Cattle and timber industry representatives say the proposed expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument will lead to lost grazing lands and timber production and injure the area’s economy.

In October, Oregon Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, both Democrats, asked the U.S. Department of the Interior to expand the monument’s border by about 50,000 acres, much of which would involve Bureau of Land Management lands. The existing 62,000-acre monument in Southern Oregon was designated by then-president Bill Clinton in 2000.

A loss of cattle grazing in the area that abuts the Oregon-California state line would result in increased wildfire fodder in an already dry, hot and fire-prone area, the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association asserts.

Moreover, adjacent private landowners could lose access to their properties if roads are not maintained or gates become permanently locked, said Jerome Rosa, the OCA’s executive director.

“Quite a bit of it is really, really prime grazing ground,” said Rosa, who recently toured the area.

“This is prime land that also is very, very susceptible to fire and lightning strikes hitting that area,” he said. “We saw knee high oats in the area. It’s drier than dry.”

The designation would be “potentially devastating” to the timber industry, taking “a lot of volume off the table,” said Travis Joseph, president of the American Forest Resource Council.

Existing timber sales on the land “could be grandfathered in,” he said, “but we’ve seen with other monument proposals that timber sales that are grandfathered in don’t actually get implemented.”

The move could have an impact on Southern Oregon and Northern California mills that purchase timber, noted Mark Pawlicki, Sierra Pacific Industries’ director of corporate affairs and sustainability.

Merkley held a hastily scheduled meeting Oct. 14 in Ashland to gather input on the proposal, and about 100 people showed up. He is taking written comments through Nov. 20 and plans to give them to President Barack Obama.

“It’s important to Senator Merkley that all interested Oregonians are able to weigh in on” the proposal, “including the agricultural community and especially any producers who believe their operations may be affected,” spokeswoman Martina McLennan told the Capital Press in an email.

If the monument is expanded, there will be opportunities for input on how the area would be managed, she said.

But critics say many in opposition to the proposal didn’t know about Merkley’s meeting or didn’t have time to prepare. A town-hall meeting by Jackson County commissioners on Oct. 27 to discuss the monument drew about 400 people, and Klamath County commissioners were set to hold their own hearing on the proposal on Nov. 1.

They also argue that some of the lands in the planned monument are covered by the O&C Lands Act of 1937, which aimed to provide a future source of timber to contribute to local economic stability and required that half the revenue generated be returned to 18 affected counties, according to the BLM’s website.

“It was a contract between the local jurisdictions and the federal government, that they would maintain a sustained amount of timber cutting every year on all that land,” Klamath County Commissioner Tom Mallams said. “If they designate it as a monument ... there won’t be any timber cut on this land.”

Any grazing allotments that are allowed to continue on monument land often aren’t transferable, so they often go away when a son or daughter takes over the ranch or even if a new ranch manager is hired, Rosa said.

“The ranches will be told they can continue their normal practices on it, but what happens is if there’s any change in management or change in ownership, then that agreement is no longer viable,” he said. “Over the course of time, eventually all these grazing opportunities will be lost.”

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The leader of a federal wildlife refuge takeover in Oregon says his group will “continue to stand” after he and six others were acquitted last week of charges in the case.

Ammon Bundy told The Oregonian/OregonLive in a phone call from the Multnomah County Detention Center on Monday that it was their duty to stand.

“We did it peacefully,” Bundy said. “We did it legally, and the jury’s verdicts confirmed that.”

Bundy said the trial ended in “another example of the government not following the law” when U.S. marshals arrested his attorney for challenging the judge’s order to keep him in custody.

Bundy remains in jail because he still faces charges in the 2014 standoff at his father’s Nevada ranch. Bundy said he expects he and brother Ryan Bundy will be moved to Nevada on Tuesday morning.

He said he wasn’t allowed any contact with his brother on Halloween, Ryan Bundy’s 44th birthday.

“It’s par for the course,” he said.

Bundy, 41, of Emmett, Idaho, testified that he proposed the armed takeover to draw attention to the case of two Oregon ranchers that he believes were unjustly imprisoned for setting fire to public land and to protest federal mismanagement of vast tracts of lands in the West.

He called for prosecutors to drop charges against other occupiers set for February trial on the same conspiracy charge.

Prosecutors have not said whether they will drop charges against the remaining defendants. Eleven people previously pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge.

“There was no conspiracy,” Bundy said. “It would be a waste of court time and resources.”

Designating a new national monument in the Owyhee Canyonlands would “inflame and deepen divisions in our communities” in the wake of the surprise not-guilty verdicts in the Malheur occupiers trial, a Southeast Oregon group said.

In an open letter to President Obama, who has authority to declare a new monument and has done so several times in recent months, the Owyhee Basin Stewardship Coalition said the verdict “does little to heal the wounds created in our state and nation by the unfortunate events of the past year.”

A U.S. District Court jury in Portland acquitted seven defendants Oct. 27 of conspiring to keep federal employees from doing their jobs during the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters outside of Burns, Ore.

The occupation touched off a heated debate about federal land management. The possibility that Obama would designate the Owyhee Canyonlands monument is seen as a continuation of that argument. Local residents have asked him not to do it in what has become a “troubling and volatile atmosphere.”

The stewardship coalition’s letter said the president’s authority to designate a monument without congressional approval “should be exercised with caution and careful consideration.” The group urged Obama to consult with Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, Sen. Ron Wyden, Sen. Jeff Merkley, and U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, who represents Eastern Oregon in Congress.

The Bend-based environmental group Oregon Natural Desert Association, backed by the Keen Footwear, has proposed a 2.5 million acre Owyhee Canyonlands wilderness and conservation area. Critics say the area is bigger than the Yellowstone, Yosemite or Grand Canyon national parks and would cover 40 percent of Oregon’s Malheur County.

