EUGENE, Ore. — Oregon State University Extension has added a commercial and community horticulture faculty member in Lane County.

Jeff Choate will work with commercial producers in orchard, nut and berry crops, according to an OSU Extension press release. He’ll also serve nursery crop producers and serve broadly in diagnosis of plant diseases and other growth issues.

He starts March 1.

Choate will also lead a team of staff and volunteers in management of Lane County’s master gardener program, and he’ll help organize and deliver a wide range of horticulture and gardening programs for the public.

He has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Oregon and a master’s degree in soils from OSU. Choate previously worked as an agronomist for the Eugene Farmer’s Cooperative, and as an instructor and volunteer manager for OSU in Douglas County, as the horticulturalist for Paradise Lodge in Southern Oregon, and as the training manager for Jerry’s Home Improvement.

He will be stationed in the Lane County OSU Extension Office, 996 Jefferson St., Eugene. He’ll join a team that provides programs in 4-H, small farms, forestry and natural resources, nutrition education and food safety and preservation.

OSU Extension is a cooperative effort of local, state and federal governments, working locally to extend the knowledge of the university to people throughout Oregon.

Online

extension.oregonstate.edu/lane

BOISE — Idaho irrigators fear they’ll be hurt financially if the State of Oregon prevails in a legal battle to force the reintroduction of endangered fish to the Snake River upstream of the Hells Canyon Complex of dams.

“If you have a listed species above Hells Canyon in the Snake River and tributaries, you’re going to have an alphabet soup of environmental laws imposed,” said Norm Semanko, executive director with Idaho Water Users Association.

Construction of the Complex — which is located at the Idaho and Oregon border and includes the Brownlee, Oxbow and Hells Canyon dams — was started in the mid-1950s. The dams provide about 30 percent of Idaho Power Co.’s total energy, but they’ve blocked the migration of native chinook salmon and steelhead trout, which once used the upstream channel and tributaries for spawning.

The original federal license to operate the Complex expired in 2005, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a final environmental impact statement for the relicensing in 2007. But the new license has been delayed as Idaho Power awaits Clean Water Act certifications from the states of Idaho and Oregon.

Both states have issued draft certifications, which are in the midst of public comment periods that end Feb. 13. Oregon’s draft would require Idaho Power to implement technology to enable salmon and steelhead to pass above and below the complex.

Marilyn Fonseca, hydropower program coordinator with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, explained her state has proposed a phased-in reintroduction plan spanning about two decades. Initially fish would be introduced in Oregon’s Snake River tributaries upstream of the complex, starting with Pine Creek. Ultimately, Idaho Power officials said the company would capture fish in special collection areas, trucking adult steelhead and salmon upstream of the complex and juvenile fish downstream.

Fonseca said Oregon has a state law mandating fish passage past any manmade water obstruction, but the state’s legal argument hinges its own water quality standards, drafted in accordance with the federal Clean Water Act, requiring that Oregon waterways maintain robust fish populations.

In a letter to Oregon leaders, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter opposed reintroduction of endangered species in his state without the Legislature’s consent, citing problems with federally reintroduced wolves.

“While I appreciate Oregon’s willingness to limit these reintroductions to Oregon tributaries, the agreement would result in reintroduced fish entering Idaho waters,” Otter wrote.

Idaho Power spokesman Brad Bowlin said the company has filed a petition asking FERC to step in and resolve the dispute between the states. Bowlin said the company believes the federal government has authority under the Federal Power Act and the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

“Idaho Power’s position is not to support or oppose fish passage,” Bowlin said. “Our position is that resolving this issue of passage is a federal question, especially given that we have two states whose positions are diametrically opposed.”

Bowlin said Idaho Power owns and finances four hatcheries and releases millions of fish below the dams.

Both the IWUA and Idaho Irrigation Pumpers Association have filed to intervene in the case before FERC. Lynn Tominaga, executive director for the pumpers, said his members are primarily concerned about increased power rates to run their wells if Idaho Power has to bear such a large new expense. Semanko explained his members are concerned the agreement could create water shortages, as more water could be demanded downstream for salmon, and cost them hundreds of millions of dollars in new regulatory requirements.

FERC staff members have agreed reintroduction “could be warranted but is premature at this time.” They note degradation due to agricultural and municipal uses have made water quality upstream of the complex inadequate for steelhead and salmon. FERC has also referenced the lack of a written plan to guide reintroduction and fears mortality during migration could outweigh the benefits.

