Several growers in Northeast Oregon are accusing the Westland Irrigation District of cheating them out of water to benefit larger farms.

A federal complaint claims the district unconstitutionally deprived the plaintiffs of water and seeks $2.9 million in damages as well as an injunction requiring the Westland Irrigation District to enforce the plaintiff’s water rights and properly deliver water.

Plaintiffs include ELH LLC, Oregon Hereford Ranch LLC, Paul Gelissen, Maurice and Lucy Ziemer, Frank Mueller, Craig and Cynthia Parks and Richard and Kristine Carpenter.

Mike Wick, the district’s general manager, said it would premature for him to discuss the lawsuit.

“Our board hasn’t had a chance to meet to discuss the complaint,” he said.

The Westland Irrigation District will hold a special executive session about the litigation that’s scheduled for July 5 in Echo, Ore.

According to the complaint, the district “facilitated large scale theft” over the past six years from 10 farms with senior water rights, which own between 58 acres and 837 acres each, to deliver water to three operations with more than 5,000 acres.

The lawsuit claims those three farms with junior water rights — L&L Farms, Eagle Ranch and Amstad Farms — diverted more water than they were allowed.

The district used several methods to make the overpumping possible, including fraudulent accounting and improper contracts, the complaint said.

“Defendant’s misappropriation of plaintiffs’ senior water rights has deprived plaintiffs of the opportunity to double crop their farms and shifted that lucrative opportunity to junior water rights holders in violation of Oregon water rights law.”

Capital Press was unable to reach a representative of L&L Farms as of press time.

David Prior, whose family owns of Eagle Ranch, said he hadn’t heard about the litigation.

“We don’t have any information because we’re not in the lawsuit, so I can’t comment,” he said.

Skeeter Amstad, whose family owns Amstad Farms, said it’s too early for him to comment on the lawsuit but said his company is transparent in its water use and has done nothing wrong.

“We work extremely hard to get water through all the legal channels,” he said.

Dixie Echeverria, co-owner of plaintiff ELH LLC, said she was alerted to the problem when her company didn’t receive all the water to which it was entitled during the spring.

Westland Irrigation District didn’t provide answers to her questions and the Oregon Water Resources Department’s local watermaster refused to intervene in the dispute, she said.

The lawsuit was filed to ensure senior water rights in the district are protected, Echeverria said.

Litigation filed by farmers against their own irrigation district is rare, according to an Oregon water law attorney who didn’t want to be named.

An irrigation district’s board of directors is supposed to ensure proper water allocations, but these governing bodies are often dominated by the largest landowners, the attorney said. “That’s potentially a problem.”

If the board’s directors refuse to take action or are accused of wrongdoing themselves, farmers have few alternatives aside from litigation, the attorney said.

State watermasters regulate at the point of diversion from a public water source, but they aren’t involved in internal water distribution, the attorney said. “They leave that to the district to manage.”

Members of the Farmers Cooperative Creamery in McMinnville, Ore., have accepted an agreement that allows dairy farmers to apply for membership in the much larger Northwest Dairy Association of Seattle.

FCC dairies have 60 days to decide whether to apply. The two organizations have cooperated informally for several years on processing and marketing, according to a news release from FCC executive Mike Anderson. FCC has about 60 dairy members.

Northwest Dairy Association, also a cooperative, has about 500 dairy members in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Northern California. Its members produce about 8.9 billion pounds of milk annually. The cooperative’s marketing and processing subsidiary is Darigold Inc., which operates 11 processing plants in the Northwest.

A Farmers Cooperative Creamery plant in McMinnville is not included in the agreement with NDA. Anderson, the FCC executive, said that does not necessarily mean the plant will close.

In an email, Anderson said the agreement with NDA “is an extension of a relationship that has been developing for a number of years and is driven by common interests and good business opportunities and planning for a bright and secure future for all dairymen.”

Ukraine and Romania are hungry for U.S. investment in grain storage, irrigation and other agricultural infrastructure, said Oregon Department of Agriculture Director Katy Coba.

Major U.S. companies are best poised to immediately take advantage of opportunities in Ukraine and Romania due to their expertise working in foreign nations, said Coba, who recently returned from a trade mission to the two countries.

In the future, though, there may be greater openings for Oregon farm exports to the Eastern European countries, particularly as they need more high-quality seed, she said.

“If democracry continues to grow, those are markets for us to keep our eye on,” Coba said.

The USDA led a trade mission of state agriculture officials and agribusiness representatives to Ukraine and Romania on June 13-17, after which Coba visited Croatia with her two daughters.

A major challenge for U.S. farm exports to the two countries is transportation — air freight is expensive, while ships must take a meandering route through the Mediterranean and Black Seas, she said.

“It’s quite a truck for our stuff,” Coba said.

The U.S. shipped $321 million worth of farm goods to Ukraine in 2013, but that amount had plummeted more than 75 percent by last year, according to USDA trade data.

“The Ukrainian economy collapsed after the overthrow of their president in 2014,” Coba said.