Local opposition is strong. Opponents believe designation would prohibit or severely restrict grazing, mining, hunting and other recreation. Proponents have said traditional land uses will be allowed, but opposition leaders doubt it.

“In the case of a potential Owyhee Canyonlands monument, the issues go far deeper than merely a question of how to best protect and manage the public lands we all care about and love,” the stewardship coalition said in its letter to Obama. “We know you will do the right thing.”

Environmentalists have agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused Central Oregon irrigators of violating the Endangered Species Act by harming the Oregon spotted frog.

The Center for Biological Diversity and Waterwatch of Oregon filed two complaints against the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and five irrigation districts — Arnold, Central Oregon, Lone Pine, North Unit and Tumalo — that were consolidated earlier this year.

The environmental groups asked U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken for an injunction that would drastically alter the operation of the Crane Prairie, Wickiup and Crescent Lake reservoirs, which the districts depend on.

In March, Aiken denied that request, holding they did not meet the high burden of proving such an injunction was necessary, which led to months of settlement discussions.

Under the deal submitted to Aiken on Oct. 28, the irrigation districts have agreed to keep minimum flows in the Upper Deschutes River at 100 cubic feet per second in autumn and winter, up from 20 cubic feet per second in some past years.

The increased flow level is intended to provide a more stable water supply for the frogs, which were declared a threatened species in 2014.

The Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the dams that regulate water flows, has also agreed to complete an already-underway “consultation” on irrigation system impacts to Oregon spotted frogs. The irrigation districts formally committed to other changes they’ve voluntarily implemented this year.

The deal requires approval from Aiken to become final.

Irrigators hope the settlement will give them some breathing room until more permanent plans to conserve water and improve conditions for the frog are implemented.

“It’s a step in the right direction. It doesn’t solve the long-term problem,” said ShanRae Hawkins, spokeswoman for the irrigation districts.

By the time the settlement expires on July 31, 2017, the irrigation districts and the Bureau of Reclamation expect to have completed a “habitat conservation plan” for the frog, which would provide irrigators protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Conservation measures will require heavy investment in piping and lining canals, reducing seepage and allowing water to be distributed more efficiently, she said.

The Tumalo Irrigation District expects the settlement will cause it to forgo 42 percent of the water it stores in Crescent Lake, according to a letter sent to irrigators by Kenneth Rieck, the district manager.

However, if the region experiences an adequate water year over winter, the district should still be able to deliver 70 percent of normal flows, he said.

“This was not an easy choice, but the (district) board believes this settlement is in the best interest of the district,” Rieck said.

The Central Oregon Irrigation District voluntary left 35,000 acre-feet of water in the Crane Prairie reservoir this year for frog habitat instead of pulling water for irrigation and reducing the level to about 20,000-25,000 acre-feet, said Craig Horrell, its district manager.

Because the district left all of its stored water in the reservoir, it was forced to reduce deliveries by 20 percent, Horrell said. The district also owns in-stream water rights, which provided water for irrigators.

If the coming winter again results in insufficient water supplies, the district may need to cut deliveries short again in 2017, he said.

In an average water year, though, the settlement terms should not impact deliveries, Horrell said.

Now that the district anticipates more stored water will be released, it can also adjust its management of the reservoirs to mitigate negative effects, he said. “Knowing what we know now, we can plan for it better.”

Ending a long hiring drought, Oregon State University is advertising for a vegetable and vegetable seed specialist to work at its North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora, Ore.

The position is part of a continued expansion of OSU Extension staff statewide and at the North Willamette center in particular, much of it made possible by increased funding approved by the Legislature in 2015.

In the past year, NWREC alone has hired Nik Wiman, an orchard crops specialist; Lloyd Nackley, a nursery production and management faculty member; and is negotiating to hire a pesticide registration specialist. The vegetable extension agent position has been vacant since Bob McReynolds, who was highly regarded by growers, retired in 2012.

Canby, Ore., grower Ed Montecucco said hiring a vegetable specialist will be most welcome by vegetable and vegetable seed farmers. Growers several years ago formed an endowment fund to help pay for the position, and the fund has reached $330,000.

Montecucco said McReynolds helped assemble data to win approval for chemicals that improve yield and control pests, and advised growers on farming practices.

The new person will need to be knowledgeable about raising organic and conventional vegetables and controlling pests in both, Montecucco said. He grows conventional and organic fresh market root crops, rhubarb and corn and beans.

NWREC administrator Michael Bondi said growers need help with pest control, irrigation efficiency, soil health and food safety regulations, among other things.

“There are a lot of unmet needs, that’s for sure,” he said.

Oregon’s fresh and processed vegetable industry has an annual farm gate value of $100 million, and the Willamette Valley is one of the nation’s primary vegetable, flower and herb seed production areas, Bondi noted in a news release.

Applicants must have a Ph.D. in horticulture or a related field. The closing date for applications is Nov. 20. A job description is at https://jobs.oregonstate.edu/postings/34112

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Changes in how dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers are operated are needed to improve migratory conditions for protected runs of Snake River chinook salmon and steelhead, federal officials said.

A proposed recovery plan released Thursday by the National Marine Fisheries Service also said habitat needs to be improved in tributaries where fish spawn and in the Columbia River estuary where young fish transition to ocean life.

The Snake River and its tributaries in Idaho, Oregon and Washington state at one time supported more than half of the Columbia River basin’s summer steelhead and more than 40 percent of the spring and summer chinook salmon.

But in the 1990s the two runs were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The 262-page recovery plan is described as a roadmap for federal agencies, state governments, tribes and private entities to use for possible action that could boost the two runs.

The plan sets goals before delisting can be attained. The goals, which include the number of returning fish, are broken down into the various streams that make up the Snake River Basin, with some streams in better shape than others.

For some populations “we may see substantial and quick movement in productivity, and in others it may take longer,” said Ritchie Graves of the National Marine Fisheries Service during a news conference Thursday.