Fonseca said her department and its Idaho counterpart are working with partners, including Idaho Power, to address water-quality concerns including dissolved oxygen levels, high water temperature and excessive phosphorus loads.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An icy, snowy weekend is forecast for much of Oregon.

The National Weather Service says a storm is expected to hit the Eugene-Springfield area Saturday morning, with a mix of snow and freezing rain hitting an area that is recovering from its worst ice storm in decades.

Snow and sleet are also in the forecast for northwest Oregon, possibly coating streets and sidewalks with a half-inch of ice. Those in the Columbia River Gorge could see 6 to 12 inches of snow.

In Eastern Oregon, the wind-chill factor may be 20-30 degrees below zero in some areas on Friday, with warmer temperatures on Saturday and Sunday bringing snow, sleet and ice.

A National Weather Service advisory for Central Oregon says Bend, Prineville and Redmond could get 2 to 4 inches of snow Saturday afternoon and evening.

ALOHA, Ore. (AP) — Firefighters rescued a Clydesdale that got stuck in a large mud pit in Aloha.

Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue says the 1,800-pound horse named Windsor was found on his side Wednesday, trapped in a couple feet of mud. Windsor was hypothermic due to the sub-freezing temperature, unable to gather the strength needed to get out.

Firefighters pulled Windsor from the pit using a system of pulleys and ropes. Heating equipment was brought in to help warm the horse while two veterinarians tended to his medical needs.

After about 45 minutes, Windsor’s temperature returned to near normal. With some assistance, he was able to get back on his feet. Firefighters say he’s doing well and should fully recover.

Windsor is part of a Clydesdale team that pulls the Forest Grove Fire Department’s old steam engine in the city’s annual parade.

TOLEDO, Ore. (AP) — A landslide has closed U.S. 20 just west of Toledo, Oregon.

The state Department of Transportation says both lanes were blocked Thursday morning and the highway will be closed much of the day. A local detour is in place.

ODOT says alternative routes include Highway 34 south of U.S. 20 or Highway 18 to the north.

In Oregon, a $1.8 billion budget gap will force legislators to look for more revenue — taxes and fees — or cut services. The gap, caused by runaway state employee health care and retirement costs, will force lawmakers to make hard choices as the administration of Gov. Kate Brown settles in for the next two years.

In Idaho and Washington, water issues have floated to the top of the legislative agendas. In Idaho, replenishing the Snake River aquifer that feeds farms and ranches in the eastern part of the state and protecting water rights will take center stage.

In Washington, a different water issue has rural landowners wondering whether they can afford to drill wells as legislators seek a way to accommodate a recent court ruling. The ruling requires landowners to prove new wells won’t hurt water sources needed to maintain fish populations. At the same time, Gov. Jay Inslee will continue to his push for a controversial carbon tax as a way to bolster the state budget.

Though water is always an issue to California, the most productive agricultural state in the nation, regulations on overtime for farmworkers and a spate of other issues that impact farmers will continue to take center stage in the state Capitol.

Here is a state-by-state look at the upcoming legislative sessions:

By Mateusz Perkowski

Capital Press

SALEM — With Oregon legislators facing a major gap between the state government’s expected revenue and expenses, debates over spending reductions and tax increases are expected to dominate this year’s legislative session.

Rising costs for state employee pension and healthcare costs are expected to leave the state with a $1.8 billion deficit during the upcoming fiscal biennium, which spans two years beginning July 1. The current biennium’s budget is $70.9 billion.

For organizations representing Oregon agriculture, that means the legislative session will be spent defending government services that are valuable to farmers, experts say.

“People really feel those impacts on the ground,” said Katie Fast, executive director of Oregonians for Food and Shelter, an agribusiness group.

For example, the governor’s recommended budget would create a “hole” of $9.4 million for Oregon State University’s agricultural research and extension services, likely leading to reduced service levels, she said.

Such a dramatic reduction would undermine long-term studies that boost farmers’ productivity and efficiency, said Fast. “You don’t do research for only two years.”

Similarly, the Oregon Department of Agriculture would terminate its financial contribution to USDA’s predator control program and its biocontrol program for weeds.

The Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program, which is aimed at creating easements to protect working farms and ranches from development while easing tax burdens, isn’t funded under the governor’s budget proposal, said Mary Anne Nash, the Oregon Farm Bureau’s public policy counsel.

