Saturdays

PAYETTE, Idaho — Idaho Gov. Butch Otter and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown flew in a Black Hawk helicopter together Feb. 10 to get a close-up view of the damage caused by this winter’s heavy snowfall.

The governors earlier attended town hall meetings in their respective states where they heard from people affected by this winter’s heavy snowfall, which has resulted in the collapse of at least 50 onion storage buildings and packing sheds, in addition to several hundred other structures in the region.

The governors were shocked by the extent of the damage, which is estimated at about $100 million to the region’s onion industry alone.

“We saw a lot of devastation and we heard about a lot of devastation (today),” Otter said during a joint press conference. “We’re going to work to recover just as fast as we can.”

Brown, who earlier in the day was provided a vehicle tour of some of the dozens of collapsed onion buildings, was stunned by what she saw.

“It looks like a tornado disaster. It’s just awful,” she said during a town hall meeting in Ontario. “Thank you for sharing your stories. I think it will help us craft a solution for the community and region.”

Brown pledged to do “everything I can to help you all get through this and move into recovery mode.”

Both governors said agencies from the two states would work together to try to expedite recovery as quickly as possible and find assistance for those affected by the damage.

They brought with them cabinet members as well as the directors of their respective state agriculture departments, emergency management officials and National Guard leaders.

During the Ontario town hall event, farmers and other local business owners stressed how important it was to help the local agricultural economy recover.

“Without the farmers, ranchers and processors, this community goes fallow,” said John Kerby, who owns a retail business in Ontario. “To say we are in crisis, in peril, is understating what is happening here.”

The immediacy of the need for assistance was also stressed.

“We have unfolding a disaster of epic proportions and we need to have a response that matches the challenges we face,” said Oregon Sen. Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day.

The governors said both states are actively working to obtain federal assistance for the area.

Otter, a Republican, and Brown, a Democrat, both promised that help is on the way.

“We are working every single day to make sure that we can find as many tools in the toolbox as possible to assist with recovery efforts,” Brown said. “I know the impact, particularly in the agricultural sector, has been devastating.”

Malheur County Onion Growers President Paul Skeen, who flew in the Idaho National Guard Black Hawk with the governors and took Brown on the earlier tour of the collapsed buildings, said she appears to understand the seriousness of the situation,

“Every time she saw another building that had gone down, she’d just say, ‘Oh my gosh, oh my gosh,’” Skeen said. “She’s understanding it.”

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Idaho Gov. Butch Otter today are viewing damage done in the Treasure Valley by heavy snow.

The onion industry has yet to tally the cost of the damage caused by the collapse of dozens of onion buildings in the Treasure Valley area

More than 50 onion storage buildings and packing sheds have collapsed under the weight of several feet of snow and ice this winter. Some people estimate the total damage could be near $100 million.

Brown and Otter are meeting with local officials and those who are impacted. They will have a joint press conference in Ontario, Ore., today at 4 p.m. Watch capitalpress.com for full coverage.

SALEM — Lawmakers are considering whether to extend a tax credit for Oregon farmers who install fish screens on their irrigation intakes, which expires next year.

Under Senate Bill 172, the tax credit — which covers 50 percent of installation costs up to $5,000 — would expire in 2024 instead of 2018.

“We view this as a valuable tool in the toolbox,” said Alan Ritchey, manager of the fish screening program at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Screens are intended to prevent fish from getting sucked into irrigation systems and killed.

Between 2010 and 2015, Oregon has issued 230 tax credits for the installation of fish screens at an average amount of $819, according to the Legislative Revenue Office.

“We have tens of thousands of unscreened diversions, so this is way of chipping away at those,” said Shannon Hurn, ODFW’s deputy director for fish and wildlife programs.

While the amount of money spent on the tax credits is relatively small, Hurn said it helps incentivize voluntary installation of fish screens, she said.

