BEND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon Wild’s proposal to declare 300,000 acres of Ochoco National Forest land as a national recreation area has been widely opposed by the residents and officials of Crook County for the land use restrictions that many say such a designation could lead to.

But another factor contributing to the staunch opposition, according to recent comments at public meetings and gatherings as well as interviews with The Bulletin, is the conservation organization’s history and reputation in Prineville and elsewhere.

Some locals know Oregon Wild as a group that in the past has damaged local industry with its proposals and lawsuits, regardless of intentions, and they haven’t failed to bring that up at meetings about the proposal.

“I’d say that 90 percent of people around here know about Oregon Wild’s history because it’s been brought up so much in so many of the meetings,” said Pete Sharp, who was born and raised in Crook County and filed to run for county commissioner this year. “We had quite a few that brought up (Oregon Wild’s) history because they went online and looked it up. People know that they’ve been doing bad things for us for a long time. It’s not necessarily the same people now as it was then, but you know, you have trouble siding with the group that helped destroy the timber industry.”

For its part, Oregon Wild said that focusing on the past, and particularly an old reputation for litigation and conflict, isn’t productive to the current conversation that’s taking place in Crook County. Rather, collaboration is the path the group is focusing on now.

“In the ’90s, there was a lot of fighting and a lot of lawsuits,” said Erik Fernandez, Oregon Wild wilderness program manager. “Lawsuits nowadays are few and far between, and collaboration is everywhere. We’ve had 10 to 15 years of moderate success with collaboration, so I think there’s a fair amount of history and legs to that. I think with some people, they’re still angry about the ’90s, and that’s their right. But arguing about the ’90s isn’t the way forward.”

Still, some in Crook County remember the past.

According to the Oregon Wild website, before its name was changed to Oregon Wild in 2006 to prevent people from confusing it with a government agency, the group went by the Oregon Natural Resources Council. And in the ’80s and ’90s, the ONRC was involved in lawsuits statewide and regionally that Crook County residents say have created a distaste for the organization locally.

“They can’t be trusted. They have a reputation of saying one thing but really meaning something else,” said Greg Lambert, who owns Mid Oregon Personnel in Prineville, adding that people would be against the proposal whether or not Oregon Wild had the reputation it has.

“It’s a well-deserved reputation — if they don’t get their way they’re going to file a lawsuit. Their history gives us the ability to listen to what they’re saying and know what they actually mean. They use words and phrases that sound very good, but when you look at how they’ve implemented those words in other scenarios, it turns out they’re not so good.”

Lambert didn’t offer specifics, but more than 50 lawsuits that list Oregon Wild as the plaintiff have been filed in Oregon and regionally since 2004, according to Pacer, an electronic court database, and more than 100 that list ONRC as a plaintiff have been filed since the late ‘80s. And some of those suits, one of which went to the Supreme Court in 1989, can be hard for those affected to forget.

For instance, many Oregonians, including those in Crook County, know the ONRC as an organization that played a role in the litigation and appeals that led to the northern spotted owl’s controversial listing as an endangered species in 1990, an event some claim played a large part in the decline of the logging industry. Even though the controversy surrounding the northern spotted owl, which resides in Central and Southern Oregon and elsewhere but not in the Ochoco National Forest, didn’t have much effect on Crook County, county residents remember.

“While the spotted owl didn’t affect us particularly, there were numerous appeals and lawsuits that the old Oregon Wild group participated in in Central Oregon and Eastern Oregon,” said John Shelk, who owned Ochoco Lumber before it closed in 2001. “And to the extent the community still remembers those activities, there likely is still an aura of mistrust for their organization and a questioning of their motives.”

Shelk, as a member of a collaborative local group that brings together representatives from various local industries and organizations, including Oregon Wild, said that despite Oregon Wild’s reputation in the community, collaboration is the way forward. But clearly many community members don’t see it that way.

“The collaborative that these groups participate in, we have very good relations at this point,” he said. “But I don’t know if that extends to the larger populace. Obviously they didn’t respond too favorably to the proposal, and I think that there’s been so many restrictions placed on public lands in the last 25 or 30 years that when given a chance to participate in the discussion — and keep in mind that the larger community wasn’t consulted back in the ’80s when the timber sales were being appealed and litigated — that when finally given a chance to give their opinion on land management on public lands, they spoke awfully loudly and awfully clearly.”

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Additional security officers have been sent to national wildlife refuges in southern Oregon, northern California and Nevada amid the ongoing armed occupation of a sister refuge in southeastern Oregon that has caused tensions in the region and is showing no sign of ending soon.

Four occupiers remain holed up at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge south of Burns, saying they will not leave without assurances they won’t be arrested.

As the occupation drags on, additional officers have been sent to the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex that straddles the Oregon-California border, as well as to the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada and Modoc National Wildlife Refuge in northern California.

“No specific threats or incidents have occurred, but we remain vigilant to ensure employee and visitor safety throughout the Region,” Jody Holzworth, a Sacramento-based regional spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said in an email Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a federal grand jury has indicted 11 people arrested last week for their roles in the occupation of the Malheur refuge including their leader, Ammon Bundy.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoff Barrow said Wednesday others besides the 11 were also indicted, perhaps a reference to the last four holdouts at the Malheur refuge.

Federal criminal complaints against the 11 accuse each of a conspiracy charge of using intimidation to prevent federal officers from doing their work at the refuge in a sparsely populated region of Oregon.

The occupation began Jan. 2, with Bundy demanding the federal government turn public lands over to local control.

