Klamath Project irrigators got a much-needed break Thursday with the release of 100 cubic feet per second of water from Upper Klamath Lake to begin charging canals for the upcoming irrigation season.

PacifiCorp, which operates a system of hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River, agreed to transfer 10,500 acre-feet of water to the Bureau of Reclamation to help jump-start the project heading into a drought year.

Farmers and ranchers are still waiting on a federal judge in San Francisco to issue a ruling that will determine when they can start irrigating, and how much water they will have available. A 2017 court injunction requires the bureau to hold 50,000 acre-feet of stored water in Upper Klamath Lake through early June to flush away C. shasta, a deadly parasite that infects threatened coho salmon.

Based on current projections, it is not possible to satisfy the injunction while also maintaining minimum lake levels for endangered sucker fish and deliver irrigation water to farms, according to the bureau. The Klamath Water Users Association and local irrigation districts have asked Judge William Orrick to stay the injunction, which would provide clarity for irrigators moving forward.

The judge held a hearing April 11, later indicating he was “inclined” to modify the injunction. Additional briefings were due Thursday.

Scott White, executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association, said he is hopeful for a ruling possibly as early as this week. Until then, he said charging the canals will ensure they are ready to deliver irrigation water as soon as they receive an allocation.

“We’re not out of the woods, but we’re starting to see some daylight,” White said.

PacifiCorp agreed to a temporary water transfer from reservoirs that support the Klamath Hydroelectric Project. Jeff Nettleton, area manager for the Bureau of Reclamation, said the proposal satisfies all court requirements as well as target flows downstream of Iron Gate dam in California.

Reclamation intends to return water to the hydroelectric reservoirs between July 1 and Sept. 30, Nettleton said.

Tim Hemstreet, director of renewable energy development for PacifiCorp, said the utility understands the difficult circumstances basin farmers face this year.

“PacifiCorp recognizes that the 2018 water year is extremely challenging in the Klamath Basin and is happy to make adjustments to how we operate our hydroelectric project to help balance the many competing demands for water,” Hemstreet said.

White said farmers should have an easier time conveying groundwater from wells to their fields with the canals charged. The development comes not a moment too soon for garlic and row crops, which are feeling the effects of warmer and drier weather.

Ross Fleming, a fifth-generation farmer in the Henley area south of Klamath Falls, said he has 50 acres of garlic planted this year compared to 28 acres a year ago.

“It needs water. It’s kind of a shallow rooted crop,” Fleming said. “If you don’t have water on it now, you’re going backwards.”

Fleming, who also grows potatoes, alfalfa and small grains, said charging the canals will help immensely getting water where it is needed on the farm.

“I’m just tired of the uncertainty,” he said. “You just can’t run a farmer here without water.”

The USDA took a second whack Friday at reducing the cranberries piling up in cold storage and chilling grower returns.

The agency proposed a 25 percent reduction in the 2018 crop to help bring the supply of cranberries closer to demand. The proposal follows a USDA order, finalized in early April, to divert 15 percent of the 2017 crop from the U.S. market.

In both cases, the USDA is acting at the request of the industry’s Cranberry Marketing Committee. The committee, made up of farmers and handlers, reports that a growing surplus has driven prices below the cost of production for some growers.

The order will apply to some 1,100 growers and 65 handlers in 10 states, including Oregon and Washington.

“We’re just fighting with more fruit than is usable,” Washington cranberry farmer Malcolm McPhail said. “I think you just face the facts and do something about it.”

The cranberry supply has grown over the past half dozen years as U.S. farmers produced record crops and growers in other countries increased production, particularly in Canada. Meanwhile, consumption has been flat and is not influenced by lower consumer prices, according to USDA.

The marketing committee estimated last summer that after the 2017 crop was harvested, the surplus would reach 10.9 million barrels, or 115 percent of annual sales. A barrel equals 100 pounds.

USDA volume controls will not eliminate the surplus. The USDA estimated that diverting 15 percent of the 2017 harvest will reduce inventories by 1.1 million barrels. A 25 percent reduction in the 2018 crop would remove another 2 million barrels, according to the USDA.

Ocean Spray, a farmers’ cooperative that handles a majority of the cranberries grown in the U.S., supports the USDA proposal, a spokeswoman said.

Much of the surplus is juice concentrate, a byproduct of making sweetened dried cranberries. Handlers would be able to meet a portion of their withholding obligation by disposing of juice concentrate rather than whole fruit.

Grower allotments would be based on 75 percent of sales history. Organic cranberries, a small part of the market, would be exempt from volume controls. Also, handlers who take in fewer than 125,000 barrels would be exempt, as would handlers who have no carryover fruit and aren’t contributing to the surplus.

Cranberry farmers received an average of $23.50 per barrel in 2016, while the average cost of production was $30 a barrel, according to the marketing committee. The surplus grew from 4.6 million barrels in 2011 to 9.9 million in 2016.

The USDA will take comments on the proposal until May 29. Comments may be submitted online at regulations.gov.

In the national tug-of-war over public employee unions, Debora Nearman presents an interesting case.

The Independence, Oregon, woman is an employee of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, and so is represented by the Service Employees International Union Local 503, which negotiates the contract that dictates how much Nearman is paid.

But she’s also the wife of a state legislator, Republican Rep. Mike Nearman, who’s become an enemy of labor. Unions so oppose Mike Nearman’s stances that SEIU 503 chipped in more than $50,000 in an unsuccessful attempt to defeat him at the ballot box in 2016.

That upset Debora Nearman. Now, she’s suing her union, her employer and other state officials.    

In a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday, Nearman argues she’s unconstitutionally being forced to help bankroll SEIU efforts like the campaign against her husband. She’s asking a federal judge to rule against laws that allow money to be automatically diverted from her paycheck to pay for union services.    

The suit names SEIU Local 503, the director of ODFW and the director of the Oregon Department of Administrative Services as defendants.

The lawsuit, filed on Nearman’s behalf by the Virginia-based National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation (NRTW), is part of a national effort that could wind up destabilizing public-employee unions around the country.  