It’s going to be tough to win funding for a new program when existing core agricultural programs are in jeopardy, she said.

On the policy front, Oregon farmers are still dealing with the consequences of past labor legislation that requires paid sick leave for workers and increased the minimum wage at varying rates based on region, said Jenny Dresler, state public policy director at the Oregon Farm Bureau.

The Bureau of Labor and Industries has interpreted those bills during the rule-making process in ways that are unclear and burdensome for farmers, so the Farm Bureau will be seeking legislative clarifications and fixes, she said.

“We’re entering this year with a lot of questions,” said Dresler.

Environmental groups are also expected to raise perennial legislative questions about regulating genetically modified crops, pesticide usage, livestock antibiotics as well as air and water quality, experts say. Exactly what bills related to these topics will be put forth remains to be seen.

With the USDA proposing to deregulate genetically engineered creeping bentgrass, which escaped field trials and has spread in Eastern Oregon, it’s possible lawmakers will have a greater appetite to regulate such crops, said Ivan Maluski, policy director for Friends of Family Farmers, a nonprofit critical of biotechnology rules.

“It’s a pretty clear example of failure of federal oversight,” he said.

Friends of Family Farmers plans to advocate a tax credit that would benefit landowners who lease property to beginning growers, Maluski said.

With the tough budget outlook, the group hopes to pay for the tax credit by eliminating a subsidy for anaerobic digesters it believes benefits only large dairies, he said.

“Access to land for beginning farmers has been a huge issue in Oregon for quite some time,” said Maluski.

By Sean Ellis

Capital Press

BOISE — Ensuring the state continues a major aquifer recharge effort is expected to be one of the main agriculture-related issues during the 2017 Idaho Legislature, which convenes Jan. 9.

In fact, several of the big issues expected to arise during the 2017 legislative session have to do with water.

Sen. Jim Patrick, a Republican farmer from Twin Falls, said ensuring the state continues its efforts to recharge 250,000 acre-feet of water into the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer annually will be a priority in 2017.

That recharge effort, which began in 2016, is a major part of a landmark 2015 settlement agreement between ground water pumpers and surface water users along the ESPA that averted the possible curtailment of water to hundreds of thousands of acres of irrigated farmland.

“That’s the No. 1 issue for agriculture and for the state because if we don’t get our water, we don’t pay taxes,” Patrick said.

“We will have to continue to fund that,” said Sen. Bert Brackett, a Republican rancher from Rogerson. “The state is committed to doing recharge.”

Lawmakers will also keep an eye on the formation of a groundwater management area for the Eastern Snake Plain established in November by Idaho Department of Water Resources Director Gary Spackman.

An advisory committee created by IDWR will draft a plan that governs the management area.

“We’re waiting to see how that shakes out,” said Republican Sen. Steven Bair, a retired farmer from Blackfoot.

Idaho Farm Bureau Federation governmental affairs officials said they will back a bill that requires the legislature to take affirmative action on any minimum stream flows set by the Idaho Water Resource Board.

The water board holds 291 minimum stream flow water rights covering 994 miles of streams, according to its website. If a stream falls below that minimum flow level, other water rights could by curtailed.

Minimum stream flows set by the board go before the Legislature but they go into effect even if the body doesn’t take affirmative action on them.

The Farm Bureau-backed bill would require the legislature to vote “yes or “no” on them.

Discussions about the possibility of the state helping to fund University of Idaho’s proposed $45 million livestock research center will also likely take place during the session, according to several legislators.

Lawmakers are also expected to discuss ways to beef up the state’s efforts to prevent aquatic invasive species from invading the state’s waterways and continue to fund the state’s wolf control efforts.

Idaho’s main farm groups will also seek to help push through a proposed Idaho Department of Environmental Quality rule that would amend the state’s field burning program.

Several of the state’s environmental groups say they will oppose the rule change, which the department says is necessary to avoid a large reduction in the number of allowable burn days for farmers.

A bill that creates a dyed diesel enforcement program in Idaho will be introduced this year, Brackett said.

By Don Jenkins

Capital Press

OLYMPIA — The big water issue facing the Washington Legislature originated from west of the Cascades for a change.

Whatcom County annually receives more than triple the rainfall of Yakima County. Yet the state Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in October that new domestic wells there could suck away water needed for fish.