Four holdouts remain at the refuge, ignoring Bundy’s advice that they leave to avoid bloodshed. They are David Fry, 27, of Blanchester, Ohio; Jeff Banta, 46, of Elko, Nevada; and Sean Anderson, 48, and Sandy Anderson, 47, a married couple from Riggins, Idaho.

Tensions have continued in Harney County, where the Malheur refuge is located.

Earlier this week, local residents who want the occupation to end squared off in Burns against militia members and others who held a demonstration to support the occupation and to protest the death of Robert “LeVoy” Finicum, who had been acting as spokesman for Bundy’s group.

Finicum died during a Jan. 26 confrontation with FBI agents and Oregon state troopers on a remote road. The FBI says Finicum was going for a gun in his jacket pocket, but Bundy supporters say his death was not justified. That confrontation last week also resulted in the arrest of Bundy and others.

Federal authorities are showing worry that tensions could pop up elsewhere.

Gavin Shire, chief of public affairs for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said national wildlife refuges across the nation and other sites run by the agency are exercising extra vigilance.

“Due to the evolving situation in eastern Oregon, all service stations are on alert and being advised to take appropriate caution,” Shire said in a statement.

The Malheur refuge has 17 employees, and they haven’t able to work there because of the occupation.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal grand jury has indicted Ammon Bundy and some of the men and women who joined him at the armed occupation of an Oregon wildlife refuge, authorities said Wednesday.

However, the indictment remained sealed and further details on the charges were unavailable.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoff Barrow said the documents would be unsealed within 24 hours.

Barrow said the indictment was returned against the 11 people who have already been arrested and others, perhaps a reference to the last four holdouts at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Defense attorneys demanded the immediate unsealing of the indictment — a request denied Wednesday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Janice Stewart.

“You will get a copy of the indictment in due course, don’t worry,” Stewart said. Arraignment was set for Feb. 24.

Authorities arrested 11 people last week on a criminal complaint charging them with felony conspiracy. They were accused of using intimidation to prevent federal officers from doing their work at the refuge in sparsely populated southeast Oregon.

In a criminal complaint, defendants have a right to a preliminary hearing in which they can question the arresting officer under oath about probable cause for the charges.

After an indictment, they are no longer entitled to such a proceeding.

The cancellation of preliminary hearings that had been scheduled for Wednesday dismayed attorneys for the accused.

Lisa Hay, who represents defendant Ryan Payne, said it appears prosecutors moved to scrap the hearings even before the indictment had been handed down. She was also annoyed that prosecutors presented the indictment to the judge and not to defense attorneys.

“That’s an unusual thing and it’s unfortunate in a case like this, where many of the people distrust the government to begin with,” Hay said.

The occupation began Jan. 2, with the group demanding the federal government turn public lands over to local control. While most of the occupiers have been arrested, four have refused to leave, despite Bundy’s urging.

They have said they want assurances they won’t be arrested. The remaining occupiers are David Fry, 27, of Blanchester, Ohio; Jeff Banta, 46, of Elko, Nevada; and Sean Anderson, 48, and Sandy Anderson, 47, a married couple from Riggins, Idaho.

The government is building a case to show the occupation was a threat to residents and federal employees. Prosecutors say the group was ready to use violence to hold on to the refuge.

Defense attorneys have said their clients engaged in civil disobedience and are being punished for political speech. They say the only use of force during the standoff was by police, who shot and killed occupier Robert “LaVoy” Finicum during a Jan. 26 traffic stop. Bundy and others were then taken into custody.

Federal authorities have released aerial video and said Finicum was going for a gun in his jacket pocket.

In a separate matter, an attorney for Shawna Cox — a defendant allowed to return home to Utah as her case goes through the court system — asked Wednesday for her client to be allowed to attend Finicum’s funeral on Friday. The funeral is in the same town where Cox lives.

Judge Stewart denied the request.

Capital Press

PORTLAND — A speaker at the Cannabis Collaborative Conference said the fast-growing industry has an entrepreneurial model to emulate in the organic food movement.

“As big as natural food industry has grown, this new cannabis industry stands to make it small by comparison,” said Tom Burns, who oversaw the success of Yogi Tea in Eugene, Ore., beginning in the 1970s.

But he cautioned that “sky is the limit” business projections must be tempered with social values and responsibility.

“All of us in this up-and-coming cannabis industry have a great opportunity to make a positive difference,” Burns said. “This industry is not just about getting high and storing cash in some safe place.

“Capitalism in a caring form can improve all of our lives,” he said. “We will need to be good on all levels, to be as safe, pure and certified as organic food. Don’t settle for easy, assure all of our products are safe.”

An estimated 1,200 people, plus about 90 vendors, are attending the two-day conference at the Portland Expo Center. Speakers are extolling the investment opportunities in cannabis as recreational and medical pot use becomes legal in more states. Vendors are pushing their equipment, security systems, professional services and more.

Conference speaker Steve Marks, executive director of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, said his agency and state legislators are pushing hard to make cannabis a safe and well-regulated industry.

“We are very, very focused on making sure this rolls out the best we can,” Marks said.

The OLCC has received 438 applications from prospective pot producers, wholesalers and processors, but none yet from laboratories that would certify quality. He said that’s troubling, because lab work is essential to assure a flow of product to retail outlets. “We have to have that capacity there,” Marks said.

Master of ceremonies for the opening day was Noah Stokes, CEO of a pot security company called CannaGuard.

