The Oregon Natural Resources Report - Agricultural News from Oregon

Oregon Department of Forestry – December’s storm events including snow, ice, rain and winds took a heavy toll on many trees in Oregon landscapes, but arborists are advising homeowners and community leaders to exercise caution when dealing with the storm’s aftermath.

That’s because there are two very common mistakes people make when trying to clean up after a storm. The first is trying to save trees that have sustained too much damage, and are likely to become hazardous; the second is the use of harmful pruning techniques.

By Oregon State University Extension Service,

PORTLAND, Ore. – Children can tell the difference between grass- and grain-fed beef, but when it comes to preference, they’re evenly split, according to taste tests that Oregon State University conducted at two grade schools in Portland.

Portland Public Schools asked OSU to conduct the surveys as part of its effort to serve more locally produced food. The district had been considering serving hamburger patties made from local grass-fed cattle instead of the grain-fed beef that it now serves and whose origin is unknown to the district.

Guest Submission

An unusually weak Dungeness crab harvest is compounding the financial woes of West Coast fishermen who were already struggling with depressed consumer demand and the unprecedented collapse of the Pacific chinook salmon fishery.

Commercial fishermen in California, Oregon and Washington are struggling to stay afloat financially. They say the downturn could force fishermen who depend heavily on crab and salmon to leave the shrinking ranks of the region’s fishing fleet.

“With this crab season being slim at best, it’s going to be pretty hard to make it through to the next one,” said 58-year-old Duncan MacLean, a commercial fisherman since 1972. “I would suspect there are going to be lots of people falling by the wayside.”

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Guest Submission

PORTLAND, Ore. — The U.S. Forest Service plans to alter its environmental standards to allow a proposed $800 million natural gas pipeline to run through 47 miles of Mount Hood National Forest.

The proposed Palomar pipeline would require opening a path measuring 120 feet wide. The path would stretch through forest areas that have been protected from clear-cutting and other disturbances under the department’s management plans.

The Forest Service would also have to revise other rules, such as limiting cutting around Wild and Scenic Clackamas River, spotted owl habitats and recreational areas.

The pipeline is a joint venture of Northwest Natural Gas Co. and TransCanada Corp. Construction is scheduled to start in November 2011.

By the Pacific NW Tree Association,

Real Christmas trees provide a plethora of benefits to the environment, and our farmers go the extra mile to ensure natural resources are preserved for future generations. Check out these facts on the environmental impact of real Christmas trees: While growing, real trees produce significant amounts of oxygen that is released into the environment, protect soil from erosion and provide refuge for wildlife.

By Oregon State University Hatfield Marine Center,

NEWPORT, Ore. – Ocean conditions during 2008 for many fish species in the Pacific Northwest, including chinook salmon, were greatly improved because of a huge cold water influx that settled in across much of the northern Pacific Ocean – a phenomenon not seen on this scale in years.

In fact, scientists who surveyed near-shore waters from Newport, Ore., to LaPush, Wash., this year found the highest numbers of juvenile chinook salmon they’ve encountered in 11 years of sampling.

Guest Submission

A rising number of environmental groups now want to help the timber industry stay in business by providing funds or other support. The question is whether they can save timber companies and mills reeling from the collapse of housing and construction.

“It’s a new day — it’s a new landscape,” said Guido Rahr, president of the Wild Salmon Center in Portland. “We have to realize private-land timber companies are our friend. Once land gets broken up into smaller pieces, our ability to protect it is eliminated.”

Though some logging practices can harm fish, he said, the loss of forests altogether is much worse. That’s even more true as trees are increasingly counted on to soak up greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

Submitted by: Gienie Assink, Lane County Oregon

Allen Thomas of the Vancouver Columbian reports state, federal and tribal fishery biologists are predicting 298,900 spring chinook salmon will enter the Columbia River in 2009 destined for waters upstream of Bonneville Dam.

That would be the biggest return since 2002.

Forecasts for the Willamette River and other tributaries to the Columbia will not be available until next week.

Here are excepts from Thomas’ report:

Oregon Department of Agriculture — The first blast of winter has hit Oregon this week, but forecasters predict more to come in the months ahead. As the mountain snowpack builds between now and March, farmers and ranchers can expect another summer of ample water for irrigation.

“The odds are there might not be as much snow in the mountains as last year when there was an extremely high amount, but we should have an above average snowpack this winter once again,” says Pete Parsons, meteorologist with the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

By Tom Partin
American Forest Resource Council
AFRC News, 12/08

On December 8, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski issued a six page letter asking the Bureau of
Land Management (BLM) not to adopt the Western Oregon Plan Revisions (WOPR) and to
reopen the public comment period. The BLM has spent nearly five years on the WOPR planning
process and worked closely with county governments, state agencies and the general public
throughout. Given the fact that the BLM worked with every relevant state agency to solicit input
and address relevant concerns, it is hard not to conclude the Governor chose politics over the
people of Oregon.

