JOHN DAY, Ore. — On a recent wintry evening, members of the Grant County Public Forest Commission walked into the warmth of a rustic diner and took seats at their customary table for their bimonthly meeting.

They voiced anger and frustration. At this meeting, they were officially a nonentity.

A judge this fall dissolved the commission at the behest of a former county supervisor who worried it was becoming a risk, citing the takeover of a federal wildlife refuge in a neighboring county.

While the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge grabbed the world’s attention, a quieter struggle over federal lands is being waged by those trying to use elections and the levers of government. Their grandparents and great-grandparents wrested a living from the West’s rugged landscape.

But now, the forest commissioners say, the government is tightening access to the same natural resources by closing roads and curtailing logging and other industries that allowed previous generations to be self-sufficient.

The commissioners feel they lost, by the stroke of a judge’s pen, a tool voters gave them to fight back.

Kim McKrola, a local, voiced the concern of many: “I would think we should have more say, because what does the federal government know about what’s going on around here?”

With 1,700 residents, John Day is Grant County’s biggest town, named for a fur trapper who in the early 1800s survived being robbed of everything by American Indians but trekked with a compatriot to safety.

Created by voters in a ballot measure 14 years ago, the forest commission was tasked with determining the fate of public lands, which comprise 66 percent of the county’s 4,529 square miles.

Hours before the meeting at the Squeeze-In Restaurant & Deck, forest commissioner Jim Sproul drove his pickup up a canyon and into the Malheur National Forest.

“My great-grandfather came here in the 1870s. He started the Humboldt Mine,” the 64-year-old said. A pin on his cap proclaimed support for Sheriff Glenn Palmer, a sympathizer of the refuge occupiers’ cause.

Sproul looked at skeletal trees killed by a 2015 fire that burned 43 homes and more than 172 square miles. He blamed the U.S. Forest Service, saying it let the forest grow too thick, allowing the blaze to crown and become a “huge fireball.” Sproul wants the agency to open more burned areas for loggers to salvage trees.

At the Squeeze-In, commission members voiced more complaints.

“You’re missing the point,” growled Commissioner Mike Smith from beneath the brim of his cowboy hat. “The point is, they want to make it so you can’t make a living in rural Oregon, so you have to leave.”

Others nodded assent.

Commissioner Dave Traylor said he suspects the government and environmentalists want to create a 200-mile-wide corridor from Canada to Mexico, with only animals present and no humans.

Federal officials say no such plots exist.

District Ranger Dave Halemeier noted the Forest Service has increased its transparency.

“We meet with the public before we even have an idea of what we want to do in an area,” Halemeier said in an interview. “Historically, we’d come up with a plan and then present that plan, and now the public’s involved in developing that plan.”

Malheur National Forest Supervisor Steve Beverlin said he had productive talks with a forest commissioner about modifying rules for gathering firewood, but faced hostility at commission meetings.

“It was difficult to engage because they wouldn’t share information,” Beverlin said

Mark Webb, whose petition for judicial review led to the commission’s dissolution, said he felt it was growing too close to Palmer and his “increasing belligerence toward federal government.”

The leaders of the wildlife refuge takeover were planning to meet with Palmer when officers intercepted them on Jan. 26. State police shot and killed LaVoy Finicum as he appeared to reach for a pistol.

Sproul said he had invited takeover leaders Ammon and Ryan Bundy to speak to residents about the Constitution and states’ rights, with no ulterior motives.

“Anyone who says there’s a militia here is a liar,” Sproul said. “But are there patriotic citizens here? Hell yes.”

Forest commissioners say no one informed them of the petition.

Judge W.D. Cramer ruled Sept. 14 that the ballot measure that created the commission violated the U.S. and state constitutions and federal statutes. In explaining his ruling, Cramer said he “may have personal views that align with many on how public lands are managed (or not), and views on how those who live close to the land should be heard.” But “facts and the law” dictate a decision.

Webb heads another organization, Blue Mountains Forest Partners, which describes itself as a diverse group of stakeholders who work to improve local forests and communities. He said his group and the forest commission have similar goals but “radically different” approaches.

“The public forest commission thought they had authority to tell the county (officials) and the national forest how to manage public lands. But Blue Mountains respects the framework … we have to operate in.”

