systems extension agent in Ontario.

“There were a whole lot of issues,” he said. “There just wasn’t ideal growing conditions this year. (Last year) was a tremendous crop. This year, it’s a little thinner, and a lot thinner in some cases.”

State and federal wildlife officials are investigating the death of a second wolf discovered in the Fremont-Wenema National Forest of Southern Oregon in the past year.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible for shooting a gray wolf designated OR-33 by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The wolf’s carcass was discovered in April 2017 and taken to a USFWS lab in Ashland, Ore., for a necropsy. The results were not announced until Oct. 11. The animal had one or more gunshot wounds, according to USFWS. It’s not clear when the wolf was shot.

A year earlier, on Oct. 6, 2016, an Oregon wolf designated OR-28 was found dead in the national forest. That carcass also was examined at the Ashland lab, but the cause of death hasn’t been announced. Brent Lawrence, USFWS spokesman, said the case is still open. The federal agency and Oregon State Police are jointly investigating.

The wolf deaths are not necessarily related. ODFW spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy said the sites where the wolves were found are “geographically far apart.”

Still, conservation groups and wolf activists have long warned that wolf “poaching” is going on, and question whether the state is doing enough to protect them. The news about OR-33 also comes on the heels of ODFW’s authorizing “lethal control” on the Harl Butte and Meacham wolf packs in Northeast Oregon for repeated livestock attacks this summer. Four Harl Butte Pack wolves have been shot since August and ODFW recently authorized killing four more. One Meacham Pack wolf was shot before lethal authorization expired.

The two wolves found dead both dispersed from Northeast Oregon.

OR-33, a male estimated to be 4-years-old, left the Imnaha Pack in November 2015 and was not known to be part of a pack. It wore a tracking collar, but it quit transmitting in August 2016, according to ODFW.

OR-28 was a 3-year old female that was collared in June 2014 and dispersed from the Mount Emily pack in November 2015. Within a month, tracking collar data showed it had traveled more than 450 miles and was in the Silver Lake area in South Central Oregon. The wolf paired up with a male, OR-3, and had at least one pup.

Gray wolves are listed as endangered in the western two-thirds of Oregon, and under the Endangered Species Act it is a crime to kill them.

Anyone with information about he case should call U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at 503-682-6131, or the Oregon State Police Tip Line at 800-452-7888. Callers may remain anonymous.

A misty rain fell on a recent Wednesday morning in the Blue Mountains east of Pendleton, where Greg Rimbach drove the muddy forest roads scanning for wolf tracks.

“Once you see one, now you’re an expert,” said Rimbach, district wildlife biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “When they want to go somewhere, they like walking along roads down ridges. It’s just easier.”

Since wolves dispersed from Idaho and returned to northeast Oregon in the late 1990s, more of the predators are settling and forming packs in the Walla Walla and Mount Emily wildlife units. The district is now home to seven packs or groups of wolves totaling at least 36 animals — nearly one-third of the state’s known wolf population.

Rimbach figures he spends a quarter of his workdays managing wolves, from trapping and collaring to investigating claims of livestock predation. His latest project involves finding and re-collaring OR-11, a male wolf from the Walla Walla pack that initially split to form the Mount Emily pack, and has split once again and paired up with a new mate at the south end of the Mount Emily Unit.

The trajectory of increased wolf activity comes as no surprise to Rimbach.

“This is absolutely what we expected,” he said. “It certainly is tracking with what other states have seen.”

The presence of wolves, however, remains a polarizing issue as ranchers contend with livestock losses. Most recently, ODFW determined the Meacham pack was responsible for attacking cattle four times in eight days last month on the same 4,000-acre private pasture owned by Cunningham Sheep Company.

Predations occurred less than a mile from Interstate 84, and two miles from the community of Meacham. In response, ODFW issued a limited duration wolf kill permit, allowing Cunningham Sheep to shoot two adult or sub-adult wolves on sight within the densely forested pasture.