“This is a cannabis trade show, so we double-strengthed all the coffee,” Stokes joked in his opening remarks.

He congratulated entrepreneurs for pushing ahead in the industry even though pot is still illegal at the federal level, despite state-by-state approval.

“It’s no small feat to look the federal government in the eye and start a business doing that,” he said.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Conservationists filed a federal lawsuit in Oregon on Wednesday that challenges the authority of a federal government program to kill wolves in the state.

The lawsuit targets the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services program, which controls the number of wolves, coyotes, grizzly bears, mountain lions and other wild animals.

It’s a similar lawsuit Cascadia Wildlands in Eugene and other conservationists won late last year in Washington state, where a federal judge said the program should have done a more thorough analysis of the effects of its activities and banned it from killing wolves in that state.

Cascadia Wildlands is the same group currently fighting Oregon’s decision last year to remove the wolf from the state’s endangered species list in a separate lawsuit.

ONTARIO, Ore. — There is some good news but a few headaches associated with the FDA’s final produce safety rule, Idaho and Oregon onion growers were told Feb. 2 during their annual joint meeting.

The good news? “It shouldn’t interfere with your ability to irrigate your onions,” Oregon State University researcher Stuart Reitz said during the 56th annual meeting of the Malheur County and Idaho onion growers’ associations.

That’s great news, he said, considering the FDA’s initial proposed produce safety rule would have made it extremely difficult to grow onions in the Treasure Valley area, where most farmers use surface water that mostly won’t meet the rule’s new agricultural water standards.

FDA’s initial proposal would have required produce growers whose irrigation water exceeds certain thresholds for bacteria to immediately stop using it. That would have made it impossible for most people in the valley to grow onions, industry leaders have said.

The final rule, released Nov. 27, requires growers whose water exceeds those minimum standards to adopt a mitigation strategy as soon as practicable but no later than the following year.

“This is the real sea change from what FDA had originally proposed in 2013,” Reitz said. “We are in a better situation than we were with the initial ... rules that were proposed.”

The final rule allows growers whose water exceeds the standards to comply if they can show that bacteria dies off at a certain rate in the field.

The bulb onions grown in this region are left in the field to cure for seven to 10 days and OSU researchers in Ontario have conducted field trials that show bacteria dies off quickly in those fields.

This die-off provision was also not included in the agency’s original proposal and onion growers were told the input they provided FDA on its original proposal was responsible for the favorable changes.

“If everybody didn’t step up like that, this rule would be a lot different than it is today,” said Idaho Onion Growers Association President Clinton Wissel.

Produce farmers with $25,000 to $250,000 in sales will have to start complying with the new produce rule in January 2020, growers with $250,000-$500,000 in sales have until January 2019 and growers with more than $500,000 in sales have until January 2018.

Growers who use surface water to irrigate their produce have to take an initial 20 water samples over a two-year period to create a water quality profile, and an additional five samples a year after that, recalculating their profile annually based on the most recent 20 samples.

Farmers who use well water also have to test but less frequently.

FDA will allow farmers to share test results if they use the same ditch and there is no obvious source of contamination between their fields.

Reitz said that as FDA releases guidance on the rule, OSU researchers will conduct outreach efforts to ensure “everybody is aware of the exact details and what they need to do to stay in compliance.”

SPOKANE — Theories about increasing global temperatures fail to take into account the impact of factors other than the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the cyclic nature of climate, a well-known meteorologist told farmers on Feb. 2.

Art Douglas, professor emeritus at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., spoke about global warming during his presentation at the Spokane Ag Expo and Pacific Northwest Farm Forum.

One problem he sees is relying on air temperature records.

“I trust sea surface temperatures more than I do air temperature,” Douglas said. “Air temperature is screwed up by cities. You have a whole mix of things that can screw up an air temperature record.”

Much has been said because the last two years were the warmest on record, with the globe warming by 0.7 degrees centigrade.

However, Douglas said that carbon dioxide and global temperature patterns from the last 50 years seem to match cyclical patterns going back 400,000 years.

He showed two charts — one of the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere and one of the air temperatures — that were produced using Antarctic ice core samples and go back 400,000 years. In those cycles, global temperatures increase as the amount of carbon dioxide increases — and both cycle lower after reaching a peak before building back up.

Douglas said the recent warming trend can be attributed 50-50 to human activity and natural climate variability.

Assigning contributions to global warming solely by each carbon dioxide emissions ignores the impacts of other climate cycles and sun spots, Douglas said.

“Historically speaking, we’re in a very cold period and a low CO2 period in terms of the planet,” Douglas said.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon lawmakers on Tuesday held their first public hearing on Gov. Kate Brown’s scaled-back minimum wage proposal, and it immediately ran into criticism.

Legislators met at the Capitol in a room packed with union officials, business people, residents, local government leaders and others wanting to weigh in on whether Oregon’s $9.25 hourly minimum wage should be increased, by how much and where, and over what period of time.

Brown revised her earlier minimum wage hike proposal on Friday by calling for smaller increases that would be implemented sooner, a move she made in response to continued complaints from stakeholders who argue the measure would hurt small businesses, cost jobs and hamper rural economies.

But opposition remained strong at Tuesday’s Senate Committee on Workforce and General Government hearing, despite Brown’s revisions.

Linn County Commissioner Roger Nyquist told the committee his county won’t go along with any wage increases if the Legislature doesn’t dole out extra funding to cover the added costs.

“We think, based on the Constitution, we’re not required to participate, and we will likely not do so,” said Nyquist, adding the county’s position has been vetted by legal counsel.

