SEQUIM, Wash. (AP) — A team with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service continues to catch more invasive European green crabs on the Dungeness Spit on the northern edge of the Olympic Peninsula.

The Peninsula Daily News reports 60 crabs had been caught as of Thursday after more traps were placed.

Crews at the Dungeness Wildlife Refuge first found green crabs April 13, which is the first sighting of the crustacean along that section of the peninsula.

Staff with Washington Sea Grant’s Crab Team say the green crab, which some scientists have called one of the worst invasive species on the planet, is identifiable by five spines on each side of its eyes, and can be green, brown or reddish.

Researchers say the crab often is blamed for damaging shellfish harvests and seagrass beds in the northeastern U.S.

JACKSONVILLE, Ore. (AP) — Bill and Barbara Steele moved to this sleepy corner of Oregon to start their own winery after successful, high-powered business careers.

Now, more than a decade later and with award-winning wine to show for their hard work, they are adding a new crop: marijuana.

Oregon’s legalization of recreational pot two years ago created room for entrepreneurial cross-pollination in this fertile region abutting California’s so-called Emerald Triangle, a well-known nirvana for outdoor weed cultivation.

Recreational marijuana won’t be legal in California until next year, but a few miles north of the border in Oregon, a handful of winemakers are experimenting with pot in hopes of increasing their appeal among young consumers and in niche markets.

“Baby boomers are drinking less. Millennials are coming into their time, economically, where in 2016 they were the fastest-growing consumers of wine, both in dollars and volume,” said Barbara Steele, who runs Cowhorn Vineyard & Garden in rural Jacksonville with her husband.

“They’re looking for an experience of ‘wine and weed.’”

The Steeles leased their land to grow 30 medical marijuana plants last year, and this year they are growing double that amount to be branded with the same label as their wine. They started with seeds in plastic cups under incubators in their laundry room, and pride themselves on a “seed to smoke” philosophy.

This year’s crop also is for medical use, but the Steeles are seeing the benefits of the expanding market from legal recreational pot. Their weed was reviewed alongside one of their white wines in Stoner Magazine, an Oregon cannabis publication.

“That conversation is possible here because our quality — the agricultural possibility — is so high. This is an amazing growing region,” Barbara Steele said.

It’s hard to know exactly how many in the wine industry are looking at pot here, but there’s plenty of buzz surrounding the subject.

Some vineyards are ripping out portions of grapes in favor of marijuana plants or leasing land to private growers. Others are talking about wine-and-weed tourism, including high-end shuttles that would stop at local wineries for tastings and at marijuana farms for glimpses of how pot is prepared for market.

“There are a few wineries setting up very large recreational grows right now,” said Brent Kenyon, of the marijuana consulting business Kenyon & Associates, based in southern Oregon. “The ‘weedery’ and the winery. I think that’s huge, and we see it developing.”

But that enthusiasm comes with a caveat. Marijuana is still federally illegal, and wineries must keep their wine and weed businesses separate or risk losing a federal permit that allows them to bottle and sell wine.

That means establishing two distinct lots for tax purposes and keeping two licenses with the state, said Christie Scott, alcohol program spokeswoman for the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, which also licenses recreational marijuana. Vineyards that grow grapes but don’t have a liquor license, however, could get a recreational marijuana license, she said.

In the nearby Illinois Valley, Katherine Bryan is tackling these challenges as she launches a marijuana business with her son.

She owns Deer Creek Vineyards with her husband, but her pot operation will be called Bryan Family Gardens and will operate on land next to the vineyard.

“We want to be as transparent as possible because when you’re under the federal government umbrella for your wines, you have to be very, very careful,” Bryan said.

She plans to grow several hundred marijuana plants with a focus on organic cultivation and an eye toward a high-end market.

They already have some buyers lined up and are installing greenhouses and lighting as they await approval of their recreational license.

“I get $2,000 a ton for my pinot gris grapes, whereas I can make potentially $2,000 or more per pound of cannabis,” Bryan said. “We have 31,000 plants out here for grapes, so I’m pretty sure I can handle 300 to 500 cannabis plants.”

Mark Wisnovsky, of Valley View Winery in Jacksonville, says some vintners are upset because of the stigma associated with marijuana. But his family’s winery was the first in the Applegate Valley in 1971, and everyone thought they were crazy then, too, he said.

The family isn’t cultivating marijuana now, but Wisnovsky has been a vocal supporter of those who want to do so.

Diversifying with weed could save vineyard owners who have overplanted grapes for years, he added.

“A job’s a job, and money’s money, and we have capabilities here that are unique,” he said. “We either take advantage of the situation or let it steamroll over us.”

PALOMINO VALLEY, Nev. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s budget proposal calls for saving $10 million next year by selling wild horses captured throughout the West without the current requirement that buyers guarantee the animals won’t be resold for slaughter.

Wild horse advocates say the change would gut nearly a half-century of protection for wild horses — an icon of the American West — and could send thousands of free-roaming mustangs to foreign slaughterhouses for processing as food.

They say the Trump administration is kowtowing to livestock interests who don’t want the region’s estimated 59,000 mustangs competing for precious forage across more than 40,000 square miles (103,600 sq. kilometers) of rangeland in 10 states managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

The budget proposal marks the latest skirmish in the decades-old controversy pitting ranchers and rural communities against groups that want to protect the horses from Colorado to California.

“This is simply a way to placate a very well-funded and vocal livestock lobby,” Laura Leigh, president of the nonprofit protection group Wild Horse Education, said about the budget proposal.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and other interests have been urging BLM for years to allow sales of wild horses for slaughter to free up room in overcrowded government corrals for the capture of more animals.

Doug Busselman, executive vice president of the Nevada Farm Bureau, blamed the stalemate on the “emotional and anti-management interests who have built their business models on preventing rational and responsible actions while enhancing their fundraising through misinformation.”

Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama also grappled with the spiraling costs of managing the nearly 60,000 horses on the range and another 45,000 currently kept in U.S. holding pens and contracted private pastures.

Over the past eight years, BLM’s wild horse budget has more than doubled — from $36.2 million in 2008 to $80.4 million in 2017.