The Whatcom County vs. Hirst decision doesn’t affect existing water rights, but it casts doubt on whether new wells for homes can be drilled anywhere in the state.

Agricultural groups, including the Washington Farm Bureau, are alarmed. The decision could stop farm families from building and cripple rural communities.

The state Department of Ecology reports being deluged with phone calls from rural landowners worried about whether they can build. The agency can’t say “yes” or “no.”

At the very least, the decision — if left alone — promises to make wells more expensive. Homebuilders would have to prove a new well won’t draw down rivers and streams. Estimates to do that range from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars.

“Every place we go, somebody asks us how we’re going to fix this,” said Moses Lake Republican Judy Warnick, chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture, Water and Economic Development Committee.

Not everyone agrees the Hirst decision needs to be fixed.

The environmental group Futurewise, a plaintiff in the suit, said the decision means counties must balance growth with protecting fish.

House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Brian Blake, D-Aberdeen, said he wants to “roll (the decision) back or make it work.”

“I’m hoping any legislation will clarify that people have access to their property to build a home,” he said.

The 105-day session begins Jan. 9. Republicans retained their slight majority in the Senate, while Democrats did the same in the House. The main job will be to adopt a two-year budget to take effect July 1. Lawmakers are under a court order from the state Supreme Court to increase education spending.

Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, has proposed a $46.8 billion operating budget — 21 percent more than the spending plan lawmakers passed in 2015. Inslee says the state can’t constitutionally or morally meet its obligations without raising taxes. He has proposed $4.39 billion in new revenues. He has reintroduced a tax on carbon emissions, a policy that lawmakers and voters have rejected in the past.

Senate and House agricultural committees may consider raising the beef checkoff to $2.50 from $1.50. Increasing the per head tax on cattle transactions would double funding for the Washington Beef Commission to $2 million a year.

The Washington Cattlemen’s Association and Washington Cattle Feeders Association support the increase. The Cattle Producers of Washington lobbied hard against it last year and remain opposed.

Blake said he hopes the Legislature will fund a program to use dogs to sniff for wolf scat in the South Cascades.

Under current state policy, wolves won’t be considered recovered until at least four breeding pairs are established in the region. So far, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has not found a breeding pair, let alone a pack.

Blake said he believes wolves are there, but that they are hard to find in the wilderness. He said if dogs can point the way, WDFW may be able to find breeding pairs. “I’m pretty confident that this may move us forward in the South Cascades,” he said.

By Tim Hearden

Capital Press

SACRAMENTO — Farm groups in California expect to spend the next legislative session fending off more regulations while carving out benefits for their industries.

Advocates for agriculture expect “an active year” in the Legislature as Gov. Jerry Brown works to cement his legacy in his final two years in office, said Kelly Covello, president of the Almond Alliance of California.

The main goal for the organization is to try to minimize the effort to increase the regulatory burden on producers, who are already struggling to keep up with paperwork and other requirements, said Joel Nelsen, president of California Citrus Mutual.

“We’re going to see an effort by certain segments of society to push a very left-oriented agenda, and they see the last two years of the Brown administration as their opportunity to do that,” Nelsen said. “It’s going to be up to the governor to take a moderate stand on this stuff. It’s really easy to spend somebody else’s money, and that’s what I see them doing.”

While new members were sworn in Dec. 5, the Legislature’s business started in earnest this week. Only a handful of bills have so far been filed; groups will have a better idea of what the priority legislation will be as the mid-February deadline for filing bills draws near, said Dave Kranz, a California Farm Bureau Federation spokesman.

One task for farm groups will be to make previously enacted legislation a little more palatable to growers. For instance, the ag overtime law passed last year eliminated an exemption on overtime after 8 hours in a day for managers and family members, which exists in every other industry, Covello said in an email.

Additionally, industry leaders will need to address a section of the statute that eliminated exemptions for ag irrigators and truck drivers, she said.

Under the legislation by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, farmworkers will be paid for overtime after eight hours in a day and 40 hours in a week rather than the 10-hour day and 60-hour week for agriculture that Brown originally approved during his first stint as governor in 1976. The new rules will take effect in 2022 for most farms and 2025 for operations with 25 or fewer employees.

For its part, Citrus Mutual will try anew to gain state funding to combat the Asian citrus psyllid and huanglongbing, the deadly tree disease it can potentially carry.