Scientists acknowledged gaps in knowledge in creating the plan. The reason for losses of young fish in tributaries is not clear, for example. And what young fish do when exiting the Columbia River into the Pacific Ocean in what is recognized as a unique ecosystem called the plume is also not clear.

“The importance of understanding how fish survive and don’t survive in the plume has become increasingly important,” said Rosemary Furfey, recovery coordinator for the Fisheries Service.

The ultimate goal, managers say, is to have self-sustaining populations so the fish can be delisted. The federal agency estimates that could take 50 to 100 years. It estimates the cost over the next 10 years for just habitat work will be $139 million.

Comments on the proposed plan that also includes hatchery strategies, angler harvest, predator problems, climate change and more are being taken through Dec. 27, with those comments being used to create a final plan expected sometime in mid-2017.

The recovery plan takes into account a much larger legal battle involving all 13 endangered and threatened salmon and steelhead runs in the Columbia Basin.

In May, a federal judge in Portland, Oregon, ruled that the massive habitat restoration effort by the U.S. government doesn’t do nearly enough to improve Northwest salmon runs, handing a major victory to conservationists, anglers and others who hope to someday see the four dams on the Snake River breached to make way for the fish. The judge ordered the government to come up with a new plan by March 2018.

The recovery plan released Thursday doesn’t include removing the Snake River dams, but has language that would allow it to be modified to bring it in line with whatever comes out in the court-ordered 2018 plan.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A jury delivered an extraordinary blow to the government in a long-running battle over the use of public lands when it acquitted all seven defendants involved in the armed occupation of a national wildlife refuge in rural southeastern Oregon.

Tumult erupted in the courtroom Thursday after the verdicts were read when an attorney for group leader Ammon Bundy demanded his client be immediately released and repeatedly yelled at the judge. U.S. marshals tackled attorney Marcus Mumford to the ground, used a stun gun on him several times and arrested him.

U.S. District Judge Anna Brown said she could not release Bundy because he still faces charges in Nevada stemming from an armed standoff at his father Cliven Bundy’s ranch two years ago.

The Portland jury acquitted Bundy, his brother Ryan Bundy and five others of conspiring to impede federal workers from their jobs at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, 300 miles southeast of Portland. The jury could not reach a verdict on a single count of theft for Ryan Bundy.

Even attorneys for the defendants were surprised by the acquittals.

“It’s stunning. It’s a stunning victory for the defense,” said Robert Salisbury, attorney for defendant Jeff Banta. “I’m speechless.”

The U.S Attorney in Oregon, Billy J. Williams, issued a statement defending the decision to bring charges against the seven defendants: “We strongly believe that this case needed to be brought before a Court, publicly tried, and decided by a jury.”

The Oregon case is a continuation of the tense standoff with federal officials at Cliven Bundy’s ranch in 2014. Cliven, Ammon and Ryan Bundy are among those who are to go on trial in Nevada early next year for that standoff.

While the charges in Oregon accused defendants of preventing federal workers from getting to their workplace, the case in Nevada revolves around allegations of a more direct threat: An armed standoff involving dozens of Bundy backers accused of pointing weapons, including assault-style rifles, at federal Bureau of Land Management agents and contract cowboys rounding up cattle near the Bundy ranch outside Bunkerville.

Daniel Hill, attorney for Ammon Bundy in the Nevada case, said he believed the acquittal in Oregon bodes well for his client and the other defendants facing felony weapon, conspiracy and other charges.

“When the jury here hears the whole story, I expect the same result,” Hill told The Associated Press in Las Vegas. Hill also said he’ll seek his client’s release from federal custody pending trial in Nevada.

U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden in Nevada, however, said the acquittals in Portland should have no effect in the Las Vegas case. “The Oregon case and charges are separate and unrelated to the Nevada case and charges,” Bogden said.

Ammon Bundy and his followers took over the Oregon bird sanctuary on Jan. 2. They objected to prison sentences handed down to Dwight and Steven Hammond, two local ranchers convicted of setting fires. They demanded the government free the father and son and relinquish control of public lands to local officials.

The Bundys and other key figures were arrested in a Jan. 26 traffic stop outside the refuge that ended with police fatally shooting Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, an occupation spokesman. Most occupiers left after his death, but four holdouts remained until Feb. 11, when they surrendered following a lengthy negotiation.

Federal prosecutors took two weeks to present their case, finishing with a display of more than 30 guns seized after the standoff. An FBI agent testified that 16,636 live rounds and nearly 1,700 spent casings were found.

During trial, Bundy testified that the plan was to take ownership of the refuge by occupying it for a period of time and then turn it over to local officials to use as they saw fit.

Bundy also testified that the occupiers carried guns because they would have been arrested immediately otherwise and to protect themselves against possible government attack.

The bird sanctuary takeover drew sympathizers from around the West.

It also drew a few protesters who were upset that the armed occupation was preventing others from using the land. They included Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, who called the acquittals disturbing.

“The Bundy clan and their followers peddle a dangerous brand of radicalism aimed at taking over lands owned by all of us. I worry this verdict only emboldens the kind of intimidation and right-wing violence that underpins their movement,” Suckling said.

One of Ammon Bundy’s attorneys, Morgan Philpot, had a different perspective after watching Mumford get tackled by marshals. “His liberty was just assaulted by the very government that was supposed to protect it, by the very government that just prosecuted his client — unjustly as the jury found.”

There’s another Oregon trial coming up over the wildlife refuge.

Authorities had charged 26 occupiers with conspiracy. Eleven pleaded guilty, and another had the charge dropped. Seven defendants chose not to be tried at this time. Their trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 14.

Associated Press Writers Andrew Selsky in Salem, Oregon, and Ken Ritter in Las Vegas contributed.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The leaders of an armed group who seized a national wildlife refuge in rural Oregon were acquitted Thursday in the 41-day standoff that brought new attention to a long-running dispute over control of federal lands in the U.S. West.