That year, Ukraine’s parliament ousted the nation’s Russian-backed president, Viktor Yanukovych, leading to Russia’s invasion of its Crimea region and conflicts along its eastern border.

During the trade mission in Ukraine, U.S. officials toured a grain facility owned by Archer Daniels Midland and participated in the opening ceremony for an oilseed crushing facility built for nearly $300 million by Bunge.

Ukraine has insufficient infrastructure for irrigation, storage and processing of crops, so the nation is looking for American help to expand its production capacity, Coba said.

“They’ve got a long road ahead of them,” she said. “The U.S. presence there is critical.”

Romania also faces changes to its agricultural system, which is dominated by a large number of farmers who cultivate relatively small plots of land, Coba said

The country’s government wants to increase its agricultural efficiency, which is often achieved through consolidation, while protecting its small farmers, she said.

U.S. farm exports to Romania have ranged from roughly $50 million to $100 million per year over the last decade, while our imports from that country tripled last year, to more than $150 million.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Arizona tattoo artist pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges in the Oregon’s ranching standoff case.

Brian Cavalier, a bodyguard for standoff leader Ammon Bundy and his father Cliven Bundy, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and possessing a gun in a federal facility. Cavalier admitted in federal court in Portland that he conspired with others to impede Interior Department employees from doing their jobs at the refuge near Burns.

He became the sixth defendant to plead guilty in the continuing case. The other five took deals in which government prosecutors agreed to dismiss the gun charge.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Gabriel said prosecutors, in exchange for Cavalier’s acceptance of responsibility, will recommend a sentence far below the maximum of 11 years in prison, likely 15-21 months.

Cavalier also faces charges in Nevada for his involvement in a 2014 armed standoff with federal agents at Cliven Bundy’s ranch. Gabriel said Wednesday’s plea agreement is with Oregon alone, and there are “no promises” in the Nevada case.

Cavalier, 45, traveled to Oregon this past winter to participate in the Ammon Bundy-led occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, a protest against the federal control of Western lands and the imprisonment of two ranchers convicted of setting fires.

Cavalier stayed for only five days before going back to Arizona. He had a run-in with police there and returned to Oregon.

He was arrested Jan. 26 along with Bundy as the two traveled to a community meeting away from the refuge. Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, the occupation spokesman, was in a different vehicle and was fatally shot by Oregon State Police during the traffic stop.

Gabriel noted that Cavalier was armed during his initial stay at the refuge, but didn’t have a gun when he returned to Oregon and was unarmed during the traffic stop.

Cavalier told the judge his actions could have led to the intimidation of federal employees. Gabriel took exception to the word “could,” and the defendant rephrased his answer. In response to another question, he said: “Yes, your honor. I did agree with at least one other person to impede,” emphasizing the last word.

Cavalier will be sentenced Sept. 30, three weeks after most of the remaining 20 defendants — including Ammon Bundy — are scheduled to go on trial.

BEND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon is one of several states without a routine water testing program, leaving many bodies of water unmonitored for harmful algae blooms.

The Bulletin reports a handful of the state’s lakes are shut down each summer because of harmful algae blooms. The blooms, sometimes called blue-green algae, are caused by toxin-producing bacteria and often form a green paint-like scum on the surface of the water. It can cause health problems for humans and can kill livestock and pets.

Most blooms are only a minor inconvenience, but environmental authorities are concerned that climate change and runoff are increasing the frequency and severity of harmful algae blooms and putting people and animals at greater risk.

Algae expert Dr. Wayne Carmichael says the blooms will get worse unless people address water quality.

THURSDAY, JULY 7

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said Tuesday that she will be taking a stance on a ballot measure that would raise taxes on businesses, but she’s not yet ready to do so.

The initiative, currently referred to as IP-28, has qualified for the November ballot. It would raise taxes on businesses with sales that exceed $25 million, generating a projected $3 billion dollars per year in tax revenue.

“I will be making a decision,” Brown said following an event in downtown Portland. “The bottom line is as governor I believe it’s important that I consider all of Oregon, all of Oregon’s businesses and the people throughout the state. I think that it’s more important that I get the decision right than have it be done quickly.”

Brown said she’s meeting with businesses and service providers as she tries to determine whether or not she’ll support the tax measure.

Many in the business community oppose the ballot measure, arguing it will harm Oregon’s economy. Public employee unions, the measure’s biggest supporters, said the state needs additional funds.

On that point, Brown agreed.

“We are facing a revenue shortfall in the next biennium roughly in the neighborhood of $1.4 billion,” Brown said.

Former Gov. John Kitzhaber has been critical of the measure as well as Brown’s neutral stance on the tax measure.

BEND, Ore. (AP) — Residents of a remote county in eastern Oregon where an armed group seized a federal wildlife refuge have voted overwhelmingly to keep in office a top local official who had denied the occupiers access to a county building.

“I feel so good about the outcome,” Harney County Judge Steve Grasty told The Associated Press over the phone from the county courthouse in Burns. “The voters have spoken. What’s important is to move ahead, see where is the common ground. ... People won’t always agree but we can find what we can work on together.”