The program also smoothes the process for mandatory installations, since irrigators are required to install fish screens when establishing new water rights or changing the point of diversion, she said.

“When they are required, it is a very tense conversation and this makes it more palatable,” said Hurn, who estimated that roughly half the tax credits are used for mandatory installations.

The tax credit supplements a cost-share program that assists landowners with money and technical expertise.

The debate over requiring fish screens for irrigation diversions dates back to the 1980s, with lawmakers enacting the cost-share and tax credit programs to relieve the burden on landowners, said Richard Kosesan, lobbyist for Water for Life, a group representing irrigators.

The approach relied on investment from landowners and the state, as well as anglers in the form of a surcharge on fishing licenses, he said.

Without state assistance, “you get away from the cooperative nature of the program.” Kosesan said.

ONTARIO, Ore. — The onion industry has yet to tally the cost of the damage caused by the collapse of dozens of onion buildings in the Treasure Valley area of Idaho and Oregon.

But it’s massive and the industry faces many challenges in rebounding from the disaster.

That became clear during a special panel discussion held during the Idaho-Oregon onion industry’s annual meeting Feb. 7 to address topics related to the damage.

More than 50 onion storage buildings and packing sheds have collapsed under the weight of several feet of snow and ice this winter.

Some people estimate the total damage could be near $100 million.

When local insurance agent John Forsyth, one of the panelists, asked how many people suffered losses due to the collapses, about 50 of the 60 people present raised their hands.

“It’s pretty much hit everybody,” Forsyth said.

“Right now, everybody is so busy it’s almost overwhelming,” said panelist Martin Koch, an insurance agent.

One of the big unanswered questions is how many people who suffered losses had basic insurance, which does not cover structure collapses due to the weight of snow and ice, and how many had more comprehensive coverage that does.

“We are hearing all kinds of stories about people having basic coverage,” Koch said.

Another questions is whether those people who did have adequate coverage, especially older farmers, are going to decide to rebuild or just take the cash value from their insurance claim, said panelist Doug Lamm, a certified public accountant.

Snake River Produce Manager Kay Riley, the Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onion Committee’s marketing order chairman, said the damage has the potential to cause a major disruption in the region’s onion industry.

“It’s a huge concern,” he said. “How are we going to accommodate next year’s crop without these buildings and storages being put back? There’s no way all the buildings that have fallen down are going to be fixed.”

Whether those who do choose to rebuild will do so in the state they are currently in is another unknown, Lamm said.

Several onion shippers have told Capital Press in the past year that they may move to Idaho because of Oregon’s higher minimum wage.

Tens of millions of onions in the buildings when they collapsed are damaged and growers must dispose of them.

Members of the audience asked whether those onions would be covered at the market price at the time of injury or at the current, higher price.

Insurance agents said they were unsure but Riley said that depends entirely on how the insurance policy was written.

Four of Snake River Produce’s buildings collapsed but Riley said, “It appears our coverage was quite good. We feel pretty good about where it’s headed.”

He said he’s heard stories about other people who didn’t have adequate coverage but those are only rumors for now.

How quickly the damaged buildings can be rebuilt is another question because a couple hundred structures have collapsed around the region and there aren’t enough contractors in the area to handle all the work this year.

“There are probably not going to be enough contractors to get (all the onion buildings) put back before this fall’s harvest,” Koch said.

NB seeks applicants for Jubilee Princess

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (AP) — Members of an Oregon riverside community have prepared for potential weekend flooding.

The Herald & News reports that the Sprague River is expected to rise past its flood point of 8.5 feet by Friday evening, causing flooding that is expected to last through Sunday.

Klamath County began providing residents sand bags Wednesday morning. The communities of Beatty, Sprague River and Chiloquin could be affected by the flood.

Sprague River residents have been making sure households and other structures are protected and say they hope the flood will actually help bring the small community together.

Biotech critics are calling on Oregon lawmakers to overturn a prohibition against local government restrictions on genetically engineered crops because statewide regulations haven’t been enacted.