A jury found brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy not guilty a firearm in a federal facility and conspiring to impede federal workers from their jobs at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, 300 miles southeast of Portland where the trial took place. Five co-defendants also were tried one or both of the charges.

Despite the acquittal, the Bundys were expected to stand trial in Nevada early next year on charges stemming from another high-profile standoff with federal agents. Authorities rounding up cattle at their father Cliven Bundy’s ranch in 2014 because of unpaid grazing fees released the animals as they faced armed protesters.

The brothers are part of a Nevada ranching family embroiled in a lengthy fight over the use of public range, and their occupation drew an international spotlight to a uniquely American West dispute: federal restrictions on ranching, mining and logging to protect the environment. The U.S. government, which controls much of the land in the West, says it tries to balance industry, recreation and wildlife concerns to benefit all.

The armed occupiers were allowed to come and go for several weeks as authorities tried to avoid bloodshed seen in past standoffs.

The confrontations reignited clashes dating to the so-called Sagebrush Rebellion of the late 1970s, when Western states such as Nevada tried to win more control of vast federal land holdings.

The group began occupying the bird sanctuary in remote southeastern Oregon on Jan. 2. They objected to prison sentences handed down to Dwight and Steven Hammond, two local ranchers convicted of setting fires. They demanded the government free the father and son and relinquish control of public lands to local officials.

Ammon Bundy gave frequent news conferences and the group used social media in a mostly unsuccessful effort to get others to join them.

The Bundys and other key figures were arrested in a Jan. 26 traffic stop outside the refuge that ended with police fatally shooting Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, an occupation spokesman. Most occupiers left after his death, but four holdouts remained until Feb. 11, when they surrendered after a lengthy negotiation.

At trial, the case was seemingly open-and-shut. There was no dispute the group seized the refuge, established armed patrols and vetted those who visited.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this case is not a whodunit,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Knight said in his closing argument, arguing that the group decided to take over a federal workplace that didn’t belong to them.

On technical grounds, the defendants said they never discussed stopping individual workers from accessing their offices but merely wanted the land and the buildings. On emotional grounds, Ammon Bundy and other defendants argued that the takeover was an act of civil disobedience against an out-of-control federal government that has crippled the rural West.

Federal prosecutors took two weeks to present their case, finishing with a display of more than 30 guns seized after the standoff. An FBI agent testified that 16,636 live rounds and nearly 1,700 spent casings were found.

Bundy testified in his defense, spending three days amplifying his belief that government overreach is destroying Western communities that rely on the land.

He said the plan was to take ownership of the refuge by occupying it for a period of time and then turn it over to local officials to use as they saw fit.

Bundy also testified that the occupiers carried guns because they would have been arrested immediately otherwise and to protect themselves against possible government attack.

Ryan Bundy, who acted his own attorney, did not testify.

Authorities had charged 26 occupiers with conspiracy. Eleven pleaded guilty, and another had the charge dropped. Seven defendants chose not to be tried at this time. Their trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 14.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Federal authorities want to add more hatchery-raised fish to the 28 Pacific Coast salmon and steelhead stocks listed under the Endangered Species Act.

The National Marine Fisheries Service in a document made public Friday said 23 hatchery programs could produce fish genetically similar to their wild but struggling cousins and should have the option of receiving federal protections.

The agency recently completed a five-year review required for listed species and plans no changes to the threatened or endangered status for the salmon and steelhead populations found in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

The review included 330 hatchery programs. About half of those are already involved in boosting listed salmon and steelhead populations. Other hatchery programs are intended to produce large numbers of fish for anglers.

The document released Friday proposes eliminating five of the hatchery programs from ESA listings, meaning there’s a net increase of 18 programs.

The 23 proposed programs are mostly in Oregon and Washington, but there are some in Idaho and one in California that involves the Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery and its efforts with winter-run chinook salmon in the Sacramento River.

Scientists say the net increase of 18 programs is part of a trend among fisheries managers of using locally adapted fish with the goal of producing fish more able to survive in the wild.

“There’s been considerable research on this and we generally understand that hatchery fish do not survive in the wild as well as wild fish,” said Rob Jones of the National Marine Fisheries Service. “But we have gotten much better at understanding how to narrow that gap and produce hatchery fish that have a better and better chance at surviving in the wild.”

Several watchdog environmental groups involved with salmon and steelhead and watershed ecosystems declined to immediately comment, citing the complexity of the federal proposal.

But Sara LaBorde, executive vice president of the Wild Salmon Center, gave an initial assessment.

“It seems like some of this language is housekeeping and some of it may have long-term policy implications,” she said in a statement to The Associated Press. “At this point, it’s important for all of us to read the notice and understand it fully.”

Conservation groups, in general, are concerned that an overreliance on hatchery fish could cause further declines in wild fish runs and additional degradation to the watersheds wild fish need to survive.

The watersheds themselves include dams needed to produce energy, control floods and provide irrigation. Other activities such as timber harvest and road construction can also are cause problems for migrating salmon, Jones said, and the hatcheries are intended to mitigate for those losses.

Salmon and steelhead runs are a fraction of what they were before modern settlement. Of the salmon and steelhead that now return, experts say, about 70 to 90 percent originated in hatcheries.

Public comments on the federal proposal are being taken through Dec. 20.

Efren Loeza has become a mainstay of Willamette Valley Vineyards’ operation

By Eric Mortenson

Capital Press

GASTON, Ore. — Efren Loeza takes his time with this first one, the first grape vine in the new vineyard. He lowers it into the hole his crew augured into the sloping hillside.

Squatting in the red dirt, brow furrowed in concentration, he steadies the slender vine with his left hand and brushes the soil back into the planting hole with his right, careful to pack around the bare roots so they will take hold and grow.