Ted Reutlinger, chief deputy legislative counsel for the Office of Legislative Counsel, confirmed Nyquist’s assertions. Reutlinger said there is a certain portion in the state’s Constitution that essentially would allow Linn County to “opt out” of a wage increase imposed by the Legislature if it doesn’t pass with a three-fifths majority vote and with additional funding appropriated for local agencies.

“This section only applies to laws adopted by the legislature,” he said.

So if the minimum wage was instead raised by voters through a ballot initiative, he said, Linn County and others would be forced to comply.

Proponents of raising the minimum wage told lawmakers they appreciated Brown’s efforts because, at the end of the day, any immediate increase is meaningful to working-class families trying to make ends meet.

However, they said they still weren’t sure whether the revised plan is enough to thwart two more aggressive proposals for the November ballot, one of which would raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2019 and the other to $13.50 by 2018.

Brown’s scaled-back alternative proposal would slightly raise the minimum to $9.75 statewide starting in July. By 2022, the Portland area’s minimum would be $14.50 and the rest of the state at $13.25.

Representatives of Brown’s office were unable to answer the committee’s questions on certain specifics of the revised plan, such as how metro Portland’s higher minimum would apply to workers and businesses operating throughout Oregon.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The leader of an armed group that took over an Oregon wildlife preserve to protest federal land policies is remaining defiant behind bars.

While Ammon Bundy on Tuesday again urged four holdouts at the refuge to leave, he said local residents should control the federally owned property and U.S. officials do not belong there.

Bundy said the FBI and Oregon State Police surrounding Malheur National Wildlife Refuge are leading an “armed occupation,” words typically reserved for the ranchers and others that launched the standoff on Jan. 2. He said the refuge “belongs to the people,” according to a statement read by his attorney.

“I am requesting that the remaining protesters go home now so their lives are not taken,” Bundy’s statement said.

He is among 11 people arrested in connection with the standoff, whose adherents have called federal land restrictions burdensome and demanded the government turn over public lands to local control. Many were taken into custody during a traffic stop last week that left one occupier dead.

All face a felony conspiracy charge of using intimidation to prevent federal employees from their work. Bundy will stay behind bars while his attorneys build their case that the standoff was intended as a “peaceful protest and civil disobedience.” A federal judge has allowed a couple of others to go free pending trial.

Another court hearing in the case is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the handful of remaining occupiers offered no signs they are ready to leave. They gave an interview Monday on an online talk show on a YouTube channel called Revolution Radio.

“We’re still here,” said David Fry, adding that the four hope sympathizers will come out to back them up. “We need the American people to get the courage to stand up.”

Bundy pleaded for them to go home and aligned with his father, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, on demanding federal and state authorities clear out of the area.

The elder Bundy, who was involved in a high-profile 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights, sent a certified letter to the local sheriff Monday, saying the refuge should be placed under local control.

Unlike his son, Cliven Bundy has not called for the last occupiers to leave.

The Oregonian reported the Rev. Franklin Graham had spoken with the remaining occupiers.

Graham spokesman Todd Shearer told the newspaper that the religious leader had communicated by phone with the four occupiers and federal officials but Graham had “no comment” beyond that.

The last four occupiers had asked Graham to help them negotiate their departure. They have said they want assurances they won’t be arrested.

Federal prosecutors are building a case against Ammon Bundy and his followers to show that the occupation was a threat to residents and federal employees. Prosecutors say the group, once numbering a couple dozen, was ready to use violence to hold on to the refuge.

The standoff also has created divisions among residents that will take time to heal. Many locals want the occupation to end and are eager to get on with their lives. But others sympathize with Bundy’s complaints, which are part of a long-running dispute over federal management of public lands in the West.

Some have rallied in support and opposition to the standoff, the latter often citing the death of an Arizona rancher by police. Robert “LaVoy” Finicum was killed Jan. 26 during a confrontation with FBI agents and Oregon State Police on a remote road.

Federal authorities have released aerial video and said Finicum was going for a gun in his jacket pocket. Bundy’s relatives say the shooting was not justified.

As an occupation drags on, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees don’t know what they’ll find when they return to work at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Gavin Shire, Fish and Wildlife public affairs chief, said he has no information about conditions at the refuge headquarters south of Burns, scene of the armed occupation by Ammon Bundy and followers.

“We have received reports that the illegal occupiers accessed federal records locked away on the refuge and have evidence of them accessing government computers, but we know little more than that at this stage,” Shire said in an email.

News reports and social media posts indicated the occupiers fiddled with office computers and took down a section of barbed wire fence. One occupier was arrested in Burns after he drove a government vehicle into town. Another used refuge equipment to clear a new roadway.

Shire said the refuge contains items and places of “immense

cultural significance” to the Burns Paiute Tribe.

“The tribe has expressed their outrage at the callous disregard the occupiers have shown for their cultural heritage,” Shire said by email. “We share that outrage and will seek and exercise appropriate recourse at the appropriate time.”

Another agency spokesman, Jason Holm, was particularly angry about artifacts being handled and the road construction. He called it “deplorable” and said the roadwork might have damaged culturally significant sites.

“We share in the outrage of the Burns Paiute Tribe,” he said in a statement. “This is disgusting, ghoulish behavior.”

Holm also described the occupiers’ statements as “vaporous pablum.”