In 2013, the Oregon Legislature passed a law that preempted cities and counties from setting their own rules over seeds, which blocked most local ordinances banning genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.

Groups that opposed the preemption bill say state inaction since then has justified the passage of House Bill 2469, which would carve out an exemption allowing local GMO regulations.

“Oregon farmers can’t wait another four years to protect themselves from this harm,” said Amy van Saun, a legal fellow at the Center for Food Safety nonprofit group.

Van Saun said measures are needed to prevent cross-pollination of conventional and organic crops with biotech genes, which threatens markets for those farmers. The federal government doesn’t regulate GMO crops once they’ve been approved for commercial use.

“We’re probably going to see even more lax regulation,” van Saun said.

Oregon’s seed preemption law doesn’t apply to Jackson County, which was already set to vote on a GMO ban ballot initiative when the state legislation passed.

Voters approved the Jackson County ordinance, creating a “GMO-free seed sanctuary” where seed crops can be produced without the threat of cross-pollination from biotech varieties, said Elise Higley, director of the Our Family Farms Coalition, which supported the GMO ban.

“We’re in this unique economic opportunity,” she said.

Supporters of HB 2469 haven’t given up on statewide GMO regulations but they hope the bill will provide local control over biotech crops until the Oregon Department of Agriculture or lawmakers decide to take action, said Ivan Maluski, policy director of the Friends of Family Farmers nonprofit.

“We have no expectation the state of Oregon will move forward on these types of policies,” he said.

Oregonians for Food and Shelter, an agribusiness group that supported the preemption bill, is disappointed that biotech critics are still trying to regulate what crops farmers are allowed to plant, said Scott Dahlman, its policy director.

Cities and counties aren’t equipped to regulate crop production, which is the province of the Oregon Department of Agriculture, he said.

The ODA hasn’t determined specific rules are necessary for GMOs, which the federal government deregulates after determining they pose no greater risk than conventional crops, Dahlman said.

Lawmakers never committed to statewide regulations when passing the pre-emption bill, he said. “There were no promises I was aware of at the time.”

Dahlman noted that the seed preemption bill passed in 2013 not only protects GMOs from a patchwork of local regulations, but also precludes such rules for other crops that may become unpopular in the future.

Many of the same lawmakers who voted in favor of the preemption bill four years ago still hold office, so Dahlman said he’s hopeful they won’t support HB 2469.

SALEM — Oregon now has more jobs than before the “great recession” but some rural areas are still lagging behind, according to the state economist.

After the financial crisis a decade ago, Oregon lost roughly 8 percent of its jobs, said Mark McMullen, the state economist.

Since then, the state has not only regained all those lost jobs but also increased the overall number by 6.5 percent from the pre-recession peak, he said during a Feb. 6 hearing before the House Committee on Economic Development and Trade.

However, McMullen said those gains haven’t been felt equally by all regions of the state.

The Portland metropolitan area has seen the strongest recovery, with the number of jobs now 9 percent higher than before the recession.

There are now 7.5 percent more jobs in the Columbia Gorge, 6.8 percent more jobs in Central Oregon and 3.3 percent more jobs in the Willamette Valley.

Jobs in Southern Oregon contracted by roughly 12 percent during the recession but the region now has 0.3 percent more jobs than before the crisis.

Northeast Oregon and the North Coast haven’t yet fully recovered, but the number of jobs is less than a half-percent lower than before the recession.

Southeast Oregon still has 4.7 percent fewer jobs from the pre-recession peak, while the South Coast has 6.1 percent fewer jobs. These regions have seen worse times, though — both have recovered roughly half the jobs they lost during the recession.

Some counties are still seriously reeling from the downturn. Gilliam County has recovered only 10 percent of the jobs it lost during the recession, while Crook and Grant counties have recovered fewer than 30 percent.