Trump’s budget anticipates the $10 million savings would come through a reduction in the cost of containing and feeding the animals. The savings also would include cutbacks involving roundups and contraception programs.

The 1971 Free-Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act permits the sale of older, unadoptable animals. But for years, Congress has approved budget language specifically outlawing the sale of any wild horses for slaughter.

Horse slaughterhouses are prohibited in the U.S. but legal in many other countries, including Canada, Mexico and parts of Europe where horse meat is considered a delicacy.

Then-BLM Director Neil Kornze said a year ago that the horses represented a $1 billion budget problem for his agency because it costs $50 million to round up and house every 10,000 horses over their lifetime.

Still, he said the agency had no intention of reversing the long-standing policy.

However, the Trump administration wants a change, saying through the BLM that the “current program is unsustainable and a new approach is needed, particularly when overall federal funding is so constrained.”

It says the budget would allow the agency to manage the wild horse program in a more cost-effective manner, “including the ability to conduct sales without limitation.”

BLM rounded up more than 7,000 horses in 2012, but only about 3,000 in each of the past two years due primarily to budget constraints.

As of March, BLM estimated that more than half of the horses roaming the range were in Nevada (34,780). An additional 13,191 burros were on the range— about half in Arizona.

The BLM asserts that U.S. rangeland can sustain fewer than 27,000 horses and burros.

“The original intent of the act was to make sure those animals had a healthy presence on the range, but also that they be kept at a number that is sustainable,” said Ethan Lane, executive director of the National Cattlemen’s public lands council. “You have horses starving to death ... and irreversible damage to western rangelands.”

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said Trump’s budget proposal was shocking.

“Wild horses can and should be humanely managed on-range using simple fertility control, yet the BLM would rather make these innocent animals pay for draconian budget cuts with their very lives,” ASPCA President Matt Bershadker said.

Suzanne Roy, executive director of the American Wild Horse Campaign, said the plan could put the horses on the brink of extinction.

“America can’t be great if these national symbols of freedom are destroyed,” she said.

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A renowned strawberry researcher in California broke patent law and violated a loyalty pledge to his former university by taking his work with him to profit from it in a private company, a jury in San Francisco decided Wednesday.

Professor Douglas Shaw formed his own research firm with others after retiring from the University of California, Davis, where for years he had overseen the school’s strawberry breeding program, developing a heartier and tastier fruit.

Jurors in the federal court decided that he used seeds developed at UC Davis without gaining the university’s permission.

The rift struck fear in some farmers in California, the No. 1 strawberry-growing state, that it would stymie research and cause them to lose their competitive edge. California last year produced 1.6 million tons of strawberries valued at roughly $2 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The university’s strawberry breeding program is now under new leadership, providing farmers and consumers with new generations of the fruit, school officials said.

“This federal jury decision is good news for public strawberry breeders at UC Davis and all strawberry farmers throughout California and the world,” said Helene Dillard, dean of the UC Davis College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.

After reading the verdicts, Judge Vince Chhabria, who oversaw the trial, scolded both sides, expressing doubt about the sincerity they claimed to have for the strawberry industry.

“If you really care about strawberries, and if you really cared about California’s Strawberry Breeding Program, you would figure out a way... to avoid subjecting them to this custody battle,” he said.

Shaw had first sued UC Davis after he retired, saying that the university unfairly destroyed some of his work and keeps some of his other research locked in a freezer, depriving the world of a better strawberry. He had sought $45 million for lost research. The university countersued.

Shaw, 63, is a giant in the strawberry world, heading the university’s lucrative breeding program for more than two decades alongside plant biologist Kirk Larson. Most of California’s strawberry farmers grow plants developed by Shaw and Larson.

The two men developed 24 new varieties, allowing growers to double the amount of strawberries produced while retaining the fruit’s succulence. They created strawberries that were more pest- and disease-resistant, more durable during long-distance travel and capable of growing during the shorter days of spring and fall.

The partners say their work netted the university $100 million in royalties. How much they themselves made at UC Davis is unclear, but they say they contributed more than $9 million of their own royalties toward the university’s breeding program.

They retired from the university in 2014 because, they said, the school was winding down the program. Working in partnership with growers and nurseries, they launched a business called California Berry Cultivars, based in Watsonville, to develop new strawberry varieties.

Attorney Sharyl Reisman, who represents the professors and the California Berry Cultivars, said that despite the disappointing verdict, her clients wish to find a way to collaborate with the university.

Damages the professors owe in the case will be decided later, the judge said.

A.G. Kawamura, a strawberry farmer, former California agriculture secretary and part owner of the California Berry Cultivars, said the judge’s comments signal a need for much more work to settle the dispute, even after the trial.

“We still believe there’s good reason to hope for a collaborative progress for all parties to move our strawberry industry forward without litigation,” Kawamura said. “We are still committed to being an important part of the California strawberry industry.

WASHINGTON (AP) — There’s a glimmer of hope for America’s ailing honeybees as winter losses were the lowest in more than a decade, according to a U.S. survey of beekeepers released Thursday.

Beekeepers lost 21 percent of their colonies over last winter, the annual Bee Informed Partnership survey found. That’s the lowest winter loss level since the survey started in 2006 and an improvement from nearly 27 percent the winter before.

The U.S. government has set a goal of keeping losses under 15 percent in the winter.

“It’s good news in that the numbers are down, but it’s certainly not a good picture,” said survey director Dennis vanEngelsdorp. “It’s gone from horrible to bad.”

Reduction in varroa mites, a lethal parasite, is likely the main cause of the improvement, said vanEnglesdorp, a University of Maryland entomologist. He credited the reduction in the parasite to a new product to fight the mite and better weather for pesticide use.

The 10-year average for winter losses is 28.4 percent.

“We would of course all love it if the trend continues, but there are so many factors playing a role in colony health,” said bee expert Elina Lastro Nino at the University of California Davis, who wasn’t part of the survey. “I am glad to see this, but wouldn’t celebrate too much yet.”

For more than a decade, bees and other pollinators have been rapidly declining with scientists blaming a mix of parasites, disease, pesticides and poor nutrition.