In Oregon and more than 20 other states, public employees who don’t want to join a union are still required to pay dues to fund collective bargaining that’s carried out on their behalf. They’re not required to pay for a union’s political advocacy efforts, however.

Nearman, a conservative Catholic who disagrees with the SEIU’s political stances, says she shouldn’t be required to pay anything.  

“There is no justification, much less a compelling one, for mandating that nonmembers support SEIU, which, upon information and belief, is one of the largest, most powerful and politically-active organizations in Oregon,” the lawsuit filed Wednesday states.

Nearman believes her money is being improperly used to advocate for ballot measures and campaigns.

The suit asks a judge to deem forced union payments unconstitutional, to stop the state from collecting union money from her check, and to pay her back money that she’s had to pay — a little less than $1,000 in 2016, according to filings.

In essence, Nearman’s arguing that Oregon should be a “right-to-work” state, in which employees who aren’t interested in being union members aren’t forces to pay union dues. The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, the group funding Nearman’s case, is pushing similar suits in five other states.

One of those, Janus v. AFSCME, is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, and could have a sizable effect on unions nationwide. Earlier this year, Nearman filed a brief in that case, making many of the same arguments included in her lawsuit.

Patrick Semmens, a spokesman for NRTW, says Nearman’s lawsuit could speed up change in Oregon if the Supreme Court agrees that compelled payments to unions violate the First Amendment.  

“It would be a way to more quickly have those rights be enforced,” Semmens said.

State officials didn’t immediately return requests for comment about the suit. The SEIU issued a statement, saying it was part of an effort to “undermine worker rights and public services.”

“We have not been served and of course can’t comment on the lawsuit, but we can say that there is an effort in several states to use lawsuits like this one to make it more difficult for unions to represent and protect workers,” said SEIU Local 503 executive director Melissa Unger.

Nearman’s husband, Mike, first won office in 2014, representing a House district outside of Salem that includes Dallas and Independence. In the time since, he’s gotten a reputation as one of the state’s more conservative legislators and a vocal opponent of union initiatives — like 2016’s failed Measure 97, which would have taxed corporations.

According to Debora Nearman’s lawsuit, the SEIU chipped in $53,260 to a political committee called “The Real Mike Nearman Committee” in 2016. The committee “aggressively campaigned against Plaintiff’s husband and distributed fliers that disparaged him.”

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah militia group leader pleaded guilty Thursday to trying to blow up a federally owned cabin in Arizona in what prosecutors call a case of domestic terrorism.

William Keebler, 59, was angry about federal management of public lands and wanted to retaliate against the government, federal prosecutors said. He came under investigation after joining Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s armed 2014 standoff over grazing fees amid hot debate over federal control of public land in the West.

“We hope this prosecution would be an object lesson for any would-be terrorist who would attempt to use violence, either in the domestic or international context,” said Andrew Choate, assistant U.S. Attorney for Utah.

Keebler could face up to five years and 10 months in prison at a sentencing set for July.

Keebler led a small group of about seven people called the Patriots Defense Force in the desert about 40 miles west of Salt Lake City. Three of his followers were FBI agents who started investigating him after the Bundy standoff, according to testimony in the case.

Keebler’s friends have said he was set up by the agents who gave him the inert device he tried to detonate near Mt. Trumbull in June 2016. He took pains to make sure that no one was around when the device went off, defense attorneys said.

Prosecutors, though, say the violence would have escalated if he hadn’t been arrested. Keebler also cased mosques and military facilities before settling on the remote Bureau of Land Management cabin and was willing to shoot anyone who tried to catch him after he thought he detonated the explosive device, authorities said.

The cabin is used to house seasonal workers. A group of college students had been staying there shortly before the attempted explosion, Choate said. They were cleared out after the undercover agents sent word about Keebler’s plans, he said.

Keebler pleaded guilty to a felony charge of attempted destruction of federal property. A gun charge was dropped as part of a plea agreement shortly before he was set for trial.

A controversial Oregon dairy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Thursday night, blocking an auction Friday to sell off its 14,500 cattle herd in Boardman, Ore.

The liquidation of Lost Valley Farm’s 10,500 cows and 4,000 replacement heifers was ordered in Oregon state court at the behest of Rabobank, a major farm lender seeking repayment for $60 million in defaulted loans.

However, the bankruptcy petition filed by Greg te Velde, the dairy’s owner, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California automatically stays all foreclosure actions by creditors, including the auction scheduled for April 27 at 11 a.m.

Under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, companies typically develop reorganization plans to restructure their debt. Te Velde declined to comment on the bankruptcy case.

Aside from Lost Valley Farm in Oregon, te Velde’s bankruptcy also encompasses his California dairy operations, Pacific Rim Dairy in Corcoran and GJ te Velde Dairy in Tipton.

Together, the dairies have more than 40,000 cattle that are listed as potential “hazard property” that poses a safety threat or requires immediate attention.

Te Velde’s companies owe between $100 million and $500 million to fewer than 1,000 creditors and have between $100 million and $500 million in assets, according to the bankruptcy petition.

A more complete accounting of his financial affairs is due in bankruptcy court by May 10.

Overland Stockyard, a dairy livestock auction in Hanford, Calif., is listed as te Velde’s largest unsecured creditor with a claim of $3 million, followed by Conway Hay Sales of Goshen, Calif., with a $2.9 million claim and Valmont Northwest, an irrigation equipment dealer in Pasco, Wash., with a $2.3 million claim.

Joe VanLeuven, an attorney representing Rabobank, said he is still evaluating the bankruptcy effect on Rabobank’s state court action and the financial receivership for Lost Valley Farm.

A receiver was appointed to oversee the Oregon dairy’s finances and protect Rabobank’s collateral at the same time that an Oregon judge ordered the company to cooperate with the planned auction earlier this month.

VanLeuven said he would not comment on Rabobank’s disposition toward a reorganization plan for Te Velde’s companies. It is unclear what the immediate effects of the bankruptcy will be, thought the immediate impact is the automatic stay, he said.

“The upshot is our auction is not happening today,” VanLeuven said.

Riley Walter, te Velde’s bankruptcy lawyer based in Fresno, Calif., did not immediately return a message for comment.