Webb ran in the May primary for one of the commission’s seven seats. His name was removed from the ballot because of a technicality, Grant County Clerk Brenda Percy said. Webb told The Associated Press he ran in case his petition failed, so he could “inform or redirect” the commission, which he said was ineffective.

The forest commission, meanwhile, is planning to appeal the judge’s decision and has been in contact with the secretary of state’s office, which manages elections, to seek a remedy, Sproul said.

Snowpack in the Owyhee River basin is well above normal for this time of year, which is a positive early sign for farmers in Eastern Oregon who receive their irrigation water from the Owyhee Reservoir.

“It’s certainly a good start and good news,” said Malheur County farmer Bruce Corn, a member of the Owyhee Irrigation District board of directors. “We’re still quite early in the season ... but we’re cautiously optimistic.”

The reservoir provides water for 1,800 farms and 118,000 irrigated acres in Eastern Oregon and part of Southwestern Idaho.

Those farms received their full 4 acre-foot allotment of irrigation water in 2016 after receiving only a third of their allotment in 2014 and 2015 because of drought conditions.

There was 166,000 acre-feet of carryover water in the reservoir at the end of the 2016 water year, less than normal but much more than what was left in 2015 and 2014.

The reservoir had 205,000 acre-feet of water as of Dec. 21.

Total snowpack in the Owyhee basin was 144 percent of average as of Dec. 22.

With the current abundant snowpack, “We’re in a much better position than where we’ve been the past several years,” Corn said. “We have a ways to go but things are looking promising.”

Across the border in Idaho, total snowpack in the Boise River basin is at 99 percent of normal.

Carryover water levels in Boise River reservoirs is comparable to last year and about average, said Tim Page, manager of the Boise Project Board of Control, which provides 167,000 acre-feet of water to five irrigation districts in Southwestern Idaho and part of Eastern Oregon.

“We’re on par for course,” he said.

But Page and other water managers stressed that it’s early in the season and a lot more snow is needed.

“This is a really good start,” said Greg Curtis, water superintendent of the Nampa & Meridian Irrigation District, which provides water to 69,000 acres. “But we need to see it continue. It needs to keep going.”

A lot of things can happen between now and spring, when the 2017 water season begins, said Mark Zirschky, manager of Pioneer Irrigation District, which provides water to 5,800 patrons.

But, “At this point at least, what we’re seeing in the hills is good,” he said. “I think the outlook is promising. As long as it stays cold and stays there, we should be in good shape.”

Snowpack in the Payette River basin is at 90 percent of normal and it’s 68 percent of normal in the Weiser River basin.

“We’re still in need of a lot more snow,” said Weiser Irrigation District Chairman Vernon Lolley. “We have a long ways to go to get to where we need to be.”

He said the district ended 2016 with a little bit of reservoir carryover water and if snowpack reaches about 85 percent of average, that should be enough to assure an adequate water supply for the district’s patrons in 2017.

World class show on Friday, Dec. 9. I had the opportunity to visit the Coos Art Museum opening gala for the museum’s permanent collection show and the premiere of porcelain clay sculptures by the late “Art Angel of Bandon,” Elena…

PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State University and Bonneville Power Administration are planning demonstration projects in the Columbia Basin of Washington and Oregon to spread awareness about an irrigation innovation that’s gaining popularity in Idaho.

Growers throughout Eastern Idaho have rapidly converted pivots to Low Energy Spray Application, compelled by a recent water call settlement mandating groundwater irrigation reductions averaging 12 percent per year.

LESA uses low pressure and long hoses that spray below the crop canopy, reducing water loss to evaporation and drift. T adapters are installed throughout most of the pivot, dropping hoses on either side, spaced 5 feet apart for even distribution so close to the ground.

Bonneville Power mechanical engineer Dick Stroh said his company offers a program through its member cooperatives sharing 25 to 30 percent of LESA conversion costs. LESA packages range from $10,000 to $12,000, installed.

“In some ways, (LESA adoption) has been faster in Idaho than what we had expected, and that’s been driven primarily by the groundwater settlement with the surface water users on the Snake River Plain Aquifer,” Stroh said. “This is a way to achieve that reduction without really sacrificing much of anything.”