Bundy, his brother, Ryan Bundy, and six others were arrested Jan. 26 when FBI, Oregon State Police and other law enforcement agencies stopped their vehicles north of Burns. An outspoken Bundy follower, Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, was shot and killed by police during the stop. Video released by the FBI shows Finicum reaching into his jacket at least twice before he was shot by an OSP trooper.

Since then, several other occupiers were arrested as they trickled out of the refuge. Four occupiers remain at the refuge and have insisted they be allowed to leave without being charged with crimes.

Employees will repair and rebuild as necessary when they return to work at the wildlife refuge, the agency said in a news release.

USFWS has 17 employees at the refuge who haven’t been able to work for a month. The refuge also hosts researchers, students, firefighters and others.

SPOKANE — Pacific Northwest farmers will see warmer and wetter weather in the months ahead, meteorologist Art Douglas predicts.

Temperatures in February and March will run slightly above normal in the region, Douglas said, which means winterkill in wheat will not be a problem.

Douglas, a fixture at the Spokane Ag Expo and Pacific Northwest Farm Forum for decades, offered his annual forecast on Feb. 2. He is a professor emeritus at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb.

Spring rains will primarily occur in the Southwestern U.S., but moisture will also be slightly above normal in Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington and in the Idaho panhandle.

The Pacific Northwest will be “very warm” in May, but still have moisture, he said.

California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona will also be wetter than normal in May.

The Pacific Northwest will be warmer than normal in the summer. Douglas said, but also have adequate moisture.

“You guys are in really good shape this spring and summer,” he told farmers in the audience.

July will be wet, which could cause problems with harvest, Douglas warned.

The weather will dry out in August as an enormous ridge of high pressure develops across the U.S.

Douglas also said it will be the first hot summer for the Corn Belt in four years, which could impact corn and soybean production, depending on the timing.

The El Niño condition that has been pumping storms across the Pacific Ocean to the West Coast will end this spring, he said. The planet will then enter a temperature pattern similar to 1976 through 1997, which means drier conditions in the Pacific Northwest, especially during the winter, due to more high pressure ridges along the West Coast.

“The entire period will end up with precipitation anywhere from 5 to 10 percent below normal, which may not sound like a lot, but when you start compounding it in terms of the effect on groundwater, runoff, reservoirs and lakes, it becomes a problem,” Douglas said.

“It’s encouraging,” farmer Raymond DeRuwe of Dayton, Wash., said of Douglas’ forecast for this year. “Moisture is yield. Every inch of moisture is worth eight bushels of wheat (per acre).”

Kevin Lyle of Connell, Wash., was pleased to hear about the moisture in the spring. It could make for a better crop than in recent years, he said.

But rain during harvest could increase sprout damage concerns, Lyle said. Farmers receive lower prices at country elevators when their grain has sprout damage,.

“Hopefully it’s not too wet into summer (during) harvest, is the main thing,” he said.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An agreement by California, Oregon and the federal government on Tuesday boosted efforts to remove four dams in the Pacific Northwest despite opposition in Congress.

Officials from those two states and the federal government committed in the deal to pressing ahead on plans to remove the four hydroelectric dams on the lower Klamath River, which runs through Oregon to California.

Local tribes and other opponents of the dams say the structures blocked fish from spawning grounds and damaged habitat while generating comparatively little hydroelectricity.

The agreement to remove the dams had been part of a yearslong effort to end disputes among tribes, wildlife advocates and farmers and ranchers over use of the river and its water. The resolution had been put in peril when congressional Republicans opposed to the dam removal had declined to formally authorize the project.

The agreements on managing the Klamath River Basin were the result of “years of hard work and collaboration,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said in a statement Tuesday. “We can’t let that local vision go unfulfilled.”

Tuesday’s agreement means the two states, the federal government and more than 40 other parties involved in the negotiation will stick to plans to decommission and remove the dams, using existing funding, despite the lack of congressional support, officials said.

ROSEBURG, Ore. — Rancher Kurt Spencer had a close encounter with the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation situation on Jan. 28.

Spencer, whose beef cattle business is headquartered in the Umpqua area near Roseburg, also owns and works four ranches in Harney and Grant counties.

While traveling north in his red pickup between his ranch near Frenchglen, Ore., at the base of the Steens Mountains and his ranch near Izee, Ore., in the Ochoco Mountains, Spencer and his wife, Veronica, traveled through two checkpoints that had been set up by law enforcement officers following the Jan. 26 killing of one refuge occupier and the arrest of several others. The rancher, whose Frenchglen ranch is just a half-hour drive south of the refuge headquarters and whose property borders refuge land, said the stop at the first checkpoint was “scary.”

“They were very professional and kind, but when you have guns kind of pointing at you, it is scary,” Spencer said in describing the scene. “They (officers) were very, very cautious. They asked us to get out and keep our hands free. They were FBI, but they looked like Army personnel. There were snipers around.

“It felt like a checkpoint in a foreign country,” he continued. “There was no room for error. They asked for ID and ran our license plate. They asked me if I had a gun and I told them I did and where it was in the rig. I told them to help themselves as far as looking, but they actually barely looked around. I guess they were comfortable with who we were after checking our IDs and plate.”

The couple were then allowed to drive on and at the checkpoint north of the refuge, their travel was barely interrupted. They assumed the first checkpoint had called ahead and given them the OK for the northern stop.

The 59-year-old Spencer, who grew up in Oakland, Ore., and has been a rancher for close to 40 years, said he has dealt with federal agencies in his business operations and has had mixed results. He has a grazing permit with the Bureau of Land Management for his Steen Mountains ranch and a permit with the U.S. Forest Service for his Ochoco ranch.