While usually hive losses are worst in the winter, they occur year round. The survey found yearly losses also down, but not quite to record levels. About one third of the honey bee colonies that were around in April 2016 were dead a year later, the survey found. That’s better than the year before when the annual loss rate was more than 40 percent.

The survey, originally started by the U.S. government and now run by a nonprofit, is based on information from nearly 5,000 beekeepers who manage more than 360,000 colonies. University of Montana’s Jerry Bromenshenk said the study gives too much weight to backyard beekeepers rather than commercial beekeepers.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon timber company reportedly plans to sue its home state for $3.3 million after its plans to buy the Elliott State Forest recently fell through.

The Coos Bay World reports attorneys for Lone Rock Timber Management Company of Roseburg alerted the Oregon State Lands Department of their plans last week in an email.

Lone Rock was the sole bidder for the 82,500-acre forest, which was on sale for $220 million as a way to meet its financial obligation to produce funds for public education. The state land board reversed its decision to sell it earlier this month.

Lone Rock’s attorneys say the company has suffered millions of dollars in out-of-pocket losses and lost business opportunity, and will seek tort claims for misrepresentation and negligence.

Jake Gibbs, a forester with more than 20 years of experience, has been chosen as the next president and CEO of Starker Forests, the venerable family timber company based in Corvallis, Ore.

Gibbs began work May 22 and will take over as president and CEO on July 15, when the company’s board of directors meets. Gibbs comes to Starker from another family business, Lone Rock Timber Management in Roseburg, Ore., which was involved in a controversial proposal to purchase the Elliott State Forest.

Gibbs began as a tree planter, gained silviculture and logging experience and in 2016 was listed as Lone Rock’s external affairs director.

In a message to Starker employees, Gibbs said he is “excited and humbled” to be selected to lead the company. “I’m not an OSU grad, but don’t hold that against me,” he said. Starker Forests is heavily involved in community affairs and is a major supporter of Oregon State University’s forestry program, including the annual Starker Lecture series.

Gibbs replaces Bond Starker, who announced his retirement pending the selection of a replacement. The company was founded by his grandfather, T.J. Starker, who taught forestry at OSU and purchased timberland in the area.

Oregon wheat farmers, like their counterparts in Washington and Idaho, are using additional fungicide treatments to stave off stripe rust this year.

Christina Hagerty, a plant pathologist with Oregon State University’s Columbia Basin Agricultural Research Center near Pendleton, said a heavier than normal snowfall and extended periods of cold and rain from fall to spring resulted in conditions ideal for diseases.

She said the season is shaping up to have higher than average stripe rust infections, and the weather conditions also were conducive to development of snow mold and wheat mosaic virus, which Oregon growers usually don’t see.

The situation is part of a conundrum faced by North Central and Eastern Oregon’s dryland wheat producers in particular. In Pendleton, 9.14 inches of rain has fallen since January — 3 inches more than normal, according to the National Weather Service.

Additional precipitation in a region that gets by on 8 to 20 inches of rain per year is always welcome, but can come with a cost.

“The conditions that lead to good, strong, healthy plants often overlap with conditions that lead to good, strong, healthy pathogens,” Hagerty said. A lack of moisture limits plant growth, but it also keeps pathogens in check, she said.

“I have heard folks with far more experience than me say that big rust years often have the highest yields,” she said.

Christopher Mundt, a plant pathology professor who supervised Hagerty’s Ph.D. work at OSU, said he sometimes jokes that stripe rust emergence is a good sign. “That means they’ve got enough water to have a good crop,” he said.

He said growers were able to see stripe rust developing last fall.

“Rust got established really early,” he said. “It’s a pathogen that has a very high reproductive rate, it goes through multiple generations of reproduction. Anytime it starts early, there’s more chance for buildup.”

Disease-resistant varieties developed by wheat breeders kept stripe rust at bay for years, but new strains have spread, Mundt said.

Snow mold is more of a problem in colder areas such as Eastern Washington, he said. It can form when snow falls on wet ground and keeps it at 32 degrees for extended periods. In Oregon it’s rare, and plants often can shake off and grow out of initial damage.

Dry, hot weather can shut down stripe rust, especially in wheat varieties bred to have high temperature, adult plant resistance. Otherwise, fungicide applications are effective, but costly, the researchers said.

“Growers are out there looking for it,” Mundt said. “They’ve picked up the lesson that you can’t let rust get away from them.”

“It’s very expensive,” Hagerty said. “These are decisions our producers don’t take lightly, and our research and extension personnel spend a lot of time thinking about and understanding that cost tradeoff.”

Reduced wheat prices “make those decisions that much more challenging,” she said.

Hagerty said producers who use fungicide properly, following label directions, shouldn’t have a problem.

“Our customers know they can count on high quality Oregon wheat to be on label,” she said. “As long as you’re on label, you’re good to go on that.”

RICHLAND, Wash. — Generic promotions for maraschino cherries will continue this year but the outlook beyond that is doubtful as fewer processors make maraschinos and don’t want to pay for common promotions.

Norm Gutzwiler, a Wenatchee grower and president of the National Cherry Growers & Industries Foundation, raised the subject at a Washington State Fruit Commission meeting in Richland on May 17.

There was talk of dissolving NCGIF in the fall and possibly replacing it with a new national cherry association patterned after the U.S. Apple Association. It would discuss issues of fresh and processed cherries and lobby the federal government when needed.

NCGIF was formed in 1948 to lobby against excessive processed cherry imports. It is funded by assessments on growers and donations from processors in Washington, Oregon, California and Michigan. It once had an 18-member board that included growers and all kinds of processors — brine (to make maraschinos), frozen, canned, glazed and juice. But in the last eight to 10 years only briners have been involved with growers and now the briners have dropped out, Gutzwiler said.

The board is now two growers each from Washington, Oregon, California and Michigan, he said.

Seneca Foods Corp. of Marion, N.Y., bought out Diana Fruit of Santa Clara, Calif., and Gray & Co. of Portland with its operations in Oregon and Michigan. A California company is buying out the briner portion of Oregon Cherry Growers in Salem, the largest briner in the Pacific Northwest.