Grasty had faced the special recall election Tuesday because he refused to let the activists, who said they were protesting federal land-use policies, use a county building to host a meeting. Supporters of the recall say Grasty violated rights to free speech and freedom of assembly.

According to unofficial final results, 2,038 residents, or 70 percent of votes cast, opposed recalling Grasty; 861 residents, representing 30 percent of ballots, voted to remove him.

“Looks like a strong statement was made,” Harney County Clerk Derrin E. “Dag” Robinson said.

The first recall effort in this high-desert county in 21 years underscored divisions that remain more than four months after the 41-day occupation ended Feb. 11.

The group took over the refuge in opposition to federal government overreach in the West, where a lot of land managed by the federal government.

“I certainly hope, after tonight, we can work as a community to heal, let the past go, and move forward in a positive way,” Robinson said.

Most signs in a nearby town and on ranch fence posts were for Grasty, who, even though he prevailed in the recall effort, retires in December.

“I’m going to save packing up until the end of the year,” Grasty told AP. He had earlier said that if he lost the recall, he’d put his belongings in a box and leave right away.

He had told the AP in a recent interview that he viewed this special election as a referendum on how he and other county officials handled the takeover of the 188,000-acre Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

More than two dozen occupiers were arrested amid the takeover, and one was shot dead at a roadblock confrontation with law enforcement. Several have pleaded guilty to conspiracy in exchange for the dismissal of a charge of firearms possession in a federal facility. Most of the remaining defendants, including leader Ammon Bundy, are scheduled to go to trial Sept. 7.

The headquarters of the refuge, 30 miles south of Burns, is still closed, though refuge roads are open. Refuge manager Chad Karges said he expects the headquarters to reopen in late summer or early fall.

The county’s last recall election, in June 1995 against another county judge and a county commissioner, resoundingly failed, Robinson noted. The recall petition had complained, among other things, that the judge had “purchased luxury automobiles with the taxes of people struggling to survive.”

“They were Fords, Crown Victorias,” Robinson, who that year worked for the county clerk’s office as an intern, remembered with a laugh. “They were not luxury cars.”

The issues this time are rooted in something more serious — seizure of federal property by occupiers from out of state, plus the deadly confrontation. Their presence, and that of hundreds of law enforcement officers, put county residents on edge.

Grasty said he stands by his decision to deny Bundy and his group from using a county building.

“He had already taken over, with firearms, a whole compound of buildings. And (the request) didn’t make sense to me, nor did it fit public policy about public safety,” Grasty said.

Robinson said Harney County recently got a scanning machine for examining ballots and tallying election results; this election was the second time the county has used it.

He said he had posted on his own Facebook page to try to boost voter participation. The county lacks a radio station and has only a weekly newspaper.

Voter participation in the Tuesday recall vote was 64 percent.

ALBANY, Ore. (AP) — After having to throttle down for more than a week due to periods of pounding rainfall and spotty hail, mid-Willamette Valley farmers put combines back to work in area grass seed fields over the weekend.

They are looking forward to several days with temperatures in the mid-to-upper 80s and only a 10 percent chance of rain on Saturday.

“It’s very early in the season, but it doesn’t appear the rain caused many problems,” said Oregon State University seed specialist Clare Sullivan. “There were patches of hail that appear to have affected some fields. Rain wise, I haven’t heard anyone complaining about that.”

The hail may have shattered some seed heads, loosening the seed prematurely from the shaft of the plant that had been swathed and was in the drying stages before being picked up by a combine.

Sullivan said it’s also too early to say whether unusually warm weather — several days in the high 90s a month ago — had a detrimental effect on seed size.

“Usually, extreme heat will speed up the ripening process, which can result in lighter weight seed,” she said. “But I think that by the time the hot weather arrived, the plants were already ahead of last year in their growing cycles and were going through their physiological changes.”

Sullivan said the rains have also helped keep the regrowth grasses green.

It’s interesting to see the contrast of the bright green grass under the swath rows,” she said.

Oren Neuschwander started harvesting grass seed fields near Eicher Road Monday afternoon and said that, so far, things were looking good.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported in May that about 118,000 acres in Oregon are devoted this year to annual ryegrass, down about 4 percent from 2015.

The number of acres of perennial ryegrass is expected to remain unchanged at about 97,000 acres.

The USDA reported that numbers in 2015 were lower then usual due to drought conditions.

Growers also reported heavy damage from winter cutworms, mice and slugs.

A ruling striking down the ban on genetically engineered crops in Josephine County, Ore., is being appealed by supporters of the ordinance.

The prohibition was passed by voters in 2014 but overturned in May by Josephine County Circuit Court Judge Pat Wolke, who held that state law clearly pre-empted local regulations of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.

Oregonians for Safe Farms and Families, a nonprofit, and Sisikou Seeds, an organic farm, defended the GMO ban in court and have filed a notice informing the judge that they will appeal his decision.

Mary Middleton, executive director of OSFF, said the group continues to believe in local control and wants to vindicate the will of voters who created the GMO-free zone.

