If you’re one of the 1.7 million Oregonians whose information was potentially compromised by the recent Equifax data breach, don’t expect to get a letter in the mail telling you about it.

That’s because under a 2007 state law, companies that experience electronic security breaches don’t have to personally inform victims if the cost of making such notifications would exceed $250,000 or if the number of people affected exceeds 350,000.

It’s part of a much larger bill that was known as the “Oregon Consumer Identity Theft Protection Act.”

In a state-mandated notification to the Oregon Department of Justice on Sept. 7, Equifax stated that 1,721,725 Oregonians were “potentially impacted” by the data breach, which occurred over a period of several months earlier this year.

That’s nearly half of the state’s population. Equifax said roughly 143 million U.S. consumers were affected overall.

The company, which collects information on consumer credit history, said its systems were “exploited” by hackers who were able to access names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and in some cases driver’s license numbers.

The breach was the subject of a hearing at the Oregon Capitol on Tuesday.

Aaron Knott, the Legislative Director for the Oregon Department of Justice, told members of the Oregon House and Senate Judiciary committees that some of them were probably affected.  

“Look to the person to your right, look to the person to your left,” Knott said. “Probably at least half, if not more of you, have been impacted by this. This is an incredibly significant breach.”

Equifax isn’t completely off the hook when it comes to letting Oregonians know about the issue.  

The 2007 law requires companies that experience massive data breaches to post a notice on their website, and to notify “major statewide television and newspaper media.”

The law also requires companies to allow potential victims of a data breach to place a freeze on their credit history. According to the Oregon Department of Justice, Equifax is allowing Oregonians to do this for free until Nov. 21.

LEBANON, Ore. (AP) — Authorities say a small tornado damaged buildings at a dairy farm southeast of Salem in the area of Lacomb.

Lebanon Fire District officials say firefighters were called to Spencer’s Dairy Farm Tuesday afternoon.

Officials say crews found five buildings at the dairy were extensively damaged by wind.

Fire officials say two of the buildings were total losses and that a path of debris and damage was seen for nearly a mile.

Fire officials say none of the eight homes in the area were damaged.

Authorities say multiple power lines and tree branches were down in the immediate area but no injuries were reported.

The National Weather Service in Portland said on Twitter that a survey team assessed the scene and confirmed that a tornado rated EF0 with winds of 65-75 mph happened at 1:07 p.m.

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — Oregon’s Douglas County attempted to restrict hemp production under rules for growing marijuana before being warned the policy violated the state’s “right to farm” law.

Hemp is considered a crop under Oregon’s land use law, which means it can be grown outright in farm zones.

Medical and recreational marijuana, meanwhile, can be subject to reasonable “time, place and manner” regulations by local governments.

Before planting hemp, farmers must first obtain a permit from the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

As part of its hemp policy, Douglas County requested that ODA not approve hemp licenses unless county officials issued a “land use compatibility statement” to the growers.

The ODA refused because such regulation of hemp would violate Oregon’s “right to farm” law, which prohibits local ordinances restricting common farming practices as nuisance or trespass activities.

Douglas County and ODA have now agreed that hemp production isn’t subject to restrictions, though county officials can still ask to inspect a grower’s state hemp license, said Jim Johnson, ODA’s land use specialist, during a Sept. 19 meeting of the Oregon Board of Agriculture in Klamath Falls.

However, Johnson said other counties — including Jackson, Josephine and Clackamas — may be considering similar regulatory approaches to hemp as had Douglas County.

“All these counties have vocal rural residential populations that don’t like cannabis,” he said.

While hemp doesn’t contain enough of a psychoactive substance to cause similar mind-altering effects as marijuana, some residents nonetheless worry about strong odors and potential “criminal elements,” he said.

“It’s all the same concerns being expressed,” said Johnson.

While ODA objected to regulation of hemp growing, it has acknowledged Douglas County can restrict processing of the crop, similarly to other farm products.

Exactly what constitutes “processing” — as opposed to crop “preparation,” which is allowed outright in farm zones — will likely vary on a case-by-case basis, Johnson said.

Another concern is if county governments began charging fees to inspect hemp-growing licenses, he said.

“It’s something we’re going to keep an eye on,” Johnson said.

Other battles over land use in agriculture are also brewing, Johnson said.

Solar projects on high-value farmland are controversial, and two proposals approved by local officials in Jackson and Clackamas counties are being challenged before the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals, he said.

“We’re going to start to get some case law on that,” he said.

Oregon’s Land Conservation and Development Commission may also soon decide to review rules for solar facilities on farmland, he said.

Such efforts are likely to be opposed as unnecessary by the solar industry, Johnson said. “I anticipate this will be a real fun one.”

Another likely source of controversy is the proposed rezoning of about 800 acres in Columbia County from farm use to industrial use, he said.

The expansion of “Port Westward” is located close to the Columbia river but it also contains prime farmland with irrigation infrastructure and “phenomenal” drainage facilities, Johnson said.

“It’s got all the things highly productive agriculture requires,” he said.

One case that’s attracted a lot of attention probably won’t have much of an impact on Oregon agriculture overall, Johnson said.

In August, the Oregon Court of Appeals upheld an order requiring a Jackson County couple to pay more than $200,000 in damages to neighbors and to have their dogs devocalized, or “debarked.”

On its face, the ruling would seem to raise “right to farm” issues, but the dog owners did not established they were engaged in a commercial farm activity, Johnson said.

For that reason, the ruling isn’t likely to set a legal precedent for other farmers who rely on guard dogs, he said.

PORTLAND — Garry Stephenson, director of the Center for Small Farms and Community Food Systems at Oregon State University had some advice recently for the state’s organic producers.

Stephenson, keynote speaker at the annual Oregon Organic Coalition’s awards luncheon held in Portland, said organic producers need to be at the table when legislation affecting organic systems is debated. They also should be working directly with ag experts at OSU and should be involved in the upcoming search for a new dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences, he said. Dean Dan Arp announced he is retiring in 2018.

In an interview after his talk at the event, Stephenson said the continued market growth of organic products, and the need to support it, should be self-evident.

“I was there to advocate for more research money for organic farming,” Stephenson said. “I’m surprised I have to ask. We should be investing in it more deeply.”