“Some of the new processors haven’t been in the business before and haven’t been interested in joining any industry group. They don’t want to pay the promotions and that makes the future of NCGIF uncertain,” said Dana Branson, a Hood River, Ore., grower and NCGIF administrator until a year ago.

The foundation has averaged $300,000 annually for generic maraschino cherry promotions, depending on crop size, which is a small budget, she said.

Gutzwiler said that level of promotions will continue this year from 2016 assessments and donations but that NCGIF likely will dissolve this fall because growers don’t want to shoulder the whole cost. Assessments would end, he said. The budget once was a 50-50 split between growers and processors, he said.

SALEM — A proposed bill imposing new financial liability on biotech patent holders in Oregon would effectively banish genetically engineered crops from the state, opponents claim.

Under House Bill 2739, biotech patent holders would be liable for triple the economic damages caused by the unwanted presence of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.

The bill is now before the House Rules Committee, which is considering an amendment clarifying when landowners can file lawsuits over GMOs on their property and the defenses available to patent holders, among other provisions.

The amendment would also ensure that patent holders cannot transfer liability to farmers who cultivate GMOs, though they could transfer liability to seed companies.

“It’s putting the onus on the producers and people who sell these crops rather that grow them,” said Amy van Saun, an attorney with the Center for Food Safety, a non-profit that supports HB 2739.

By making patent holders liable for unwanted GMO presence — either through cross-pollination or seed dispersal — the bill reduces potential conflicts among farmers, said Elise Higley, executive director of the Our Family Farms Coalition, which supports HB 2739.

“We don’t believe the GE farmer should be held responsible when they follow all the rules,” Higley said during a May 23 legislative hearing.

Biotech crops have “tracer genes” to identify patent holders, eliminating confusion about the source of an unwanted GMO, she said. “There’s no arguing about it. It’s just black and white science.”

Critics of HB 2739 believe the underlying goal of the proposal is to stop production of GMOs in Oregon.

For developers of genetically engineered crops, the risk of lawsuits would likely outweigh the benefits of licensing biotech traits to growers in the state, opponents say.

“If this bill passes, those seed companies may stop selling to Oregon completely,” said Shelly Boshart-Davis, whose family plants genetically engineered alfalfa between rows of hazelnut trees.

Likewise, Oregon State University breeders would be reluctant to use new gene editing techniques due to the financial risks of licensing the resulting crop varieties, said Dan Arp, dean of OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

“As the patent holder, we would be liable for the judgment,” Arp said.

The bill was subject to sharp questioning by several Republican lawmakers, but the committee’s chair, Jennifer Williamson, D-Portland, ended the hearing without any remarks about HB 2739’s future, such as a possible work session.

In April, the House Judiciary Committee moved the bill without recommendation to the House Rules Committee, where it’s not subject to the same legislative deadlines as in other committees.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — The Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument is celebrating its third birthday. But the flickering of candles on the cake may dim under the glare of federal scrutiny.

The 496,330-acre monument, created by President Barack Obama on May 21, 2014, has become a point of pride for some and a bone of contention for others. On April 26, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for a review of the OMDP, along with 26 others including the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument in northern New Mexico.

Earlier in April, the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association urged President Donald Trump to eliminate certain large-scale national monuments, including the OMDP. NMCGA officials said they are first seeking the elimination of the OMDP monument, but, if that doesn’t happen, they’d back a reduction in its size.

NMCGA President Pat Boone, from Elida, points to testimony to the state Legislature given by an NMCGA member who owns and operates a cattle ranch within the boundaries of OMDP, 77 percent of which is covered by the monument designation but all of which is impacted due to the layout of private and state trust lands within their grazing allotment.

That rancher, like others, is concerned that language in the monument designation remains vague as to what is to be protected, Boone said. Protecting wildlife and plant populations, which vary over time, creates uncertainty and will lead to burdensome government regulations, forcing ranchers out of business, he said.

“Perhaps the largest concern or fear from the ranching community is that, even after three years, there remains so much uncertainty,” Boone wrote in an email to the Sun-News. “No one knows what the impacts, financial or otherwise, are going to be. The designation puts an additional layer of unknown bureaucracy on ranchers.

“We question what this will do financially. Will lenders who hold mortgages on ranches, livestock and/or equipment continue to lend? Will cattle numbers be cut? Will visitors and environmentalists try to drive livestock use from the lands,” Boone continued. “If these questions had answers, attitudes might be different.”

RETURN TO ORIGINAL PLAN

U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce said he has heard those concerns and believes the monument area around the Organ Mountains should be maintained at the roughly 60,000-acre footprint originally proposed.

“The law is very specific,” Pearce said. “The footprint is supposed to be as small as possible to protect individual items . you can’t just say we want to protect open space.”

Ranchers are also concerned about border safety and the possible inability of law enforcement to easily enter the monument, Pearce said. They point to concerns by landowners near the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in southern Arizona where entire blocks of acreage are inaccessible and closed to the public for safety reasons. Those landowners also have to deal with the refuse left by immigrants making the dangerous border crossing, he said.

When visiting landowners near the OMDP recently, Pearce said they rarely see anyone using the monument for recreation and question the need for the designation.

Three sites in the Organ Mountains — Dripping Springs Natural Area, Aguirre Spring Campground and the Soledad Canyon Day Use Area — have seen a marked increase in the number of visitors. Tracking visitor growth in other areas of the monument is difficult. Using the numbers at those three sites, economic experts calculate an $8.2 million to $33.8 million benefit to the area.

Pearce notes the monument’s designation comes with a cost as well. The first casualty of the designation was the moving of the Chile Challenge, an off-road and 4X4 event in the Robledo Mountains that drew $4 million a year to the region, Pearce said. That event now takes place in Sierra County.

“In the West, the custom and culture is ranching,” Pearce said. “It’s something that the law was not supposed to change, our custom and culture, and it is.”

It’s legally unclear whether Trump or any future president could single-handedly eliminate or shrink a national monument. A more-certain path to eliminate or reduce the size of a monument would be an act of Congress signed into law by the president.