Stroh said LESA growers have cut water use by at least 10 to 15 percent. LESA power savings has been up to 30 percent for surface users, and ranges for groundwater users depending on their well depth.

At 10 demonstration sites within its Washington and Oregon service area, Bonneville Power will bear the cost of converting a single pivot span to LESA, allowing growers to compare irrigation efficiency with conventional spans in the same fields, using soil-moisture monitors. Grower field days will be hosted at the sites to share results with neighboring farmers. WSU Extension irrigation specialist Troy Peters, who oversaw a couple of LESA demonstrations in his area last season, has found interested participants in Oregon for the planned project but is still seeking Washington growers.

“This method will get more water per gallon into the ground,” said Peters, who helped develop LESA for the Northwest. “In some cases, (growers) would get behind with their water, and this will allow them to catch up, where before their systems didn’t have enough capacity.”

Peters also hopes to test reversing nozzle plates to spray up and out of the canopy as a means of chemigating with LESA. Peters noted LESA may not work in every situation — including soils where runoff occurs under conventional pivots and fields with variable topography — but he’d like to evaluate it in as many crops and conditions as possible.

“It’s not applicable in every situation, but I think a lot of people who aren’t doing it should be,” Peters said.

George Darrington, conservation program manager with the Bonneville Power member Raft River Rural Electric Cooperative, knows of a customer who installed two LESA systems as a means of coping with failing pivot pumps, given that LESA requires little pressure anyway.

Stroh advises growers to operate LESA systems with no more than 6 pounds per square inch of pressure to avoid erosion. Stroh also noted many growers have opted to reduce operational hours of pivots rather than cutting back on water volumes to achieve LESA savings, which could also pose erosion challenges.

Tuesdays

A federal judge has prohibited logging on private property owned by a timber company due to the possibility of harm to threatened marbled murrelets.

U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken has issued a preliminary injunction against the harvest of a 50-acre parcel owned by Roseburg Forest Products and its Scott Timber subsidiary.

The tract was once part of Oregon’s Elliott State Forest until the timber companies bought the property in 2014, to the alarm of environmental groups.

Three nonprofits — Cascadia Wildlands, Center for Biological Diversity and the Audubon Society of Portland — filed a lawsuit seeking to block logging on the parcel, arguing it was occupied by marbled murrelets and harvest would violate the Endangered Species Act.

The property, known as the Benson Snake Unit, is important to the species for life-cycle behaviors beyond just nesting, said Dan Kruse, attorney for the environmental plaintiffs, during oral arguments last month.

“Fragmentation has significant impacts on marbled murrelets,” he said.

The timber companies countered that they’d hired an internationally known consulting firm to specifically pick a logging site that wasn’t occupied by the birds, which will be out to sea when the harvest occurs.

“They don’t have the facts or the evidence to show there will be death or injury to the marbled murrelet,” said Dominic Carollo, attorney for the timber defendants.

In her ruling, Aiken said the two sides have offered competing versions of the facts.

“Since both plaintiffs and defendants make compelling arguments, the issue here, as with many environmental cases, boils down to which scientific approach is best,” she said.

While the timber companies relied on newer data to determine that marbled murrelets don’t occupy the site, the environmental groups’ protocol showing the site is occupied is “widely accepted within the scientific community,” Aiken said.

At this point, though, Aiken said she doesn’t have to decide which method is better.

It’s enough that the environmental groups have raised serious questions about the presence of marbled murrelets and shown the bird would suffer irreparable injury from logging, she said.

“If the project proceeds, marbled murrelets will not be able to nest in the clear-cut parcel for nearly a century while the forest regrows,” said Aiken.

Tuesdays

Hazelnut growers in the Eugene, Ore., area are still cleaning up damage from a nearly instantaneous flash freeze that snapped limbs, split trunks and uprooted some trees.

“We had a lot of breakage,” said Jared Henderson, who grows hazelnuts in the River Road area north of Eugene.

Older, larger trees were particularly hard hit as ice accumulated on limbs and the weight bent them past the breaking point. Henderson said his younger, more limber trees fared better.

The ice arrived as part of a winter storm that draped much of Oregon with snow beginning Dec. 14. In Eugene, about 110 miles south of Portland, it took the form of freezing rain and did horrendous damage throughout the area. About 15,000 customers lost electrical power as limbs snapped off and fell across utility lines. Some people were without electricity for up to four days, and area motels filled up with people who had no heat or no way to cook at home.

