GLIDE, Ore. — The front acreage of the French Creek Ranch made a transition almost overnight on Aug. 9 and 10.

When lightning strikes started multiple fires in the Umpqua National Forest about 30 miles east of this small community, officials were quick to call ranch owner Phil Strader about turning his livestock pasture and hay ground into the Umpqua North Fire Complex Fire Camp.

Strader gave his permission. The cattle that had been grazing in the field were quickly moved to another pasture on the ranch and the next day personnel began to arrive to set up a camp that would provide for a management team, hundreds of front line firefighters, a helicopter base and its pilots, a support staff and supplies, vehicles and equipment for all.

The mission of the fire camp is to contain the complex of fires that had reached almost 32,000 acres as of Tuesday, Sept. 5.

There’s close to 100 acres in the two-level pasture camp that is the temporary home of about 1,000 people, most of them firefighters with the rest being management and support staff.

Setting up a fire camp on the ranch is nothing new. Strader said in the last 15 years, this is the eighth or ninth time a fire camp has been set up on the ranch that has been in his family for 95 years.

The ground is leased to the U.S. Forest Service so there is reimbursement for the ranch, but Strader said he also gives permission for the fire camp because it benefits many of his neighbors and their businesses in nearby Glide.

“If they were to set up the camp farther up into the forest, there would be no economic benefit for this small community,” Strader said. “They’re spending a good deal of money fighting these fires so I’d like to see a benefit for the community. It’s just a guess, but the local restaurants, stores, gas stations may do more like a month’s worth of business in just a week with the influx of personnel.”

On the camp’s lower level, there are large tents for sleeping and smaller tents, each with a different purpose, including operations, planning, logistics, human resources, air operations, finance, and medical and safety. There is also a kitchen that runs the inside length of a semi trailer, a large portable barbecue, a dining area, three or four trailers that offer wash basins and soap to clean up, a couple trailers that offer showers, a laundry service, port-a-potties and stacks of supplies such as bottled water, energy drinks, fire retardant pants and shirts, and numerous other items.

The upper level is a helicopter base.

Spread out under the oak trees on both levels are a couple hundred colorful popup tents that provide individual private resting places.

“It’s right alongside a road (Highway 138), it’s near a community, it’s close to a (Forest Service) district office,” Cheryl Caplan, a spokeswoman for the Umpqua National Forest, said of the benefits of the ranch as a fire camp. “The amenities are really great with electricity and the internet available. Having the two fields allows us to put a type 1 heli base next to a type 1 incident management team and the firefighters. It’s unusual to find all that packaged together so close to a national forest.”

Kyle Reed, a public information officer with the Douglas Forest Protective Association in Roseburg, said it is of great benefit to know in advance that a landowner will be cooperative and give permission to use his land when a fire camp needs to be established.

“Everything you would need is there or close by and it is easily accessible,” Reed said of the ranch.

Strader said fire management officials have expressed their appreciation of his cooperation. He said before any changes have been made to the camp that impacts the ground, officials have checked with him first.

He explained that with vehicles, heavy equipment and hundreds of people using the camp, the ground is impacted.

“Generally they are good about reimbursing the cost for rehabbing the fields,” Strader said of the disking and reseeding that must be done after the camp is taken down. Typically, it gets done and there is grass there the next spring.”

The ranch is home to 400 mother cows. The ranch’s latest crop of calves has been shipped.

While smoke from the fires is hanging low over the area, Strader said he hasn’t seen any negative effects on the ranch’s cows that are in early gestation of their pregnancies.

“This is probably going to continue until some season ending rain storms in late September or early October,” said Strader.

Until those rains, part of his ranch is a fire camp that has the look of a mini city.

Current staff member Mallory Phelan has been appointed interim executive director of Oregon Aglink, the non-profit organization that attempts to help urban Oregonians better understand agriculture.

Phelan, who turns 30 in September, confirmed she has applied to replace Geoff Horning, who left to become CEO of Oregon Hazelnut Industries. Phelan, who has worked for Oregon Aglink four years, is vice president of operations.

The stated mission of Oregon Aglink is to bridge the gap between urban and rural Oregonians by helping people better understand where their food and fiber come from.

The organization’s activities include placing roadside crop identification signs, which it does in partnership with Oregon Women for Agriculture. Phelan said she is especially proud of Oregon Aglink’s “Adopt a Farmer” program, in which schools link up with producers for field trips and presentations. The program has grown from 18 schools and farms a few years ago to 50 this fall.