Through July 10, the Department of the Interior is asking the public to comment on 22 monuments — including OMDP — designated or expanded under the Antiquities Act since 1996.

Greg Carrasco has ranched on roughly 14 sections of land on the western edge of the monument, the northern half of which lies within the monument, for 14 years. He believes that additional federal oversight and regulations are burdensome and the current lack of a management plan, which BLM is developing, will favor preservation of wildlife and plants at the expense of proper land management techniques which ranchers have long practiced.

He also fears access to improvements such as fences, wells and water tanks will be limited. Each instance of a downed fence or out-of-service water tank could require individual permits, he said. And, he notes, those water systems installed and maintained by ranchers are often the only source of water for wildlife in the area.

Regulation “has tended to result in the loss of grazing capacity for ranchers,” he said. “We’ve already had a couple of preliminary meetings with the Bureau of Land Management about additional restrictions to access improvements, maintain improvements. I’m somewhat concerned about what long-term brush control and other options may be limited by these regulations.”

Bill Childress, manager of the BLM Las Cruces District, said the process of developing a management plan for the monument is under way. Meetings were held with stakeholders and user groups in early 2017. Now, the BLM is working on a management situation analysis. Once that is complete, likely in October or November, the formal planning process will begin. A finalized management plan should be complete in 2020, Childress said.

Like many, Carrasco sees the benefit of having a national monument for the Organ Mountains, but said it should be limited to that area. That would also allow the BLM to make more improvements for public access along the Organs and create a better destination for outdoor recreation, he said.

“I think the Organs are a majestic backdrop to Dona Ana County and Las Cruces in particular,” Carrasco said. “Concentrate the resources we have and make them a great destination for tourists and all kinds of outdoor activities. I very much would like the monument reduced back in size to the roughly 58,000-acre area on the foothills of the Organs.”

“The ranching community has been buried in regulation and limitations over the past 25 years,” the NMCGA’s Boone said. “More often than not, we can see what the outcomes down the road will be but we have no standing to protest until a rancher is put out of business. I characterize this as the ‘dead body theory.’ No one will do anything until there is a ‘dead body.’ But there is no way to revive a dead body — or a ranch that has been driven to the ground.”

The Westland Irrigation District is abandoning years of work to secure additional water from the Columbia River in order to defend a lawsuit filed by patrons alleging “massive misappropriation” of senior water rights.

Farmers reacted with surprise and disappointment Monday during a special district board meeting, where members voted unanimously to back out of the Central Project — one of three proposals to pump mitigated Columbia River irrigation water in Umatilla and Morrow counties.

Unlike the neighboring Stanfield and Hermiston irrigation districts, Westland does not have the ability to switch over to Columbia River water when flows from the Umatilla River drop below a certain point in the summer. That means the district depends entirely on Mother Nature, as well as stored water in McKay Reservoir.

Riding the momentum of a regional effort led by the Northeast Oregon Water Association, or NOWA, Westland had sought to tap into the Columbia and guarantee a full irrigation season for producers. It even appeared the district was on the verge of a deal, holding weekly meetings with patrons to iron out legal and logistical details moving forward.

Instead, the Central Project fell apart over a lawsuit accusing Westland of systematically cheating small farmers out of their senior water rights for the benefit of a few larger farms with junior rights. The case, which was originally tossed from federal court, will proceed in Umatilla County Circuit Court after Judge Michael Gillespie denied the district’s motion to dismiss last week.

A trial will likely be scheduled in the next six to nine months, according to Westland board chairman Bob Levy. And though Levy said he is confident the district will prevail, he felt it was unfair for patrons to invest in the project up front only to have it potentially stalled by legal challenges.

“The district is looking to defend this litigation for months to come,” Levy explained to a room full of patrons who packed the Umatilla County Fire District 1 station on Westland Road. “If the plaintiffs are successful ... it disturbs the Central Project, and the Central Project will not work.”

The Central Project would have cost roughly $14.4 million, financed by patrons who agreed to buy the water. The state of Oregon also approved a funding package for water delivery projects during the 2015 Legislature, with $11 million earmarked for the basin.

However, according to the resolution passed Monday, the project as it was conceived depended on Westland’s “longstanding water delivery and distribution practices” that are now being challenged in court. Plaintiffs in the case argue the district is in violation of Oregon’s “first in time, first in right” water appropriation system.

Levy also said the lawsuit precluded Westland from applying for its share of state funding within the fixed time frame.

After reading over the resolution in silence, farmer Hoss Hodges, whose parents arrived in the district in 1968, could barely contain his frustration.

“This really interferes with our future,” Hodges said after slamming the table with his hand.

Others were more subdued while lamenting what they described as a lost opportunity.

“We damn sure needed that Columbia River water,” said Butch Shockman, who owns a small amount of land along Bridge Road in Hermiston.

The value of agricultural land in the Columbia Basin increases exponentially with irrigation. Without water, dryland crops such as wheat may yield around $100 per acre. Add one acre-foot of water and that value grows to $500 per acre; add three acre-feet, and the value rockets to $5,000 per acre.

Patty Horn, whose family has owned Butter Creek Ranch in the district since the 1960s, said she is worried that without sufficient water in the future, her son will eventually inherit a sandlot.

“If I lose my water, my land become worthless,” Horn said. “It took 30 years for us to get a shot at Columbia water. It’s a shame to see it go over a few suing the district.”

The lawsuit in question was filed by a group of patrons who, together, farm more than 1,650 acres with senior water rights that date back to 1903. They claim they are being cheated out of water to benefit three large farms with more than 5,000 acres, including Levy’s L&L Farms, Amstad Farms and Eagle Ranch, to the tune of $2.9 million in damages.

Dixie Echeverria, who owns ELH LLC and is one of the plaintiffs on the case, said in a written statement that they have “grave concerns” about the management of the district. In his ruling, Judge Gillespie encouraged both sides to consider mediation.

“This case is not this court’s first experience with a small district’s members suing the special district they are members of,” Gillespie wrote. “In very real terms, the district’s costs are borne directly by all of its members in one way or another.”