“Winning sets a precedent for the rest of the state,” Middleton said.

Middleton and other supporters of the GMO ban feared that biotech crops will cross-pollinate with organic and conventional ones, ruining their marketability.

Farmers Robert and Shelley Anne White filed a lawsuit against the ordinance last year because they wanted to plant genetically engineered sugar beets.

Wolke agreed with them that state lawmakers disallowed such local restrictions in 2013, rejecting arguments that the pre-emption law was unconstitutional.

John DiLorenzo, attorney for the plaintiffs, said he’s confident the Oregon Court of Appeals will affirm the decision, preventing county-by-county litigation if other local governments pass similar GMO bans.

“That’s why I’m not opposed to an appeal. I think we’ll establish a state rule,” he said.

Currently, Oregon’s Jackson County is the only jurisdiction where a GMO ban is allowed under state law.

The initiative on Jackson County’s ordinance was already on the ballot when the Oregon Legislature approved the statewide pre-emption statute, and it has since been upheld by a federal judge.

However, county restrictions on GMOs have come under fire in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has been asked to decide whether such local regulations are allowed under federal law.

Meanwhile, DiLorenzo is seeking $29,000 in attorney fees from OSFF and Siskiyou Seeds, alleging that some of their legal arguments lacked an “objectively reasonable basis.”

The non-profit and farm have objected to this request, arguing it would have a “chilling effect” on other groups that want to “challenge unjust laws that impact local communities,” according to a court document.

Siskiyou Seeds owner Don Tipping said the $29,000 award would result in “great financial harm” for his company, since “farming is typically close to a breakeven livelihood,” according to the document.

Middleton of OSFF said in the document that the requested amount is greater than the group’s operating budget for the GMO ban campaign, so being forced to pay it “may result in shutting down and/or dissolution of the entire organization.”

BEND, Ore. (AP) — Last votes are coming in for a special election being held in Eastern Oregon that was the site earlier this year of an armed takeover of a federal wildlife refuge by militants opposed to overreach by the federal government.

Harney County Judge Steve Grasty, the top administrator of the sparsely populated high-desert county, faces a recall vote because he refused to allow the militants to use a county building to hold a meeting. The vote underscores that divisions remain in the county more than four months after the 41-day occupation ended on Feb. 11.

By late Monday afternoon, Harney County Clerk Derrin E. “Dag” Robinson had collected 58 percent of the roughly 4,400 ballots sent out. Voters can cast ballots at drop-off boxes until 8 p.m. Tuesday, at which time the last ballots will all be collected. In Oregon, voters mail or drop off ballots.

Signs calling for voters to reject the recall effort, and a few of them supporting it, are on lawns and businesses all over Burns, the county seat.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — The San Jose Sharks issued a qualifying offer to pending restricted free agent forward Tomas Hertl and three other players.

BURNS, Oregon (AP) — Winter and spring have passed since an armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge ended, but its aftershocks are still shaking this high desert region of Oregon, with activists setting up “Camp Freedom” where an occupier was killed and organizing a recall election this week against a top county official.

The headquarters of the 188,000-acre Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which was occupied for 41 days, is still closed. Down the road, at The Narrows cafe, saloon, shop and gas station, things have settled. Co-owner Linda Gainer said the business she got from journalists, agents, occupiers, protesters against the occupation, and from protesters protesting the protesters, more than made up for any slower days now. The last militants surrendered Feb. 11.

“I met some awesome people. And you know, everybody that came through, they were all polite,” she said, describing how even militia members and anti-occupation protesters exchanged greetings.

At her place, 26 miles south of Burns, Gainer feels isolated from the divisions that broke open during the takeover and still linger. Burns is the main town in Harney County, which at more than 10,000 square miles is the largest in Oregon. With only 7,100 residents, it is also one of the least populated.

Those divisions are evident in the signs about Tuesday’s special recall election against County Judge Steve Grasty, who for the past 18 years has been the county’s top administrative official. Grasty blocked occupation leader Ammon Bundy from holding a public meeting in a county building, an act cited as justification for the recall effort. Grasty says it was absurd for Bundy, who said he wanted to turn the federal refuge over to local residents, to ask to use county property.

“He had already taken over, with firearms, a whole compound of buildings. And (the request) didn’t make sense to me, nor did it fit public policy about public safety,” Grasty, his shirt adorned with a “No Recall” button, said in an interview in the county courthouse.

Grasty sees this election as a referendum on the county’s handling of the crisis.

“I’ll be disappointed if I’m recalled,” Grasty said. “If I’m successful, I think it’s an affirmation that the county government did the right things during the course of the occupation.”

A local supporter of Bundy said a Harney County resident had tried to rent the building so locals could hear both sides on the takeover. The supporter, who did not want to be named for fear that doing so could impact the supporter’s business, said Grasty’s refusal violated rights to free speech and freedom of assembly.

However, the vast majority of signs in Burns and on ranch fence posts are for Grasty, who, even if the referendum fails, retires in December.