Phelan grew up working on her family’s grass seed farm between Albany and Lebanon in the mid-Willamette Valley. She earned a business administration degree at the University of Portland and at first had “no intention of working in agriculture,” as she put it. She taught English in Peru for eight months before returning to the U.S. and taking what initially was intended as a six-month position at Oregon Aglink.

“It was kind of like coming home,” she said. “I didn’t realize what I was missing.”

Phelan said she most enjoys working with producers and helping them tell their stories

BOISE — Agricultural land values around the Northwest continue to increase, despite relatively low commodity prices.

“We would suspect that with commodity prices being low for the past two years, we would have seen some drop in (agricultural) land values, but that is not the case,” said John Chidester, an ag land assessor in East Idaho. “I’ve seen no indication that values are going down.”

USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service estimates the average value for all cropland in Idaho at $3,400 an acre in 2017, a 3 percent increase over $3,300 an acre in 2016. NASS estimates irrigated cropland value in Idaho at $5,150 an acre and non-irrigated cropland at $1,460 an acre. Both are up 3 percent from the previous year.

Around the nation, average cropland value is estimated at $4,090 an acre, unchanged from 2016 and below the $4,130 total in 2015 and $4,100 in 2014.

Bob Morrison, an independent ag land appraiser in Idaho Falls, said NASS Idaho estimates for 2017 appear solid.

“Ag land values have been steady to slightly increasing,” he said. “It’s surprising when you consider that commodity prices are down, but the values are still holding strong.”

Doug Robison, Northwest Farm Credit Services’ senior vice president for agriculture in Idaho, said ag land value trends have shown some gains on an annual basis with overall transaction counts declining.

“The combination of limited supply, investor appetite and low interest rates have provided strong support for land values,” he told Capital Press in an email. “Land values have been surprisingly resilient over the past few years. High-quality farm land remains in tight supply.”

NASS also projects that cropland values in Washington and Oregon are on the rise in 2017.

The agency estimates average cropland value in Oregon at $2,860 an acre, up 4.8 percent from last year, with irrigated cropland averaging $4,850 an acre and non-irrigated cropland at $2,120 an acre.

In Washington, average cropland value is estimated at $2,890 an acre, up 4.7 percent, with irrigated cropland at $8,700 an acre and non-irrigated cropland at $1,380 an acre.

According to a Northwest Farm Credit Services market report on 2017 ag land values, limited supply is anchoring land values in the Northwest “despite concerns surrounding weaker commodity prices. ... Both irrigated and dry cropland values continue to remain strong despite lower commodity prices for many crops.”

A large volume of the farm land sold in Idaho this year is purchased by investment groups that are keeping the land in farming, said Morrison.

“We’re seeing investment groups buying large blocks of farmland in southern Idaho,” he said. “These people are looking at farmland as an investment and ... it gives them an annual return.”

Most of the farmer-to-farmer land sales are in the neighborhood of 160 acres and purchased by producers from their neighbors, Morrison said.

HUBBARD, Ore. — Northwest Hazelnut Co. has completed the installation of a 435-kilowatt solar power system that offsets 100 percent of the electricity the processing plant uses.

Company co-owner Larry George said the project, including the replacement of halogen lights in the facility with LEDs, ran up a bill of roughly $1 million. With the energy savings and government incentives, however, George plans to offset the costs within five years.

Northwest Hazelnut Co. is part of a network of facilities that process the Oregon Hazelnut harvest, and has three sister processing plants, according to its website.

As a result of going solar, Northwest Hazelnut Co. expects to save $1.6 million on its electricity bills over the next 25 years, said Jordan Sinn, Oregon Earthlight branch manager. The panels should have a lifespan of over 40 years.

The company partnered with Earthlight Technologies, a SunPower Elite Dealer, to install 1,000 E20-435W commercial panels. The 435-kilowatt system produces enough electricity to power about 40 average Oregon homes, David McClelland, senior program manager at Energy Trust of Oregon, said.

The cost of solar systems vary based on size and location, and there are state and federal incentives available for some businesses, McClelland said.

Northwest Hazelnuts held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Sept. 1 at the processing facility. The ceremony was attended by Oregon Gov. Kate Brown.

“It’s a great step forward for sustainability,” Brown said. “(Northwest Hazelnuts) is leading the way and impacting the future. They’re setting an example for Oregon agriculture.”

Hazelnuts rank 11th in farmgate value among Oregon’s agricultural commodities. Brown said she expects the rapidly expanding crop to shoot to fifth in the next couple of years.

“Thanks for investing in Hubbard, Marion County and Oregon Agriculture,” she said.

“SunPower’s reliable solar energy solutions coupled with Earthlight’s commercial experience and local presence were strong reasons why we decided to move forward on the project. And knowing this is a long-term investment, the robust warranty and higher efficiency panels were extremely important to us,” George said.