One of the wolves, a non-breeding female, was shot Sept. 7. The action sparked a wave of anger on both sides of the debate, with environmental groups criticizing ODFW for allowing any wolves to be killed and the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association arguing the entire pack should be removed.

Wolf-livestock conflicts were anticipated when wolves reentered Oregon, Rimbach said. That is why ranchers and environmentalists were both included at the table when the state wrote its Wolf Management and Conservation Plan, to balance conservation with protection of livestock.

“This is exactly what came out on the back end of those discussions,” Rimbach said.

ODFW is still in the process of revising the plan, which it hopes to present back to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission by December or early 2018.

Personally, Rimbach said he sees wolves as another part of the local ecosystem that needs to be managed.

“Hopefully someday, we can start normalizing wolves into our fauna,” he said.

When wolves do prey on livestock, the state has a mechanism to compensate ranchers for their losses.

The Oregon Wolf Depredation Compensation and Financial Assistance Grant Program is administered by the state Department of Agriculture with funds allocated by the Legislature, distributed to counties and awarded to producers.

Jerry Baker, a part-time wildlife biologist who lives in Athena, serves as chairman of the Umatilla County Wolf Depredation Advisory Committee. He said the group meets two or three times a year to apply for funding and consider requests for compensation.

“We know (wolves) are here,” Baker said. “We’re trying to deal with them.”

In February, the committee awarded nearly $50,000 in state money to ranchers for livestock compensation, including non-lethal deterrents for hazing wolves away from their property. Baker said the committee will meet again sometime in November or December, and has received about a half-dozen requests so far this summer.

In the case of Cunningham Sheep, the company satisfied its requirements for non-lethal deterrence prior to asking for lethal control, according to ODFW. That includes removing dead or weakened animals from their herd that may attract wolves, and hiring a range rider five days a week to monitor the pasture.

“We’ve had depredations before,” Rimbach said. “For whatever reason, it really ramped up this year.”

Cunningham Sheep would normally graze cattle on the pasture until October. Instead, the company is rounding up the animals to move to another location. It also gave up using its adjacent sheep allotment two years ago to avoid wolf conflicts.

Larry Givens, Umatilla County commissioner and liaison to the wolf compensation committee, said he sympathizes with ranchers, and will continue to lobby Salem for greater support.

“That’s a tremendous financial loss to these folks,” Givens said. “We know we can’t just go out and get rid of the wolves. So we have to have a way to mitigate those losses.”

Driving along Summit Road near Fox Prairie, Rimbach can point in the direction of multiple areas of wolf activity within just a few miles.

The Meacham pack can be found four or five miles to the west. OR-11 — the Walla Walla pack disperser — is now about four miles to the north with a new mate. To the south is OR-52, recently paired up with a mate outside the Union County town of Perry.

The Blue Mountains is a popular spot for outdoor recreation, and Rimbach insists wolves do not change that dynamic. Wolves tend to avoid humans, he said, and locals should not have any concerns for safety.

“The chance of people having any adverse effect with wolves is almost zero,” he said. “They might sit on their haunches and watch as you walk by, but that’s about it.”

Rimbach did caution against letting dogs run off leash in wolf territory, as the predators do become territorial with other canines. As for folks who live in the area, the presence of wolves is nothing new.

“I don’t think it’s a big surprise to the few people who live there year-round,” he said. “They’ll see wolf tracks there. They’ve been seeing those for five years.”

If the latest documented wolf pairings become full-fledged packs, Rimbach said he could see where wolves in the district start running out of room to function, and the population naturally begin to level off.

Baker said he believes wolves have fared better in the area than anybody expected, and he is interested in seeing how they affect the local ecosystem in the coming years.

“We’re going to have to work together on this, all of us, to try and make the best situation we can,” Baker said. “Because (wolves) are here to stay. No doubt about it.”

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Hazelnut growers in Turkey ramped up production this year, driving down prices for growers in Oregon.

The Hazelnut Growers Bargaining Association said Tuesday that Oregon growers will get a starting minimum price of 96.5 cents per pound for their crop this fall, The Register-Guard reports . That’s lower than last year’s starting price of $1.18 per pound, and a big drop from the record price of $1.70 per pound in 2014.