The ice damage was oddly localized. Springfield, next door to Eugene, had much less damage and only a couple hundred electrical outages. Henderson said his brother, who grows hazelnuts near Corvallis about 40 miles north, wasn’t hit as bad. “They got snow and we got ice,” Henderson said.

Henderson, who is president of the Lane County Farm Bureau, said he couldn’t place a dollar figure on the damage. “I wouldn’t know where to begin,” he said. The damage will include the labor cost of crews that would normally be pruning or training caneberries instead of cleaning up broken limbs, he said.

“It’s part of the business,” he said. “We’ve had it before and we’ll probably have it again.”

Dwayne Bush, a third-generation hazelnut grower, said his trees in the Fern Ridge area west of Eugene came out of the storm OK, but his orchard next to Henderson’s was heavily damaged.

He said trees he planted 16 and 17 years tended to lean to the south due to the sun’s position and a prevailing wind. The weight of ice sent them toppling into each other and “Dominoed down the row.”

But Bush said a freeze three years ago was worse. In that case, Bush and his crew trimmed the tops of trees, dug out dirt on the back sides, pulled them upright and backfilled the dirt. Of 4,000 to 5,000 trees that fell over, only a small percentage didn’t bounce back and survive, he said.

Ironically, the crop that year was one of the biggest he’s had.

“Filbert trees are pretty resilient,” he said, using the alternative name for hazelnuts.

Bush said he’s already started the same process this year.

PENDLETON, Ore. — For the second consecutive year, the Columbia Plateau Conservation Research Center is at risk of losing nearly half its annual funding from the federal government.

Once again, the president’s 2017 budget calls for terminating one of two research programs at the station, which would cut $901,000 and eliminate three scientist positions.

The Columbia Plateau Conservation Research Center operates under the Agricultural Research Service, the primary research arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The facility is located on Tubbs Ranch Road north of Pendleton, and shares a building with the Columbia Basin Agricultural Research Center — though they are two separate programs.

Experiments conducted at the station provide data to improve farming practices for dryland crops, especially winter wheat, which accounts for more than $436 million and 2,600 local jobs throughout the Columbia Basin, according to Oregon State University.

Yet the President’s budget would ax research programs at Pendleton looking into tillage methods that conserve moisture and reduce soil erosion, in order to shift money to what have been identified as higher priorities within the Agricultural Research Service. The same cutbacks were proposed in 2016, before growers and Oregon congressional leaders successfully lobbied to keep the station’s funding intact.

Dan Long, station director, said there’s been no appropriation yet for 2017, though in the meantime the center has been asked to curtail its spending by 50 percent.

“It could very well be a repeat of last year, where we remain intact again,” Long said.

If not, significant budget cuts are in line at both Pendleton and the Agricultural Research Station in Corvallis. The president’s budget for the ARS calls for diverting more than $13 million from ongoing research across the country to fund higher priority environmental stewardship projects, such as adapting crops to climate change.

Soil scientists Steward Wuest and Hero Gollany, as well as hydrologist John Williams, would all be affected by cuts at the Pendleton station, though Long said all three would be given different jobs within the agency.

Nathan Rea, of H.T. Rea Farming Corporation in Milton-Freewater, serves as chairman of the liaison committee for the ARS station. He said the committee is reaching out to Oregon congressional delegates, including Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden, Jeff Merkley and Republican Rep. Greg Walden, all of whom backed fully funding the station a year ago.

In addition, Rea said they are working directly with scientists at the station to promote the work they do, and benefit to area farmers.

“Telling that story is where we need to do a better job at the national level, and with local growers as well,” Rea said.

Speaking from experience, Rea said growers have benefited from the station’s research into reduced-till farming, with an emphasis on soil water retention and improving efficiency.

“There’s a lot more direct seeding, and minimum tillage,” Rea said. “We’re entering a new world with our precision agriculture.”

Representatives for Sen. Wyden and Rep. Walden could not be reached Monday. A representative for Sen. Merkley said he knows the Pendleton ARS station is critical to Eastern Oregon, and will keep fighting for the funding it needs.