The auctioneer, Toppenish Livestock, sent several staff members on the hundred-mile trip to Boardman to inform bidders of the latest development. Owner John Top said the company spent three weeks preparing for the auction.

“It’s the height of inconvenience,” Top said.

Aside from its financial troubles, Lost Valley Farm has repeatedly run into regulatory problems in 2018.

Unauthorized discharge of manure and other violations of its confined animal feeding operation, or CAFO, permit prompted the Oregon Department of Agriculture to fine the dairy more than $10,000.

Continued wastewater issues were cited in a lawsuit filed by ODA seeking to stop all discharges from the dairy, which would effectively shut it down. That case was settled, allowing Lost Valley Farm to continue operating under certain conditions.

A spokeswoman for ODA said regulators continue to conduct weekly inspections at the dairy. Since the March 16 court settlement, they have observed several more violations — including manure spills — at Lost Valley Farm, which were self-reported but still constitute a CAFO permit violation.

Compliance work is ongoing, the spokeswoman said, adding that no surface water or groundwater sites have been contaminated. When asked about how they are working to comply with the permit, te Velde said, “All I can tell you is we’re doing the best we can there.”

Oregon’s CAFO program permits, on average, 509 facilities and conducted 880 inspections across the state last year. All dairies, regardless of size, are visited approximately every 10 months, and less than 1 percent of inspections resulted in violations that led to civil penalties.

A nonprofit land trust based in Walla Walla, Wash., plans to buy a conservation easement to protect three miles of steelhead spawning habitat at a ranch near the Painted Hills in north-central Oregon.

Blue Mountain Land Trust recently received a $1.42 grant from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board to purchase the easement at Canyon Creek Ranch, on Bear Creek in the John Day Basin.

Jason Bulay, conservation director for the land trust, said the easement will ensure Canyon Creek Ranch stays in agricultural production, while also protecting fish, wildlife, upland sage and grassland habitat.

“We all benefit, I think, from having healthy populations of fish and wildlife,” Bulay said. “Some of these are very important species, from a cultural and economic standpoint.”

In particular, Bulay said they intend to preserve healthy riparian habitat for Mid-Columbia steelhead, which are listed as a threatened species. The easement includes 3.1 miles of steelhead habitat in Bear Creek, adjacent to the Painted Hills Unit in the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.

Historically, Canyon Creek Ranch was owned by a land and cattle company which, according to the project application, caused extensive degradation by overgrazing the uplands and allowing cattle unrestricted access to riparian areas.

The current landowners, Terrance and Peggy Long, purchased the ranch in 2000. Since then, they have worked with multiple partners, including OWEB, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Wheeler Soil and Water Conservation District and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs to restore the property.

Together, they have cut juniper on more than 665 acres and converted open irrigation ditches to pipes. Last year, the Wheeler SWCD installed 21 artificial beaver dam structures along the creek to increase surface flows in streams that otherwise dry up during the summer. The tribes have also committed an additional $500,000 for riparian zone restoration through 2020.

Bulay said the land trust was excited to work with such committed landowners.

“We like it when we can work with a landowner who shares our goals, and permanently protect that land,” he said.

In the past, Blue Mountain Land Trust served four counties in southeast Washington, along with Umatilla and Union counties in northeast Oregon. The organization opened a new John Day region office in July 2017, expanding into Grant, Gilliam, Wheeler and Morrow counties.

“It’s a lot of the same resource concerns that we’ve been dealing with here in the Walla Walla area, as far as the salmon and steelhead spawning streams and the wildlife habitat and the working lands,” Bulay said. “We thought there were a lot of great potential land projects in the area, and landowners to work with.”

Bulay said the land trust also received $800,000 in funding from OWEB to purchase an easement at the 9,000-acre Bennett Ranch in Baker County to protect sage grouse habitat.

The Canyon Creek Ranch easement is just one of 21 projects funded by OWEB in the Mid-Columbia region, totaling $3.1 million. John Keith, executive director of the Oregon Association of Conservation Districts, applauded the grants, saying they will help to maintain the Oregon way of life for generations to come.

“Oregon is unique for many reasons, and one is the commitment Oregonians have made to conserve what’s left,” Keith said.

Other projects funded by OWEB include:

• $190,176 to the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation for restoring the floodplain at Desolation Creek south of Ukiah, Ore.

• $150,000 to the Morrow Soil and Water Conservation District to restore 240 acres of wetlands along the Columbia River between Umatilla and Irrigon.

• $103,687 to the North Fork John Day Watershed Council for restoration work on Granite Creek, reducing sediment and lowering water temperature flowing in to the Middle Fork John Day River.

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service has recognized two soil and water conservation districts in Oregon for outstanding work implementing conservation programs on private farms and forestland in 2017.

The Yamhill SWCD, based in McMinnville, Ore., and Illinois Valley SWCD, based in Cave Junction, Ore., received district partnership awards from the NRCS during the 2018 CONNECT Conference April 18, hosted by the Oregon Conservation Education and Assistance Network.

Cindy Thieman, watershed coordinator for the Hood River SWCD, also received the District Employee Partnership Award at the conference held in Seaside, Ore.

Yamhill SWCD successfully implemented one of the first Regional Conservation Partnership Programs in the state focused on oak restoration, while also entering into an agreement with NRCS to address a backlog of cultural resource determinations, lessening project delays.

Illinois Valley SWCD continues to work on projects through the Emergency Watershed Protection Program in Josephine County, sponsoring $270,000 in construction repairs at two sites to protect infrastructure, private property and habitat from further damage.

Thieman, meanwhile, secured funding for a Regional Conservation Partnership Program within the East Fork Irrigation District, and was lauded by NRCS for her ability to build and maintain relationships with with agencies, landowners and other partners.

For more information about NRCS Oregon and conservation programs, visit www.or.nrcs.usda.gov.

Oregon State University researchers found stripe rust on the wheat variety Mary that was planted in late September at the Columbia Basin Agricultural Research Center station, near Pendleton on the state’s east side.

Mary, a type of soft white winter wheat, is moderately to very susceptible to the fungus-caused rust characterized by yellowish stripes along leaf blades.