“I certainly hope the recall is defeated hugely,” said Donna Clark, who lives with her husband on 5 acres outside Burns, on ranchland they operated with other families before retiring. She said the recall effort is “sour grapes” for the minority of locals who supported the refuge takeover, which was carried out by outsiders.

More than two dozen occupiers were arrested. Several have pleaded guilty in federal court in Portland to conspiracy in exchange for the dismissal of a charge of firearms possession in a federal facility. Most of the remaining defendants, including Bundy, are scheduled to go to trial Sept. 7.

There was one fatality during the takeover. LaVoy Finicum, an Arizona rancher, was shot by Oregon State Police at a roadblock on a snowy road on a mountain pass, far from the refuge as he and others headed for a meeting in an adjacent county. Aerial FBI video footage shows Finicum exit his pickup with his hands up, and then being shot as he reaches for what authorities said was a weapon.

Today, the snow is gone. Grass carpets the forest floor underneath towering ponderosas. At the spot where Finicum died is a makeshift memorial consisting of a stone slab with his LV cattle brand, American flags, a disc that says “land of the free because of the brave,” flowers and other items. Wooden crosses are affixed to nearby trees.

William C. Fisher said he drove to the site three weeks ago from Boise, Idaho, after he heard that sheriff’s deputies were ticketing people for erecting crosses. He began camping out to protect the site. He said one deputy removed crosses, even though roadside crosses for car-crash victims are permitted.

“I am here because there is an American hero that had been murdered over there, and I feel it is my duty that his memorial needs to stand,” Fisher said. “This is a peaceful assembly. This is a peaceful protest. We have that right to assemble and protest and have freedom of speech.”

A few others have joined Fisher. In the woods behind a roadside banner saying “Camp Freedom” a half-dozen tents have been erected. People dressed in camouflage military uniforms or street clothes sit around a campfire. Tarps provide shade. A decorated tomahawk hangs from a tree.

Someone is always on duty to protect the memorial, said John Hildinger, of Corpus Christi, Texas, wearing an American-flag bandanna on his head.

Larry Jay, a 72-year-old from Burns who describes himself as a Choctaw adopted into the Crow tribe, says the tomahawk and other ceremonial items provide spiritual protection.

“We are the honor guard,” Jay said, his bicep tattooed with Finicum’s brand. “We don’t use labels like patriots or militia.”

Later, a split emerged in the camp, with Jay and Fisher planning to get a permit for a permanent memorial, with others opposed. Fisher plans to pack up the memorial on Monday and deliver it to Finicum’s widow until the permit is issued.

Jay, meanwhile, said he is voting against the judge.

“We tried to get a spot where we could meet and talk, with the ranchers and the ones coming up from ... all over,” he said. “Steve Grasty put a stop to that.”

Sundays

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah militia group leader with ties to Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy has been arrested and charged with attempting to blow up a rural, federally owned cabin in Arizona, federal authorities said Thursday.

An FBI agent said in charging documents that William Keebler, 57, was planning to retaliate against the federal government that he felt was harassing people and imposing overreaching grazing restrictions on ranchers.

Keebler is a the leader of citizen militia group called the Patriots Defense Force in Stockton, Utah, about 40 miles west of Salt Lake City, according to the charging documents.

Authorities say undercover FBI employees followed Keebler as he planned to set off an explosive outside a U.S. Bureau of Land Management cabin in the northern Arizona area of Mt. Trumbull.

Keebler traveled to the Arizona cabin Tuesday night with militia members and undercover FBI employees. An inactive explosive was placed against the door and Keebler was handed a remote detonation device and pushed it several times, according to the FBI.

The FBI arrested Keebler in Utah on Wednesday morning. He faces one count of attempting to damage federal property with an explosive. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison, according to U.S. Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Melodie Rydalch.

Keebler wore camouflage clothes and had his hands shackled in front of him during a brief hearing to inform him of the charges Thursday. His lawyer declined to comment.

His friend Pete Olson said outside the courtroom he’d been to meetings of Keebler’s militia, but never heard any talk of violence.

“This militia group is kind of like grown up Boy Scouts,” he said. Keebler is something of a survivalist with his own farm who often carries a gun, but Olson said he’s never known him to be around explosives.

“That’s not the Bill I like and I know, but I know that people get pushed beyond their limits sometimes,” he said.

According to the FBI, Keebler was at Cliven Bundy’s Nevada ranch during a 2014 armed standoff with federal officials who were rounding up Bundy’s cattle over unpaid grazing fees.

He was also an associate of Arizona rancher Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, who served as a spokesman for Bundy’s son, Ammon Bundy, and other ranchers involved in an armed standoff at an Oregon wildlife refuge earlier this year.

The FBI says Finicum accompanied Keebler last October when scouting out the BLM facility in Arizona. Finicum was shot and killed by authorities during a Jan. 26 traffic stop that led to Bundy’s arrest.

After Finicum’s death, Keebler and members of his militia group discussed repercussions against a government they said was harassing people and imposing overreaching restrictions on ranchers, according to the FBI.