J.R. Cook, founder and director of NOWA, said it was painful to see the Central Project slip out of Westland’s grasp. But he added that does not mean the organization is ending its effort to secure bucket-for-bucket mitigated Columbia River water rights and pass them off to entities that can put them to use.

The overall vision includes three project areas, stretching from Boardman to east of Hermiston.

Cook said Westland had been positioned to be first in line to get a pipeline in the ground as one of those three projects. Instead, the NOWA board will explore other options.

“I think Westland is going to look back on this in five years and regret it,” Cook said.

Wildlife officials are investigating the death of a wolf in Wallowa County, in Northeast Oregon.

The body of OR-42, believed to be the breeding female of the Chesnimnus Pack, was recovered May 8, according to Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy. The finding was not announced until May 23. The wolf was wearing a GPS tracking collar; ODFW went looking for it after receiving a “mortality signal” from the device, Dennehy said.

A forensic examination did not pinpoint a cause of death, but ODFW said foul play, such as poaching, is not suspected “at this time.”

The case remains under investigation, however, and additional lab tests are being conducted by Oregon State University.

The Chesnimnus Pack has two subadult wolves that are wearing ODFW tracking collars.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — In a rare move, Oregon State Parks will auction off a 38-acre piece of property between Eugene and Corvallis with a stand of tall Douglas fir trees.

Once a wayside, or rest stop, along Highway 99 West near Monroe, the woodland will go up for sale this summer, according to State Parks spokesman Chris Havel. The agency more often trades land and rarely sells it outright.

“Right now, the market is such that we could really get some good out of it for the rest of the park system by putting it out for sale,” he said.

High levels of iron and nitrates in the ground­water at the site polluted the drinking water, and the septic systems at the wayside failed 10 years ago, the state said. State Parks then had the building torn down. Officials decided in 2012 to dispose of the land. They first offered it to other state agencies but found none interested.

So the agency is taking the uncommon step of offering the land for sale to the public through an auction, Havel said. State Parks will take bids this summer.

The land is worth an estimated $356,000, according to a January appraisal.

Since 2001, State Parks has disposed of 3,600 acres, with the last auction in 2008 when the agency sold a parcel at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem. Havel said money from such sales goes into a fund used to buy land.

In the past 16 years, State Parks’ overall holdings have gone up from 93,000 acres to 108,000 acres.

Most of the land at the wayside, nearly 31 acres, is in Lane County and is zoned by the county for park and recreation use. The rest of the land, about 7 acres, is in Benton County and zoned for exclusive farm use.

Given that the property is outside any urban growth boundary and has restrictive zoning, it’s unclear what the land could be used for.

Harvesting the timber on the land is an option for the buyer, Havel said.

“That’s where most of the value is in the property,” he said. “It’s in those trees.”

The trees vary from a few dozen feet tall to 175 feet high, and the stand includes maple and ponderosa pines along with the Douglas fir.

The state bought the land in 1926 from William and Mae Washburne and long called it the Washburne Wayside, Havel said.

Motorists frequented the wayside more often before Interstate 5 became the main artery for longer trips.

“It was after I-5 went in and modern rest areas went in that use at that park started to drop pretty sharp,” Havel said.

NAMPA, Idaho — Researchers in the Treasure Valley area of Idaho and Oregon are trying to develop a reliable seed line for stevia, a plant that is 200 to 300 times sweeter than sugar.

Once that happens, the plant could be an attractive option for the region’s farmers.

But the plant likely won’t be grown commercially here until researchers learn how to reliably produce the small shrub from seed.

Stevia is used as a natural sweetener in drinks and food.

Unlike potatoes, corn and other crops that farmers have bred for hundreds of years, stevia has only been researched for about 50 years, said Cheryl Parris, research and development manager at S&W Seed Co.

Because of that, there is currently too much genetic diversity in stevia to grow it from seed, so it’s being grown from clones, or rooted cuttings, that are produced in a greenhouse and then transplanted into the field.

The labor and expense involved in growing stevia that way at 40,000 plants an acre makes it too expensive to be an attractive alternative to commercial farmers in the U.S., Parris said.

The company’s stevia research is centered in Nampa. Parris is trying to develop a reliable seed line that farmers can plant.

She said this is an ideal region for growing stevia. The company has received a lot of inquiries from farmers interested in growing stevia seed.

“There is a lot of variability in the plants because there is so much that hasn’t been bred out yet,” she said. “It will become more ideal as we develop a seed line. It’s still really an emerging market in the United States because of the cost at this point.”

The wide genetic diversity in stevia means the progeny is usually not as good as the parents, said Clint Shock, director of Oregon State University’s research station in Ontario.

“How to efficiently propagate stevia by seed hasn’t been solved,” said Shock, who has researched the plant for more than a decade. “In order for it to be competitive in the U.S., you need to be able to cross reliably and efficiently from seed. That is the Achilles heel of growing stevia in the United States.”

Most of the world’s stevia is grown in nations with much lower labor costs, Shock said.

“The competitive advantage now is for places that have super cheap labor,” he said.

Parris and Shock are also trying to breed out the sometimes bitter aftertaste associated with stevia.

“We’re trying to develop a plant that tastes better, doesn’t have a bitter aftertaste and can be used more as an additive to food products,” Parris said.

BEND, Ore. (AP) — Deschutes County finds itself in the middle of a marijuana tug of war just two and half years since Measure 91 legalized recreational marijuana in Oregon.

The Bend Bulletin reported Saturday that due to its unique farmland setup, and its restrictive, discretionary rules governing the growing of marijuana outside of city limits, Deschutes County is in the middle of battles over how, when and where plant owners can grow and produce the crop.

Deschutes County Commissioner Tony DeBone says rules established by the county in 2016 help balance the needs of marijuana growers looking to set up shop in rural parts of the county.

Both DeBone and Community Development Director for Deschutes County Nick Lelack say Deschutes County is open to revisiting its rules on marijuana production.

Azure Farms, the Sherman County, Ore., organic operation, faces a difficult and potentially expensive task to control the weeds that neighboring wheat farmers are complaining about.