“Last year, we had a pretty severe stripe rust epidemic, and it was early,” Christina Hagerty, OSU professor of cereal pathology, said in an interview. The disease’s repeating cycle makes early occurrences most dangerous, she said.

This year’s late arrival of stripe rust is good for farmers because the disease has less time in the growing season to establish itself and start reducing yields, she said.

“That said, stripe rust is notoriously unpredictable,” Hagerty said. “So although we have had late arrival this season, producers still should be scouting fields, particularly susceptible varieties, so timely fungicide application can be made.”

A good time to apply fungicide is at the onset of stripe rust’s repeating cycle, which could be from late winter up to wheat’s flag-leaf stage, she said.

“You don’t want to chase, or try to catch up with, stripe rust,” Hagerty said.

OSU research trials are studying stripe-rust-suited fungicides for effectiveness and economic returns, she said.

The university said in a release that it recommends a single-mode-of-action triazole, a synthesis-inhibiting fungicide, for drier production zones if active stripe rust is observed on a susceptible variety. That’s mainly due to the late arrival this season of the rust, and a predicted normal epidemic. More expensive, multi-mode fungicides would likely only be economically justified on highly susceptible varieties in higher-rainfall, higher-yielding zones if rust is present.

Application timing is generally more important than the product used, and fungicide application is not recommended for resistant varieties, OSU said.

The university is sticking to its previous forecast for a normal epidemic level for eastern Oregon and much of Washington: 12 percent on checks of moderately susceptible to susceptible varieties and 18 percent on more susceptible varieties.

Mary wheat is known for good cold tolerance, strong yield performance and a tendency to perform well in dry years.

SPOKANE — The U.S. and Canada are slated to enter negotiations on the Columbia River Treaty later this year.

Jill Smail, chief negotiator for the U.S., provided an update April 25 on the process during a town hall in Spokane.

Smail hopes to set a firm date to begin negotiations soon.

“I am confident that as we lay out our respective positions and turn them into a shared vision ... we can find common ground,” she said.

Certain provisions of the treaty, adopted in 1964 for cooperative development and operation of water resources in the Columbia River Basin, are set to expire in 2024. Negotiations will center on modernizing the treaty to benefit the U.S. and Canada.

U.S. objectives in treaty negotiations include continued flood-risk management, ensuring a reliable and economic power supply and better addressing the ecosystem, she said.

“We understand the importance and economic contribution to the region of maintaining navigation, recreation, irrigation and municipal and industrial uses of the river,” Smail said.

Discussions with Canada will focus on water flowing across the border and treaty storage in Canadian projects, Smail said.

“We will seek to maximize shared benefits through the coordination of operations, and we will seek to ensure that those benefits are shared equitably,” she said.

Smail and the negotiation team took comments and questions from the audience. Roughly 200 people attended the meeting.

Comments reflected the interests of farmers, irrigators, river boat pilots, environmentalists, cities, utility districts, wildlife supporters and Native American tribes. Several in the audience questioned the lack of a representative for tribes on the negotiating team. Smail said negotiators are consulting with tribes.

“I personally am very impressed with the diversity of views, the sophistication of the comments and questions and the passion with which you speak about the Pacific Northwest,” Smail said.

Negotiators will hold similar meetings in different cities quarterly, including via webinar, Smail said.

The House has sent a bill aimed at protecting dams on the Columbia and Snake river system to the Senate, where it faces an uncertain future.

HR 3144 passed through the House 225-189.

The bill would halt any “structural modification, action, study or engineering plan” restricting electrical generation at any federal Columbia River system hydroelectric dam or limiting navigation on the Snake River in Idaho, Oregon or Washington unless a proposal is authorized by an act of Congress.

Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Dan Newhouse and Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington and Reps. Kurt Schrader and Greg Walden of Oregon sponsored the bill. All are Republicans except Schrader, who is a Democrat.

Washington Sen. Patty Murray has voiced opposition to the bill, expressing concern that it forces use of a 2014 biological opinion that was found to be “flawed” by a federal judge.

In May 2016, U.S. District Judge Michael Simon ruled that the biological opinion did not satisfy requirements of the Endangered Species Act and violated the National Environmental Policy Act.

The court ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and Bonneville Power Administration to conduct a review of the river system to develop a new opinion, slated to be in place September 2021.

BPA does not comment on pending legislation, agency spokesman Michael Hansen said.

Murray has said the bill undercuts the agencies’ ability to properly review river system operations.

The bill would codify the 2014 biological opinion until 2022, McMorris Rodgers said during a conference call.

The NEPA process can continue, said Jared Powell, spokesman for McMorris Rodgers. Agencies have yet to confirm alternatives they are pursuing during the environmental impact statement, he added.

Newhouse said there’s “no question” that getting the bill through the Senate will be a challenge. But Murray also supports infrastructure in the form of dams on the river, he said.

He said he’s “hopeful” the continuing conversation and input from stakeholders will mean the river system can move forward and improve operations while avoiding higher power costs, he said.

McMorris Rodgers said she hopes the Senate “takes serious consideration” of the bill, noting it’s been a 20-year process through the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations to come up with a biological opinion that satisfies the Endangered Species Act.

Newhouse said the bill maintains a plan developed by Northwest experts and stakeholders to protect salmon and continue the region’s ability to provide clean, renewable, affordable hydroelectric power.

“It is my humble opinion that the experts — the scientists, the biologists, the engineers, all of the professionals at our federal agencies and working at our dams — should be the ones deciding how best to manage this system and not just one single person, a judge in Portland, Ore.,” Newhouse said.

McMorris Rodgers and Newhouse say Simon’s 2017 court order — which requires federal agencies to increase spill from Columbia and Snake River dams — would cost utility rate payers roughly $40 million each year in higher electrical rates. The order would have “devastating” impacts on agriculture, transportation, flood control and irrigation, Newhouse said.

The spills would lead to increased dissolved nitrogen and other gases in the water and harm the fish Simon seeks to protect, Newhouse said.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — To the beat of electronic dance music, men and women inside a slate-gray building harvested marijuana plants festooned with radio-frequency identification tags. In another room, an employee entered the tag numbers into a government database.