Oregon and the West Coast are organic production hot spots. California leads the nation in organic production value, Washington is second and Oregon is fourth with $269 million in organic sales in 2016 — a $32 million jump in two years, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

University and industry funding for organic research projects “makes the engine run,” but boot-level research also takes place “on thousands and thousands of farms every day,” Stephenson said. “All that problem-solving that occurs there is the foundation for advancing these farming systems.”

Stephenson said farmers always look upon other farmers with respect, and the friction between conventional and organic production doesn’t happen at that level. Rather, it is farming systems and such issues as genetic engineering and herbicide drift that drive a wedge between producers.

“The battles we get into in ag are often about technology, not science,” Stephenson said.

Individuals and businesses were honored during the Oregon Organic Coalition’s annual awards luncheon. Recipients included operators on both sides of the urban-rural divide, such as a Portland brewpub and a livestock auction yard in Lebanon, a small Willamette Valley town.

Awards go to individuals or businesses that demonstrate “innovation in organic practices, service to the industry, expansion of organic business opportunities and overall achievement in the state’s organic industry,” according to a coalition news release.

Winners this year were:

Retailer: Hopworks Urban Brewery, Portland. Founded by Christian and Brandie Ettinger, the brewery uses locally sourced hops that are certified organic and certified Salmon Safe. It’s also a Certified B Corporation.

Livestock Farm: Lebanon Auction Yard, Lebanon. The facility dates to the late 1940s and was purchased by the Cowart family in 1987. It’s considered one of the most modern livestock facilities in Oregon, capable of processing a single animal or a herd. In 2016 it marketed 15,000 head of cattle plus sheep, goats and pigs. It was certified in 2015 as an organic livestock handler.

Organic Certifier: Steller Certification Services, Philomath. The company, founded in 2002, certifies 188 organic operations nationally. It also provides organic certification services to biodynamic farmers and processors, who have an additional set of standards.

Scientist: Ramon Seidler, a former professor of microbiology at Oregon State University. He’s also a retired senior research scientist and GMO bio-safety team leader with the federal Environmental Protection Agency, and prepared the EPA’s first bio-safety plan for evaluating genetically engineered microbes and plants.

Processor: Oregon’s Wild Harvest, Redmond. The business uses innovative composting methods and “regenerative” farming to sequester carbon, saves its own seeds from products it grows and is non-GMO, organic and biodynamic certified. Ten percent of its land is set aside as pollinator habitat.

Wholesaler: Bridges Organic Produce, Portland. The distribution company works with mid-size growers in particular, linking them with consumers and pursuing a business model that allows all stakeholders to make informed decisions and wise investments, according to the company website. It partners with organizations such as Fair Trade USA and the Sustainable Food Trade Association “to promote environmental responsibility, sustainable communities and the organic produce trade.”

Crop Farm: Groundwork Organics, Junction City. Founded in 2000, the farm sells organic fruit, vegetables and flowers at seven farmers’ markets, its own roadside stand, to 450 CSA customers and to restaurants, natural food stores and wholesalers. In 2016, Groundwork donated 60,000 pounds of fresh produce to Food for Lane County.

With cooler temperatures and rain hitting the region this week, some firefighters are headed home Monday. The Chetco Bar Fire in Southwest Oregon is 53 percent contained as of Monday morning, while the Eagle Creek Fire in the Columbia River Gorge is 32 percent contained. 

“We still have over 7,500 firefighters and support personnel working in our region,” said Carol Connolly, a public information officer with the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center in Portland. “But the Eagle Creek and the Chetco Bar numbers are down just slightly.” 

Connolly says despite the rainy weather, crews are expected to be working on both fires for weeks. The Northwest remains the nation’s top firefighting priority.

The rain forces firefighters to think about other hazards. 

“With the rain coming in it’s going to dislodge boulders, it will make the ground not as stable, we could see some mudslides, trees going, rocks falling,” Connolly said. 

Firefighters are working to create drainage and erosion controls in burned areas to reduce the risk of landslides. That’s in addition to continued work to control the fires.

State officials warn travelers to be extra aware when traveling through susceptible landslide areas. 

The current area of concern includes Government Camp, Detroit, Santiam Pass, Corbett, Rooster Rock, Multnomah Falls, Cascade Locks, Hood River, North Bonneville, Stevenson, Carson, and Underwood.

The Dunning family will break from tradition upon introducing their estate-grown Pinot gris later this year — the wine will debut in cans rather than bottles.

The idea is to target the “active wine drinker” who prefer not to lug around a heavy 750-milliliter glass bottle on hikes and other outdoor adventures, said Kyle Dunning, the family’s patriarch.

“There are places you can’t take a bottle where you can take a can,” Dunning said.

Kyle and his wife, Holly, planted the first grape vines on their property near Corvallis, Ore., in 1990, back when their two sons, Parker and Brayden, were still youngsters.

Since then, the family has mostly harvested and sold grapes to winemakers, but they’ve recently taken steps to become more vertically integrated.

Last year, their two grown sons launched a mobile bottling and canning service under the “Knotty Brothers” brand, under which the family’s wine will also be sold.

About 350 cases of the wine cans were fermented by winemaker Joe Dobbes from grapes that were harvested from the family’s vineyard last year.

The Dunnings have a ready-made clientele for the product among the wineries, breweries and cideries across Eastern Oregon and Idaho that contract with Knotty Brothers for bottling and canning services.

Cans offer convenient portion control, as each holds the equivalent of two wine glasses, said Holly. With a 750-milliliter bottle, consumers must either commit to drinking the whole thing or risk degrading the quality of leftover wine by exposing it to oxygen.

For breweries, the cans provide an opportune serving container, so they don’t have to invest in glasses, said Parker. “They don’t need to do anything to sell our wine.”

Many sports arenas and parks don’t allow glass bottles but can be entered with cans, which are also simple to recycle, said Robert Zarate, a canning consulant hired by the Dunnings.

“It’s growing for sure. It’s getting big,” he said.

Between 2012 and 2016, sales of canned wine surged from less than $2 million to more than $14 million in the U.S., according to the Nielsen research company.