The militia group scouted out a BLM office in downtown Salt Lake City but abandoned the idea because it was near a shopping mall and homeless population, making it highly visible. Instead, they settled on the BLM cabin in Mt. Trumbull.

It’s unclear what the cabin is used for.

A BLM spokeswoman and Rydalch with the U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to describe the facility or whether employees were working there.

Potato breeders at Oregon State University are hot on the tail of a microscopic parasite lurking in farms across the Columbia Basin.

Columbia root-knot nematodes might be too small to see with the naked eye, but they can cause noticeable damage to spuds if left unchecked. The faculty at OSU’s Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center are now working to identify the gene that makes certain potatoes resistant to nematodes, which could then be used to create new varieties.

Sapinder Bali, a postdoctoral scholar with the HAREC plant breeding program, is part of a team developing molecular markers for the nematode-resistance gene in potatoes. She discussed their progress during the station’s annual potato field day Wednesday.

Nematodes infect both the roots and tubers of potato plants, which can stunt their growth or kill them altogether. By developing a set of molecular markers, Bali said researchers will be able to scan potatoes at the DNA level to find which varieties are resistant and which are susceptible to nematodes.

“These markers can help breeders to confirm the resistant varieties before crossing for choosing right parents and evaluating the segregating populations with higher confidence,” according to the project summary.

That gives breeders like Sagar Sathuvalli a leg up on creating new varieties designed to save farmers money. Sathuvalli works with the Tri-State Potato Breeding Program with Oregon, Washington and Idaho. It takes a minimum of 12 years and thousands of samples before new varieties are ready for commercial release, he said.

The program did release three new varieties earlier this year, including Jester, Cheshire and Vermilion. Three others are also in the works. Sathuvalli said breeding is done primarily for resistance to pests like nematodes and diseases like Verticillium wilt and potato virus Y.

“Our goal is to identify those genes responsible for resistance,” he said.

Other field day presentations included updates on tiny Lygus bugs as a potential vector for disease, as well as efforts to monitor aphids in fields. The goal of HAREC field days is to provide the latest information on growing tools and techniques to make local farmers as efficient and profitable as they can.

Station Director Phil Hamm said HAREC is now home to 15 center-pivot irrigation systems for their fields, mostly due to the generosity of supporters. A new Blue Mountain Community College Precision Irrigation Agriculture building is also under construction.

“It just keeps getting bigger and bigger,” Hamm said. “I don’t think you can go anywhere where they have more faculty doing more with potatoes than we have here.”

Umatilla and Morrow counties are home to a sweeping variety of agriculture, from rolling wheat fields to colorful orchards and rugged cattle ranches.

State tourism officials say those same farms could become a major selling point for visitors wanting to see (and taste) the authentic Oregon experience.

Travel Oregon, along with the Eastern Oregon Visitors Association and Northeast Oregon Economic Development District, hosted a pair of workshops Tuesday and Wednesday to teach farmers ways they can attract tourists while sustaining their normal operations.

The melding of agriculture and tourism, or “agritourism,” is not a new concept. Activities can include things like U-pick fields, farm stands and horseback riding. Alexa Carey, destination development specialist for Travel Oregon, said the industry as a whole has been developing for decades.

“It’s a chance to experience the Old West,” Carey said. “These are opportunities people want to have.”

About 20 people attended Tuesday’s workshop at the Port of Morrow in Boardman, which provided an overview of where agritourism has been in Eastern Oregon and where it’s going. Data compiled by Travel Oregon offers a glimpse into what agritourists look like and what they’re looking for.

According to the agency, agritourists tend to be families with a moderate income, highly educated and mostly day-trippers. They are searching for authenticity and are more interested in having a story to tell than a T-shirt to buy.

“We want that explorer. We want that person who’s passionate about getting outside and trying new things,” Carey said.

One thing agritourists will spend money on, however, is food.

According to Travel Oregon, 55 percent of visitors between 2008 and 2010 participated in at least one culinary experience, whether it was at a restaurant, winery or craft brewery.

Elena Vizzini, also from Travel Oregon, said food and drink is part of the tourist’s immersion into the local culture. Those seeking agritourism came primarily from urban centers like Portland, Spokane and Eugene, based on information gleaned from the Travel Oregon website.

But farming is not always lucrative business and it can be a struggle to find the skill and capital needed to start something like a farm tour or tasting room. While Oregon tourism is a $10 billion business, Travel Oregon is still working on an economic analysis specifically pertaining to agritourism. That study is expected to be available by next year.

Carey and Vizzini did point to several other Eastern Oregon success stories, such as a promotional campaign for Wallowa County and the John Day River Territory brand. As a subregion, Umatilla and Morrow counties — dubbed “Oregon’s Rugged Country” — has the potential, but participants said they will need to do a better job collaborating to make it happen.

Alice Trindle, a rancher from Haines and executive director of the Eastern Oregon Visitors Association, said they are working on a marketing plan with four core initiatives — agritourism, cycling, arts and heritage.