Earthlight Technologies was founded in 2008 as a family-owned and -operated business. Since 2012 the company has installed over 2.5 megawatts of solar PV in both residential and commercial sites, and has over 50 employees at its Ellington, Conn., and Silverton, Ore., offices.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Corvallis, Ore. — Brothers Nick and Phillip Lorenz make mead, a beverage with lots of history behind it.

Mead is one of the oldest alcoholic beverages. It was widely popular in ancient Greece and during the Middle Ages, especially in northern European countries where grapevines didn’t flourish.

“On one hand, it’s not new at all — it’s the oldest alcohol, but it’s new commercially,” Nick Lorenz said. “Especially our style. It’s a niche, but emerging marking. The opportunities are endless and it’s just growing.”

The production of mead starts with fermenting honey in a tank with water, yeast and — depending on the brew — additional flavoring ingredients, such as berries. The mead is then filtered and carbonated in a tank before packaging. The process takes around a month, Nick Lorenz said.

At their company, Nectar Creek, the brothers produce session style mead, which refers to alcohol content, that ranges from 4 to 8 percent alcohol. Nick Lorenz describes the taste as light and similar to beer and cider.

For mead with additional fruit flavors, the company picks flavors that pair well together, along with giving brewers freedom to experiment. Nick Lorenz said that ginger-honey is one of their most popular meads, along with their lemon-lime brew they called “Nectorade.”

Nectar Creek formed in 2012, but the brothers had the idea since high school to start a value added agriculture business.

“Selling strawberries is great, but strawberry jam is available all year round,” Nick Lorenz said.

Experimentation with alcohol started young. Phillip Lorenz was caught drinking at 20 years old, but instead of being grounded, his parents took him to a brewery, the thought behind it being: “if you’re going to be around alcohol the rest of your life, you should see how it’s made.”

Phillip Lorenz started home brewing before going to work at Queen Bee Honey Co. When the brothers first started Nectar Creek Phillip Lorenz kept bees, but eventually sold them to Queen Bee Honey Co.

“It’s too much,” Nick Lorenz said. “Beekeeping is a whole separate business.”

Instead, Nectar Creek receives honey from local beekeepers and describe themselves as a “honey co-op.” Nick Lorenz said that they try to add a new honey supplier each year.

As the company has grown, the brothers have decided to double the size of their operation and expand into a new facility that can also work as a tap house, as well as a distillery. The facility is expected to increase operational efficiency by 50 percent. Nick Lorenz hopes that the building will be done in November.

The biggest struggle that the brothers have had is educating consumers about what mead is.

“People in the beer industry know everything about beer and have never head of mead,” Nick Lorenz said. “Or they’ll say, ‘My uncle made mead in his basement and it was gross,’ but they don’t really know what it is.”

He described interactions with bar owners where it took multiple attempts and samples for the owners to even try the product. He said that even when the owners do like it, they aren’t sure if they can make any money from it. He contrasts that with getting a new IPA in bars.

“A bar will just take it without trying it or even knowing if it’s good or not,” he said.

Although Nick Lorenz knows there is still a lot of education to be done about mead, one of the most rewarding aspects for him is seeing customers’ eyes light up after trying it.

“It’s the impact we have on people,” he said. “The goals we have rests on our positive impact on the environment, people and community.”

Nectar Creek employs five workers, and Nick Lorenz said that the first time he wrote an employee’s paycheck he knew “it was real.”

“The more mead we’re making, the more people are drinking it and the more we can care for our employees,” he said.

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Firefighters across the U.S. West struggled with wind-driven flames, hot temperatures and dry conditions even after the unofficial end to a summer of devastating wildfires, including those bearing down on two popular national parks.

The dozens of fires burning across the Western United States and Canada have blanketed the air with choking smoke from Oregon, where ash fell on the town of Cascade Locks, to Colorado, where health officials issued an air quality advisory alert.

A 14-square-mile fire in Montana’s Glacier National Park emptied its busiest tourist spot as wind gusts drove the flames toward the doorstep of an iconic lodge.

Lake McDonald Lodge, a 103-year-old Swiss chalet-style hotel, sits on a lake as the famed Going-to-the-Sun-Road begins its vertigo-inducing climb up the Continental Divide, making it an endearing park symbol for many visitors.

Fire crews got bad news Monday: The wind had shifted and gusts were driving the fire down the mountainside toward the lake’s shores.