That’s still only about 1 percent of the total wine market, but “portability” is seen as a big plus, with 73 percent of consumers saying easy-to-carry containers are important to them, according to Nielsen.

Canning wine involves a somewhat different process than canning beer, since the federal government requires a slightly larger can size — the equivalent of half a bottle, or roughly 12.5 fluid ounces.

The cans are also lined with a polymer coating to prevent wine from eating away at the aluminum container, since it’s more acidic than beer.

Also, each can must be dosed with nitrogen gas to replace oxygen, which spoils wine over time.

Wine cans are less readily available than beer cans, and moderately more expensive, said Kyle Dunning. “Manufacturing of wine cans has not caught up to demand.”

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s recommendation to President Donald Trump recommending downsizing the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument has several errors, one of the people who was behind the creation of the monument said Monday.

A memo from Zinke to the president justifying his recommendation that the boundaries of the monument, which lies mostly in Oregon and crosses over into California, be “revised” says motor vehicles aren’t allowed in it.

“There are hundreds of roads inside this monument. I live on private land inside the monument. Do we walk or ride horses?” asked Dave Willis, the chairman of the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council.

He also wondered why Zinke’s memo referred to protecting hunting and fishing rights, saying those activities are already allowed in national monuments.

“These factual errors make it look disinformed,” Willis said in a phone interview. “It’s sloppy work or an attempt to make something that’s unacceptable acceptable to people who don’t know better.”

Bob Rees, founder of the Northwest Guides and Anglers Association, said: “Rolling back protections on Cascade-Siskiyou would be the worst attack on Oregon hunters and anglers I’ve seen in my 20 years as a fishing guide. American outdoor enthusiasts should have more access to public lands, not less.”

But counties that rely on logging revenues according to an old pact have objected to the monument’s expansion by President Barack Obama, and a group applauded the reported recommendation.

“Congress already set aside these lands eighty years ago for the specific purpose of sustainable timber production in the O&C Act, and the president — regardless of party — doesn’t have the authority to rewrite the law,” said American Forest Resource Council President Travis Joseph.

Lawson Fite, of the Portland-based council, said the monument’s expansion caused these counties to lose revenue “as future timber sales have been cancelled.”

“These funds are used to support important local services,” Fite said.

Willis said that given scientific studies into the monument’s expansion and numerous public hearings, “it would be sad if this quickie, error-filled report was used to diminish the monument’s boundaries and protections.”

The future of Oregon’s Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument remains cloudy despite the details revealed in a recent leaked report from the Trump administration.

The memorandum to President Donald Trump from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke includes recommendations for 10 national monuments, including the Cascade-Siskiyou, which was nearly doubled in size by the Obama administration early this year.

Originally, the monument consisted of 53,000 acres, with private property purchases incrementally adding 13,000 acres over the years. In 2017, the monument expanded onto nearly 48,000 acres of public land.

While Zinke says the monument’s boundary “should be revised” to remove so-called “O&C Lands” that are dedicated to timber production and “to reduce impacts on private lands,” the report doesn’t state exactly how many acres should be cut, or where.

Critics and supporters of the expansion agree it’s unclear what action Trump may take on the recommendations, given the disputes over management of 0&C Lands.

The federal government initially granted those 2.4 million acres to a railroad connecting Oregon and California, but then repossessed the property in 1937 when grant conditions were breached.

The Oregon & California Revested Lands Act required that the property be permanently managed for a “sustained yield” of timber harvest. For this reason, critics of the expansion say O&C Lands can’t be included in the monument, where commercial logging is prohibited.

Zinke’s report notes that roughly 16,600 acres of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument consist of O&C Lands “harvest land base.” However, the timber industry claims 40,000 acres of O&C Lands within the monument’s boundaries should be open to logging.

The American Forest Resource Council, which represents timber companies, alleges a resource management plan that limits harvest to those 16,600 acres violates the O&C Act, said Lawson Fite, the organization’s general counsel.

Though it’s uncertain whether the Trump administration would remove all 40,000 acres from the monument, or just 16,600 acres, AFRC is encouraged the expansion is being scrutinized, he said.

“We think that by including any O&C Lands in the monument, the previous president overstepped his authority under the Antiquities Act and violated the O&C Act,” Fite said.

The Antiquities Act permits U.S. presidents to establish national monuments, but whether later administrations can shrink their boundaries remains a point of contention.

Zinke believes that Trump can make such revisions, citing 18 such changes made in the past, but monument supporters argue that an attempt to decrease the Cascade-Siskiyou’s boundaries would be unlawful.

“It would be a sad waste of the Department of the Interior’s resources and taxpayer money,” said Dave Willis, executive director of the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council, an environmental group.

Zinke’s report wrongly indicated that motorized travel within the monument is prohibited and that hunting and fishing are disallowed, Willis said.

It’s unclear whether these errors were due to sloppiness or an attempt to spur support for shrinking the monument, which is opposed by a wide swath of the public, he said.

“It looked like pretty shoddy work,” Willis said.

SALEM — Fighting Oregon wildfires this year so far has cost state, federal, local, tribal and private entities more than $340 million and consumed 678,000 acres, state authorities said Monday.

All of that activity manifested into smoke-filled air and limited visibility for many Oregonians.

The “sheer volume of fires all at the same time and continuous days of growth up through Washington and Idaho” created the oppressive conditions, said Doug Grafe, fire protection division chief at the Oregon Department of Forestry.

More than 8,000 personnel from different agencies have been deployed to fight 1,903 separate wildland fires across the state. That’s more than one-third of the personnel deployed to combat wildfires nationwide, Grafe said.

The most dangerous fires started in late July and early August. The region has been dry since mid-June, with no significant rainfall until Sunday. Tens of thousands of lightning strikes contributed to the severity of the fire season.

Smoke had already captured the attention of most of the state, when the human-caused Eagle Creek fire sparked in the state’s scenic gem, the Columbia Gorge, Sept. 15, trapped 150 hikers and threatened the City of Portland’s water supply, the Bull Run Watershed.

Fire crews kept the fire from that crucial water supply and from the Multnomah Falls Lodge, where flames came within 40 feet of the historic structure.