The good news is that nearly 100 percent of Oregon counties are now gaining jobs rather than losing them, McMullen said.

The lone exception — Morrow County — is actually an economic success story, but has recently lost some jobs due to the completion of major construction projects, he said.

Oregon now has about 2 unemployed people per job opening, down from 11 people per open position in late 2009.

In terms of income, the top 20 percent of Oregon households are now making 6.7 percent more money than they were a decade ago, adjusted for inflation, he said. Inflation-adjusted incomes are about 1 percent lower among the middle 20 percent of households and 7 percent lower among the bottom 20 percent.

Oregon is the 12th most trade-dependent state in the U.S., he said. Computer and electronic equipment lead in the way in exports, followed by heavy manufactured products such as metal and machinery, then agricultural goods and forestry products.

China is the major destination for Oregon exports, followed by Canada, Malaysia, Japan and South Korea.

Exports from Oregon are now facing a headwind due to the high value of the U.S. dollar compared to other currencies, which makes our products more expensive in foreign markets.

“It hasn’t been this strong since 2000,” McMullen said. “It’s putting downward pressure on the demand for our exports.”

With a statewide snowpack that’s 134 percent of average, Oregon’s water outlook is healthy nearly two-thirds of the way into the snow accumulation season.

However, unless it increases from its current level, Oregon’s snowpack would still be below normal at the traditional peak in early April, said Julie Koeberle, a hydrologist with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service

“The threat of rainfall in the mountains is there,” Koeberle said. “We’d rather not see it rain in the mountains. We’d rather it continue to build as snow.”

It’s been cold enough during recent storms for most precipitation to be deposited as snow, but there’s a potential for the snow level to rise to higher elevations, she said.

Rain wouldn’t likely have much deleterious effect on the snowpack in higher-elevation mountains, but it could melt snow at lower elevations, Koeberle said.

The Owyhee basin in southeast Oregon has the strongest snowpack in the state, at 160 percent of average, followed by the Willamette basin in Western Oregon, which is 150 percent of average.

The Grande Ronde, Powder, Burnt and Imnaha basin in Northeast Oregon has the weakest snowpack at a respectable 109 percent of average.

While current snowpack levels bode well for summer stream flows, it’s worth noting that Oregon was also in robust shape last winter, Koeberle said.

Record-high temperatures in April 2016, however, diminished snowpacks to the point where many streams were running below-normal in the summer, she said.

Due to low stream flows and strong irrigation demand, most of Oregon’s reservoirs were at below-average levels when the rainy season began last autumn, according to USDA NRCS.

Some reservoirs are now approaching average levels, but many have yet to catch up despite the improved water situation, the agency said in its February water outlook report.

The Hood, Malheur and Powder basins were faring the worst in early February, with reservoir levels below 35 percent of average. At 160 percent of average, the Grande Ronde basin had the strongest reservoir levels.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service employees will again be barred from testifying about any fear they felt during last winter’s armed occupation of their workplace, the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon.

U.S. District Judge Anna Brown prevented such testimony during a trial last fall in which occupation leader Ammon Bundy and six co-defendants were acquitted on felony charges of conspiring to impede workers from doing their jobs at the refuge during the six-week takeover.

Four Bundy followers are being tried on the same charge this month, and a prosecutor asked the judge Tuesday to reconsider her stance and allow workers to testify about their fears.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports Brown said no. She said the fact there was fear does not prove there was intent to impede.

Jury selection begins Feb. 14.

SALEM — Oregon farm groups are urging lawmakers to boost noxious weed control funding by $1 million, arguing the investment will prevent even costlier future battles against invasives.

House Bill 2043 would appropriate $1 million from the general fund to carry out the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s noxious weed programs in the 2017-2019 biennium.

“It’s penny-wise and pound-foolish to cut ourselves short now,” said Peter Kenagy, a Benton County farmer who testified in support of HB 2043 at a Feb. 7 hearing before the House Agriculture Committee.