Losing Lake McDonald Lodge on top of the destruction of Sperry Chalet, a historic backcountry building consumed by the fire last week, would be “unimaginably devastating,” said Mark Hufstetler, a historian who worked at the lodge for several years in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

“These are some of the most remarkable buildings anywhere in the United States and they are an integral part of the Glacier experience and the Glacier tradition,” Hufstetler said.

Fire crews understood the significance of the lodge and were ready to protect it, fire information officer Diane Sine said.

“It’s important to all of us and a very high priority to do whatever we can to preserve that,” she said.

Outside California’s Yosemite National Park, a wind-fueled fire made its way deeper into a grove of 2,700-year-old giant sequoia trees on Labor Day. Officials said the fire had gone through about half the grove but had not killed any trees.

Giant sequoias are resilient and can withstand low-intensity fires. The blaze burned brush and left scorch marks on some big trees that survived, said Cheryl Chipman, a fire information officer.

“They have thick bark and made it through pretty well,” Chipman said.

There are about 100 giant sequoias in Nelder Grove, including the roughly 24-story-high Bull Buck sequoia, one of the world’s largest. Fire crews also wrapped 19th-century cabins in shiny, fire-resistant material to protect them from the flames.

The fire threatening the grove was among several in the area — one of which closed some trails in Yosemite. A road leading to the park’s southern entrance also shut down.

Brenda Negley woke up Monday in her Oakhurst home 14 miles away and found her truck covered with ash. Her mother was there, too, after evacuating her own home, but Negley’s thoughts were with the peaceful and secluded sequoia grove that she has regularly visited since childhood.

“I’ve been sick with worry over Nelder Grove,” she said. “As much as Nelder Grove is my home, and I don’t want to lose my home, I want to save my mom’s home and everyone else’s home.”

Elsewhere in Northern California, a fire destroyed 72 homes and forced the evacuation of about 2,000 people from their houses. The fire has burned 14 square miles in the community of Helena about 150 miles south of the Oregon line.

In Los Angeles, a fire that destroyed four homes and threatened hillside neighborhoods is no longer actively burning, but firefighters kept watch in case the wind reignited the blaze, Fire Department Chief Ralph Terrazas said.

Thanawala reported from San Francisco.

SALEM (AP) — Much of Oregon was wrapped in a haze of smoke this week as dozens of wildfires burned in the state, with one blaze forcing part of an interstate highway to be closed.

In the Willamette National Forest alone, 16 fires covering 71 square miles were burning, officials said. Campfires were banned and a third of the forest was off limits, the forest service said.

In southwest Oregon, evacuations were ordered in a rural area near Cave Junction because of another fire. The current size of the blaze was unknown because heavy smoke has kept infrared mapping flights grounded, fire managers said.

“Smoke levels are creating unpleasant and unhealthy conditions across much of southwest Oregon,” the Joint Information Center said in a statement.

But smoke also filters sunlight, limiting additional heating of potential fuels on the ground and stifling small fires, the center said.

Air quality alerts were issued for several parts of the state. Doctors recommended that anyone with existing pulmonary conditions such as asthma stay indoors.

On the northern end of the state, a fire in the Columbia River Gorge that separates Oregon from Washington state caused ashes to drift onto the town of Cascade Locks. A stretch of Interstate 84 that runs by the town was closed because of the fire, the Oregon Department of Transportation said Monday evening. The highway will reopen when authorities determine that the road is safe.

Evacuation orders remained in place in and around Cascade Locks for 283 structures, including 15 businesses. After quickly spreading since it started on Saturday, apparently from a youngster playing with fireworks, the fire held the same position overnight and is an estimated 3,200 acres.

Native Americans who fish for salmon in the broad Columbia River consider Labor Day their busiest day to sell the smoked fish, but a market where they sell it by the Bridge of the Gods was quiet, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.

Some hikers on Pacific Crest Trail, which runs through the area, were seen in Cascade Locks and told OPB that fires had prevented them from hiking about half the trail in Oregon.

The fire in southwest Oregon, which has burned more than 219 square miles was also threatening a tree that marks the site of a bombing of the continental United States by the Japanese during World War II, fire management officials said.

The redwood was planted as a symbol of reconciliation over a half-century ago by the family of Nobuo Fujita, a Japanese Navy pilot who dropped incendiary bombs on the forest near Brookings, the Bulletin newspaper of Bend reported.

Firefighters wrapped the redwood in a fire-retardant sheet to protect it, and the flames were believed to be about a mile (1.6 kilometers) away, said Terry Krasko, a spokesman for the firefighters.

Fujita’s two bombs had little effect. He returned to Brookings after the war to apologize.

Saturday was the 75th anniversary of the firebombing. Fujita died in 1997.

The Pacific Northwest sweet cherry industry finally had the year of its dreams in good weather, but maybe the year of its nightmares in pricing and returns.