“A lot of what this fire was doing was spotting out ahead of itself within communities, and they were just having to go after it, and catch it,” said Oregon Fire Marshal Jim Walker. “They did that hand-in-hand with all of the resources, partnering together.”

Rain on Sunday evoked widespread excitement in the Gorge, where firefighters continued to battle flames visible from Interstate 84.

“I think we are in good place with the rain and the conditions,” Grafe said.

Gov. Kate Brown deployed the Oregon National Guard Aug. 2 to respond to several severe fires. National Guard helicopters assisted with the rescue of trapped hikers and poured 1.3 million gallons of water on burning land and structures. ODF has released the helicopters after 45 days of duty.

The conditions on air personnel are as bad, if not worse, than combat, said Dave Stuckey, deputy director of the Oregon Military Department.

The state placed 950 National Guardsmen on state active duty, a high for any year since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when 1,979 Oregon National Guard personnel were deployed, Stuckey said.

Fire crews have suffered no fatalities, but there have been about 34 injuries among National Guard personnel and 23 among ODF personnel.

The governor’s order to deploy the National Guard covered four fires: Eagle Creek, Nena Springs, Milli and Chetco Bar.

Those four fires alone threatened 19,978 residences and destroyed 10. Nearly 8,000 people were evacuated in those areas. The cost of fighting the fire was about $15.3 million, said Oregon Fire Marshal Jim Walker.

Oregon is one of the few states with a wildfire insurance policy but that will cover only 42,000 acres, or about 6 percent of the affected areas in the state, Walker said.

DIXONVILLE, Ore. — At just 21 years old, Trent Pynch is already a couple years into the responsibility of carrying on his family’s ranching tradition.

Both his grandparents, Jim and Bonnie Pynch, and his parents, Jamey and Heidi, had sheep. Trent Pynch has purchased those animals and is now making the decisions regarding their care.

“Since he was 3 years old, all he wanted to do was to get into sheep,” Jamey Pynch said of his son. “He’ll always have livestock, it’s in his blood. My dad had always done this and I’ve always done it.”

Trent Pynch does get help from the older members of his family and from his girlfriend, Arica Hunter, because he has several other responsibilities in addition to his 180 ewes and 12 mother cows. He’s a full-time employee at the Douglas County Farmers Co-op in Roseburg, Ore., in the spring he’s a leader of the Dixonville Livestock 4-H Club and he’s possibly one of the youngest-ever board members of the Douglas County Livestock Association.

“I do sleep occasionally,” he said with a smile. “I’m busy, but that’s how I like it. It keeps me out of trouble.”

Roseburg area rancher George Sandberg said he is not surprised by the young rancher’s involvement in agriculture.

“What I saw in Trent was a lot of ambition, working his way into agriculture by showing sheep, talking to adults and always looking for something to get involved in,” Sandberg said. “He’s in an industry that’s not known for having young people. To be 21 and doing what he’s doing is pretty exceptional.

“There’s just not very many young people in agriculture and Trent is already doing what seasoned people in agriculture are doing,” the rancher added.

Trent Pynch grew up on the family sheep ranch. At age 4, he and his grandmother Bonnie worked together to nurse a sickly, cold bummer lamb back to health. The lamb was then given to Trent and 17 years later his flock has offspring from that ewe lamb.

In the first grade, Trent, with his father’s help, picked out and purchased two ewes at a Roseburg sale. Offspring from those two are also in his flock.

In the fourth grade, the boy became a member of the Roseburg Stockman 4-H Club. Three years later as a seventh-grader, he and his lamb earned grand champion honors in the Douglas County Lamb Show.

In his sophomore year at Glide High School, Trent Pynch got into the sheep business full-time. He took out a loan and purchased 40 ewes from his parents and grandparents. A year later, he diversified his livestock operation by taking out another loan and purchasing 12 mother cows.

In his senior year, he concluded his lamb showing career as a 4-H member with the reserve champion at the lamb show. That same year, he was named the Round Robin Master Showman for both 4-H and FFA, having been judged the best at showing his sheep, pigs and goats. He celebrated by taking out another loan and purchasing 40 more ewes from the family ranch.

Pynch’s success with his livestock operation was recognized in 2015. He had utilized the USDA’s Youth Loan Program and he was named the program’s most successful youth in the nation. He was the first Oregon participant to win that honor.

“He’s really good at being organized and detailed with his animals,” Jamey Pynch said of his son. “He’s got the history of most of his ewes in his head.”

Trent Pynch learned by listening to older ranchers and now, even at a young age, he’s already sharing what he knows. He does that by raising show lambs for purchase by 4-H and FFA members, by being a 4-H club leader and answering questions posed by customers at the co-op.

The young rancher said his realistic goal is to have 200 ewes and 15 mother cows, and to work his way up and to take on more responsibilities at the farmers co-op.

“It’s not just the business aspect, but I enjoy doing this,” he said of ranching. “I don’t picture myself anywhere else. I love it here.”

Federal authorities will soon be sharing preliminary findings of a water study of Oregon’s Upper Deschutes Basin with landowners and other affected parties.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and regional partners will use the input to complete their analysis of water management in the basin, whose water supply demands are eventually expected to exceed supplies by 230,000 acre-feet a year.

One component of the report, which is due in mid-2018, will examine the feasibility of expanding water storage in the region.

The possibilities being studied include raising an existing dam to expand the Haystack Reservoir south of Madras, Ore., or building a new upstream facility.

The study is also looking at creating a new “Monner” reservoir east of Madras or restoring storage in the Prineville reservoir that’s been lost to sedimentation.

Water conservation and water transfers are also being examined in the study, said Mike Relf, project manager with the Bureau of Reclamation’s Pacific Northwest regional office.

“Storage is just one part of the basin study,” Relf said.

The goal is to lay out the benefits and challenges of potential storage options, rather than make any recommendations, he said.

“The idea is not to promote any particular idea,” Relf said.

Building or expanding water reservoirs would entail environmental studies and funding processes that would likely require decades to complete, he said. “Storage would by far be the longest-term idea out there.”

It’s worthwhile to take a closer look at storage possibility, the likelihood of actually starting construction is a long shot, said Mike Britton, general manager of the North Unit Irrigation District, which is one of the partners participating in the $1.5 million study.