Under Gov. Kate Brown’s proposed budget for the next biennium, ODA is slated to cut its biocontrol program for invasive weeds, which relies on predatory insects to suppress unwanted plants.

Eliminating the weed biocontrol position, which is currently vacant, would save the ODA $250,000 at a time when state agencies are under financial pressure due to a looming $1.8 billion state budget shortfall.

“If we don’t keep funding these things, we’re going to pay for it later,” Kenagy said. “Cutting money out of the budget for this, we’ll pay for it and our kids will pay for it.”

Representatives of the Oregon Farm Bureau, the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, Oregonians for Food and Shelter and the Oregon Association of Conservation Districts also testified in favor of the bill.

Noxious weeds are estimated to cost Oregon’s economy about $83 million per year, said Katie Fast, executive director of the Oregonians for Food and Shelter agribusiness group.

Lawmakers should not consider adding new natural resource programs until “base programs” such as noxious weed control are funded, Fast said.

Invasive species don’t recognize boundaries and the problem with noxious weeds will get worse if ignored, said Michelle Delepine on behalf of the Oregon Association of Conservation Districts.

“This isn’t something you can just put on hold,” she said.

Aside from weeds that already afflict Oregon farmers, the state is facing an incursion of new invasives, such as the flowering rush that’s been found growing along the Columbia river, said Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena.

The weed spreads by pieces of root breaking off and traveling downstream, with the populations in Oregon and Washington thought to have originated in Montana’s Flathead Lake, he said.

Flowering rush threatens to clog up irrigation systems and disrupt ecosystems to the detriment of native fish.

“We need all the help we can get,” said Hansell.

During the Feb. 7 hearing, the House Agriculture Committee also heard testimony on several other bills:

• House Bill 2327 would require the recipients of grants from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board to obtain liability insurance for projects aimed at improved water quality and riparian habitats. The cost would be covered by grant funds, so the added expense wouldn’t be borne by recipients.

The bill would also repeal statutory language related to a “healthy streams partnership” that’s no longer operational and add a representative of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a non-voting member of OWEB’s board, among other provisions.

• House Bill 2254 would allow individual containers of Oregon fresh produce to be unlabeled if they’re headed for export to foreign markets. Under current law, all such containers must be labeled for sale, which imposes an added burden for exporters. The change would allow foreign buyers to label Oregon farm goods when they arrive in another country.

• House Bill 2255 would update Oregon’s milk-related statutes to align with federal rules for pasteurized milk safety, because current statutes are outdated and don’t conform with the federal requirements.

• House Bill 2256 would clarify that nutritional supplements are regulated as food by the Oregon Department of Agriculture, which will ensure the agency has the authority for potential enforcement actions.

About 11,000 mink at an Oregon ranch died from feed contaminated with botulism, resulting in $2.8 million in losses to the grower, according to a lawsuit.

A complaint filed by the farm — AMC LCC of Mount Angel, Ore. — accuses the Northwest Farm Food Cooperative of gross negligence and breach of contract, among other charges, for supplying the tainted feed in 2016.

The National Food Corp., an egg producer, is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit because the tainted feed was allegedly manufactured from the company’s “spent hens” that have stopped laying eggs.

The complaint alleges that the mink became ill and began dying within days after the cooperative’s feed was delivered to the ranch in July 2016. An investigation later determined the disease was caused by botulism in the chicken meat.

Botulism is caused by a nerve toxin produced by certain strains of Clostridium bacteria that grow in improperly processed food.

An attorney for AMC LLC said he couldn’t comment on the lawsuit and Capital Press was unable to reach the farm’s owner. The Northwest Farm Food Cooperative and the National Food Corp. did not respond to requests for comment.

Tuesdays

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Three of the final seven defendants charged in the Ammon Bundy-led takeover of a national wildlife refuge last year took plea deals Monday instead of heading to trial next week.