Stellar weather this year led to record cherry volume. The crop of around 27 million, 20-pound boxes was well above the old record of 23.2 million in 2014.

But the record crop caused wholesale prices to tumble below $16 per box, making it unprofitable. Early grower returns were good, but post-Fourth of July returns, not fully known until mid-October, are not expected to be good. Some picked fruit was dumped.

So the big question growers, packers, shippers and marketers will grapple with over the next several months is whether the industry can expand market consumption enough to handle 27 million-box and larger crops.

Or are the crops too much of a good thing?

The answer seems obvious. Supply exceeds demand. Cut supply. But it might be more complicated than that.

There are lots of variables that shape any given season. Weather is one of them. Rain, hail, excessive heat or poor pollination usually hold down crop size, but that didn’t happen this year.

“The reality is every cherry season is different, and this one played out in a manner that is unacceptable to me, my growers and shippers,” said B.J. Thurlby, president of Northwest Cherry Growers in Yakima, Wash., the industry’s promotional arm.

Next year, the market might respond differently and there may be more demand than supply, he said. The key is repeat consumer purchases, and this year “our retail partners saw our core consumers did not make as many repeat purchases as we needed,” Thurlby said.

“We had two-and-a-half months of sustaining huge volume, competing with lots of other summer fruit. California had a lot of cherries before us at good pricing and good volume. Why it tanked for us was just supply and demand,” said Denny Hayden, a Pasco, Wash., grower.

It was a tale of two seasons for the Northwest. Pre-Fourth of July brought “good to moderate” prices, and post-Fourth of July brought too many cherries and prices at $16 a box and lower, Hayden said.

“The problem was not having enough sales for it. We couldn’t move out packed fruit,” he said.

PNW cherries were the No. 1 advertised item in retail produce departments for four weeks. They were in the top three for seven weeks against more than 800 other items on average, Thurlby said.

“You hope we picked up some new consumers, which is part of the necessary growing pains we go through in producing larger crops,” he said.

Consumer-friendly retail pricing and good displays were the norm in most stores as major chains focused on cherries for over two months, he said.

More than 500,000 boxes per day were shipped for 42 straight days — an “unbelievable” amount, he said.

Northwest Cherry Growers began new programs in the Philippines, Myanmar and Cambodia and the industry exported more than 8 million boxes. More than 3 million of that went to China. The previous export record was 7.5 million in 2014. Last year, 1.8 million boxes went to China.

“To me the bottom line is there are just too many cherries planted. There’s not enough infrastructure to get them packed. Until the huge supply drains away, it isn’t a good market. It’s a good market early and in the end but not in the middle until we reduce the amount of fruit being picked,” said Norm Gutzwiler, a Wenatchee, Wash., grower.

Brenda Thomas, president of Orchard View Farms in The Dalles, Oregon’s largest cherry grower, said people talk about growing markets but she’s not sure where that is because “certain retailers reached a lot people with low pricing and it still didn’t create enough demand.”

“We packed all our fruit and sold all our fruit for very poor pricing. There was little or no demand for cherries in general. It was that way all season long except right at the beginning,” Thomas said.

Small growers will get squeezed out first if supply is reduced, she said, adding she does the best she can for her growers.

Orchard View packs for a couple dozen growers. Beyond that, it grows 80 percent of what it packs.

Charles Lyall, a Mattawa, Wash., grower, said it’s tough to make a profit this year on $20 per box at a 30 percent cullage rate.

Small growers, particularly 5- and 10-acre growers, are likely to get out of business first because they can’t handle food safety compliance and other regulations as efficiently as large companies, Lyall said.

“I would like to increase markets but if you can’t increase markets fast enough to take care of the volume and can’t sell at a profit, then you have to start looking at reducing production,” he said.

A short-term solution, he said, is heavier pruning to reduce crop load and produce larger cherries. The next option is removing less productive trees and varieties, which he will start doing this winter or next, he said.

Big companies have increased a lot of cherry acreage in the Mattawa area in the past 30 years and a lot of that, with some ups and downs, has been fueled by good prices, Lyall said.

“We’ve been riding that train. We might be back to a point where we’ve overproduced and it’s going to have to go back to lowering volume,” he said. “You tear out Bing at 6 tons per acre and plant Skeena that averages 10. The day of growing small fruit that doesn’t get packed is trouble.”

New varieties that produce large cherries would be good, he said, “but I’m afraid there’s more of these years ahead than in the past.”

TUESDAY, SEPT. 5

SATURDAY, SEPT. 2

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon court has ruled a couple must have their dogs surgically “debarked” after causing their neighbors several years of disruption.