OSU University-  CORVALLIS, Ore. – Hal Schudel changed the shape of the Christmas tree – and the entire industry. Founder of Holiday Tree Farms Inc., the largest Christmas tree grower in the world, Schudel popularized the lush, triangle-shaped, plantation-grown conifers that decorate many homes and offices during the holiday season.

A former Oregon State University agronomist, Schudel has not forgotten how he got his start. A $500 scholarship during the Depression helped him achieve his bachelor’s degree at University of Nebraska, and later he received a fellowship at OSU where he earned his doctorate.

SALEM, Ore. — The Oregon Department of Agriculture says that federal conservation payments to Oregon farmers and ranchers have more than tripled since 2000.

The payments by the U.S. Department of Agriculture fund various conservation programs, including compensation to take environmentally sensitive land out of agricultural production.

Other projects are aimed at improving water quality, reducing soil erosion, and enhancing wildlife habitat.

Oregon received nearly $94 million in USDA payments last year, up from about $23 million in 2000.

State officials say the numbers show that Oregon farmers and ranchers are increasing their commitment to protecting and improving the state’s natural resources.

Guest Submission

Oregon’s largest dairy will test a new generation of technology that captures methane from cow manure–tapping an underused energy source and lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

NW Natural and Bonneville Environmental Foundation are building the $1 million methane digester at Threemile Canyon Farms in Boardman. Methane digesters are not new, but Bill Eddie of the foundation said the model developed by J-U-B Engineers of Boise, Idaho, costs much less and can be used on small farms as well as big ones.

By Helen Moore,
Water for Life, Return Flows Newsletter

The question of the day is can irrigated agriculture survive in the current political climate? Everyone has heard expressed that “water is the oil of the 21st century” and “whiskey’s for drinkin, water’s for fightin”.  Truer words have never been spoken.

Over the past several weeks Representative Jackie Dingfelder (D-Portland) Chair of the House Committee on Energy and Environment, has conducted five Water Roundtables around the state.  According to the promotional material for the gatherings, “The mission of the Statewide Water Roundtables is to receive input and advice from Oregonians and develop information that will inform efforts to identify and communicate a vision describing where Oregon is, where Oregon is going, and where Oregonians want to be with respect to adaptive, integrated, equitable, and sustainable water management.”  Each session had basically the same format: participant input on issues of concern, presentations from local “experts”, small group discussion on solutions to the earlier presented concerns and reporting back to the full group on solutions. 

The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture presented its second annual “Book of the Year” award to Leon Hesser for The Man Who Fed the World, his biography of Dr. Norman Borlaug. Terry Gilbert presents Leon Hesser with the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture’s 2008 “Book of the Year” award for his biography about Dr. Norman Borlaug, The Man Who Fed the World. Click on the photo to download a high resolution image.

Terry Gilbert, a Kentucky farmer and Foundation board member, presented the award to Hesser. “In The Man Who Fed the World, Leon Hesser tells the story of Dr. Norman Borlaug and the green revolution sparked by his research,” Gilbert said. “This book takes us back to the days after World War II when one-third of the world’s 1.6 billion people were on the verge of starvation. Sadly, we as a nation of plenty, have forgotten this fact,” she said.

Oregon Department of Forestry — A newly developed economic development strategy for Oregon’s forest cluster will be presented on Dec. 10, from 1-4 p.m., at the World Forestry Center in Portland. Members of the public and interested stakeholders are invited to attend.  Oregon’s forest cluster includes firms and organizations that support or benefit from the primary and secondary wood products sectors, and a broad spectrum of forest ecosystem services.

Oregon’s forest cluster faces vigorous global competition, and Oregon is losing wood products manufacturing facilities. The forest cluster may soon no longer be able to significantly contribute to Oregon’s rural economies; provide the people, equipment, and wood products market access needed to ensure the economic viability of private forestland ownership; or supply the infrastructure needed to restore overstocked forests susceptible to uncharacteristic wildfire and forest health risks.

Submitted by: Gienie Assink, Springfield, OR 

Oregon counties find themselves in a budget dilemma as a result of the inability to use our O&C Lands to provide funding for public safety and federal Forest Service timberlands to provide funding for vital public services like road maintenance and schools. The reality is that Oregon taxpayers cannot make up the huge difference in the lost timber receipts that used to finance these important county services, and it is time to reconsider whether we should restore that lost tax base by reopening those areas for economic use and timber harvesting.

For rural areas, the loss of the federal timber tax base has already meant less education opportunities for children. Further, roads will continue to decay and the cost of those repairs is rapidly increasing while funding continues to plummet. For Oregon counties that don’t have enough revenues now for jail space for criminals, the impact of the loss of timber receipts from the forestry tax base is real in terms of public safety.

By Oregon Farm Bureau,

The delight of gazing at a light-strewn, decorated live Christmas tree and the festive feeling its evergreen aroma inspires does not need to be accompanied by a nagging sense of guilt.  The Oregon Farm Bureau wants to inform consumers that despite what they may have heard over the years, buying a fresh Christmas tree is a better environmental choice than buying a plastic tree.  Why? Live trees from Oregon are local, renewable, recyclable, are not made from petroleum, nor did they use the energy to be shipped half way around world from China.