Aside from bureaucratic and financial hurdles, storage projects are often unrealistic because they’d flood existing infrastructure, such as gas pipelines and power transmission lines, he said.

“Those types of obstacles are potential deal stoppers,” Britton said.

California, for example, has a long list of potential storage options that haven’t been built for decades, he said. “I doubt we’d be that much different here, unfortunately.”

The prospect of expanding the Haystack Reservoir, however, is making at least one landowner nervous.

Kenny Reed, who owns a ranch abutting the reservoir, worries an expansion would disrupt habitat for bald eagles that he’s conserving under an agreement with the federal government.

Reed has expressed his concerns to the Bureau of Reclamation, which has acknowledged there’s a conservation plan for the area.

“The entire ranch is designated as bald eagle habitat,” Reed said. “We didn’t go through a 20-year process to say it doesn’t matter anymore.”

WELCHES, Ore. — State wildlife officials made more than 50 changes so far to a draft wolf management plan and hope to have it ready for public and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission review by the end of the year.

Conservation groups have criticized what they consider a delay in updating the plan, especially as five wolves have been legally shot since August due to repeated attacks on livestock. Groups such as Oregon Wild argue that ODFW should not authorize lethal action on wolves while a management plan review is pending.

Commission Chairman Michael Finley defended the process.

“I will say there is no intention to delay or pause for the sake of delay,” he said by email. “We have a responsible wolf plan in place and are working to replace it with an updated plan that reflects lessons learned and works to recover the wolf.”

At a Sept. 15 commission meeting at Resort at the Mountain, on the flanks of Mount Hood, ODFW wolf program coordinator Russ Morgan said most of the changes are based on input from the public and from commission members.

“To me that strengthens this document,” said Morgan, who is retiring effective Oct. 1 and was making his last report to the commission.

Commission members thanked Morgan for his work in managing a controversial species, a process in which conservation groups and livestock producers hold opposing and hotly debated points of view.

Commissioner Greg Wolley said people recognize “what a tough spot” Morgan has been in.

“What I’ve found is respect for your professionalism and objectivity,” Wolley said. “It reflects on the whole department and on all of us.”

Morgan was questioned about Oregon’s wolf population. The state confirmed a minimum of 112 wolves at the end of 2016, only one more than the previous year after many consecutive years of rapid population increases. ODFW officials maintain the population survey late last year was hampered by extreme weather and that Oregon has more wolves than were counted.

Morgan said new wolves have shown up this year, ODFW placed more tracking collars on wolves than ever before, and he is encouraged by the numbers.

“There was talk of a stalled population, but one data point doesn’t make a trend,” he said. “I think we will see a promising increase in wolves. Oregon wolves, I’m confident, are doing well and will continue to do well.”

The majority of Oregon wolves remain in the northeast corner of the state, but Morgan said they will continue to disperse into the Cascade Mountains and elsewhere.

BOISE — Irrigation water will flow until the middle of October in many parts of the Treasure Valley of Idaho and Oregon and many irrigation districts will finish the year with a lot more carryover water than normal.

Mountain snowpack reached near-record levels in many basins in southwestern Idaho and Eastern Oregon last winter and the result was a plentiful water supply this year and ample supplies heading into next season.

“It’s been a pretty good water year,” said Tim Page, manager of the Boise Project Board of Control, which provides water to 167,000 acres and five irrigation districts in southwestern Idaho.

Page said the project plans to cease deliveries on Oct. 16, which is about a week later than in recent years.

The project will also finish the year with about 220,000 acre-feet of carryover water, depending on how much demand there is on the system between now and Oct. 16. That’s about 75,000 acre-feet more than last year.

The Owyhee Project, which supplies water to 1,800 farms and 118,000 irrigated acres in Eastern Oregon and part of Idaho, will shut off about the middle of October, depending on demand, said Bruce Corn, a farmer and member of the Owyhee Irrigation District’s board of directors.

The Owyhee Reservoir will end the season with more than 400,000 acre-feet of carryover water for next year, Corn said. The reservoir hasn’t had that much carryover water since 2011.

“That pretty much assures us of a normal water supply for next year,” Corn said. “If we have a dry winter, we’ll still have an adequate amount of irrigation water for next year.”

Pioneer Irrigation District tentatively plans to cease water deliveries to its 5,800 patrons on Oct. 6, although the actual date will be confirmed during a board meeting next week, said PID Manager Mark Zirschky.

As of now, it looks like the district will carry over about 50 percent of its total reservoir storage water into next season, well above the normal 20-25 percent total, Zirschky said.

He said the district was able to get by on natural flow in the Boise River much longer than normal this year and therefore didn’t have to use as much of its reservoir storage as usual.

The Payette River system, which provides irrigation water to about 160,000 acres, will end this year with its reservoirs about 70 percent full, as opposed to about 50 percent in a typical year, said watermaster Ron Shurtleff.

“We’re going to go into this winter very healthy,” he said. “We could weather a real short water year and still come out fine on the Payette.”

The Weiser Irrigation District plans to cease water deliveries on Oct. 15, it’s normal cutoff date, said chairman Vernon Lolley.

The district will finish the year with about 30,000 acre-feet of carryover water, which is “way ahead of where we normally are,” Lolley said.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Eugene and surrounding area wood products companies are tallying the damage as Oregon wildfire season dwindles.

The Register-Guard reports both Eugene-based Seneca Jones Timber Co. and Springfield-based Roseburg Forest Products lost thousands of trees last month in a fire in Douglas County, which has burned through private and federal forests.

Fires throughout the state and extremely hot and dry conditions prompted authorities to impose complete or partial restrictions on logging and other work on public and privately owned lands, hampering timber output.

With recent cooler weather, however, complete bans have been lifted, allowing loggers to return to work.

Firefighting should improve starting this weekend as rain and cooler temperatures are expected to return to much of Western Oregon.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Recently released state records say at least 43 children and seven adults reportedly suffered health problems after they were exposed to powerful insecticide at a Coos Bay day care facility.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the insecticide incident occurred April 29 at the Coos Bay Children’s Academy Inc. The owner voluntarily shut down the day care in May. The newspaper obtained state records and information that have not been publicly shared since the incident.