“I’ve been on both sides of the issue,” he said. “I basically have zero complaints with BLM. They’re been very, very good, easy to work with. The Forest Service has been more challenging. They have a different attitude. It is like they’re looking for you to make a mistake rather than helping you. BLM coaches me on what to do while the Forest Service is getting more finicky. But I’ve always done what they’ve asked me to do.”

The Bureau of Land Management is the land manager of 3.97 million acres, or 60.6 percent of Harney County. Private ownership totals 1.6 million acres, or 24.9 percent. The U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manage a combined 711,231 acres, or 10.9 percent. The state of Oregon owns 197,417 acres and other government agencies own the remaining 36,507 acres.

Spencer said he has talked to some of his ranching neighbors and he said there is most definitely a split between them on how they viewed the occupation of the refuge headquarters since Jan. 2. He described the people as good farmers, good ranchers and solid people, but with different opinions.

“Some know we have issues with the federal management, but they wanted the protesters to go home,” he said. “On the other side, there were ranchers going there (the refuge) and having dinner with them and taking them supplies.

“We have an issue, but these were protesters from a radical standpoint,” Spencer added. “The people from Harney County, from Oregon, from the U.S., we’re all in it for preservation of the land. We need to find common ground. We’ll do it.”

Spencer said the general consensus of the Harney County residents was that the issue would be resolved peacefully with no casualties.

“Everybody was dismayed that somebody actually got hurt,” he said. “We were hoping there would be a peaceful ending.”

Spencer said he hopes there will be some good that eventually comes out of the situation.

“Let’s sit down with some people and talk about some of these issues,” he said. “It hasn’t been a good situation, so let’s find some good in it.”

PORTLAND — Oregon’s snowpack looks good as February unfolds, but the hydrologist who tracks it says anything can happen in the next couple months.

Thanks to heavy rain, snow and chilly weather through January — normal Oregon winter weather, in other words — the snowpack draped upon the state’s mountains is well above average for this time year.

Even the dry southeast corner is 140 percent of normal, said Julie Koeberle, a hydrologist with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in Portland. The only region lagging is Mount Hood and the Willamette River basin, but even it is near or at normal levels for this time of year, Koeberle said.

February is typically a heavy snowfall month, and March and April storms can add more stored water, so at first glance the state is in good shape, Koeberle said.

Trouble is, there are no guarantees.

“There’s a lot left than cat happen,” she said. Snow could continue to accumulate, but an unusually warm February or a heavy rain that melts snow could flip the situation. “We could lose some of our snowpack,” Koeberle said.

Long-range forecasts indicate somewhat warmer weather over the next couple months, but they lack detail and a good snowstorm could pop up as well, she said.

“February is crucial because so much can happen,” she said.

PORTLAND — About 2,500 prospective marijuana growers, investors, marketers and other entrepreneurs are expected to attend the Cannabis Collaborative Conference Feb. 3 and 4 at the Portland Expo Center.

The conference features more than 90 exhibitors and 80 speakers, highlighted by a keynote address by Cliff Robinson, the former Portland Trailblazers basketball player who now counts himself a cannabis activist.

Robinson, who was nicknamed “Uncle Cliffy” during his 18-year NBA career, reportedly plans to open a marijuana store called “Uncle Spliffy.” A spliffy is a marijuana cigarette.

The conference’s technology presentations will include the latest in growing, marketing and security products.

Conference organizers tout cannabis as the “fastest-growing agricultural businesses in North America” as more states legalize recreational and medical pot use.

The District of Columbia and four states, including Washington and Oregon, have legalized pot for recreational use by adults. Twenty-three states allow medical marijuana use. Seven states will vote this year on legalizing adult recreational use.

A conference news release said 2016 “will be the tipping point in which a majority of U.S. states transition from cannabis prohibition to some form of regulated legal market.”

A couple of cannabis industry consulting companies, New Frontier and ArcView Market Research, recently released a State of Legal Marijuana Markets report that said the industry is growing at a rate of 30 percent annually.

In 2015 it reached a estimated value of $5.4 billion. “Adult use” sales of pot grew from and estimated $351 million in 2014 to $998 million in 2015, a 184 percent increase, according to the groups.

Despite the growth, there doesn’t appear to be much room for conventional farmers in the pot market. Seth Crawford, an Oregon State University instructor who specializes in pot policy studies, told the Capital Press in 2015 that the entire Oregon demand could be met on 35 acres in Southern Oregon, and the entire U.S. demand could be grown on 5,000 acres.

Crawford said marijuana probably is Oregon’s most valuable crop, worth close to $1 billion. But he said conventional farmers would swamp the market if they started growing it, and quality might suffer.

SALEM — Oregon farm regulators have proposed overruling an administrative judge’s findings that the emergency suspension of an aerial pesticide applicator’s license was unwarranted.

The looming decision marks the latest turn of events in the legal battle between the Oregon Department of Agriculture and Applebee Aviation, which faces steep fines for allegedly ignoring the agency’s order to stop spraying pesticides.

If ODA does overrule the administrative judge — who recently found that the emergency suspension wasn’t based on sufficient evidence — the dispute may end up before the Oregon Court of Appeals.

In September 2015, ODA yanked the pesticide license of Applebee Aviation after finding the company improperly trained its workers, didn’t provide them with the appropriate protective gear and otherwise “performed pesticide application activities in a faulty, careless or negligent manner.”