The cannabis tracking system used by Avitas, a marijuana company with a production facility in Salem, is the backbone of Oregon’s regulatory system to ensure businesses with marijuana licenses obey the rules and don’t divert their product into the black market.

A huge amount of data is entered into the system by Oregon’s 1,800 licensees every day, a reality that means the state has a tremendous amount of information at its fingertips. But the reality also is the state doesn’t have the manpower to monitor all that data.

The marijuana regulatory agency — the Oregon Liquor Control Commission — has only one marijuana data analyst, and not enough inspectors to randomly inspect grow sites and processing facilities to ensure the accuracy of the data they are providing.

A recent state audit concluded the lack of trained inspectors and “reliability issues” with self-reported data hurt the commission’s monitoring of Oregon’s adult-use marijuana program.

“I think this is a fundamentally sound system,” the commission’s executive director, Steve Marks, told The Associated Press. But he conceded: “It’s not being used to its capabilities. We don’t have the workforce there.”

Oregon’s experience is reflective of one of the significant challenges in the expanding legal U.S. marijuana industry: the ability of governments to keep track of their own markets.

Washington, which with Colorado became the first state to broadly legalize marijuana in 2012, recently switched tracking contractors after it outgrew the first system, and quickly ran into major technical problems. Colorado has reported no significant technical issues but has only five people on the data analysis staff to help with investigations and look for potential violators.

Last year, Nevada switched tracking companies after its first system crashed. California became the world’s largest legal marijuana market on Jan. 1 without the promised vast computer system for tracking. It won’t be available for months.

The Oregon tracking system was created by Franwell, a Florida-based technology company that has contracts in a handful of states, including California. Licensees log entries into the system as seeds sprout into plants, the plants are harvested, processed, sent to stores and then sold.

The flood of data is checked by the single full-time marijuana data analyst, with occasional help. Five more will be hired soon, but they’ll have their hands full as an estimated 2,000 medical marijuana growers start entering the tracking system on July 1.

According to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, a recent inventory of adult-use marijuana in the state stood at more than 1 million pounds. That’s roughly 4 ounces for each of the state’s 4.1 million residents.

Avitas general manager Joe Bergen said the pot businesses are inputting a “ridiculous” amount of information to the tracking system. He said 10 percent of Avitas’ staff at the Salem facility is dedicated to rules compliance: tagging plants and finished products, tracking the inventory and filling out official shipping manifests.

“It’s important to do it, but it’s burdensome for a small business,” Bergen said.

The data has been useful in confirming wrongdoing in roughly 50 investigations, though less than half of them were triggered by the data, commission spokesman Rob Pettinger said.

On a recent morning, Cecilia Espinoza sat at a table inside Avitas’ production facility, staring at a desktop computer. A small wheel spun on the screen for a couple of minutes as she waited for the web application to open so she could update information about the hundreds of plants growing in the 12,000-square-foot building.

“We call it the ‘spinning wheel of death,’” Espinoza said with a laugh. “It’s tedious.”

Across the room, Bergen placed marijuana products into a bin for delivery to Mr. Nice Guy, a marijuana shop in Salem. He then walked back the history of one of the cartridges of marijuana oil. The powerful oil was produced from Strawberry Fields, a marijuana strain that the pot review site Leafly says is “tranquilizing.”

Bergen clicked on a column and added filters until he found a date — Nov. 14, 2016. That was when one of the plants whose THC was a component of the oil was cloned, when an Avitas grower snipped a sprig from a mother plant and stuck it into spongy material soaked in nutrients.

“It’s the first batch we ever produced here,” Bergen exclaimed, grinning and pointing at the screen. “That’s the beginning; that’s the origin story!”

Cannabis producers and regulators compare the tracking system to filing income taxes: They operate to a large extent on good faith, but when an auditor or inspector comes there better be evidence to back the numbers.

However, the chances of a “compliance inspector” showing up at a site is low. The Oregon commission only employs 19, with four more to be added soon.

They don’t have time to randomly check grow sites and compare amounts of marijuana they see with the data. Instead, inspectors are largely tied up investigating complaints, for example on someone carrying out a function beyond the scope of a license, or harvesters lacking the required permit, commission officials said.

Companies that have gone the legal route — paying for licenses, security and other systems to meet the requirements — say regulators should focus on those who remain outside the legal system. They note the illegal producers are unfair competition, without the large overhead.

“Really, there is no incentive for us to do anything but stay in the recreational market,” said Bergen, whose company invested millions in the Salem facility. “Why would we have gone to all this trouble, just to lose our license from doing something stupid like selling on the black market?”

Associated Press writers Eugene Johnson in Seattle and Kathleen Foody in Denver contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House approved a bill Wednesday that would effectively stop the spilling of water from four Pacific Northwest dams to help migrating salmon reach the Pacific Ocean.

The bill, approved 225-189, would prevent any changes in dam operations until 2022. It was sponsored by Republican Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Dan Newhouse, both of Washington state.

They say the four Snake River dams provide hydropower, flood control and other benefits while already allowing record salmon runs.

“We are recognizing the role dams play in the Northwest and that dams and fish can co-exist,” McMorris Rodgers, the fourth-ranking House Republican, said after the vote.

Critics, however, blame the giant dams, built in the 1960s and 1970s, for killing wild salmon, an iconic species in the Northwest. Environmentalists have pushed to remove the dams to aid salmon recovery.

The bill now goes to the Senate.

“I urge my colleagues in the Senate to come forward and support our dams,” Newhouse said.

Once one of the greatest salmon fisheries in the world, the Columbia-Snake river system now has more than a dozen endangered salmon runs.

Democrats have argued that on-going studies of the dams, including whether they should be removed, must go forward.

The four dams — Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite — span the Snake River between the Washington cities of Pasco and Pullman. Together they produce about 4 percent of the region’s electricity.

Proposals to remove the dams have percolated in the Northwest for decades, and have devolved into a largely partisan issue with Democrats generally on the side of fish and Republicans for keeping the dams.