An Oregon Department of Agriculture investigation found that the day care improperly applied an insecticide inside the facility to exterminate fleas. The state suggested this month fining day care owner Elizabeth Ewing and her husband, Gerald, $1,628 for the incident. The state’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed a separate $720 fine for workplace safety violations.

Oregon’s largest wildfire, the Chetco Bar Fire in Southwest Oregon, is still creating smoke and poor air quality around Brookings and Grants Pass.

The fire has covered 185,000 acres so far — that’s five times more than the Eagle Creek Fire along the Columbia River Gorge.

When air quality is poor, even healthy people may experience problems. The best thing to do is limit exposure by staying inside, keeping windows and doors closed, drinking plenty of water, and avoiding vigorous exercise.

About two dozen wildfires are burning around Oregon now. Most areas of the state east of the Willamette Valley have moderate or poor air quality.

The Chetco Bar Fire was started by lightning in July. It’s been burning for nine weeks and was 8 percent contained as of Sept. 13.

Approximately 1,600 firefighters are fighting the fire.

The last 48 hours have been a challenge for firefighters in the Columbia River Gorge.

Warm, dry winds have pushed the blaze over Herman Creek, allowing the Eagle Creek Fire to make a 3-mile run. But authorities say they’re still able to protect nearby communities.

Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese has reduced evacuation orders, which includes lifting Level 1 evacuations for all areas of Troutdale, west of the Sandy River.

People living in about 100 homes closer to the fire have also been allowed to return. But they will have to check in at the Corbett Community Church first to get a permit.

The fire is 13 percent contained and about 1,700 people remain under evacuation orders near Crown Point and in Cascade Locks.

The Oregon Department of Transportation said it will be assessing the threat of landslides for months after the fire. That’s because the roots of vegetation and trees killed won’t be able to hold the soil together.

ODOT said crews are using snow plows to clear fallen rocks and trees from the Historic Columbia River Highway. It’s not yet clear when Interstate 84 will reopen.

One person has been cited for hiking into the area and flying a drone to collect video footage.

CORVALLIS, Ore. — On a typical summer day, Anita Holman, an Oregon State University faculty research assistant, will have around 1,000 tall fescue or perennial rye grass samples waiting in the laboratory for her and 11 student workers to test.

Their goal: to check if there is a toxic level of endophytes in the grass straw.

“After harvest starts, within two to three weeks, I’m a thousand deep in test requests,” Holman said.

Holman works at the OSU Endophyte Service Laboratory, one of the few labs in the world that test for the poisonous alkaloids in endophytes. An endophyte is a fungus that can live within a grass plant. It helps protect the plant from drought and pests. But the same bioactive compound that keeps pests away can also be harmful to animals that eat too much of it.

Past problems with overdoses of endophyte sickening livestock have sparked a heightened awareness among grass seed growers about the importance of testing the straw byproduct of their seed production before using it for livestock feed. The industry has now reached a balance by working together to protect animals and keep costumers happy, along with developing innovative new methods of controlling the toxin.

Three diseases are caused by endophyte alkaloids: ryegrass staggers, fescue toxicosis and ergot toxicosis. The ryegrass staggers cause muscle weakness, tremors and spasms in horses and livestock. Fescue toxicosis causes fescue foot — dry, dead tissue in the extremities; summer slump in which animals develop hyperthermia; reduced food intake; and reproductive and lactation difficulties.

Ergot toxicosis can cause diarrhea, high temperature, rapid breathing, poor appetite and weight loss.

David Bohnert, director of the Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center and a professor at OSU, has researched methods of alleviating toxicosis symptoms, such as giving animals seaweed extract or other compounds to help reduce the absorption of toxins.

Researchers, however, have found that while they alleviate some symptoms, they don’t eliminate all.

“There is no ‘silver bullet’ that will solve all the alkaloid problems seen with some varieties of tall fescue,” Bohnert said in an email. “Each product can be part of the overall tool box to help manage high-alkaloid forage; however, risk, cost and each ranch’s available infrastructure will determine what option, or combination of options, is best for that particular operation.”

In addition to impacting livestock, one of the three diseases, ergot, can decrease seed yield by as much as 10 percent, according to OSU researchers.

To combat ergot, they have been studying how weather conditions contribute to it by conducting spore trapping in perennial ryegrass seed production fields in the Columbia Basin. They found that the best time to apply fungicide is between May 15 and June 7 in a typical year.

Earlier this year, the program also received funding to investigate potential biocontrol options to manage ergot.

Oregon farmers grew about 332,000 acres of grass seed worth $345 million in 2016, according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. Among the varieties of grass seed grown in the state are fescue, perennial ryegrass, annual ryegrass, bluegrass and bentgrass.

Before the 1990s, the straw residue left after grass seed harvest was typically burned to rid the fields of pests and diseases. However, after the phase-out of field burning in most of Oregon, straw is now baled and sold locally and overseas as livestock feed.

At first, some of the straw was exported to countries such as Japan, which reported the first cases of fescue toxicity. In 2000, 5,400 cases were reported in Japan, according to the OSU Endophyte Service Lab.

“The ships got stopped at the port because livestock was getting sick and it was traced back to Northwest feed,” Holman, the OSU faculty research assistant, said. “They wanted proof that the feed was safe.”

A solution was developed: Growers would test their grass seed straw before shipping it. Since 2009, the number of cases of livestock illness has dropped to zero, and has remained stable except for a few minor blips, according to Dr. A. Morrie Craig, a professor of toxicology at the OSU College of Veterinary Medicine. He also helped create the Endophyte Service Laboratory.

When Craig helped form the laboratory, he felt it would become a “world leader.”

From 2005 to 2013 the lab received an average of 3,497 test requests a year. Of the samples tested so far this year, only about 7 percent were positive for high toxin content.

The testing typically takes four days, and rush tests take two. However, the lab has been short one technician, which has slowed this season’s testing.

The test is a “19-step process to get accurate numbers, plus the lab has a second set of eyes to do the quality control,” Craig said.