Pendleton Grain Growers announced Dec. 16 it has sold its fuel division to Mid Columbia Producers, another neighboring farmer-owned cooperative based in Moro.

The deal, effective immediately, comes just two weeks after PGG dealt its propane assets to Morrow County Grain Growers. Terms were not disclosed for either transaction.

PGG is in the process of dissolving after the co-op experienced massive financial losses in recent years. Tim Hawkins, chairman of the PGG Board of Directors, said the co-op was looking for a local buyer to take on fuel services that would continue to serve the region.

“As a fellow local co-op, we feel Mid Columbia Producers is the right partner for our customers and members,” Hawkins said in a statement.

Jeff Kaser, Mid Columbia manager, said they look forward to servicing PGG fuel accounts. PGG fuel cards will continue to be honored by PGG and Mid Columbia Producers through March 31. “We are thrilled to expand the fuel offerings we currently provide, both to our existing members and to potential customers throughout the communities we serve,” Kaser said.

Friday’s sale includes all of PGG’s existing fuel inventory, trucks and operating assets. Mid Columbia is expected to retain all four PGG employees in the fuel division. As of Friday, PGG members can begin signing up to use Mid Columbia fuel cards beyond March 31.

Mid Columbia Producers formed in 1988, and operates grain elevators in Morrow, Gilliam, Wasco and Sherman counties in Oregon, and Klickitat County in Washington.

PGG’s grain division, including upcountry elevators and the McNary Terminal, also sold earlier this year to United Grain Corporation. It remains unclear how much equity will be returned to members after the co-op dissolution is finished.

Rick Jacobson, PGG general manager, was not available for comment.

Fridays

A “Fill Your Pantry” event scheduled for Salem in January allows families and individuals to buy in bulk from a dozen local food producers and stock up on beans, winter squash, storage vegetables, meat and other items.

The event is organized by Friends of Family Farmers and duplicates what the organization says was a successful effort last month in Portland, where it was held for the second time. This marks the first time it’s been done in Salem.

Buyers can review products and place orders on-line from Jan. 8-22 at www.friendsoffamilyfarmers.org/eaters/fyp/. Pickup is scheduled Jan. 28 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Marion-Polk Food Share building, 1600 Salem Industrial Drive NE, in Salem. In addition to pre-ordering online, customers can buy during the event as well. Buyers with Oregon Trail SNAP benefit cards can use them to purchase food.

Erinn Criswell, urban organizer for Friends of Family Farmers, said buying in bulk from local producers supports them, saves consumers money and ensures “access to local, healthy products all winter long.”

The Fill Your Pantry event in Portland in November had online sales of $36,000, and vendors sold $14,000 worth of food during the pickup time, according to Friends of Family Farmers. Total purchases nearly doubled the 2015 event.

Portland buyers last month bought $14,667 worth of vegetables; $10,794 of meat and spent $5,610 for grains and beans. Customers also bought fruit, nuts, honey and preserved food.

Capital Bureau

SALEM — An audit released Thursday by the Secretary of State’s Office calls on the state’s Water Resources Department to improve its long-term planning and management of Oregon’s water supply.

The department is responsible for allocating water rights, enforcing the state’s water laws and other aspects of water management. It’s overseen by a citizen commission.

Noting that the state’s water problems are positioned to worsen, the secretary of state’s findings say the department could do more to “sustain current and future water needs,” protect groundwater, and collect and analyze information about the state’s water.

The audit comes on the heels of the governor’s 2015 county drought declarations and state efforts to prioritize water issues in their wake.

A legislative drought task force recently identified gaps in the state’s systems and resources for preventing and responding to drought.

While the water resources department gathers a lot of information about water supply, the department hasn’t been able to analyze all of it, the audit found.

For example, the department’s water availability models are based on decades-old data, although the department has 17 years’ worth of information about streamflow measurement collected after 1987.

In other areas of water management, such as water use reporting, the department lacks data altogether, the audit found.

“Only about 20 percent of water rights holders are required to report how much water they use to (the water resources department),” the audit states.

Agricultural users — who account for up to 85 percent of the state’s water use — aren’t required to report how much they use. As a result, the department lacks “a clear understanding of how much water is actually being used,” the audit states.

Additionally, the department has focused more on collecting data on surface water than groundwater, demand for which is growing.