Because if anything, Efren Loeza knows about putting down roots and growing.

He stands and allows himself a slight smile. He’s a compact, courteous man, 54, with pale eyes, black hair that is beginning to thin and a voice that retains the soft accent of Mexico.

He hesitates to describe his emotions on this day. This is a new planting for Willamette Valley Vineyards, 45 acres of Pinot gris and 10 of Pinot noir. The company decided to name it Loeza Vineyard, to honor him and his extended family for their decades of hard work and competence.

“I don’t have words to explain how I feel, and my family feels, to have a vineyard with our name,” he says.

His is a familiar tale, and it is one Oregon agriculture, especially the wine industry, appears to be more comfortable in telling. At many farms and processing plants, of course, the work crews — the planters, pruners, pickers and packers — are heavily Latino. But in many cases they are also the managers, coordinating crews, planning work and carrying out a company’s vision at ground level.

Oregon’s vineyard and winery operators in particular have taken steps to support and acknowledge the workforce. For 25 years, the industry has funded ¡Salud! Services through Tuality Healthcare, which provides free medical screening and other services to seasonal vineyard workers and their families. Money comes from a two-day tasting and Pinot noir auction hosted by winemakers every November; the 2015 event raised $800,000.

At the 2016 Oregon Wine Symposium this past winter, the industry for the first time gave out Vineyard Excellence Awards. The winners were Jesse Lopez, of Celestina Vineyards in Southern Oregon; Irineo Magana, of Phelps Creek Vineyards in the Columbia River Gorge; and Efren Loeza, who began work at Tualatin Estate Vineyard in 1979 and stayed on when it was bought in 1997 by Willamette Valley Vineyards, based in Turner, Ore., outside Salem. Loeza manages all the company’s vineyards up and down the valley, 498 acres of grapes.

Mark Gibbs, senior agronomist with Oregon Vineyard Supply in McMinnville, is pleased to see rising recognition of farmworkers’ contributions, including his longtime friend, Loeza.

“He represents the backbone of our industry,” Gibbs said. “Without folks like Efren Loeza and the others, we would not exist.”

Over time, Latinos are increasingly becoming farmers themselves, not just laborers. The USDA’s 2012 Census of Agriculture showed the number of Hispanic farmers reached nearly 100,000 nationwide, a 21 percent increase over 2007. Two-thirds of them were principal operators, also a 21 percent increase over the previous census.

The change comes as the U.S. is having what Jim Bernau, Willamette Valley Vineyards founder and CEO, describes as a “strong discussion” about immigration.

Bernau said experts in demographics believe a country’s long-term success depends on the level of upward mobility it provides immigrants. He considers Loeza and others “one of those great American immigrant success stories.”

“Those people in the future will not only have their hands on the clippers and on the tractor steering wheel,” he said, “but on the levers of the major business decisions.”

Efren Loeza crossed the border illegally when he was 17, accompanying his father, who had called upon him to work the crops, make money, and help support the family. Efren cried when they left home in the Mexican state of Michoacan, because he wanted to stay in school and work locally.

“No, I need help bringing more money to the house,” his father answered. “That’s my last word.”

Loeza and his father arrived at a labor camp in Cornelius, Ore., on April 15, 1979. Efren spoke no English and didn’t know where he was; on the long trip north he’d peppered his father with questions about where they would stay and how they would eat.

The first spring and summer they picked strawberries, cucumbers and blackberries, and traveled into Washington to work the apple crop. They returned to join the crew at Bill Fuller’s Tualatin Estate Vineyard near Forest Grove, pruning and training vines. Efren was fascinated by the realization that you could put what looked like a stick into the ground and it would turn into grapes.

In 1981 he was arrested for driving with a suspended license, spent a week in jail and was sent back to Mexico when his illegal status was discovered. The judge told him he could return when he fixed his papers. The vineyard owner, Fuller, held a job open for him and rehired him when he returned. He eventually became a U.S. citizen.

The vineyard manager, the late David Foster, was fluent in Spanish and had taken a liking to the inquisitive teenager.

“You can work for us for 20 years,” he told Loeza at one point.

“Well, I like to learn,” Efren replied. “If I’m going to stay here 20 years, I want to know what I’m doing.”

He began a journal, taking notes on what he did every day in the vineyard. At one point, he showed it to Foster.

“You know what,” the manager said, “one day you’re going to be the main person here.”

Gibbs, the Oregon Vineyard agronomist, said Loeza often approached him with fertilizer, pest and plant disease questions. “He’d bring me a shoot and say, ‘Mark, what’s this?’

“He impressed me as a person who wanted to learn to better himself and his family,” Gibbs said. “Ultimately, he’s a real success story.”

In 1984 Loeza moved to a job in the winery, and spent the next 16 years learning all aspects of making wine in addition to doing vineyard work. Fuller, the owner, taught him to taste the complex notes in wine.

Over time, Loeza’s parents and all but one of his 10 brothers and sisters joined him in Oregon or moved from Mexico to California. Many of them worked at the vineyard; his younger brother, Miguel, has worked with him since 1981.

In 2000, three years after Willamette Valley Vineyards bought the business from Fuller, new owner Bernau sat down with Loeza and told him he had a new job: vineyard manager.

“You guys chose the wrong person,” Loeza said he responded. “I only went to school seven years.”

“Why don’t you try it for one year?” Bernau suggested. After one year passed, Bernau said he should try it for another. Loeza has been there ever since.

Loeza said the difference between taking instructions and making his own decisions at the vineyard nearly overwhelmed him. It helped that he was able to consult his management notes, kept in journals that date to 1982.

“The first year, I don’t know how I survived,” he said.

But Bernau had confidence in him.

“He knows what he’s doing and he knows it well,” he said. “He’s a very hands-on leader. He treats people well and is respectful to them.

