The Oregon Natural Resources Report - Agricultural News from Oregon

NOAA rule designates add’l critical habitat for leatherbacks on U.S. west coast
By Pacific Fishery Management Council

NOAA announced the designation of additional critical habitat to provide protection for endangered leatherback sea turtles along the U.S. West Coast. NOAA is designating 41,914 square miles of marine habitat in the Pacific Ocean off the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington. This regulation is currently on file with the Federal Register and is available at the link below. The regulation will formally publish on January 26th, and will become effective on February 25, 2012.

link

New Director hired for Oregonians for Food and Shelter
BY Oregonians for Food and Shelter

Please join us in welcoming Scott Dahlman as OFS’s new Executive Director! Scott is the former public policy analyst and national affairs coordinator for the Washington Farm Bureau, Scott will be a great addition to the OFS team and we look forward to working with him! Scott grew up in Oregon and is a graduate of Western Oregon University in Monmouth, where he obtained a B.S. in political science. Before his employment at the Washington Farm Bureau, Scott worked in both the Oregon and Washington legislatures and for the Washington State Grange. Scott, his wife Megan, and their young son will be relocating to Oregon soon.

Community Mobilizes After Yahoo Declares Ag Degrees Useless
By National Assoc. Wheat Growers

Those who believe agriculture isn’t a serious academic subject and farmers are an uneducated lot may be enticed to expand their views based on the farm community’s reaction to a Jan. 19 article declaring agriculture degrees “useless.”

Yahoo Education, a news division of the search engine giant, published the piece by writer Terence Loose, listing agriculture, animal science and horticulture as three of the five “most useless” degrees available to college students.

Scholarships available through Oregon Agricultural Education Foundation
By Oregon Farm Bureau

The Oregon Agricultural Education Foundation (OAEF) is pleased to announce that applications are available for two scholarship programs for the upcoming 2012-2013 academic year.

Oregon Farm Bureau Memorial Scholarships (OFBMS) with 10-12 awards annually are open to any Oregon high school graduate preparing for an agriculture or forestry-related career. Students attending institutions outside of Oregon are also eligible. The goal of the OFB Memorial Scholarship program is to “Support students that will have a positive impact on production agriculture and other agriculture-related fields.” The deadline for applications is March 15, 2012.

States set spring chinook, sturgeon seasons
By Oregon Dept. Fish & Wildlife

Fishery managers from Oregon and Washington set spring chinook salmon and sturgeon retention fishing seasons for the Columbia River today during a joint state hearing.

The Columbia River spring chinook seasons are based on a forecast of 314,000 returning upriver spring chinook, which compares to a 2011 actual return of just over 221,000 fish. Based on the 2012 harvest guideline, 12,700 upriver fish (a combination of kept fish and release mortalities) will be available for the sport fishery downstream of Bonneville Dam.

American Farm Bureau Federation
NewsLine

The president set out his 2012 agenda in his State of the Union address. American Farm Bureau Director of Public Policy explains where agriculture fit into that agenda in this report from AFBF’s Johnna Miller

Miller: American Farm Bureau Director of Public Policy Mark Maslyn says it was good to hear the president talk extensively about an issue really important to farmers…renewable energy.

Maslyn: Particularly ethanol and biodiesel are issues of concern to agriculture. We’ve seen in just a few years the political sentiment on the Hill has changed quite dramatically and we feel that they’re somewhat under attack right now. So those words and the importance that his administration puts on those issues were reassuring. It would have been nice if he had specifically mentioned ethanol and biodiesel, but I think the message was clear.

Timber industry challenges marbled murrelet habitat designation
– Claims Fish and Wildlife Service violating Endangered Species Act
By American Forest Resource Council

The American Forest Resource Council (AFRC) brought suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) claiming the agency violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) when it designated millions of acres of forest land in Washington, Oregon and California as critical habitat for the marbled murrelet.

“There is nothing straight forward in how the FWS requires federal forest managers to deal with this bird,” said Tom Partin, President of AFRC. “Because humans almost never see the bird, the FWS seems to think it can throw a net over millions of acres of federal timber land that not only aren’t being used by the bird, but don’t even have the characteristics it is looking for when it flies inland to lay its eggs. Someone has to speak up about this violation of the limits of the ESA.”

Oregon Farm Bureau

The U.S. Agriculture Department announced it will close nearly 260 offices nationwide in an effort to save dollars. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the goal was to save $150 million a year in the agency’s $145 billion budget. About $90 million had already been saved by reducing travel and supplies and the closures were expected to save another $60 million.

By Oregon Small Business Association

The Corvallis Gazette Times reports that  three miles north of Nevada in Eastern Oregon lies fabulous wealth, in the form of an estimated 425,000 ounces of gold. Close to the gold deposit is another of uranium, which Oregon Energy Corp. hopes to mine over the next twenty years.