Judit Barroso, a weed scientist at Oregon State University’s Columbia Basin Research and Extension Station in Pendleton, said she and other OSU experts are willing to help solve the problem that has simmered for years and boiled over this spring into a massive social media campaign that targeted county officials and a confrontational community meeting.

Barroso said the perennial weeds growing at Azure Farms are difficult to control, and it will take more than a single application or action to do the job. Because Azure Farms is organic, it would lose certification for three years if it attacks its weeds with the herbicides used by conventional farms in the area. Some local farmers believe the weed problem is so bad that Azure should spray, take its lumps with decertification and start organic farming again with clean fields in three years.

Dan Arp, dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences at OSU, said weed scientist Barroso will provide “evidence-based information with regard to what may or may not work” to control the weeds. The help could include information on treatment methods and weed seed transmission, he said.

“We don’t design management plans,” Arp said. “This clearly is a county issue, the county has authority. They’re the ones who have to approve the plan.”

“It’s an interesting example of the issues around co-existence,” Arp said.

At a Sherman County Court hearing last week in the local high school gym, Azure Farms principals David and Nathan Stelzer presented a plan to control Rush Skeleton, Canada Thistle, White Top and Bindweed growing on their 1,922-acre farm on the outskirts of Moro, the county seat. An estimated 300 people attended, more than one-sixth the county’s population.

The county court had warned it would ask the Oregon Department of Agriculture to quarantine the farm if it did not control its weeds. Other farmers, especially those who grow certified wheat, don’t want weed seeds spreading from Azure Farms to contaminate their crops.

Tim Butler, who manages the ODA’s noxious weed program, said the ag department supports Sherman County’s action. “Our mission is to protect Oregon’s natural resource and agricultural economy from invasive, noxious weeds,” he said. “These things have impact directly on ag.

“I think Sherman County is doing the right thing for the right reasons, for sure,” Butler said.

He said a quarantine for weeds has been used only one time in Oregon that he recalls. The weed management plan submitted by Azure Farms “still needs some work” but is on the right track, Butler said.

“That’s where the weed scientists at OSU can provide some insight,” he said. “I think they can get there.”

The Stelzers, who are brothers, proposed a variety of methods, including deep tillage, mowing, increased crop rotation, over-application of fertilizer and application of such things as boron, salt and citrus pulp mulch. Nathan Stelzer is the farm manager; David Stelzer is CEO of Azure Standard in Dufur, Ore., which distributes organic products.

Bryan Cranston, who grows certified wheat next to Azure Farms, said he hopes the Stelzers, neighboring farmers and county officials can find a solution that works for everyone. “I don’t want them to lose organic certification, I don’t,” he said.

But Cranston also said the time for experimental weed control methods has passed. He believes the only way to control Rush Skeleton weed in particular is with the herbicide Milestone, which is not certified for use on organic operations.

Like many in the county, Cranston was angry the farm used social media to rally customers and organic activists to its side. County officials received approximately 57,000 emails, many from people who angrily denounced the county for what the senders characterized as threatening to poison the farm with herbicides. The county courthouse had to shut down its phone system, because it was overwhelmed. Some critics invoked the specter of Monsanto, which had no discernable role in the matter.

During the Sherman County Court session, Cranston and others made it clear they didn’t appreciate it.

“Noxious weeds spread the same way something is viral on Facebook,” he said during the hearing. “I would appreciate a visit over a tailgate, not a social media campaign.”

During the meeting, David Stelzer apologized for taking the issue to social media.

Speaking this week, Cranston said weeds from Azure have been a problem for 10 years, and he’s frustrated many people are acting like the problem was discovered only recently. He hopes the county will supervise Azure’s progress on its weed management plan, and he believes the organic farm should pay for it.

Willamette Valley farmer Marie Bowers, who grows grass seed and turnip seed, also said co-existence between farmers is the key issue. In her case, she has a turnip field next to wine grapes. She and the vineyard operator notify each other when they need to spray, for example, and time their work so it doesn’t harm the other.

“You want to be respectful of your neighbor, you want to work together,” she said. “That’s part of what we do in Oregon: We check with each other.”

Bowers said the non-farming public may not understand weed control is important to farmers, especially those growing seed. Seed purity, providing a product that is free of weeds, is “pretty much vital to our industry,” she said.

COLFAX, Wash. — The Snake River Family Festival on May 20 celebrated the billions of dollars in economic contributions the Columbia-Snake River system makes to the Pacific Northwest economy.

More than 400 people attended the festival at Boyer Park and Marina in Colfax, Wash. It included free food, children’s activities, live music, an information tent, an interactive salmon display, farm machinery and barge and tug boat displays.

The entire system represents $20 billion of commerce, said Tom Kammerzell, commissioner for the Port of Whitman County and a Colfax rancher.

Nearly 10 percent of all U.S. wheat exports move through Snake River dams, and more than 4.3 million tons of cargo was barged on the Snake River in 2014. It would have taken 167,000 semi-trucks or 43,000 rail cars to carry that amount.

Rob Rich, vice president of marine services for tug and barge operator Shaver Transportation Co., said the river system impacts farmers, grain elevators, fertilizer and seed providers, ports, towboat operators, cruise vessels and electricity and irrigation users.

With the system, Rich said, farmers have a bulk transportation system not affected by weather.

Export elevators downriver receive 40 percent of the wheat by barge and 60 percent by rail.

About 80 percent of farmers using the river system are solely dependent on it, Rich said.

“Where they are sending their wheat, that particular elevator only has the opportunity to receive by truck and ship by barge,” he said.

A typical four-barge tow moves the same amount of cargo as 140 rail cars or 538 trucks.

Trucks are more expensive per ton, so farmers wouldn’t be as competitive in the export market, Rich said.

The current rail capacity isn’t sufficient to meet current or projected wheat transportation needs, according to the committee.

Without the river system, the economic picture would be “bleak,” Kammerzell said.

Chad Crosby of Lewiston, Idaho, is not connected to the industry, but fishes and boats on the river.

He said he was interested in learning more about how the dams produce electricity and in some of the products he sees shipped on the river.