“He has a high level of emotional intelligence,” Bernau said. “He knows how to identify talent and motivate talent in a very effective way, a very productive way.”

He said Loeza is able to grow high-quality fruit within the company’s framework of costs and prices, while fending off the challenges of weather.

“It’s a very challenging business and you really need remarkable talent to be successful in it,” Bernau said. “Why is Willamette Valley Vineyards so successful? One of the answers is Efren Loeza.”

Loeza and his wife, Herminia, live in what used to be Bill Fuller’s house on the company’s Tualatin Estate vineyard near Forest Grove, and three of his four children grew up there. His father, Marcos, died of heart failure in the house in 2005 after celebrating Efren’s birthday. Every Saturday, the extended family gathers at his mother’s house in Cornelius to eat and enjoy each other’s company.

Bernau intended to plant only Pinot gris on the company’s new vineyard near Gaston. When he told Efren the vineyard would be named after the family, however, Loeza insisted it had to have some Pinot noir as well. The complex and nuanced flavor of Pinot noir make it Loeza’s favorite, in part because it’s also a challenge to grow from that stick in the ground.

Bernau didn’t argue.

“One of my great joys,” he said, “is seeing Efren and his family arise.”

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A judge overseeing the trial of Ammon Bundy and six others accused in the armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge dismissed a juror Wednesday after his impartiality was questioned by a fellow juror.

U.S. District Judge Anna Brown replaced the juror with an alternate, and deliberations were placed on hold until Thursday so the woman could travel from Central Oregon.

Jurors who had been deliberating for days must start over, setting aside any conclusions they may have already drawn. The panel is now comprised of nine women and three men.

“It’s a new jury, a new day, a new start,” Brown said.

Bundy’s defense attorney filed a court motion early Wednesday asking the judge to dismiss the juror. Lawyer Marcus Mumford said the court had not adequately investigated concerns about the juror’s impartiality that emerged Tuesday in a note sent to the judge by another juror.

Juror No. 4 wrote: “Can a juror, a former employee of the Bureau of Land Management, who opens their remarks in deliberations by stating ‘I am very biased ...’ be considered an impartial judge in this case?”

The juror in question, Juror No. 11, worked 20 years ago as a firefighter for the BLM.

The occupiers are charged with conspiring to prevent BLM employees from doing their jobs at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Oregon.

The group seized the refuge Jan. 2 and held it for 41 days, protesting federal land policy and the imprisonment of two ranchers who clashed with the BLM.

During jury selection, the man said his past employment would not prejudice his views.

Brown questioned the man again Tuesday and ruled that he could remain on the jury after she found that his views had not changed on his ability to remain impartial.

Brown switched her stance overnight, deciding the juror had to go.

She brought the entire jury into the courtroom and broke the news to Juror No. 11, who nodded but had little other reaction.

Mumford, who has repeatedly clashed with the judge during the trial, praised the decision outside the courtroom.

“I know that a lot people think we have our differences, and I guess we do, but I will tell you she wants to get it right every time,” Mumford said.

PORT ORFORD -- Sign-ups for Giving Tree will begin Nov. 2 in the lobby outside The Common Good. The scheduled times are from 10 a.m. to noon, and from 1 to 3 p.m. Signup sheets will also be available at…

LA GRANDE, Ore. — A new northeastern Oregon business is following a current trend — bringing meat processing, including a USDA-certified facility, closer to where livestock is raised.

Since June, Hines Meat Company in La Grande brought 13 employees on board and is answering a growing demand from local hunters and producers. By early spring they will have a USDA facility available for local ranches that are used to shipping cattle hundreds of miles.

Paige Hines, a nurse, said she and her husband Jake, a contractor, opened their new business in time for the Eastern Oregon Livestock Show early this summer.

“We have been incredibly busy from day one,” Hines said.

While the learning curve has been steep and the sweat equity extensive, she said the feedback has been positive.

“The response from the community has been incredible,” Hines said.

Hines said her husband grew up in Imbler, a farming community 12 miles outside of La Grande. Despite the abundance of livestock throughout the region, buying local meat is difficult.

“Even though agriculture is the number one industry, unless you buy a whole or half beef local meat isn’t accessible to you,” Hines said. “We are surrounded by this industry and we wanted to make it accessible.”

In September they opened their retail shop, offering thick cut pork chops and steaks, bacon and sausages like Andouille, beer bratwurst and steak and cheese. Until they open their USDA certified facility Hines said the meat sold in their store is rated USDA choice and above from Western states distributors.

A concrete contractor by trade, Jake Hines started thinking about different businesses that weren’t as hard on the body. With experience butchering game and a zest for cooking, an idea was born.

“We are unsophisticated foodies,” Hines said. “Jake’s been a hunter and cut up his fair share of wild game. We cook a lot and Jake likes the process of brining and smoking,” Hines said.

When they got serious she said they looked for a buildable lot and started working on a design. Financing took a year and construction another nine months.

“It’s definitely been an adventure for us,” Hines said.

Two experienced meat cutters came to work for them and quickly they filled positions to grind, package and run the retail shop. Jake and Paige Hines are both involved with the business while maintaining part-time connections to their previous occupations.

“We’re in this phase because we keep growing and we need to continue to have enough people working so we are not burning them out,” Hines said.

During these first few months she said they keep looking at how to be more efficient and what positions they need to fill.

The business took off by word-of-mouth and with very little advertising, underscoring what the Hines already believed – there was a healthy market.

“That shows how much this business was sorely needed. All we had to do was show up!” Hines said.

Since they opened Hines said a number of ranchers have called from Wallowa and Union counties, eager for the USDA facility to open.

To get certified Hines said they are working with a consultant from University of Idaho to write a plan that is in compliance with federal regulations.

“We have to have a plan in place that identifies possible points of contamination and addresses how to take care of them while incorporating a number of different processes in the same work place,” Hines said.