The Oregon Court of Appeals determined Wednesday that the devocalization operations were necessary since the dogs’ owners, Karen Szewc and John Updegraff, had not done enough to quiet the Tibetan and Pyrenean Mastiff dogs, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. The surgery involves cutting an animal’s vocal cords and is banned in six states under certain circumstances, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Neighbors Debra and Dale Krein of Rogue River decided to file the lawsuit as a last resort after enduring more than a decade of nuisance barking by six or more dogs. The loud barking begins as early as 5 a.m. and has caused the family and their guests discomfort to the point where the children dread coming home, according the Kreins.

The dogs bark when they sense predators and are necessary to keep the livestock on her rural southern Oregon property protected, Szewc said in an interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive.

“The dogs are my employees,” she said. “We do not have the dogs to harass the neighbors. We have the dogs to protect our sheep.”

In April 2015, the Jackson County Circuit Court ordered Szewc and her husband Updegraff pay $238,000 to the Kreins as compensation, but the Kreins argued the court ruling would not do anything to stop the noise. The Appeals Court upheld the $238,000 decision and a ruling ordering the dogs be debarked to avoid a “judicial merry-go round.”

Szewc fears that the court ruling will put her small farm in danger. In 2010, the couple went through with court directive and had one of their dogs debarked. As a result, a cougar successfully made off with six lambs in a week, resulting in a $3,000 loss, Szewc said.

County hearings officer Donald Rubenstein determined that the Szewc and Updegraff’s land did not qualify for farm-use laws that permit the sound of barking dogs.

Szewc is debating whether they will follow the court order or appealing the decision.

SALEM, Ore. — Alea Minar, 14, has been keeping busy this year at the Oregon State Fair. A 4-Her for six years, Minar shows in every small animal category.

“Rabbit, poultry, cavies (guinea pigs), pigeons and dogs,” she listed off.

Along with showing animals, Minar, who is from Deschutes County, also competes in the static 4-H exhibits such as fashion, sewing, cooking, food preservation, art, photography and leadership.

This is her second year at the fair.

“It’s really awesome,” she said. “We have helpful stewards and volunteers, and great judges. It’s running smoothly.”

Minar enjoys all the opportunities that come with 4-H, and she said that it helps her grow as a person. Although she has many favorite parts, one of them is the lead up to the fair.

“Everyone is stressed out, and you’re studying with your friends, quizzing one another and cleaning the animals,” she said.

For 14-year-old Tatum Heathershaw from Washington County, the fair gives her the chance to be around people who share her love for poultry.

“There’s not a lot of places like that,” she said.

Once at the fair, Minar and Heathershaw said they like meeting new people from around Oregon. This fair year in particular has given them ample opportunity to do that.

“It’s the first year that 4-H and FFA club members have shown animals together since I’ve been alive,” Candi Bothum, 4-H program coordinator, said.

In past years, 4-H would show one week and FFA would show the other, but because many students are going back to school earlier and the groups utilize the same judges, it made sense to show all the youth competitions together, Bothum said.

“It’s been fun. A great opportunity with great organizations,” she said. “The state fair is an opportunity for kids to meet from all over the state. Young livestock raisers and ag enthusiasts — they’re the future of ag. A terrific group of young people.”

Combining the shows also helped lower the number of turnovers the clubs had to make to clean out the animal pens.

Bothum said that she thinks the two groups will continue showing together, but they have some logistical issues regarding space to fix for next year.

“It’s a big group,” she said, noting that the number of animal entries has gone up.

Elsewhere at the fair, the agriculture stage has also been a hit, Brooke Broadbent, the showcase organizer, said. She estimated 30 to 50 people attend the presentations and for the activities it “ebbed and flowed.” So far, the most popular event has been egg day, where 1,500 eggs on a stick were handed out.

Although the fair has stopped keeping daily attendance tallies, Dan Cox, the fair spokesman, said the fair had a good opening day and there have been more discount incentives this year to bring people out.

“I’ve been around fair a long, long time and can see the ebb and flow of the crowd. We’ll get a first wave that stays for several hours and then a second wave of people at night for the concerts,” he said. “On the hot days close to 100 degrees we might see people heading inside more towards the AC, but the one thing we’ve always seen is Oregonians come out no matter what, it’s an interesting thing.”

Cox says the fair offers something for everyone.

“It’s not just for the urban center,” he said. “It’s for the entire state.”

THURSDAY, AUG. 31

Promising table grape cultivars, not to mention tasty grape samples, will be on display and up for discussion during a field day at Oregon State University’s North Willamette Research and Extension Center.