“The price is lower than probably the growers were expecting,” said Doug Olsen, the association’s president. “But that is where the market came out, and it is a good place to start so we can move this crop.”

Oregon produces nearly all United States hazelnuts, but only 3 to 4 percent of the world’s supply.

Turkey leads the world in hazelnut production. Its crop is expected to reach about 750,000 tons, an increase of 150,000 to 200,000 tons from last year, said Terry Ross said, the association’s executive director, who represented growers in the negotiations.

The value of the Turkish lira also continues to fall against the dollar, which makes Turkish hazelnuts a better buy for international buyers. Oregon exports about half of its annual crop to international markets

Experts predict this year’s Oregon crop will be smaller than last year’s 44,000 tons even though the number of acres growing hazelnuts has increased. The association estimates that hazelnut trees are planted on about 75,000 acres in Oregon, and trees on about 45,000 of those acres are producing nuts — up from 32,000 acres five years ago.

Many growers have responded to Eastern filbert blight, a deadly fungus that has decimated hazelnut orchards, by replacing diseased trees with younger disease-resistant varieties.

Oregon farmers will receive at least 96.5 cents per pound of hazelnuts this year, a decrease of 18 percent from last year’s initial price.

The price slide comes at a time when hazelnut growers are also expecting lower yields, with Oregon’s total production projected to be 36,000 tons, down from 44,000 tons last year.

“With a small crop it’s going to be tough for everyone,” said Doug Olsen, farmer and president of the Hazelnut Growers Bargaining Association.

Price fluctuations in Oregon are influenced by the hazelnut crop in Turkey, where low yields caused by a deep freeze drove up the domestic price to $1.70 per pound in 2014, the highest on record.

A bumper Turkish crop in 2017 has had the opposite effect on Oregon’s initial price, though farmers could still end up with a higher price if processors receive premiums.

Whether farmers will make a profit this year varies by individual, since people have different levels of debt and establishment costs for their orchards.

“It kind of depends where you are, how mature your orchard is,” said Nik Wiman, an Oregon State University orchard specialist.

According to a conservative estimate by OSU, farmers who plant the popular Jefferson variety earn a profit in the seventh year of orchard production at prices of $1 per pound, he said.

At roughly $1 per pound, farmers in Oregon will probably still be motivated to continue planting the crop, said Olsen.

“It might slow down a little bit but it’s still one of the better-paying crops right now,” he said.

Negotiations among farmers and hazelnut processors dragged on longer than normal in 2017, with the parties winding up in mediation to set an initial price.

There was some disagreement about how high the price could rise without hurting demand, particularly in China, a major market for Oregon’s crop, said Terry Ross, executive director of the Hazelnut Growers Bargaining Association.

Ultimately, data from the Oregon Hazelnut Marketing Board showed that China’s demand for our hazelnuts is “elastic,” meaning that higher prices would curtail purchases, Ross said.

“Once all the factors about market conditions were presented and discussed, there was no other solution than the price that was set,” he said.

Jeff Fox, executive director of the Hazelnut Growers of Oregon cooperative, said he was disappointed by the price decline, since the industry has seen large Turkish crops before.

Oregon producers have the opportunity to earn a premium based on growing higher quality hazelnuts than those grown by Turkish farmers, he said.

“Hopefully this doesn’t impact their behavior as far as planting but I suspect it will,” Fox said of domestic growers.

While the price has fallen since 2016, this year’s initial price is nonetheless the sixth highest on record, said Larry George, president of the George Packing Co.

“It’s a strong price historically,” he said.

Profitability in 2017 will be determined by production, which shows the Oregon industry should invest in increasing and stabilizing yields, George said.

Hazelnuts have relatively low labor costs and good returns for farmers, he said. “Our view is the best years for the hazelnut industry are still in front of it.”

Thirty agriculture and natural resource professionals have been selected to take part in the first Resource Education and Agricultural Leadership (REAL) Oregon Program.