Ordinarily, pesticide applicators can continue operating while challenging a license suspension through the administrative process, but in this case, ODA found that an emergency suspension was warranted, which allowed the agency to yank the license before a hearing was held.

The emergency suspension is significant because ODA alleges that Applebee Aviation continued spray operations without a license, which led to the agency issuing $180,000 in civil penalties to the company and its owner, Mike Applebee.

In January, Senior Administrative Law Judge Monica Whitaker found that ODA did not prove that Applebee’s conduct posed a “serious danger to the public’s safety or health,” and thus the emergency suspension was unjustified.

The administrative judge said the agency’s findings were based solely on the testimony of one former Applebee employee, Darryl Ivy, whose photos and other testimony were not verified.

Ivy was admitted to a hospital after quitting his job in April 2015 and then went public with allegations of hazardous spraying practices against his former employer.

The ODA has now amended the judge’s proposed order, deleting paragraphs that questioned the authenticity of Ivy’s accusations and removing the recommendation that the emergency suspension be revoked.

Instead, the agency’s proposed order finds that license suspension was justified between Sept. 25 and Oct. 8 of last year.

Whether the emergency suspension was justified is important to Applebee Aviation, as it bears on the legality of spray operations during that period and the ensuing $180,000 in fines.

Bruce Pokarney, communications director for ODA, said he can’t comment on the substance of the dispute but said the agency will consider any objections by Applebee Aviation to the amended order before making it final.

ODA is seeking a five-year license suspension for the company, as well as the civil penalties, which will be weighed by an administrative judge on Feb. 17-18, he said.

Robert Ireland, attorney for Applebee, said the company will likely take the legal fight to the Oregon Court of Appeals if ODA insists the emergency license suspension was justified.

The suspension has forced Applebee Aviation to cease spraying operations, which has cost 30 people their jobs, Ireland said.

Applebee Aviation believes that Ivy’s testimony was not credible, which is why the ODA did not call him as a witness under oath, he said.

Ireland said the ODA had the legal right to overrule the administrative law judge’s findings, but the extent of the changes was an abuse of its authority.

“They’re covering their tracks on a poor investigation,” he said.

Retirement didn’t last long for Paulette Pyle.

The longtime legislative advocate and grass-roots organizer for Oregonians for Food and Shelter has been hired by Gallatin Public Affairs, a Portland-based lobbying group. The company announced Pyle’s hiring Feb. 1.

Pyle spent 35 years with OFS before announcing her retirement in 2015. In November, she was named the Oregon Agri-Business Council’s 2015 Ag Connection of the Year Award and was feted at the group’s annual Denim & Diamonds awards dinner and auction.

In announcing Pyle’s hiring, Gallatin President Dan Lavey said her passion for the people and places of the rural Northwest is unmatched.

“She is a relentless advocate for America’s natural resource communities. Everyone wants Paulette on their side,” Lavey said in a prepared statement.

Pyle will divide her time between Gallatin’s Oregon and Idaho offices, the company said in a news release.

“My heart and love is with farmers, ranchers, loggers, foresters, fishermen and anyone who makes a living from the land in the Pacific Northwest,” Pyle said in a prepared statement.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge is expected to consider whether the leader of an armed occupation of a national wildlife refuge should remain in jail, even as the standoff that began a month ago continues to roil a rural community in eastern Oregon.

Lawyers for Ammon Bundy say he should be let go with a GPS monitoring device and with orders that the Idaho resident should not leave the state except for court appearances. Mike Arnold and Lissa Casey said in documents filed Sunday that government prosecutors failed to provide “clear and convincing evidence” those steps would not suffice.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie Beckerman said last week that Bundy, 40, presents a danger to the community and he might fail to return for future court proceedings. Beckerman said Bundy repeatedly ignored federal demands to leave the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and she had little confidence he would comply with orders to show up in court.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael W. Mosman is expected to consider the matter Tuesday, when he also weighs the government’s challenge to the potential release of another member of the armed group, Joseph O’Shaughnessy.

Bundy and O’Shaughnessy are among 11 people arrested in connection with the standoff that began Jan. 2, when the group called federal land restrictions burdensome and demanded the government turn over public lands to local control. Only one, Shawna Cox, has left jail.

Bundy was arrested Jan. 26 during a traffic stop, where police shot and killed Arizona rancher Robert “LaVoy” Finicum during a confrontation.

Four people remain at the refuge, surrounded by authorities. On Monday hundreds of people gathered outside the courthouse in Burns, Oregon, both to protest and support the armed occupation.

People upset over Finicum’s killing held signs and chanted at the Harney County Courthouse. They want federal officials to leave the area.

Another large group staged a rally at the courthouse in support of law enforcement and government officials. They too held signs and shouted, “Stand down, leave our town.”

Since his arrest, Bundy has repeatedly urged the four people remaining at the refuge to go home. However on Monday Bundy’s father, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, sent a certified letter to the Harney County sheriff saying all federal and state police should be removed from Harney County and that the refuge should be placed under local control.

Cliven Bundy was involved in a high-profile 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights.

The holdouts at the Oregon refuge include David Fry, who has posted updates to the YouTube channel “DefendYourBase,” which the group has used frequently to release information. Fry has said the four want assurances they won’t be arrested and demand pardons for everyone involved.

Bundy’s attorney has said Bundy didn’t recognize Fry’s name and that he wasn’t a core member of the group. The other holdouts are Jeff Banta and married couple Sandy Anderson and Sean Anderson.