Simply put, in any given day, Hines said, the USDA meat would be processed first, then the custom work and finally wild game. She said the three must be processed in different spaces or at different times and decontamination incorporated into the daily workflow.

While a lot of producers go as far as Nampa, Idaho, for USDA processing, Hines said she hopes their business will be a welcome addition to the agriculture market.

“This is a good way to do it capitalize on the things we have going on here and hopefully stimulate ranchers’ business. We want to offer a good service to the people who live here.”

Aerial spraying of a biological insecticide in Portland last spring appears to have paid off, as state ag inspectors report finding no Asian gypsy moths in the 8,800 acre target area this year.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture oversaw three applications of Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki, commonly referred to as Btk, in the Forest Park and North Portland areas. A check of 3,000 traps in Portland and 19,000 traps statewide yielded no Asian gypsy moths, considered a particularly destructive crop pest. It’s more of a threat than European gypsy moths because the female of the Asian variety can fly, potentially leading to quicker and more widespread infestations.

Two Asian moths in Portland were among the 14 gypsy moths found in Oregon traps last year. Another Asian gypsy was trapped across the Columbia River near the Port of Vancouver. Asian gypsy moths most likely arrive aboard cargo ships that ply up the river from Russia, Korea, China and Japan.

The ag department will do two more years of trapping in Forest Park and North Portland, but for now the spraying appears to have succeeded, ODA pest program manager Clint Burfitt said in a news release.

Six European gypsy moths were trapped in Oregon over the summer, four in the Grants Pass area and two east of Springfield. The department does not plan to spray in those areas, however.

BEND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon senators are asking for the public’s opinion on possibly expanding the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.

The Bulletin reports that Oregon Sens. Merkley and Ron Wyden, both Democrats, have asked the U.S. Department of the Interior to expand the monument’s border by about 50,000 acres. Most of the expansion would involve Bureau of Land Management lands.

The existing monument was created in 2000 by a presidential proclamation. The 62,000-acre monument spreads over southern Oregon, where the Cascade, Siskiyou and Klamath mountain ranges converge.

According to a letter early this month from Merkley and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the effects of climate change have made the monument’s boundaries inadequate to protect native species.

Merkley is seeking comments on the proposal by Nov. 20, to share with the president.

Irrigators in Eastern Oregon can develop up to 144,100 acre-feet of new water rights due to the renewal of “water reservations” in three river basins.

The Oregon Water Resources Commission has unanimously approved the renewal of water reservations in the Grande Ronde, Malheur and Owyhee basins, which were set to expire early next year.

The water was “reserved” for economic development by the Oregon Department of Agriculture nearly 30 years ago, when the state mandated minimum in-stream flows for environmental reasons.

However, few water rights have been established from the available reserved water since then.

Irrigation experts in Eastern Oregon say it’s unclear whether the story will play out any differently now that the reservations have been renewed for 20 years.

In eight out of 10 years, the Vale Irrigation District doesn’t receive enough water to make any available to junior water right holders, said Dan Fulwyler, its executive director.

In the years there is enough water for junior water right holders, it’s only available for about two weeks a year, he said.

Due to this scarcity, farmers probably wouldn’t want to invest in new water rights and facilities, Fulwyler said.

However, Fulwyler said it’s conceivable the water reservations could be useful in filling existing reservoirs.

“It would have to be for storage, because nobody would want it for just two weeks,” he said.

In the Grande Ronde Basin, irrigators have been discouraged by failed past attempts to create a new in-channel reservoir, largely because of potential environmental impacts, said Jed Hassinger, president of the Union County Farm Bureau.

“It’s been a challenge to find suitable storage in the basin here,” he said.

However, Union County is evaluating other options, such as off-channel or underground storage, under a $197,000 place-based planning grant from the Oregon Water Resources Department, Hassinger said.

The region can grow high-value crops, including peppermint, sugar beets and seed potatoes, that would justify investment in new water facilities, he said.

In the Owyhee Basin, irrigators have been more focused on boosting water efficiency than developing new water rights, said Jay Chamberlin, manager of the Owyhee Irrigation District.

“The big driver has been conservation,” he said. “The drought has expedited that.”

With the renewal of the Owyhee Basin’s reservation, irrigators will look at possible water right development, potentially involving the existing Owyhee reservoir, Chamberlin said.

Water storage and distribution are expensive, particularly with regulatory barriers, he said. “There’s going to be tremendous cost if anybody tries to put that into use.”

In recent years, the Owyhee reservoir hasn’t had much “carryover” water after the irrigation season, said Margaret Matter, ODA’s water resource specialist.

Reserved water could be used to establish a “buffer,” but the basin would have to experience consistently high flows to make more water available, said Matter.

In the Grande Ronde Basin, reserved water could be channeled into underground aquifers, eventually increasing late stream flows from groundwater, she said. “It would improve irrigation reliability, especially later in the season.”

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Federal prosecutors’ case against the armed occupiers of an Oregon wildlife refuge hit a bump Tuesday when a juror raised questions about the impartiality of another person on the panel.

Jurors sent two notes to the judge that indicated they were having difficulty reaching a consensus after three days of deliberations.

In one note, a member of the panel said a fellow juror called himself “very biased.” The writer asked the judge whether that juror, a former employee of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, can be considered impartial.

The federal agency manages the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon, a remote site that Ammon Bundy and his followers took over for 41 days this winter. During questioning last month before trial, the juror said he worked for the agency more than 20 years ago as a range tech and firefighter.

U.S. District Judge Anna Brown and representatives from the prosecution and defense met in chambers with the juror whose impartiality has been questioned. Brown questioned him and found no sign of bias. She left him on the jury and sent the panel home for the day.

When defense attorneys objected, Brown gave them until Wednesday morning to find case law that would support further questioning of the juror or the panel member concerned about his impartiality.