REAL Oregon is a collaboration of ag, forestry and fishing commodity and advocacy organizations, formed with the goal of developing leaders to represent their interests in legislation and policy discussions.

Greg Addington, REAL Oregon director, used a sports analogy to describe the program’s goals. “Are we developing a bench to go to?” he asked. “Who’s going to be the next county Farm Bureau president? Who is going to be on the irrigation board? Who’s the next commodity commission member?”

People selected for the program will go through five statewide training sessions, the first one beginning Nov. 14 in Ontario and concluding in March 2018.

The program will explore the diversity of Oregon’s geography, economy and culture through training in board governance, communication skills, conflict resolution, government interaction, public policy work, critical thinking, media relations, professional presentations, public speaking and relationship building, according to a REAL Oregon news release.

Such leadership training programs aren’t unique; 34 states have something similar. Oregon’s program is modeled after Idaho’s, which will host its 38th class.

The program costs $5,000 per person, of which the trainees are expected to pick up half, either personally or through sponsorship by their organization or employer. The rest of the cost is paid for with “seed money” from the Oregon Farm Bureau, Wilco, Oregon State University, Land O’Lakes, Hazelnut Growers of Oregon, Oregon Aglink, Northwest Farm Credit Services and Valley Agronomics.

Of the first training group, 20 are from Northwest Oregon or the Willamette Valley, five are from Eastern Oregon or the high desert region, three are from Northeast Oregon and two are from Southwest Oregon.

Members of the first Oregon REAL class are:

Dylan Branch, Riddell Farm, Monmouth; Kent Burkholder, Burkholder Farms, Albany; Doug Grott, Wilbur Ellis, Corvallis; Stuart Butsch, USDA Farm Service Agency, Salem; Rick Jones, Cascade Timber Consulting, Sweet Home; Lauren Lucht, Northwest Transplants, Molalla; Andrea Krahmer, Northwest Farm Credit Services, Salem; Erick Garman, Oregon Department of Agriculture, Portland; Nolan Sundberg, Northwest Farm Credit Services, Eugene; Macey Wessels, Barenbrug USA. Scio; Jeff Fox of Wilco Hazelnut, LLC, Aurora; Christina Higby, Oregon Department of Agriculture, Stayton;

Matt Mattioda, Miller Timber Services, Albany; Lauren Smith, Oregon Water Resource Congress, Salem; Karl Dettwyler, Blue Line Farms, Silverton; Jenny Freeborn, Pacific Risk Management, Rickreall; Helle Ruddenklau, Ruddenklau Farms, Amity; Molly McCargar, Pearmine Farms, Gervais; Jacon Taylor, Oregon Farm Bureau, Eugene; Anne Marie Moss, Oregon Farm Bureau, Salem; Scott White, Klamath Water Users Association, Klamath Falls; Victoria Flowers, Flowers Farms, Midland/Klamath Falls; Susan Doverspike, Doverspike Ranch, Burns; Pete Schreder, OSU Extension, Lakeview; Megan Thompson, Sage Fruit Company, The Dalles; Sam Taylor, Pacific Ag, Hermiston;

Robert Waldher, Umatilla County, Athena; Tom Demianew, Oregon Department of Agriculture, Pendleton; Mark Kincaid, Lone Rock Resources, Roseburg; Kyle Kenagy, Kenagy Cattle Company, Oakland.

McMINNVILLE, Ore. — Aspiring marijuana growers in Oregon’s Yamhill County have asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit against their operation filed by neighboring landowners over potential odors.

The complaint was filed earlier this year against Steven and Mary Wagner, as well as their son Richard, who planned to grow and process marijuana on their property near McMinnville, Ore.

The Wagners argue that two of their neighbors, Harihara and Parvathy Mahesh, are barred from filing trespass and nuisance claims under Oregon’s “right to farm” statute, which shields growers from such complaints.

Claims filed by their other neighbors — the Momtazi family, which owns nearby vineyards — should also be thrown out because the Wagners haven’t trespassed or interfered with their land, according to defendants.