The government has spent some $15 billion over the decades to increase salmon runs, with mixed results.

In March 2017, U.S. District Judge Michael Simon of Portland, Oregon, ordered the dams to increase spillage beginning this spring. Federal agencies estimated that increasing spill from early April to mid-June would cost ratepayers $40 million in lost power revenues this year.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld Simon’s order.

The dams operate under a plan to protect salmon created by a collaboration of federal agencies, states and Indian tribes during the Obama administration.

Simon found the plan does not do enough. He ruled a new environmental study is needed and it must consider the option of removing the dams. He also wrote that wild salmon were in a “precarious” state.

McMorris Rodgers countered that the number of salmon returning from the ocean to spawn is high.

“We have been in court now for 20 years,” McMorris Rodgers said.

The House bill would delay changes to the 2014 plan for dam operations until 2022, she said.

“The experts ... should be the ones deciding how to best manage this system,” Newhouse said. “Not a judge in Portland, Oregon.”

Northwest RiverPartners, which represents a group of river users, hailed the bill as good news for salmon.

Salmon “will continue to benefit from protections that are already working,” director Terry Flores said.

But environmental groups were dismayed by the bill.

“This legislation ensures that we continue on the same costly, ineffective path that has seen continued declines in wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest,” the environmental groups said in a joint press release.

The bill “would push salmon closer to extinction,” they contend.

Geranios reported from Spokane, Washington.

Oregon counties suing the state over logging revenues will continue pressing their case in circuit court rather than first seeking rulings on legal questions from the court of appeals.

The decision to oppose an “interlocutory appeal” of rulings in the case marks a departure for the 14 counties and more than 100 taxing districts, which initially welcomed the proposition earlier this year.

Appeals are generally reserved until the end of a case, but controversies over “a controlling question of law” can be appealed to “advance the ultimate termination of the litigation.”

In this lawsuit, the counties are seeking more than $1 billion in compensation for reduced logging of Oregon forests due to a decision 20 years ago that prioritized environmental and recreational values over timber harvest.

Counties had turned over the forestland to Oregon’s government in the early 20th Century in return for logging revenues.

A key question in the case is whether “sovereign immunity” prohibits the State of Oregon from being sued by county governments that are its “political subdivisions.”

Linn County Circuit Judge Daniel Murphy has seemed to vacillate on this point — he initially rejected the argument in 2016 that sovereign immunity precludes the counties’ lawsuit, then reversed course last year and found it’s a valid defense against their complaint.

In January, however, Murphy allowed the counties to proceed with the case despite Oregon’s claim it was barred by sovereign immunity.

At that point, plaintiffs’ attorney, John DiLorenzo, said that “from an efficiency perspective, it makes sense to get direction” regarding this issue and others from an appellate court.

In a recent letter to the judge, though, DiLorenzo said several factors had caused the counties to “reassess” the situation and conclude an interlocutory appeal would be “prejudicial” to their interests.

Plaintiffs were initially hoping for a challenge straight to the Oregon Supreme Court, but a legislative action clearing the way for such an appeal was “rejected” by the state government “for reasons unknown to the plaintiff,” he said.

Going first to the Oregon Court of Appeals could add two to three years to the litigation “before any issues are resolved” and may not resolve all the legal questions, DiLorenzo said.

An interlocutory appeal would also go forward “without a developed factual record” from trial and a delay in the litigation may prevent certain experts and witnesses from participating, he said.

Instead, the case should go to trial this calendar year, DiLorenzo said. “The interlocutory appeals would materially delay, rather than advance, the ultimate termination of this litigation, and therefore should not be allowed.

Scott Kaplan, an attorney for Oregon, sent the judge a letter stating the state government would continue seeking the interlocutory appeal that the parties had previously agreed upon.

“The State believes that no circumstances have changed to justify proceeding without such an appeal; an appellate road map to the key issues remains necessary,” Kaplan said.

The Oregon Water Resources Department will offer three open houses in Klamath County for landowners interested in learning about local groundwater management ahead of a looming summer drought.

Gov. Kate Brown declared a drought emergency for the county on March 13. Stream flows in the Klamath Basin are expected to range between 24 and 58 percent of normal through September, according to the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

In certain situations, pumping wells can also diminish stream flows in the basin due to the hydrological connection between surface water and groundwater. That, in turn, reduces the amount of surface water available to senior water rights holders, prompting OWRD to regulate junior wells until the senior rights are satisfied.

Since 2015, OWRD has regulated groundwater in accordance with “Division 25 rules,” negotiated as part of the Upper Klamath Basin Comprehensive Agreement. However, in December 2017, the Secretary of the Interior terminated the agreement, transitioning to a separate set of regulations known as “Division 9 rules.”

Because of the transition, OWRD expects to mail more regulation notices in 2018 compared to previous years. Approximately 140 permitted wells are subject to regulation under Division 9 rules, compared to about 40 wells under Division 25 rules. Division 9 rules do not affect exempt groundwater uses, including domestic use and livestock watering.

OWRD staff will be on hand to explain the new rules and answer questions during each of the three open houses. The first meeting is Monday, April 30, at 4-8 p.m. at the Sprague River Community Center in Sprague River, Ore. Two more sessions will be Tuesday, May 1, with the first from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Chiloquin Community Center in Chiloquin, Ore., and the second at 3-6 p.m. at the Klamath County Fairgrounds in Klamath Falls.

For more information, visit www.oregon.gov/owrd.

A rural Oregon brewery remains operational despite a major zoning problem but hopes that altering land use rules will offer a long-term fix.

Earlier this year, the tasting room at Agrarian Ales near Eugene, Ore., was temporarily shut down by Lane County officials, partly because its activities aren’t allowed in an “exclusive farm use” zone.

County officials also said the building wasn’t up to code for public occupancy, which Agrarian Ales has provisionally rectified by barring visitors from sitting beneath a roof overhang and instead steering them toward picnic tables on the property.

The zoning predicament also has a makeshift solution — while the brewery applies for a special use permit to run the tasting room, the county isn’t penalizing it for land use violations in the meantime.