The audit also recommended the department adopt an overarching plan to set long-term water goals, and improve communication and how it manages its workload.

Finally, the audit noted that planning is key to managing the state’s water in the long run.

“There is growing pressure on Oregon’s water system,” the audit states. “The state relies on snowpack and rainwater for its water system, and it is unclear how climate change will affect future precipitation patterns and water availability.”

The department’s director, Thomas Byler, generally agreed with the audit’s findings in a letter to Mary Wenger, the interim director of the secretary of state’s audits division.

In many areas, Byler noted, the department had limited funding to enact all of the recommended changes, although they have already made some strides — such as using technology to improve internal communications and gathering feedback from the state’s watermasters on how water use measurement could be improved.

Byler said that the state’s 2012 Integrated Water Resources Strategy “provides a long-term blueprint” for helping the state meet its current and future instream and out-of-stream water needs, but that the department intended to set out more detailed goals to align with the broader strategy.

Thursdays

Bear Cupboard Food Pantry seeks donations

SALEM — Capital Press Publisher Mike O’Brien is retiring Jan. 3 after a 46-year newspaper career.

O’Brien joined Capital Press as general manager in 1997, and was promoted to publisher in 2007.

“It has been the high point of my career to serve as publisher of Capital Press. It has been truly inspiring to work with such a talented and dedicated staff my thanks to them and the ag community that supports Capital Press,” O’Brien said. “I leave knowing the paper is in good hands with owners who are more concerned with how well we can do it rather than how cheap we can do it.”

O’Brien began his newspaper career in 1970 as a district manager at the San Francisco Chronicle. He was appointed circulation manager at the Daily Tidings in Ashland, Ore., in 1979 moved to Albany to be circulation manager at the Democrat-Herald in 1979. In 1985 he returned to Ashland as publisher of the Daily Tidings.

He has assumed leadership roles within the newspaper industry and the Northwest ag community. He serves on the board of directors of Oregon AgLink. In 1996, while at the Daily Tidings, he served as president of the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association. During his tenure, O’Brien supervised many large projects, including a major renovation of the Capital Press building in 2000. He also presided over big changes in the way Capital Press reaches and serves its readers.

“Under Mike’s leadership, the Capital Press has expanded its digital presence and elevated the level of reporting, becoming the premier ag publication in the Northwest,” John Perry, chief operating officer of EO Media Group, the parent company of the Capital Press, said. “He has accomplished this in good economic times and others that tested our mettle. We wish Mike all the best in retirement. He’s earned it.”

Perry will assume the publisher’s duties on an interim basis.

BANDON -- Everyone is invited to the Langlois Caroling Party from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 21, inside the toasty Langlois Public Library. There will be cookies and hot mulled cider and song sheets will be provided. The singing will be…

SOUTH COAST - The Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) has announced its grant awards for 2016, giving away over $123,150 throughout Coos and Curry counties. One of the nonprofits include the Coquille Indian Tribe at $30,000. According to a press release,…

SALEM — Port of Portland Executive Director Bill Wyatt told participants at the 76th annual meeting of the Oregon Seed Growers League in Salem on Dec. 12 that he is disappointed by the failure of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but is optimistic the new administration will be trade-friendly.

“I am disappointed about the TPP, but I don’t think that is going to be the last chapter in that story,” Wyatt said.

The TPP, a trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim countries, has been all but abandoned in recent months after failing to generate congressional support. It also is opposed by President-elect Donald Trump.

Still, Wyatt said: “If you look at some of the folks who are going to be involved (in the Trump administration), these are thoughtful global players. I do have some optimism on that front.”

Wyatt’s presentation was a highlight of the first day of the two-day meeting that drew upwards of 500 participants.

In addition to talking about the potential effects of the Trump administration on trade and transportation, Wyatt touched on issues affecting the Port of Portland’s abilities to attract a new container shipping company, and spoke on conditions that led to the demise of the South Korean shipping line Hanjin.

Hanjin, once the third biggest trans-Pacific shipper, and one of the last container shipping lines to call on Portland, filed for bankruptcy protection Aug. 31 and is now in liquidation.

Wyatt said much of Hanjin’s demise can be traced to an oversupply of container shippers competing for limited demand, adding that at least some of the oversupply is a result of a reliance on ship building in countries such as China, Japan and South Korea.