Those already arrested face a felony conspiracy charge of using intimidation to prevent federal employees from their work at the refuge.

Bundy told the judge Friday that he loves the United States and believes government plays an important role, particularly in providing national security. He said he respected the judge’s authority and would be back for all court proceedings.

Beckerman said Bundy and other occupiers made threatening comments during the standoff, and she was concerned he might take over another government building if released.

She ruled that Cox could leave jail — with GPS monitoring — but only after the remaining occupiers leave the refuge. Cox’s public defender, Tiffany Harris, opposed that stipulation, and the Utah woman was released from jail shortly before midnight Friday.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Lawyers for the leader of the armed standoff at an Oregon wildlife refuge have appealed a judge’s decision to keep him in jail pending trial.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie Beckerman said Ammon Bundy presents a danger to the community and the Idaho resident might fail to return for future court proceedings.

Bundy’s lawyers said in documents filed Sunday that their client should be released with a GPS monitoring device and orders he not leave Idaho except for court appearances.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael W. Mosman is expected to hear the matter Tuesday, when he also considers the government’s challenge of the release of another member of the armed group, Joseph O’Shaughnessy.

Bundy and O’Shaughnessy are among 11 people arrested. Only one — Shawna Cox — has left jail.

BURNS, Ore. (AP) — Four people occupying an Oregon wildlife refuge held their position Saturday and posted live videos that reveal their hyper-vigilance against federal officials who they fear may try to move them out to end the month-long standoff.

The jailed group’s leader, Ammon Bundy, and 10 others who were arrested earlier in the week remained in custody. Through his lawyer, Bundy on Saturday again called on the remaining occupiers to leave.

During one early morning video posted by a man identified as David Fry, the armed occupiers express concerns about nearby aircraft, and Fry gets jumpy when he believes he hears gunshots near the entrance.

“False alarm,” he then said after realizing the noise came from a generator or some other type of equipment.

“We’re not dead yet,” he said, repeating a theme that he and others have expressed through the weeks of the occupation. They’ve said they will only leave if given immunity from prosecution and are ready to die defending their position.

The FBI has said it’s trying to resolve the situation peacefully.

Meanwhile, some residents of the nearby town of Burns, Oregon, say they are sick of the disruption to their lives.

“We just want to go back to the way we were,” said Barbara Ormond, who owns a quilt store in downtown Burns, on Saturday. “We want everyone to leave us alone.”

While the standoff has led to filled-up hotels and restaurants, others say the conflict is upsetting to residents and pitting neighbor against neighbor as people have opposing views.

“It’s tearing the community apart,” said Bonnie Angleton, who owns a gift shop downtown. “I care about the people who live here.”

Kate Marsh, an artist in town, said many residents work for the government, while many others have their livelihoods depend on government agencies.

“There is some dissension in the community,” Marsh said.

Court documents against the 11 occupiers under arrest show FBI agents have scrutinized social media postings, interviews and online talk shows that have been during the standoff that began Jan. 2.

Authorities say Bundy, the principal leader of the group that seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, and others used the social media and other platforms to summon recruits to join their takeover.

Bundy and several other jailed leaders appeared Friday in federal court in Portland, where a judge denied their release. U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie Beckerman said Bundy, his brother Ryan Bundy and Ryan Payne pose a danger to the community, and she is concerned they would not follow orders to return to Oregon for criminal proceedings.

The only woman arrested so far in the standoff, Shawna Cox, will be allowed to go home while her case makes its way through the court system. But Beckerman said that won’t happen until after the armed occupation ends.

Ammon Bundy’s lawyer, Lissa Casey, said her client is not aligned with those remaining at the refuge near Burns and he wants to go back to his family.

“He is done in Harney County,” she said.

Bundy and his followers took over the refuge to demand that the federal government turn public lands over to local control. They have complained about what they say are onerous federal rules governing grazing and mining rights across the West.

Court documents detail some of the evidence against the occupiers. The charges against the defendants say the refuge’s 16 employees have been prevented from reporting to work because of threats of violence.

A criminal complaint filed earlier this week makes reference to an online video that showed Bundy saying the group planned to stay for several years. He called on people to “come out here and stand,” adding: “We need you to bring your arms.”

A video posted Jan. 4 showed another defendant, Jon Ritzheimer, saying he was “100 percent willing to lay my life down.”

In a video posted a day later, Ritzheimer talked about Robert “LaVoy” Finicum and other occupiers taking up a “defensive posture” at the refuge.

Finicum was killed Tuesday night in a confrontation with the FBI and Oregon State Police on a remote road. Bundy and four others were arrested during the encounter.

At one point, a couple of dozen ranchers and other protesters were holed up at the refuge, but they began clearing out after the arrests and killing.

Lawyers for Ammon Bundy said they have recorded a phone call with their client telling the four people remaining at the refuge that it is “his authentic desire for them to stand down.”

In a statement Saturday, attorney Lissa Casey says “that message has been communicated to the remaining four and there’s nothing further to be done on our end.”

The FBI on Thursday released a video showing Finicum’s death, to counter claims he did nothing to provoke his killing.

In the aerial video, Finicum is pulled over in his truck but then takes off in the vehicle and plows into a snowbank because of a roadblock. He gets out and has his hands up at first, then appears to reach toward his jacket pocket at least twice. He is shot and falls to the snow.

The FBI said a loaded handgun was found in the pocket.

In a statement, Finicum’s family said “based on the information currently available to us, we do not believe LaVoy’s shooting death was justified.”