“Lane County, on the face of it, says it’s interested in seeing this business continue,” said Stephen Harrell, the company’s farm manager.

To comply with building codes, the company is raising money through an online “Kickstarter” campaign to build a new tasting room equipped with fire suppression sprinklers, lighted exit signs and other elements.

On the land use front, Agrarian Ales wants to carve out an exemption for small breweries in Oregon’s statewide land use law, providing them with similar flexibility as wineries and cideries on farmland.

Under a proposed revision to Oregon statutes, brewpubs could be sited in “exclusive farm use” zones if they annually generate fewer than 50,000 gallons of beer, with at least half the hops or grains grown within 10 miles of the property.

That proposal was floated late during the 2018 legislative session and didn’t gain traction, but Harrell is hopeful a similar idea will prove more successful next year.

Limiting the size of brewpubs on farmland could alleviate concerns about large commercial operations, he said.

“You couldn’t run the Sierra Nevada Brewery on EFU land,” Harrell said, referring to a well-known craft brewery with widespread distribution.

Agrarian Ales already grows all the hops used in its beer and is well under the annual production cap proposed earlier this year.

However, even wineries and cideries still face some ambiguities in land use law, such as the ability to serve food, Harrell said.

“It’s subjective,” he said. “It’s not an objective set of standards,” he said.

Most wineries cannot house full restaurants under land use rules, but the Oregon Liquor Control Commission requires food to be served at drinking establishments, he said.

“You’re looking at two regulatory bodies that ostensibly are conflicting,” Harrell said.

Sen. Lee Beyer, D-Springfield, said he has commitments from agricultural and conservation groups to discuss the issue and believes it’s “realistic” a change can be made in 2019.

“I would assume the biggest objects would be that we keep the size of these relatively small and tied to farm uses onsite,” he said.

Similar agritourism activities on farmland have spurred the growth of Oregon’s wine industry, Beyer said. “You can’t develop a wine industry if you don’t have tasting rooms.”

1,000 Friends of Oregon, a farmland conservation group, is “definitely open to conversations” about an exemption for brewery agritourism “with the appropriate sideboards,” said Meriel Darzen, its staff attorney.

The details will be critical, since a brewpub operating until midnight every night of the week, for example, may create traffic or other problems for neighboring farmers, she said.

“Depending on the scale, you’re talking about something that can have significant impacts on surrounding farm uses,” Darzen said.

Taiwan recently made two small purchases of western white wheat, the first in years, according to the Washington Grain Commission.

Three years ago, when club wheat supplies were tight and prices were high, Taiwan stopped buying western white wheat, which is a blend of club wheat and soft white wheat. Instead, it bought only low-protein soft white wheat, said Glen Squires, grain commission CEO.

Club wheat is a subclass of the soft white wheat primarily grown in the Pacific Northwest. It has a more compact head, giving it a clubbed appearance, and has weak gluten and lower protein levels.

Buyers in Taiwan did not return to western white when club wheat prices went down again, Squires said. The commission visited with a Taiwanese team last summer.

The commission provided a 20-ton container of club wheat to Taiwan buyers, with U.S. Wheat Associates milling consultant Peter Lloyd demonstrating its benefits during a seminar.

The goal was to get Taiwan to resume buying western white or club wheat, Squires said.

Club wheat’s weak gluten strength is perfect for the popular sponge cakes Taiwan customers make, Squires said.

“In a hard red winter, hard red spring or even soft white, as the protein increases, the gluten strength increases,” he said. “But with club wheat, as the protein goes up, the gluten strength remains the same.”

Historically, Taiwan purchases a blend of western white that’s 80 percent soft white wheat and 20 percent club. Specifics on the shipments, including data on the blend percentage, are not yet available, Squires said.

Squires projects 195,000 acres of club wheat are being grown this year in the Pacific Northwest. Last year, club wheat production totaled about 218,000 acres. Club wheat represented 4.6 percent of the region’s total production last year and 7.9 percent of Washington’s total production.

Club wheat acreage historically fluctuates with price premiums. Squires said some farmers raise club because it makes sense for them agronomically. He isn’t worried about a supply shortage.

Demand for club wheat could increase as the commission talks with overseas buyers in Thailand and South Korea. Japan is the largest buyer, and is expected to have strong demand.

“What we don’t know is exactly how (not) being in the (Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement) is going to reflect on club wheat yet,” Squires said.

Japan is in the TPP, but Taiwan, Thailand and South Korea are not.

The commission will visit with Taiwan buyers in May to encourage them to buy more, Squires said.

Increased demand creates upward pressure on price and reduces the risk of carryover stocks, he said.

“It’s taken a year, but I think it’s been worth it to expand that demand,” he said.

ROSEBURG, Ore. — Although the snowpack in the southern Cascade Mountains is only about half of normal, watermasters in the Rogue and Umpqua areas of Oregon are anticipating, as of mid-April, that there’ll be enough water for agricultural uses through the upcoming summer.

“I don’t anticipate a drought situation, but that’s not to say it couldn’t be super hot over the next couple of months,” said Shavon Haynes, the watermaster for the Upper Rogue District in Jackson County.

“Or maybe we’ll have even more rain over the next couple of months,” he added.

Haynes said that at this point, there appears to be enough water from Rogue and Applegate river flows and from stored water sources to meet anticipated needs.

Umpqua Basin Watermaster Susan Douthit said water users who have access to Galesville or Ben Irving reservoirs should expect a predictable supply of water because those two sources have plenty of water.

A late winter, with several snow storms in the mountains and rain showers in the valleys during March and into April, has been key in improving water conditions. January and February didn’t produce much precipitation and there were major concerns at that time about there being enough water for agricultural use during the rest of the year.

“Any water from a late winter, whether snow or rain, is valuable,” Douthit said. “It would be a much different situation now if we hadn’t gotten those storms. Even though late snow doesn’t contain as much water, a late winter is better than no winter.”

The east side of the southern Cascade Mountains, however, hasn’t fared as well and drought conditions have been declared for Klamath County.