When ship orders expire, these countries tend to offer shipping companies huge discounts on new ships in an attempt to preserve jobs and income, Wyatt said, and many companies accept.

“We have had way too many ocean carriers, and they have done what happens in a world with unlimited supply and limited demand,” Wyatt said. “They have pretty much killed themselves.”

Wyatt also noted that ship builders are constructing container ships to handle huge volumes, and that the average container capacity today is 7,500 twenty-foot equivalent units, or 1,000 TEUs greater than the Port of Portland is equipped to handle, both because of crane size and the channel depth of the Columbia River.

That limitation, he noted, is part of the challenge of attracting a new shipping line to call on Portland’s Terminal Six.

“Having said all of that,” he said, “we have pretty good business in Portland. We have reasonable cargo available at a reasonable price.

“I feel good, actually, about the quality of business that is available here,” he said.

Wyatt noted that Port of Portland officials are working daily on attracting new container service to Portland.

On another positive note, Wyatt said the new administration “seems focused on transportation infrastructure,” which could benefit efforts in Oregon to improve the state’s transportation infrastructure.

“Let’s take advantage of the energy that I think we are going to be seeing in the nation’s capital to leverage that in the state of Oregon,” Wyatt said.

He noted that Washington, California and Idaho are spending considerable sums on transportation infrastructure, leaving Oregon alone among West Coast states not doing so.

“It has been a long time since we spent new money on transportation infrastructure here in this state,” Wyatt said, “and all of our neighbors are doing it, including Idaho.

“Idaho will spend more new dollars on transportation infrastructure next year than we will, and this is a state about 20 percent our size,” he said.

New director faces tough budget, more decision-making power

By Mateusz Perkowski

Capital Press

SALEM — The Oregon Department of Agriculture’s new director, Alexis Taylor, got some sound advice at a recent legislative hearing.

“We very rarely hear complaints about the Department of Agriculture, so please don’t screw it up,” said Sen. Brian Boquist, R-Dallas.

That sentiment has been a running theme in meetings with state government officials during a recent stop in Salem, said Taylor, who was confirmed unanimously as ODA’s director by the Oregon Senate on Dec. 14.

The 2017 legislative session will begin soon after she takes office on Jan. 23, but after that, Taylor said her top priority would be visiting every county in the state to learn about the diversity of Oregon farms firsthand.

Taylor also said she’d be tackling a “core question” facing the state’s agriculture industry: “Who will be our next generation of farmers and ranchers?”

At the end of her tenure at USDA, Taylor oversaw the Farm Service Agency, the Risk Management Agency and the Foreign Agricultural Service, working on policy, budget and management issues. Overall, the three agencies have 14,000 employees worldwide.

“I really enjoy finding talent, helping to groom talent,” Taylor told Capital Press.

In the immediate future, though, Taylor doesn’t expect to make staffing changes at ODA.

She will need to rely on the experience of top staffers as the agency navigates the 2017 legislative session.

“Consistency is really important,” Taylor said.

ODA is at a tough juncture, as the agency is facing a cut to its general fund budget, which pays for programs such as predator control and weed biocontrol, among others.

Taylor is taking an optimistic view of the situation, noting that dealing with a constrained budget can prompt agencies to identify process efficiencies that save money.

“We can look at how we do things, why we do them a certain way,” she said.

The overall state budget turmoil is also likely to give Taylor greater decision-making power.

Gov. Kate Brown has a lot on her plate and probably won’t be inclined to micro-manage natural resource issues, said Katy Coba, the ODA’s former director and current chief of the state’s Department of Administrative Services.

“I expect the governor is not going to be giving a lot of detailed direction to Alexis,” Coba said.

The governor has also shifted her natural resources advisers into new positions, shrinking the natural resources team and likely leaving more power in the hands of ODA, she said.

“Agencies will have to step up a little more,” Coba said.

Oregon agriculture is facing several coexistence issues — between marijuana and hemp, between canola and related seed crops, between farmers who grow genetically engineered crops and those who produce crops organically and conventionally, she said.

There are a many key players in Oregon’s agriculture industry whom Taylor will be meeting at a time when the legislature is in full swing, she said.

“My advice to her, ‘Keep breathing,’” Coba said.