The field day is Wednesday, Sept. 13, from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at NWREC, 15210 N.E. Miley Road, Aurora.

Research Assistant Amanda Vance, who has spent the past three years evaluating cultivars, will talk abut her findings. Oregon is known for its wine grapes, of course, but Vance believes there may be a table grape niche for small-scale growers who sell at farmers’ markets or roadside stands.

The grapes Vance found most promising include Neptune, a green grape from the University of Arkansas with high yields year after year, and Canadice, a smaller red grape from Cornell University with good flavor and uniform clusters. Agricultural researchers often share cultivars among themselves for evaluation and OSU received several over the years from John Clark, a University of Arkansas plant breeder and horticulture professor. Clark will attend the field day and talk about his work.

Vance has a viticulture background and volunteered to take on the OSU table grape research project. She’ll discuss her work, and OSU berry crops professor Bernadine Strik will talk about grapevine morphology, physiology, trellising, pruning and training. Javier Fernandez-Salvador, an OSU Ph.D. candidate and an assistant professor, will talk about organic table grape production, including disease and weed control.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Wildfires in Oregon are burning an area roughly equivalent to half the state of Rhode Island, affecting air quality throughout the state and forcing the evacuations of more than 4,500 people, fire authorities said.

Two dozen fires in southern, eastern and central parts of the state had scorched a total of 571 square miles.

And although fire crews appreciated cooler weather and some fog on some fire lines, they are bracing for triple-digit temperatures and the return of windy conditions and extremely low humidity later this week and into the weekend, said Terry Krasko, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman.

The largest fire is near the coastal town of Brookings near the California border.

That 196-square-mile blaze is 5 percent contained and 4,568 people have fled their homes. Firefighters have managed to carve out a containment line along the southwestern edge of the fire to protect the 6,500-person town that will be bolstered by the arrival Wednesday of six Oregon National Guard teams.

The fire started July 12 from a lightning strike in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest but grew rapidly last week.

“That 5 percent doesn’t sound like a lot but it’s very critical to this town and we feel very good about that. There have been people asking, ‘What about the other side of the fire, what about the east?”’ Krasko said. “But we have to put our efforts first where the homes and businesses are — where people live. These are our family and friends.”

Also in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, but further east, a complex of fires forced the evacuation of six homes Tuesday in a rural community called Joe Bar near the Applegate River Valley. Several of the fires have merged and firefighters have divided the largest ones into three areas of attack, fire authorities said.

About two dozen blazes all began on Aug. 12 after a lightning storm in the area but most were put out quickly by crews.

In central Oregon, a 34-square-mile fire west of Sisters is now 44 percent contained. No mandatory evacuations are in effect.

Fires statewide continue to generate thick smoke that’s affecting air quality in southern and central Oregon.

Smoke forced the Oregon Shakespeare Festival to cancel its outdoor performance on Tuesday.

Nine cities, including Bend, Medford, Ashland and Klamath Falls, had unhealthy air conditions on Wednesday, according to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

Smoke from all the blazes has also converged on Portland, which is several hundred miles away, and has obscured the iconic view of Mount Hood.

On Tuesday, some Portland residents reported finding ash on their parked cars.

BANDON -- Aaron Barnes couldn't decide what he wanted to do when he grew up.

Oregon’s winemakers reported a 12 percent sales increase to $529 million, planted 2,400 more acres of grapes and opened 23 more wineries in 2016, according to an annual census commissioned by the Oregon Wine Board.

The growth came despite a 6 percent drop in production, slipping to 79,782 tons from the 84,782 tons harvested in 2015.

Not to worry, said Steve Thomson, CEO of Cristom Vineyards and the wine board chair. For one thing, the 2014 and 2015 vintages were unusually large, and 2016 was closer to normal — although the 2017 yield is shaping up as another big one.

More important, he said, is the price per ton is increasing and the state’s “pricing power” is intact. In other words, the state’s winemakers concentrated from the early days on quality rather than quantity, and consumers remain willing to pay more for Oregon wine.

“It all fits together really well,” Thomson said.

The Willamette Valley’s internationally acclaimed Pinot noir is still the big dog, accounting for 64 percent of the 30,435 acres of wine grapes grown in Oregon. In addition, about 73 percent of the grape “crush” happened in the North Willamette Valley. But Thomson said the state is no longer a “one trick pony.”

The warmer Southern Oregon and the Columbia Valley regions, the latter including American Viticulture Areas in sections of Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington, produce a range of Mediterranean and Bordeaux varietals to complement the Burgundian style Pinot noir. Across the state, buyers can find Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot gris, Syrah, Zinfandel, Malbec, Merlot, Tempranillo and more.