Sean and Sandy Anderson, a couple from Riggins, Idaho, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Portland to misdemeanor trespassing in exchange for the dismissal of felony conspiracy and weapons charges. Also taking that step was Dylan Anderson of Provo, Utah, who is not related to the Idaho couple.

U.S. District Judge Anna Brown sentenced the three to one year of probation each and required each one to pay $1,000 restitution to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

They must also ask their probation officers for permission to camp on public lands. All are required to avoid the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, located in southeastern Oregon’s high desert.

“The Malheur refuge is not on my bucket list,” Sean Anderson told Brown.

Ammon Bundy, joined by his brother Ryan and a band of followers, seized the refuge on Jan. 2, 2016, to protest the federal control of Western lands and the imprisonment of two ranchers convicted of setting fires.

The Bundys were arrested in a Jan. 26 traffic stop that included the fatal shooting by police of occupation spokesman Robert “LaVoy” Finicum. Four holdouts, including Sean and Sandy Anderson, refused to leave the refuge until Feb. 11.

A federal grand jury indicted 26 people on conspiracy and weapons charges.

Eleven defendants pleaded guilty last year and charges were dropped against one man.

In a high-profile trial last fall, jurors found the Bundy brothers and five others not guilty of felony charges.

Prosecutors decided after their loss in the trial to go ahead with a February trial for the remaining seven defendants. They changed their prosecutorial strategy by adding misdemeanor charges such as trespassing to the mix.

Another one of the final defendants, Darryl Thorn, of Marysville, Wash., was scheduled to join the Andersons in changing his plea Monday, but his hearing was canceled. He was similarly on the cusp of accepting a plea agreement last June before changing his mind.

Thorn’s decision leaves him headed to trial next week with co-defendants Duane Ehmer, Jason Patrick and Jake Ryan.

The jurors will determine whether the four are guilty of felony conspiracy and weapons charges.

The misdemeanor charges will be heard in a non-jury trial after the felony trial ends.

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — A state senator is pushing to eliminate daylight saving time in Washington.

KOMO reports Republican Jim Honeyford of Sunnyside has introduced a measure that would exercise Washington’s right under the Uniform Time Act to opt out of daylight saving time and remain on Pacific Standard Time year round.

“I didn’t really realize the problems that it creates,” Honeyford said. “There’s an increased number of accidents, increased suicides, heart attacks.”

The Washington Traffic Safety Commission and Washington Department of Transportation could not provide crash comparison figures in time for the article. But, at a Senate Hearing on Wednesday, nobody testified for or against Honeyford’s bill.

A persuasive argument for daylight saving time has been made in the past by the agricultural industry, claiming the switch would be an economic benefit. Honeyford, a farmer for 20 years, isn’t buy it.

“I think that it was a myth that it was designed for agriculture,” Honeyford said. “I believe that it’s out lived its use.”

In 2015, a similar bill in both the Senate and House failed to move out of their respective committees and was never voted on by lawmakers.

Oregon has tried, too, but failed to pass a bill in 2015 and a signature campaign failed to qualify an initiative for the ballot.

Daylight Saving Time begins March 12.

Saturdays

SATURDAY, FEB. 4

SALEM — Oregon lawmakers are considering whether to strengthen the state’s defenses against invasive aquatic mussels that threaten both irrigation systems and ecosystems.

The House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee has introduced legislation creating a new penalty for people who refuse to subject their boats to inspection for quagga and zebra mussels at checkpoints, among other measures.

The mussels threaten to clog irrigation intakes and disrupt habitats for native fish species.

Currently, drivers hauling boats who don’t stop at check points can be ticketed for traffic violations. The stations are located at common entry points for watercraft along Oregon’s borders.

Under House Bill 2321, drivers who are pulled over by police within five miles of failing to stop at a checkpoint can be charged with a misdemeanor if they refuse to return for inspection.