“We’ve done all we can do given the hour of the day,” she said, repeatedly cutting off objections from defendant Ryan Bundy, Ammon Bundy’s brother who is representing himself at trial.

The jury is considering charges against the Bundy brothers and five others of conspiring to impede federal workers from doing their jobs at the refuge. They took over the bird sanctuary Jan. 2, objecting to federal land policy and demanding the U.S. government turn over control of public range to local officials.

In the second note sent by jurors, they asked the judge: “If we are able to agree on a verdict for three of the defendants, but are at a standoff for the others, does our decision for the three stand?” The note does not identify the three.

Before sending the jury home, Brown sent back a note that instructed them to “consider each count for each defendant separately.”

Also Tuesday, Brown sentenced Brian Cavalier, another defendant in the case, to time already served.

The bodyguard for Ammon Bundy pleaded guilty in June, one of 11 defendants to accept a deal from prosecutors.

Cavalier also faces charges in Nevada in a 2014 armed standoff with federal agents at Cliven Bundy’s ranch.

Old Town Marketplace

The Pacific Northwest Waterways Association is encouraging farmers, ranchers, shippers and others involved in agriculture to share the importance of the Columbia-Snake River system during a federal public comment period, which ends Jan. 17.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and Bonneville Power Administration are preparing a new impact statement on the Columbia River system and the 14 federal projects in the Columbia Basin. The public comment period ends Jan. 17.

The EIS is in response to U.S. District Judge Michael Simon’s ruling in May. He found that the federal government failed to use the best available science to consider salmon recovery, including the effects of climate change and the possibility of breaching one or more dams on the Lower Snake River. The judge directed the agencies to create an updated plan for the river system within five years.

The agencies are determining what to study as part of a scoping process, said Kristin Meira, executive director of the association.

“We’re looking forward to a very robust study of the entire river system,” she said.

The meetings come at a time when many opinions exist for the future of the system, she said.

“There’s also a lot of misinformation out there about barging, fish numbers and the true impacts of the dams on the river,” she said.

Farmers who ship grain and others who rely on the river system should ask the federal agencies to consider all possible impacts to the region’s economy as they consider changes, Meira said.

“It’s really important that these agencies hear from all users so they understand how extensive the impacts of the river are,” she said. “It really is absolutely critical to our Northwest economy, so everybody needs to lend their voices and say, ‘This river matters to me. Don’t forget to study my part of the river as you think about any changes in the future.’”

Those who favor removal of the dams on the river system are also likely to participate, Meira warned.

“This is a great opportunity to have the facts be documented and make sure we’re all aware of what’s happening on the river as we think about how it should be operated,” she said. “For the benefit of our fish, but also making sure we have the ability to move cargo, generate power and have irrigation here in the Northwest.”

The agencies will have public meetings around the region and two web seminars. Meira encourages ag industry members to attend.

“They’re not only a chance to come in and provide your voice, they’re also great information sessions,” she said. “Maybe you know about one part of the river, but you don’t know about all the different things happening on the river.”

Online

For a list of the meetings got to http://www.crso.info/

POWELL BUTTE, Ore. — Oregon State University officials are mulling options for the future of a local research farm that’s been put to little use since 2010, due to the discovery of a previously unknown species of potato cyst nematode.

OSU’s 80-acre Central Oregon Agricultural Research Center in Powell Butte once filled a crucial role in the Tri-state Potato Breeding Program — expanding experimental potato seed developed collaboratively by OSU, University of Idaho and Washington State University. Forage researchers also used the facility.

But in recent years, the sole project in Powell Butte has been evaluating the potential for a newly discovered PCN species, Globodera ellingtonae, to damage commercial potato crops.

Though G. ellingtonae reproduces rapidly on spuds, the trials, which concluded in 2015, produced no evidence that the pest affects tuber quality or yield. Researchers also found no visual symptoms of nematode damage among plants in infested fields.

“We’ve never seen much decrease in yield unless we go to extreme high numbers,” said Russ Ingham, an OSU professor of botany and plant pathology.

Inga Zasada, a research plant pathologist with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service in Corvallis, Ore., explained the nematode was found in two isolated locations in Teton County, Idaho, and at the OSU facility in 2008, as a result of extensive soil sampling done throughout U.S. potato country following the 2006 discovery of a highly destructive pest, pale cyst nematode, in a small area of Eastern Idaho.

The new species, named G. ellingtonae by the USDA researchers in Maryland who characterized it, closely resembles nematode samples found in South America, Zasada said.

Based on the discovery, the Oregon State Department of Agriculture issued an administrative directive restricting operations at the facility, leading the Tri-state potato breeding program to move its seed expansion work elsewhere and OSU to relocate forage research. Zasada said OSU extensively sampled other farming operations with ties to the Powell Butte facility and found no evidence that the nematode spread elsewhere.

“Thanks to the research that Russ and Inga have done, it looks like we’re getting close to having that administrative directive lifted, and then it would allow us to decide what to do with that (center),” said Dan Edge, associate dean of OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

Edge said selling the facility or restoring forage research there are options. OSU has planted the grounds in fescue and has been controlling hairy nightshade, a common weed known to host the nematode. Edge said the university may try to combat the pest with a new fumigant, mustard meal or resistant potato varieties developed for New York farmers coping with golden nematode.

Zasada said this summer’s research in Powell Butte has focused on studying the rate at which viable cysts decline in the absence of a host. She considers the planting trial results to be promising but inconclusive and is pursuing funding for side-by-side comparisons of G. ellingtonae, golden nematode and pale cyst nematode at a different location.

Brian Marschman, with USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said G. ellingtonae appears to be a weak pathogen that doesn’t persist long in soil. He said APHIS has no information on the crop history of the Teton County fields in which it was discovered, since it’s not a federally regulated pest. Marschman said agency scientists will present risk-based recommendations on potential next steps for management to consider, but no time frame has been set for that process.