“It’s a strong healthy sign for our industry,” Thomson said. “I marvel a little bit. Ten years ago it was Pinot noir driven, now there’s incredible variety. It helps immunize our industry for the future by having greater diversity across our industry.”

The census is the work of the Southern Oregon University Research Center. Among other statistics, the report showed Oregon now has 725 wineries, adding them at a pace of nearly two a month. Case sales at winery tasting rooms, where visitors can sample “flights” of various varietals, jumped to 484,714 in 2016 — 63,000 more 12-bottle cases than in 2015.

The Oregon Wine Board is a semi-independent state agency that does marketing, research and education for the industry.

Online: The 2016 Oregon Vineyard and Winery Census Report

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 30

HERMISTON, Ore. — The spring weather may not have been ideal, but Tony Amstad is still pleasantly surprised with the size and quality of his early season potatoes.

While an abundance of rain and snow pushed back planting by about a week in March, Amstad said the delay doesn’t seem to be affecting his fresh market crop. Harvest is now underway, and what he sees are spuds that are just the right shape, color and consistency for supermarket shelves.

“It’s going to be a decent year,” said Amstad, owner of Amstad Farms. “It started out bad and ended up good.”

Amstad Farms grows 2,250 acres of potatoes, mostly around Hermiston and Echo. On Tuesday, Amstad watched as crews sifted through a stream of Russets that were loaded up a conveyor belt into the back of a 30-ton semi-truck bound for the farm’s packing plant in Sherwood.

In another three weeks, Amstad said they will be going full bore on filling their eight, 9,000-ton storage sheds around the county. Most of what Amstad grows are fresh market potatoes — the kind you find in the produce section of the grocery store — though the farm also plants several varieties of red and yellow potatoes, which are sold to Reser’s Fine Foods to make potato salad.

Not only is quality looking good this year for Columbia Basin potatoes, but so is price, according to Amstad. Thanks in large part to a 15,000-acre reduction in neighboring Idaho, Amstad said the fresh market is looking to bring in about $12 per 100 pounds, which is the best he’s seen in three years.

“It’s called supply and demand,” he said. “And demand has been real good so far.”

Bill Brewer, CEO of the Oregon Potato Commission, said the fresh market has been dogged by overproduction the last couple of years. When Idaho, the largest supplier nationwide, reduces production, Brewer said Oregon is well positioned to reap the benefits.

Oregon’s potato export markets have also been on the rise over the last 10 years, Brewer added, thanks to the prosperous french fry and potato chip industries overseas in countries like Mexico, China and throughout the Pacific Rim.

“Our international markets are extremely important to us,” Brewer said, noting that 65 percent of Oregon potatoes are exported.

Domestically, about half of Oregon potatoes are sent to french fry factories like the massive Lamb Weston plants in Hermiston and Boardman. Another 20 percent are used for potato flakes and flour, like what’s made at Oregon Potato Company in Boardman. Roughly 8-10 percent go to potato chip processors like Shearer’s Foods in Hermiston.

The rest are fresh market, which makes up the bulk of taters at Amstad Farms.

Tony Amstad started the business in 1959, making this his 58th potato harvest. He has seen plenty of cycles in the industry, and has learned to take the good with the bad.

“Overall, when I look back on 58 years, it’s been very good to us,” he said.

Amstad’s partners include his two sons, Jeff and Skeeter, and his nephew, Todd Dimbat. Amstad Farms is now one of the region’s larger growers of fresh market potatoes.

This year brought excellent growing weather during the months of April, May and June, Amstad said. He admits he was concerned as temperatures have climbed in recent weeks to triple digits, as such stifling heat can essentially halt the development of tubers. But with harvest beginning Aug. 5, he said yields are so far looking promising.

Brewer cautions it is still early, and said he wouldn’t be surprised if the intense heat does result in a slight dip in yields. Most growers are prepared for that, he said, and he doesn’t anticipate any quality issues related to the heat.

Meanwhile, Amstad’s crews will remain busy with harvest well into October. Barring anything unexpected, the crop should fetch a reasonable profit.

LEBANON, Ore. (AP) — A handyman in Lebanon, Ore., has died after being fatally electrocuted in a freak farming accident.

Linn County authorities said Tuesday that 58-year-old Robert Leeland Prock was standing a 40-foot irrigation pipe on its end to move it when the pipe touched an overhead electrical wire.

The 12,000-volt wire was suspended 22 feet above the ground.

Prock was knocked unconscious by the shock and was pronounced dead at the hospital a short time later.

His 11-year-old son, who was helping him, was also shocked but survived with no serious injuries.

The investigation is continuing.