The industry has devoted $15 million toward research and education and received $11 million from the federal government, but two previous attempts to get funding for the psyllid and HLB included in the state budget failed, Nelsen said.

“We’re still in a position that we do not have HLB in our commercial areas,” he said.

Among other initiatives that could affect agriculture:

• Delegates to the state Farm Bureau’s meeting in December agreed to oppose any move by a newly created “groundwater sustainability agency” to regulate land use. Those decisions should be left up to cities and counties, the delegates decided.

• The delegates also propose that the statewide minimum wage be based on living cost in the lowest-cost areas in the state, while allowing localities to set higher minimum wages as they see fit. Legislation passed in 2016 will gradually raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022.

• The Almond Alliance will fight for funding in budget bills, trailer bills and grant applications for the planned Sites and Temperance Flat reservoirs, Covello said. The two projects will be considered this year for Proposition 1 water bond funds.

The Farm Bureau’s Kranz praised the appointment of Assemblywoman Anna Caballero, D-Salinas, a former farmworkers’ lawyer and state secretary of business, consumer services and housing, to chair the lower chamber’s agriculture committee.

“(W)e look forward to working with her on issues affecting rural California,” Kranz said in an email.

Whether you believe it was terrible or terrific, there is no doubt that 2016 was a year full of news and events for Bandon and the surrounding areas. Here's a sampling of the first six months, with January to June…

Questions about the legality of a Port of Portland subsidy for ocean carriers have been kicked to the Oregon Supreme Court by a federal appeals court.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the financial system used to manage the subsidy program isn’t clearly legal under current Oregon case law.

“We are hesitant to expand Oregon law in a manner that may be contrary to Oregon’s wishes and in an important subject matter in Oregon’s history,” the ruling said.

At issue is a Port of Portland program that paid ocean carriers to stop at its beleaguered Terminal 6 container terminal, offsetting the carriers’ expense to call on the facility.

The port created the subsidy because of alleged work slowdowns by the longshoremen’s union due to a labor dispute that discouraged ocean carriers from calling on Terminal 6.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union filed a lawsuit challenging the subsidy program for allegedly using taxpayer dollars for the benefit of private organizations, thereby violating Oregon’s constitution.

Northwest agricultural exporters depended on the Portland container facility to ship crops to Asia, but ocean carriers stopped calling on Terminal 6 in 2015 due to low productivity — despite the subsidies.

Local agricultural exporters are now saddled with greater transportation costs, as they must truck goods to Seattle-area ports, but the Port of Portland hopes to eventually restart Terminal 6.

The dispute over the subsidy is part of a broader legal war between the port, the longshoremen’s union and terminal operator ICTSI that’s seen as hindering the resumption of container service.

The Port of Portland argues the subsidy program is legal because the money is drawn from rent payments by ICTSI, not tax dollars.

The ILWU counters that the subsidy program is impermissible because the funds were commingled with tax money in a single bank account.

“The Port has demonstrated that, as a factual matter, its accounting and financial management systems adequately tracked, managed, and segregated the tax and non-tax revenues,” the 9th Circuit said.

Even so, Oregon legal precedents are silent on whether such accounting methods are allowable, the 9th Circuit said.

If the Oregon Supreme Court declines to resolve the matter, the 9th Circuit is prepared to answer the question “according to our best understanding of Oregon law,” the ruling said.

Wildlife investigators decline to provide new information on the death of OR-28, a federally protected wolf found dead Oct. 6, 2016 near Summer Lake, Ore., in the Fremont-Winema National Forest.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service continues to offer a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible. The Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation group involved in wolf management issues, said it would add $10,000 to the reward fund.

The wolf’s carcass was examined at USFWS’s National Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, Ore., but the agency has not released the results of the necropsy.

“The investigation is ongoing and at this time I cannot comment further than that,” Special Agent Gary Young said in a Dec. 23 email to the Capital Press.

OR-28 was a 3-year old female that was collared in June 2014 and dispersed from Northeast Oregon’s Mount Emily pack in November 2015. By the end of that month her tracking collar showed she had covered more than 450 miles and was in the Silver Lake area in South Central Oregon. By January 2016 it was evident she had paired up with a OR-3, a male wolf in that area. They produced at least one pup.

Killing a gray wolf is illegal under the federal Endangered Species Act. Gray wolves are listed as endangered in the western two-thirds of Oregon.