“Somehow, we have to share those stories about our wonderful producers,” she said. “It really is about building relationships.”

Working together in groups, participants identified gaps they need to cover in the plan, including better communication, forging partnerships and finding new funding sources. Carey said regional collaboration is a key to marketing to tourists.

“We care about consumers that really want to participate in the products we’re producing,” she said.

Wednesday’s session, in Hermiston, focused more on specific business models to making agritourism profitable. That workshop was held at the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center.

ONTARIO, Ore. — Eastern Oregon farmer Jerry Erstrom scouts for patches of genetically engineered creeping bentgrass on the banks of an irrigation ditch June 14.

It doesn’t take him long to find one. And then another, and another.

The bentgrass was genetically engineered to withstand applications of glyphosate herbicide, which makes it difficult to kill.

Farmers such as Erstrom worry it will ultimately take over the countryside, clog irrigation ditches and affect shipments of crops to nations that don’t accept traces of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.

“I’ve been doing weeds for 25 years and I promise you in five years this (county) will be inundated with it,” said Erstrom, chairman of the Malheur County Weed Board.

The bentgrass was meant for golf courses. Instead, after escaping from field trials 13 years ago, it has taken root in Malheur and Jefferson counties and ignited a debate about who should be responsible for controlling it in the future.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Co., which was developing the grass for use mainly on golf course greens, said it is committed to collaboratively working with growers and irrigation districts to control and eradicate the grass where possible.

But some farmers believe a 10-year agreement Scotts recently reached with USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will allow the company in a few years to essentially walk away from any responsibility for controlling the plant.

“I think Scotts should be liable for what they did but they are pretty much walking away from it,” said Malheur County farmer Rod Frahm. “Personally, I think since they created the problem, they should take care of it.”

Molly Jennings, director of public affairs for Scotts, told Capital Press in an email that claims the company is walking away from its responsibility are unfounded. “We are committed, and have been, to a collaborative, long-term management plan with local landowners, irrigation managers and others.”

In an email response, USDA Public Affairs Specialist Andre Bell also rejected the notion that the agreement allows Scotts to walk away from the problem.

Scotts, in conjunction with Monsanto Corp., was developing the genetically modified creeping bentgrass to be resistant to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, Monsanto’s popular weed killer.

But the grass escaped from field trials in 2003 due to what USDA describes as a “wind event” and took root in Malheur and Jefferson counties in Oregon.

According to Jennings, two wind storms resulted in seed heads scattering from the field trial control area in August 2003.

The plants were identified outside the control area in 2004.

Scotts has been surveying for and controlling the plant for several years.

According to Scotts, the company identified 424 plants in Malheur County and 441 plants in Jefferson County during spring spraying this year. A small number of the plants were found in Canyon County, Idaho, which is adjacent to Malheur County.

During a March meeting with a top USDA official and Scotts representatives, some local farmers and irrigation district representatives challenged the terms of the agreement, reached in September.

The agreement requires Scotts to continue to survey for and try to eradicate the bentgrass in 2016. In years 2 and 3, the company must provide technical assistance to affected farmers and irrigation districts and provide incentives for the adoption of best management practices to control the grass.

The company will also conduct outreach and education programs.

In years 4 through 10, Scotts will pull back a little while continuing to analyze the situation, educate growers and provide technical assistance, Sid Abel, assistant deputy director of USDA’s Biotechnology Regulatory Services, said during the March meeting.

Scotts will continue to work with Oregon State University researchers to try to identify herbicides that can effectively manage the grass, especially in aquatic and semi-aquatic environments.

USDA “essentially let them off the hook,” said Erstrom. “What Scotts is doing to Malheur County is not right.”

The plant proliferates on and in irrigation ditches and is clogging and changing the flow of some ditches, said Erstrom and Frahm, who is on his local ditch board.

“The plant does extremely well on ditch banks,” said Jay Chamberlin, manager of the Owyhee Irrigation District, which provides irrigation water to 118,000 acres in Eastern Oregon and part of Southwestern Idaho. “Once it gets in there, it can contaminate the whole system.”

Because creeping bentgrass is genetically modified, if traces of it end up in alfalfa hay or other crops, they can be rejected by overseas customers that don’t accept GMO crops, Erstrom said.

Between the plant’s impact on irrigation ditches and its possible impact on foreign shipments, “The potential is there for disaster,” he said.

Malheur County declared the plant a “Class A” noxious weed two months ago, which means it’s mandatory for anyone who finds it on his property to control it.

Erstrom said there is now a $100 bounty on any of the bentgrass found in areas where it hasn’t already been detected, such as north of Ontario or along the Snake River.

Jennings said glufosinate is the primary tool used by the contractor hired to control the grass but other herbicides work as well. A list of them can be found online at http://scottsmiraclegro.com/gtcbanswers/

Abel said Scotts has agreed never to sell or distribute the grass variety and USDA has documented that all of the commercial grade seed stock has been destroyed, although Scotts was allowed to keep research-grade materials.

At the same time, Scotts has petitioned USDA to deregulate the genetically engineered grass, a move that Erstrom suspects is intended to allow the company to wash its hands of the issue.