If convicted, the crime would be punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a fine of $1,250.

The legislation would also eliminate a current exemption under which operators of non-motorized watercraft under 10 feet in length, such as kayaks, don’t have to buy Aquatic Invasive Species Permits, which cost $5 a year.

Money collected from selling such permits is used to control invasive aquatic species.

Boats would have to be drained of all water before leaving a river or lake under HB 2321, with operators facing a penalty of $30 for non-motorized watercraft and $50 for motorized watercraft in they don’t comply with this requirement.

Between 2010 and 2016, the number of boats inspected for invasive mussels has grown from fewer than 3,000 to more than 16,000 per year, said Scott Brewen, director of the Oregon Marine Board, during a Feb. 2 committee hearing.

While compliance with the check points has improved in recent years, about 18 percent of boaters still didn’t stop for inspections in 2016, spurring the idea for HB 2321, he said.

Rep. Sherrie Sprenger, R-Scio, said she sympathized with the intent of the bill but was concerned about the potential for boaters to be charged with a misdemeanor, the same class of crime as some thefts and assaults.

Rep. Brian Clem, D-Salem, said he wasn’t thrilled about eliminating the permit exemption for non-motorized watercraft under 10 feet in length, but he said these points would be further debated in the future.

During the Feb. 2 hearing, lawmakers also considered House Bill 2266, which pertains to funding for hatchery fish research.

Currently, unobligated money left over in the Oregon Hatchery Research Center Fund is transferred to the Oregon Hatchery Construction Fund at the end of each fiscal year.

Under HB 2266, that money would be allowed to remain in the fund dedicated to hatchery research.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon man has asked for a different federal judge to handle his non-jury trial on misdemeanor charges stemming from last winter’s armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Duane Ehmer and his attorney said in a court filing late Wednesday that U.S. District Judge Anna Brown might not be impartial and should recuse herself.

Ehmer, 46, is one of seven defendants preparing for a jury trial this month on felony charges filed after the 41-day standoff in southeastern Oregon.

Judge Brown, who is overseeing the jury trial, ruled last week that misdemeanor charges faced by Ehmer and others will later be heard in a separate trial before a judge. Brown wrote that she saw no reason why she should not oversee the non-jury trial.

But Ehmer and attorney Michele Kohler cite comments Brown reportedly made in a private meeting with jurors who acquitted standoff leader Ammon Bundy and six others in a trial last fall.

Brown said at the Oct. 27 verdict that she planned to meet with the 12 jurors and thank them for their nearly two months of service. A man identified as Juror No. 4 later told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the judge answered their questions during the meeting.

Juror No. 4 said he and other jurors felt prosecutors offered insufficient evidence for a felony conspiracy conviction and asked Brown why different charges were not brought.

“(Brown) not only answered questions the jurors had, but also discussed the merits of the case with specific reference to potential misdemeanor offenses that could have been used by the government,” Ehler’s court filing says.

A total of 26 people were indicted on federal conspiracy and weapons charges after taking over the refuge from Jan. 2-Feb. 11, 2016, in a protest against federal control of Western lands and the imprisonment of two ranchers convicted of setting fires.

Eleven defendants pleaded guilty and charges were dropped against one man.

In a trial last fall, jurors found standoff leader Ammon Bundy and six others not guilty of felony charges.

Prosecutors decided despite losing to press ahead with a February trial for the seven remaining defendants. They changed their strategy by adding misdemeanor charges such as trespassing to the mix.

In her decision ordering the non-jury trial for the misdemeanors, Brown wrote in court documents that the 12 jurors and six alternates would devote a lengthy period of their time to jury service and that adding petty offenses to the charges they will consider is not justifiable.

Ehmer has been charged with felony conspiracy to impede Interior Department employees from doing their jobs through the use of force, intimidation or threats.

He faces misdemeanor charges that include trespassing, removal of property and tampering with vehicles and equipment.