Anyone with information about this case should call Fish and Wildlife, 503-682-6131, or the Oregon State Police Tip Line, 800-452-7888. Callers may remain anonymous.

Oregon’s statewide snowpack is 22 percent above average in early 2017, which is good news but not enough to inspire confidence in the 2017 irrigation season.

Before irrigators get too confident, it should be noted that snowpacks were even higher at this point last year, said Scott Oviatt, snow survey supervisor for Oregon at USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.

By April, though, the advantage of that early accumulation was wiped away by high temperatures and record snowmelt, Oviatt said.

“At this point, it’s wait and see,” he said. “Things can change on a moment’s whim in spring.”

The above-average snowpack also reflects conditions in early winter — unless the snow keeps accumulating, Oregon will fall behind by spring, Oviatt said.

“You really need to have storms coming in periodically, if not daily then two to three times a week,” he said.

In early January, snowpack levels across Oregon ranged from a high of 39 percent above average in the Hood, Sandy and Lower Deschutes basins to a low of 9 percent below average in the Klamath basin, according to NRCS data.

The danger of snowpacks melting quickly in spring is that in-stream flows won’t be sufficient to meet the needs of irrigators during summer, said Oviatt.

A sudden rush of melting water can also overwhelm the control structures at irrigation reservoirs, forcing managers to release water that may not later be replenished, he said.

While the weather and temperature forecast for the upcoming months is a wild card, current conditions are certainly optimistic compared to early 2015, when there was no snow on the ground, he said.

A five-year study of cattle grazing on federal rangeland showed they spend only 1 percent to 2.5 percent of their time in streams or in riparian buffer areas, a finding that may prove important as debate continues over the impact of cattle on public land.

Researchers at Oregon State University outfitted cows from three ranches with homemade GPS tracking collars and mapped their positions during spring to fall grazing seasons over five years. The collars reported the cows’ positions about every five minutes and compiled more than 3.7 million data points over the course of the study. The technology was able to pinpoint when the collared cows were within 30 meters of streams.

The study took place on federal grazing allotments in the Wallowa-Whitman and Umatilla national forests. The findings are potentially significant because critics of public land grazing practices have long contended cattle trample and erode streambanks and pollute water.

But John Williams, an OSU Extension rangeland expert in Wallowa County, said cows enter riparian areas for two reasons: “One is to drink, the other is to cross,” he said.

The cows typically did not rest or graze near streams. Instead, they spent most of their time grazing on higher ground or resting in dry areas away from streams, according to Williams.

Not surprisingly, the location of good forage was the primary factor in their movement. Water sources, fences, and previous logging or fires also influenced cattle movement, as did topography and the herd’s point of entry at the beginning of the season. Cows used 10 to 25 percent of the stream area in each grazing allotment.

Williams said the findings could be important to livestock management. The cattle impact on riparian areas “isn’t for very long, and it isn’t for all of the stream,” he said. “What might we look at in management options that let us be more efficient?”

Cows were more likely to enter stream areas during the heat of summer, but in the cool spring showed little interest in riparian areas, Williams said. That suggests adjusting management practices across the seasons may be appropriate.

“If talking about riparian pasture grazing in April, maybe it isn’t a big issue,” he said. “But in August, maybe you take a look at it in a different light.”

Williams said he’s shared the study findings with the U.S. Forest Service, which manages grazing allotments in the national forests.

“I believe it’s real straight forward in terms of, here’s where cows go,” he said.

The study had some quirks. Researchers selected cows at random from among the 300 to 400 in each of the three herds, and kept some of them collared for several years. About a third of the collared cows were new each year as older participants were sold or disappeared, or collars wore out.

Williams said funding for the research was tight, and the team chose to make their own GPS collars to save money. They bought plastic boxes to hold the electronics, made leather collars to fit around the cows, bought motherboards and “soldered, taped and glued” the devices for about $450 apiece in material. Williams said he was told pre-assembled GPS units would have cost $2,000 to $3,000 each.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An early 2017 storm dumped snow in southern and central Oregon, and more is expected.

The Mail Tribune reports up to 3 additional inches could fall Wednesday in Medford, Ashland and Grants Pass, and up to 18 more inches could fall higher up along the Siskiyou Pass and around Crater Lake.