Roger Beyer, executive director of the Oregon Seed Council, said it’s “essential” for grass seed growers to have a program to test the endophyte level, and that OSU is the laboratory of choice.

“Testing is crucial to the shipment of straw for feed,” he said. “There are other uses for straw, but not really for the amount we produce.”

Beyer said more than 6,000 tons of straw are exported each year from Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

“There’s a lot of unknowns in the world of endophytes,” he said. “Some people think we should establish different levels in varieties to eliminate testing, but every year environmental factors can change the levels of the endophyte.”

Because the level of endophyte isn’t solely based on grass varieties, Beyer said the industry has to test.

“We do our best to meet people’s needs,” Holman said. “It’s hard, it’s a lot of work, very detail-oriented, “but it feels good to know it makes a difference that you come to work every day; what we’re doing makes a difference on a daily basis.”

The same toxic endophytes that can make animals ill can also help prevent airline disasters. East Coast airports such as John F. Kennedy, Newark Liberty and LaGuardia have discovered that high-endophyte grasses have a natural insecticide that kills bugs. By planting the grasses around the airports, the insect population is reduced, attracting fewer birds. Birds are a hazard to airplanes, as they can be sucked into jet engines and damage them.

James Loudon, principal landscape architect in the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Engineering Department, said in a blog created by the port authority that he and his team do “whatever we can to discourage birds, because birds cause the greatest threat to aircraft in flight during landings and takeoffs.”

“By limiting the edible delights of birds and the places they gather to feed and reproduce, we can discourage them from visiting the airports,” said Laura Francoeur, a microbiologist at the port authority. “Which goes a long way towards protecting the flying public from deadly bird strikes.”

Mountain View Seeds in Salem, Ore., is one of the few dealers that sell airports high-endophyte grasses, and has a system in place to verify the levels of endophyte before it is shipped.

“Endophytes are a living organism,” Aaron Kuenzi, executive vice president of Mountain View Seeds, said. “Over time it will just fade away.”

He cited an example of grass seed with a high level of endophyte sitting for five years in a warehouse. It could start at a level of 90 percent, but by the time it’s shipped the level could drop to 20 percent.

Mountain View maintains the correct level of endophyte by storing the seed in a cooler, and testing for endophyte presence before shipping it.

“We want to make sure that when we say it’s a high endophyte that ... it actually is,” Kuenzi said.

While it is possible to develop fescue strains with little or no endophyte presence — typically referred to as “novel” — it is less attractive for grass seed producers because their primary product is the seed, not the straw. The endophytes help protect the grass plant from insects and dry weather.

Kuenzi said that it’s been great to have an alternative place for this seed production byproduct, but “ultimately, if we don’t satisfy the user or consumer of the seed, we won’t have production of the straw either.”

Mountain View Seeds has also developed non-endophyte varieties for its forage market with animal health in mind, but Kuenzi said less than 25 percent of its acreage is dedicated to it.

However, according to Bohnert, the OSU professor, that still represents progress.

“They have started moving away from more toxic endophytes and using the ones with lower (levels),” he said. “So, I think they are adjusting.”

Beyer, the seed council director, said that novel endophyte is the trend that the industry is working toward, especially for farmers who grow tall fescue as forage in their pastures.

“It’s an expensive conversion to get rid of endophyte grasses and put in novel (grasses),” he said. “But growing novel, we can grow it without testing it.”

He said that 17 to 20 percent of forage pasture and livestock regions have converted, and researchers say that acreage is increasing by 2 percent a year.

“We have a ways to go, but we’re working on it,” Beyer said.

Although researchers have yet to find a long-term management solution for endophytes, in the short term “solution by dilution” has been effective in keeping animals healthy.

“It is a good feed product if it’s used safely, but you have to know what you’re dealing with in the first place,” Holman said.

Bohnert suggests switching bales daily if endophyte is present, to give livestock a day off. He said it’s “the easiest (method) by far.”

Also, once farmers know the endophyte level of their hay, they can blend it with other types of hay that don’t have endophytes.

Controlling the endophyte is a delicate balance for farmers and ranchers, as well as for seed producers. Kuenzi has brothers who farm and understands the desire to grow only endophyte-free seeds, but he needs to think of his main customers first.

“It’s keeping in mind the ultimate product in this is the seed that goes to the marketplace, not necessarily the straw that’s harvested as a byproduct,” Kuenzi said. “For us, it’s finding that balance of satisfying the consumer and the farmer that’s growing (the seed).”

The one thing that everyone agrees on is testing for the endophyte toxin is crucial.

“A lot of people have become aware of the situation, the fescue problems are not like they were,” Bohnert said. Since 2002, “people have been very aware of potential problems. All you have to do is test, and if you’re feeding grass seed straw that has the potential of alkaloids, spend the money and have it tested so you can have peace of mind.”

PENDLETON, Ore. — At its heart, the Pendleton Round-Up — like most rodeos around the West — is an ode to the working class farm and ranch lifestyle, and a celebration of the region’s agricultural roots.

So when the Round-Up Association agreed to a three-year partnership with Farmers Ending Hunger earlier this year, both sides agreed it was a natural fit.

Wednesday marked the first ever Farmers Ending Hunger Day at the Round-Up, raising awareness and support for the organization’s mission of eliminating hunger statewide. The group also received cash donations of $5,000 each from River Point Farms and Northwest Farm Credit Services, which were presented just outside the Round-Up Grounds.

Farmers Ending Hunger was founded in 2006 by Fred Ziari, of Hermiston, upon hearing that Oregon was one of the most food insecure states in the country. According to the Oregon Food Bank, about 644,000 Oregonians do not have access to enough affordable, nutritious food, of which 223,480 are children.

Ziari, who serves as CEO of IRZ Consulting, reached out to colleagues and local farmers to see if they would be interested in pitching in to help solve the problem. Without exception, he said the farming community was on board.

“We shouldn’t have hunger in our state,” Ziari said. “Agriculture is our business, but food is all Oregonians’ business.”

This year alone, Farmers Ending Hunger has been responsible for donating 5 million pounds of ready-to-eat food to the Oregon Food Bank. Roughly 80 percent of those donations comes from Eastern Oregon, where farmers grow more than 200 different types of crops.