“You don’t get to file a lawsuit with no facts, sheer conjecture, pure speculation about what will happen,” said Allison Bizzano, attorney for the Wagners.

Oral arguments over the Wagners’ motion to dismiss were held in McMinnville, Ore., on Oct. 11 before Yamhill County Circuit Court Judge John Collins.

The damages alleged by the plaintiffs are not actionable in court because they’re based on proposed activities that haven’t yet occurred, she said.

“Even if we assume there is an odor, there’s no evidence it will travel over the plaintiffs’ property line,” Bizzano said.

According to the plaintiffs, the Wagners are not protected by the “right to farm” law because “foul-smelling particles” from marijuana will impermissibly harm wine grapes already growing on the Momtazi property and which have yet to be planted on the Mahesh property.

“They’re in the zone of danger in how their grapes might be affected by the marijuana operation,” said Richard Brown, the plaintiffs’ attorney.

Oregon’s “right to farm” statute doesn’t immunize against complaints over “damage to commercial agricultural products” filed by other farmers, Brown said.

“It was about suburban encroachment on farms, and not about claims against one farmer by another farmer,” he said.

The plaintiffs disagree their lawsuit is based on speculative injuries, arguing that judges can issue injunctions that stop future unlawful or harmful conduct.

“If the court allows them to develop the property first, it’s the equivalent of letting them pull the trigger,” Brown said.

At this point, it’s not necessary for the plaintiffs to prove what type of particles may affect grape skins and how far those particles will travel, he said.

To survive a motion to dismiss, it’s enough for the plaintiffs to show the Wagners planned to grow and process marijuana — as evidenced by site plans submitted to Yamhill County, Brown said.

“They have a plan. They’ve announced they have a plan. We know they’re going to do it,” he said.

The Wagners countered that unknown events — such as wind direction — don’t count as evidence that would justify an injunction against planting a crop.

“What if they want to grow lavender? What if they want to raise horses?” said Bizzano. “Nobody knows if it will ever impact the plaintiffs. They’re just scared.”

The plaintiffs initially sought a temporary restraining order against the Wagners’ marijuana grow site and processing facility, but that request was denied earlier this year.

Even so, the Wagners failed to get approval for the processing facility from the county government, so it appears that portion of the project isn’t yet moving forward.

In the most recent version of a complaint proposed by the plaintiffs, their request for an injunction against the project seems to have been scaled back.

The proposed injunction would prevent the Wagners from growing marijuana within 400 feet of either plaintiff’s property, instead of prohibiting them from cultivating it.

Another factor in the litigation is a road easement the Wagners have across the Mahesh property.

The Wagners claim they haven’t unlawfully used the easement as claimed by the plaintiffs, since the easement terms don’t restrict or prohibit farming operations.

The plaintiffs argued the judge could interpret the terms of the easement, much like he would a contract.

In this case, the illegality of marijuana under federal law also affects the easement’s permissible uses, Brown said.

Easement terms can be evaluated based on reasonable expectations and community standards, he said. “The court has the authority to reasonably construe easements.”

Oregonians in southern and central parts of the state saw air conditions degrade significantly Tuesday.

Smoke from several fires burning in northern California has been pushed by southerly winds into the Klamath River basin and parts of central Oregon, according to health officials. 

Officials from the Klamath County Health Department told the Herald and News that unhealthy air should abate by Tuesday afternoon as winds start to shift.

But central Oregon will have to deal with the smoky conditions a bit longer.

“The National Weather Service reports indicate that a southwest flow will continue into Wednesday evening, bringing a certain amount of smoke to our area,” the Bend Fire Department wrote in a news release.

Many Oregonians have endured an extended summer season of bad air quality as major fires in the state — including the Chetco Bar and Eagle Creek fires — have left air in the region hazy for weeks on end.

Multiple fires that broke out in northern California’s wine country Sunday have devastated the region in a matter of days. KQED reports at least 15 people have died and more than 2,000 structures have burned in the rapidly moving blazes.