Jennings, the director of public affairs for Scotts, said the bentgrass meets all of the scientific and environmental criteria for deregulation and “we believe this is an important step to upholding the gold standard set by the USDA as it relates to the review and approval of all future plants and crops produced through genetic modification.”

Deregulation would also “provide more flexibility in long-term management of this plant,” she added. “If this bentgrass is deregulated, as we think it should be, this will in no way change our commitment to the current management plan for the next decade.”

Jennings said the cost of controlling the bentgrass is modest and involves mostly the cost of the herbicide used to kill it.

She said the company is evaluating the possibility of subsidizing or donating herbicides that manage creeping bentgrass.

“We feel that the plan we have developed will best address the needs of growers and irrigation managers, but we are open to working with stakeholders to develop the best possible approach,” she said.

Abel, of USDA’s Biotechnology Regulatory Services, said the grass will never be eradicated in the affected counties, but it can be controlled.

Erstrom said his concern is that once Scotts stops actively controlling the plant, it will make a comeback and spread rapidly.

The onus will fall on growers and irrigation districts that lack the expertise and financial means to control it, he said.

In a Feb. 17 letter to Scotts officials, Oregon Department of Agriculture Director Katy Coba said that according to the agreement, “after three years all responsibility for (glyphosate-tolerant creeping bentgrass) management, including financial, will fall on growers, irrigation managers and other affected parties whereas Scotts will only be responsible for maintaining a website.”

“ODA is concerned that without Scotts’ leadership and financial support, that research efforts and coordinated control efforts will eventually subside and GTCB population levels will escalate and the area of infestation will expand,” Coba stated.

While ODA and some farmers such as Frahm and Erstrom have concerns about Scotts’ future role in controlling the grass, others say the company has done a good job so far of controlling it.

At the same time, they admit they are concerned about the terms of the agreement with USDA.

“I’m very happy with what Scotts has done at this point,” said Bruce Corn, an Eastern Oregon farmer and member of the Owyhee Irrigation District board of directors. “The concern is that at some point, they would walk away from taking the control measures they are now and (the plant) will come back.”

In the early years after the grass was first discovered in Malheur County, it was everywhere and there were blankets of it in some places, Chamberlin, the Owyhee Irrigation District manager, said. But the local contractor hired by Scotts to control it has done a good job of knocking it way back, he added.

“So far, they have done what they said they would do. I hope that continues,” he said about Scotts. “But the language in the agreement with USDA is very concerning.”

LANGLOIS -- The "On Your Mark, Get Set… Read!" Summer Reading program at the Langlois Public Library presents gardening at the library, at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 25, with Jenine Manning of Dragonfly Farm. Come learn about growing healthy food…

Sales and tax figures collected by state agencies may finally solve one of Oregon’s long-running farm crop questions: whether marijuana is indeed the state’s most valuable crop, as cannabis advocates have always maintained.

Tight controls and reporting requirements by the Oregon Department of Revenue and Oregon Liquor Control Commission should result in accurate information about pot, said Bruce Pokarney, spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture. The department compiles an annual list of the state’s most valuable crops.

Recreational use of marijuana became legal in Oregon last October, in addition to medical use, which was already legal. The state revenue department collects a 17 percent tax on recreational pot purchases, while the OLCC licenses producers, processors, retailers, wholesalers and labs.

The information, however, poses another head-scratcher. Most agricultural statistics published by the ag department come from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, or NASS. Although it’s now legal in several states, the feds still classify marijuana as an illegal drug. Dave Losh, Oregon state statistician for NASS, said the agency won’t include marijuana in its annual crop statistics due to federal policy.

For the same reason, people can’t use water from federal projects to irrigate marijuana, he said, and such things as Natural Resources Conservation Service programs can’t be applied to pot crops.

Pokarney, of ODA, joked the department might have to put an asterisk beside the pot crop value in its annual report. “We will have sales numbers, but I don’t know how we would report it,” he said.

Oregon crop statistics from 2014 list cattle and calves as the state’s top agricultural product, at $922 million value. Greenhouse and nursery plants was second at $829 million, and hay was third, at $703 million.

Seth Crawford, an Oregon State University sociology professor who teaches a pot policy class, estimated in 2015 that Oregon’s marijuana crop had an annual value approaching $1 billion.

Meanwhile, the OLCC continues to process license applications as entrepreneurs seek opportunities in the state’s recreational cannabis market.

As of June 21, there were 723 applications to grow pot in Oregon. Of those, 122 were in Jackson County and 91 were in neighboring Josephine County. Southern Oregon has long been the state’s cannabis production hotbed, legal or illegal. The tri-county Portland area, including Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties, accounted for 250 of the license applications.

Of processing facilities, 25 of the 82 license applications were from Multnomah County, as were 69 of 193 retail outlet applications.

The state also received applications from seven testing labs, 57 wholesalers and one research facility.

Some licenses have been approved, many others are in draft form or are being reviewed for land-use compliance by local governments.