“Educate these young minds,” he said, watching his children participate in activities in the information tent.

Linhda Sagen of Pullman, Wash., said she used to work for the USDA wheat laboratory and researched barley. She and her family were impressed by the displays.

“We forget where our food source is coming from,” she said. “If we didn’t have the dam to transport wheat, (it would mean) essentially farmers going out of business.”

Beth Hegde, senior account director of public relations agency Desautel Hege in Spokane, said rain at the beginning of the event might have initially reduced attendance.

“We’re very happy that once the morning weather cooperated, we had a really good turnout,” Hegde said. “This event was really successful, so we would surely like to think about one for next year.”

As more wind and solar projects take shape in Eastern Oregon, the Umatilla Basin finds itself caught between interests.

On the one hand, Oregon utilities must provide an increasing amount of energy from renewable sources, and green energy developers are eager to build around the region. Farmers, however, worry about a mess of transmission lines criss-crossing their property to connect to the power grid, cutting over fields and taking valuable land out of production.

The conflict is so great that Gov. Kate Brown established an advisory committee in October 2015 to brainstorm possible solutions. After more than a year of meetings, the committee issued its final report in February, taking stock of local agriculture and energy needs.

Morrow County officials also asked to work with the state Department of Land Conservation and Development on a pilot project that, if successful, would allow multiple renewable energy facilities to combine into a single large transmission corridor — eliminating the veritable spiderweb of power lines that would be required to connect each individual project.

In a letter dated March 30, Gov. Brown expressed support for the project and directed the department to work with Morrow County on crafting temporary rules later this year. Carla McLane, Morrow County planning director, said there are no concrete plans in place, but the advisory committee was critical to lay the groundwork and create goodwill.

“We are at the point where we have this (report), thanks to the governor’s office,” McLane said. “I think the hard work is yet to happen.”

The committee included representatives of farms and utilities, officials from Umatilla, Morrow and Gilliam Counties, as well as state Sen. Bill Hansell (R-Athena) and Rep. Greg Smith (R-Heppner). Hansell said he was pleased with how the parties all came together, and said the Morrow County corridor has a lot to offer the region.

“It’s a solution I think we ought to implement,” he said.

The final report recognizes that agriculture remains the primary economic driver in the basin, especially irrigated farms. Without irrigation, dryland wheat typically yields a value of $100 per acre. But add just one acre-foot of water and that value rises to $500 per acre.

At three acre-feet of water, farmers can grow high-value vegetables such as potatoes, carrots and onions at a value of $5,000 per acre. But accessing that water is not easy. Pumping irrigation water from the Columbia River is not profitable to elevations more than 1,000 feet above the McNary and John Day pools, which limits the land base for high-value crops.

That’s why growers say it is so crucial to protect this bank of farmland. Kent Madison, of Madison Ranches in Echo, said transmission lines impede regular farming and irrigation practices, such as aerial spraying of fertilizer and chemicals.

Madison said he supports a single green energy transmission corridor in order to minimize the impact from wind and solar farms on surrounding agricultural land.

“It’s a whole lot better to have this corridor with one big transmission line through it than four small corridors over a 10-mile area, with four or five transmission lines,” he said. “We need to protect the high-value agricultural ground.”

Though McLane said the corridor project is still in its conceptual phase, she imagines it would run along Bombing Range Road connecting wind and solar developments at the south end of the county to electrical substations at the north end.

But there are a number of hurdles to clear first.

The county is still awaiting the final record of decision from the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Navy on routing a portion of the Boardman to Hemingway transmission line on the west side of Bombing Range Road — part of the Navy’s Boardman Bombing Range — as opposed to the east side. Stephanie McCurdy, a spokeswoman for B2H developer Idaho Power, said those decisions are expected within a matter of months.

If all goes according to plan, then McLane said it may be possible for the local Umatilla Electric Cooperative to upgrade its transmission system on the other side of Bombing Range Road to accommodate the green energy corridor. She figures it would take a 230-kilovolt line to handle the anticipated capacity of proposed new wind and solar developments.

“We’re not done,” McLane said. “B2H is a big piece of the puzzle.”

UEC is already exploring building the line, which would initially hook up to the new 500-megawatt Wheatridge Wind Energy facility that was issued a site certificate in April. Wheatridge is approved for 292 turbines near Heppner, with a portion of the project extending into southern Umatilla County.

Robert Echenrode, UEC general manager, said one large corridor would be a more strategic effort to plug renewable energy projects onto the grid, as opposed to landowners being inundated with requests for power lines.

“We listened to the landowners in this corridor area, and I believe we were successful in finding common ground,” Echenrode said.

Tamra Mabbott, Umatilla County planning director, said they will be watching Morrow County closely to see if the green corridor model can be a success.

“Certainly, we’re looking for a win-win and that’s what we hope Morrow County will come up with,” Mabbott said.

When the state went all-in on renewable energy, McLane said nobody thought about the consequences for Oregon farms. But a green energy corridor might just be the answer to Morrow County keeping their agricultural base whole.

“For rural counties, (renewable energy) does bring an economic benefit. But how do we protect these other things that are important?” McLane asked. “It would be nice if the local jurisdiction could be the balancing authority for that.”

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Contact George Plaven at gplaven@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0825.

An Oregon dairy farm lost approximately 600 tons of hay early May 19 when a fire of unknown origin swept through a wood and steel commodity barn.

Firefighters from the Mount Angel, Monitor, Silverton and Woodburn fire districts responded to the fire reported at 1:06 a.m. at AJ Dairy, 16153 Marquam Road. They found the barn fully involved in flames. The cause was undetermined; a preliminary estimate put the damage at about $300,000 for the building and contents, according to the Mount Angel Fire District.

Tim Kuenzi, co-operator of the dairy, sustained burns on his hands and ankles when he tried to move a front-end loader out of the burning barn. Kuenzi said he threw on coveralls and rushed to the barn when the fire was discovered, but the equipment was too hot to move.

“I’m thankful there was no loss of life and the animals are safe,” he said. He said his burns were bandaged and he was able to work the following day.