Southbound traffic on Interstate 5 over the Siskiyou Summit remained closed early Wednesday. The state Department of Transportation says the problem continues to be trucks on the steep Anderson Grade between Klamath River and Yreka. It’s expected to reopen before noon.

Along with school closures, all state offices are closed in Jackson and Josephine counties.

School and state agencies are also closed throughout central and south-central Oregon.

KTVZ reports that a National Weather Service spotter northwest of Terrebonne reported a foot of new snow overnight and three-foot snow drifts early Wednesday. A weather spotter southeast of Bend reported 8 new inches and also had three-foot snow drifts as snow continued to fall.

When in America did we lose our common sense? Who would think for one second that Hillary was running a child sex ring out of a pizza parlor, and then repeat said story to many other people? Have we become…

BANDON — The health insurance open enrollment period for private insurance policies ends Jan. 31. Individuals and families who haven't already signed up for 2017 health insurance can learn more about Oregon policies and get help shopping the Health Insurance…

BANDON — The health insurance open enrollment period for private insurance policies ends Jan. 31. Individuals and families who haven't already signed up for 2017 health insurance can learn more about Oregon policies and get help shopping the Health Insurance…

Tuesdays

President Obama has turned two vast sections of Nevada and Utah into national monuments. The Bears Ears monument in Utah covers 1.35 million acres; Nevada’s Gold Butte monument is closer to 300,000 acres.

A monument under consideration for southeastern Oregon would be larger than both those monuments combined. But there’s no word on whether such a designation is coming for the Owyhee canyons of southeastern Oregon.   

Conservation groups have been pushing for creation of an Owyhee national monument, but ranchers and local leaders generally oppose that. 

Monument designations change what can be done on the land, often putting tight restrictions on mining and possibly ranching. Monuments come from executive orders outside the public process for most land-use regulations.

Malheur County rancher Elias Elguren opposes the proposed 2.5 million acre monument in his backyard.

Elguren said he has no idea if he has anything to worry about.  

“I just think there’s such a lack of openness to the process that who could really tell,” said Elguren. “President Obama has until his last day of office to sign one of these national monuments into existence. So, we really don’t know, either direction.”    

Monument supporters and members of Oregon’s congressional delegation don’t know if an Owyhee monument is coming either.

Tim Davis with Friends of Owyhee said he doesn’t know if the creation of the Nevada and Utah monuments make an Owyhee monument more or less likely in the remaining weeks of Obama’s presidential term.

“You know, I think there is a chance,” Davis said, expressing mixed feelings about the protections a monument would bring. “I mean, for myself and Friends of Owyhee standpoint, we’ve been somewhat supportive of it, but we’re still hoping for a collaboration of everyone sitting down at the table, to make a plan.”    

Davis said there are already discussions about bringing groups together to talk in March, with an eye toward limiting mining in the area and focusing on recreation activities. But Elguren said ranchers like him would need some incentive to come to the negotiating table. 

Where Davis and Elguren agree is that an open discussion would be a better approach than the high-stakes, wait-and-see situation they’re in now.

They won’t get an argument out of some in official capacities in Washington, D.C., either. Oregon Rep. Greg Walden’s spokesman, Andrew Malcolm, criticized the process by which Obama designated the other monuments this week.

“Nothing new that we have heard,” wrote Malcolm in an email answering OPB’s questions about a possible monument. “That’s part of the problem with the Antiquities Act — no transparency or public process. It could happen at any time with no warning.”

President Obama has until the day he leaves office — Jan. 20 — to take executive actions, such as designating monuments.

SALEM - Curry County Commissioner and State Representative-Elect of Oregon House District 1 David Brock Smith, R-Gold Beach, has been appointed to key legislative committees for the state.

Saturdays

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — A Lane County winery has filed a lawsuit over nearly 800 gallons of apple cider it says it can’t sell because the Corvallis company that bottled it didn’t seek the proper label approval from federal regulators.

The Register-Guard reports King Estate Winery is seeking $100,000 in damages from Oregon Honey Products, which does business as Nectar Creek.

The suit, filed Dec. 19, alleges the winery paid $7,000 to Nectar Creek as part of an agreement requiring the company to bottle cider and obtain federal “certificate of label approval.” The approval allows an alcoholic beverage to be sold in interstate commerce.

The winery claims Nectar Creek never submitted the application for label approval, leaving the bottles of cider unable to be sold.

Nectar Creek co-founder Nick Lorenz declined to comment on the lawsuit.