For the state of Oregon, the Water Conditions Report as of April 9 indicated there was considerable improvement in snow water equivalent values in late March and early April. Although still below normal, the statewide average moved up to 71 percent. Two of the lowest values, however, are in the Rogue and Umpqua basins.

The report also noted that the Climate Prediction Center’s most recent three-month outlook indicates increased chances of above normal temperatures in the southern third of the state. The precipitation outlook for the same period indicates below normal amounts for most of the state.

Statewide stream flows improved to 75 percent of normal for March, up from 63 percent in February. On the west side of the Cascades for March, stream flows were at 92 percent. But stream flow forecasts for the spring and summer seasons continue to predict much lower than normal flows.

Douthit explained that last year at the end of March, there was a 46-inch snowpack with about 23 inches of water content. This year there was 32 inches of snow at the end of March with only 10.5 inches of water.

The Umpqua watermaster said 2017 was a good water year with plenty available through the summer. All of southwest Oregon had well over 100 percent of normal water in 2017.

While the Rogue/Umpqua basins were at 128 percent of normal in 2017, this year they are at 54 percent.

Douthit, however, said it is not shaping up “to be the worst year by any stretch of the imagination.”

Cattle rancher Andy Owens of Glendale, Ore., in southern Douglas County said the county-owned Galesville Reservoir “is a godsend to anybody with property that wouldn’t be worth much” if there wasn’t that source of stored water.

Roseburg area farmer Evan Kruse said he doesn’t recall a winter recovering like this one with the late storms.

“I’d rather have the late winter and water for the summer than no winter at all,” he said. “I’m not sure we’ll see any curtailments this year. I’m not stressing about it.”

Haynes said the wet April so far has resulted in irrigation districts in the Rogue Basin holding off on making water deliveries. He added water deliveries will probably be at least two weeks later than normal, beginning in late April or early May.

“That tells you how important these last few storms have been,” Haynes said.

He added that Mount Ashland Ski Area in the Siskiyou Mountains was opened the weekend of April 21-22, noting that is another indication that the late storms brought snow that is still holding at higher elevations and will eventually benefit stream flows, reservoirs and ponds.

MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — A southern Oregon man has been ordered to pay over $23,000 in restitution for eluding police while high on methamphetamine, crashing through a fence and hitting two Angus bull yearlings.

The Mail Tribune reports 28-year-old Corey Elmore of Ashland pleaded guilty Monday to unauthorized use of a vehicle, fleeing police, driving under the influence of intoxicants and animal abuse.

Court documents say Elmore stole a pickup truck that had been idling Feb. 11 and fled when a deputy attempted to make a traffic stop. Documents say Elmore crashed through a fence and continued into a field, hitting the bulls before driving back onto the road. Documents say he then lost control, crashed through another fence and became stuck in a muddy field.

Documents say the bulls had to be put down.

Elmore was sentenced to 18 months of probation and had his license suspended.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Workers at a Burgerville in Southeast Portland have overwhelmingly approved the formation of a federally-recognized union.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports employees of the chain’s Southeast 92nd Avenue and Powell Boulevard location voted 18-4 in favor. Three workers abstained from voting. Workers cast ballots at the restaurant during a two-day election, which ended Monday night.

Organizers say the victory makes it the first federally recognized fast-food workers union in the country.

The results, overseen by the National Labor Relations Board, will now legally require Burgerville to negotiate with the store’s workers, who have pushed for a wage increase, affordable health care and other benefits.

Burgerville spokeswoman Beth Brewer says the company supports the workers’ decision.

Burgerville has about 1,500 employees in Oregon and southern Washington state.

Some Eastern Washington lawmakers want the Snake River Dams to stay in place. They’ve crafted a bill to leave the dams as they are in response to a federal judge’s order to consider removing the dams to protect salmon. The bill, H.R. 3144, is expected to be voted on by the U.S. House this week.”Our legislation will keep in place the current collaborative framework that fosters fish recovery efforts while balancing the many economic contributions of our dams,” said Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Dan Newhouse in a joint statement. Two years ago, a federal judge said the government was not doing enough to protect salmon. He wanted dam managers to think long and hard about ways to help the iconic fish, which have been struggling for decades to make it past dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers. One option he asked dam managers to thoroughly consider was removing or altering the four Lower Snake River dams. “Despite billions of dollars spent on these efforts, the listed species continue to be in a perilous state,” U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon wrote. “The (Federal Columbia River Power System) remains a system that ‘cries out’ for a new approach.”

Breaching the Lower Snake River dams in southeastern Washington has been a heated debate for decades. And now, instead of debating it, several lawmakers want that option off the table. They’ve introduced legislation that would keep the federal government’s dam management plan (called the biological opinion and referred to in shorthand as a “bi-op” — rejected by Judge Simon) in place until 2022. Eastern Washington Republicans McMorris Rodgers and Newhouse say the dams are too important for agriculture, navigation and energy. “Rejecting the bi-op only hurts the people of Washington state and sets us back decades in our fight to protect fish and support clean energy,” Newhouse said at a press conference in the Tri-Cities last month. A recent study by an energy advocacy group suggested that the dams could be replaced by renewable energy — making this less a decision about energy, they said. Hydropower supporters say replacing the dams would mean more of the Northwest’s power would have to come from fossil fuel sources, like natural gas.

This legislation would also overturn Judge Simon’s decision to increase more spill over eight Columbia and Snake river dams. Simon ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to spill more water overtop the dams to help juvenile salmon that migrate out to the ocean. An appeals court recently affirmed Simon’s order to increase spill over the dams from April to mid-June. Opponents of the bill say it bypasses the judicial process and undermines the Endangered Species Act. “Congress should focus on actually helping this species recover, not undermining this process through backwards legislation not based on sound science or robust public processes. I will vote against this bill if it comes to the floor, and I urge my colleagues in the House and Senate to do the same,” said Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., in a statement. Environmental groups also strongly oppose the bill. “This legislative proposal is misguided, counter-productive and based on an extremely poor understanding of the plight of our salmon and any realistic changes to how Columbia Basin hydro-system would operate to better protect salmon,” said Bill Arthur, Sierra Club Chair, Columbia-Snake River Salmon Recovery Campaign, in an earlier statement.