Top contributors include Amstad Produce, which gives 30 tons of potatoes every month. River Point Farms, the country’s largest grower and processor of onions, also kicks in 20-30 tons of produce every month. Threemile Canyon Farms contributes 20 beef cows every month, which are processed into hamburger meat.

“All the food is given by the farmers for free,” Ziari said. “This is what you buy at Safeway and grocery stores. It’s the same quality.”

What is not free is the packaging and transportation to ship that food to food banks across the state. That’s where Wednesday’s cash donations come in handy. Members of the public can also sign up to “adopt an acre” to help cover those costs.

Bob Hale, president of River Point Farms in Hermiston, said the company has contributed to Farmers Ending Hunger since the very beginning.

“I think it’s in the spirit of agriculture in general,” Hale said. “We want to make sure everybody gets to eat equally. We think it’s all part of the process, to feed people. It isn’t just business. It’s a way of life.”

The partnership with the Round-Up was finalized in May during the annual Portland Rose Festival. Rodeo royalty joined with Farmers Ending Hunger to help pack food boxes at the Oregon Food Bank, which are then distributed among a network of 21 regional food banks and 970 partner agencies, including CAPECO in Umatilla, Morrow, Gilliam and Wheeler counties.

John Burt, executive director of Farmers Ending Hunger, said the Round-Up started as an agricultural event, and the partnership between the two groups only seemed natural.

“To recognize the bounty of this area at harvest time makes sense,” Burt said.

Burt made no secret of his excitement for the partnership as he unfurled the large “Farmers Ending Hunger Day” banner, describing it as a huge milestone for his organization. He hopes to see it evolve into an annual celebration;.

“To be sought out and asked by the Round-Up, that is just huge,” Burt said. “To me personally, that means we’ve arrived.”

To learn more about Farmers Ending Hunger or to make a contribution, visit www.farmersendinghunger.com.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Wildfires that are blackening the American West in one of the nation’s worst fire seasons have ignited calls, including from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, to thin forests that have become so choked with trees that they are at “powder keg levels.”

The destruction has exposed old frictions between environmentalists and those who want to see logging accelerated, and it’s triggered a push to reassess how lands should be managed to prevent severe wildfires.

Zinke’s directive Tuesday for department managers and superintendents to aggressively prevent wildfires was welcomed by Ed Waldron, fire management officer at Crater Lake National Park in Oregon.

Waldron was exhausted after fighting two fires that have been burning since late July in or near the park, whose centerpiece is a lake that fills the remains of an erupted volcano and is the deepest in the United States. But he wondered where the additional resources would come from to hire contractors to thin the fuel.

For now, Waldron and other firefighters have been too busy fighting blazes that forced the closure of a road into the park to thin vegetation elsewhere.

“We’ve been working hard,” he said Tuesday. “It’s day 50.”

For decades, logging was king in the West, notably in Oregon, which is famed for its majestic ponderosas and towering Douglas firs.

But restrictions on harvesting timber from federal lands to protect endangered species and lower demand led to a freefall in the industry starting around 1990. Meanwhile, wildfires — nature’s way of thinning and regenerating forests — were being extinguished instead of being allowed to burn.

The forests grew too thick, and they began to overlap, covering meadows and other areas.

“We’ve allowed forests to develop that never developed naturally,” said John Bailey, a professor of fire management at Oregon State University in Corvallis.

There is now a record amount of fuel for fires, such as brush, and “as a result, we have longer and hotter fire seasons that drive these megafires,” he said.

He advocated thinning forests through logging, prescribed burns and allowing naturally occurring fires to be managed instead of extinguished.

A fire becomes a megafire when it reaches 156 square miles. A megafire in southwest Oregon is the largest blaze in the West, having burned 290 square miles, authorities said Wednesday. It was reported July 12 and isn’t expected to be under control until Oct. 15.

Across the West, more than 12,000 square miles have burned this season, making it among the worst in land scorched.

Oregon state Sen. Herman Baertschiger Jr. called for a work group to revamp fire policy.

“The inability to manage our forest resources due to environmental concerns is threatening the safety and well-being of Oregonians and ultimately damaging our beautiful state,” the Republican said last week.

Residents of several communities in southwest Oregon opposed to a planned federal sale of old-growth trees say logging the fire-resistant timber will increase the risk of blazes spreading to communities. They say younger, uniform trees that will grow densely there will be twice as likely to burn. A coalition of residents will protest the sale Thursday in the town of Grants Pass.

“As fires burn throughout the region, area residents believe maintaining our last fire-resistant, old-growth forest is increasingly critical,” the coalition said in a statement Wednesday.

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, has denounced inadequate efforts to thin dead and dying trees, calling it a yearslong pattern.

He urged smarter policies, criticized the “broken system of fighting wildfires” and complained that federal funds earmarked for fire prevention are instead used for firefighting.

“The idea of ripping off prevention, which you need most, defies common sense,” Wyden said on the Senate floor last Thursday, standing next to a large photo of flames leaping from trees in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge. “Shoddy budgeting today leads to bigger fires tomorrow.”

Bailey, the fire management professor, lamented that Zinke’s directive does not recommend using fire as a tool to restore forests.

Oregon Wild, which campaigns for conservation of roadless areas, suspects an ulterior motive behind the order from Zinke, who oversees more than 500 million acres of federal land, though the Forest Service, a unit of the Agriculture Department, is the nation’s largest firefighting agency.

“Sadly, policy will be all about more logging, not better fire management,” Oregon Wild tweeted.

In Montana, environmental groups last month sued over a proposal by the U.S. Forest Service to allow timber harvesting and some prescribed burning to reduce the risk of severe wildfires in the Flathead National Forest. The lawsuit argued the agency failed to analyze how the timber project, combined with another one nearby, would affect Canada lynx, grizzly bears and their habitat.

Forest fuels are at “powder keg levels,” Paul F. Hessburg Sr., a U.S. Forest Service research landscape ecologist, recently told an audience in Bend, Oregon, a former logging town that has remade itself into an outdoor recreation and microbrew mecca.

“If we don’t change a few of our fire management habits, we’re going to lose a few of our beloved forests,” he said.