Environmentalists are critical of the plan. Heavy metals such as uranium are mined with a process that involves sulfuric acid being used to eat the metal out of raw ore. The leftover tailings are contained and disposed of in accordance with a preconceived plan approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. But environmentalists worry that the sulfuric acid and the waste rock will continue to interact in harmful ways over the coming years. Oregon Energy says Oregonians have nothing to worry about, due to the law passed by the state legislature in 1991. That act requires all mining companies to post huge bonds that ensure the company will stick around to clean up its mess.

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced today that it has issued payment to 18 counties in western Oregon eligible under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act extension, (Public Law 110-343). The amount paid to the Oregon & California (O&C) counties was $ 40,037,160.

National Corn Growers Association
Corn Commentary Blog

These days, farmers and ranchers seem to be constantly having to defend every practice they use to produce food, fuel and fiber – and much of it is based on just plain ignorance of agriculture in general.

Ignorance may be bliss, but it is also extremely dangerous. We just recently came across this Penn and Teller video about how willing people are to sign a petition to ban water when it is called by its chemically proper but unfamiliar name, “dihydrogen monoxide.” This illustration of ignorance and radicalism is not new. Wikipedia traces it back to some University of California students in 1990. Penn and Teller updated the hoax in 2006 and it would be funnier if it wasn’t such a sad commentary on how gullible some people can be and how it could have disastrous consequences.

States agree to reduce sturgeon catch by 38% on the lower Columbia River
By Oregon Dept. of Fish & Widlife

For the third straight year, fish and wildlife directors from Washington and Oregon have agreed to reduce the catch of white sturgeon on the lower Columbia River, where the species has declined in abundance in recent years. Under the new agreement, the total allowable harvest of white sturgeon below Bonneville Dam will be reduced from 22.5 percent of the “legal-size” fish to 16 percent in 2012.

By National Cattlemen’s Beef Association 

Statement from NCBA President Bill Donald Regarding President Obama’s Proposed Consolidation of Trade Agencies

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) supports the administration’s recognition of the need to improve government efficiency and eliminate wasteful spending. However, precautions must be in place to avoid unintended consequences.

“NCBA has strong concerns about President Obama’s proposal to merge the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) with other trade agencies. NCBA maintains that USTR should remain an independent agency within the Executive Office of the President, focusing on trade negotiations, trade agreements and trade enforcement. USTR is vital to ensuring successful trade negotiations concerning U.S. beef and other agricultural commodities with our global trade partners. USTR must be in a position to have direct access to the White House.

by Rex Storm,
Associated Oregon Loggers,

Governor Maligns Timber Owners and Loggers: The rise in log exports to China has left coastal sawmills facing new price competition for timber. Oregon Governor Kitzhaber unfairly criticized log exports in his Nov. 3 testimony before the state Board of Forestry. “We are at risk of becoming a timber colony for Asia,” Kitzhaber said. “While (log exports are) undermining our mill infrastructure and surrounding communities…” The Governor’s deceptive remarks—repeated by the media—slanders those Oregon forest sector businesses and jobs that grow, harvest and deliver timber.

Congressmen Push for County Bailout: All six members of Oregon’s Congressional delegation announced bipartisan support for a bill to extend the county timber payments law. If the bill passes, the now-expired Secure Rural Schools Act would be extended for six years, providing declining subsidy payments to counties that lost federal timber receipts in the 1990s. Under the current federal budget deficit, renewing the Secure Act is a steep uphill revenue battle, pitted against needed federal timber receipts, run-away federal spending, and defaulting county governments across the West.

Greg Walden organizes bipartisan backing for job-creating forest landscape restoration projects
By Congressman Greg Walden,

Estimates from proposals say Lakeview project would create more than 80 jobs; Southern Blues project would create more than 150 jobs

U.S. Rep. Greg Walden has organized a bipartisan letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack that expresses strong support for funding two job-creating and large-scale forest restoration projects – one in the Lake County area and the other in Grant and Harney counties. The letter was signed by Walden, Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, and U.S. Reps. Peter DeFazio, Kurt Schrader, and Earl Blumenauer.

Below is a press release from National Cattlemen’s Beef Association

Looking to 2012: Long To-Do List, Little Appetite in Election Year
By National Association of Wheat Growers

Members of Congress are headed back to Washington, D.C., from a holiday break, but how much they will accomplish before leaving in early August for full-time campaigning remains very much in question.

The House of Representatives is scheduled to return next Tuesday, with the Senate reconvening Jan. 23. The annual State of the Union address by President Barack Obama, the traditional start of the Congressional season, is scheduled for Jan. 24.

Dungeness crab season opens Jan. 15 on Oregon’s southern coast
By Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife

NEWPORT – Commercial and sport Dungeness crabbing opens Jan. 15 from Gold Beach south, making all of the ocean off Oregon now open to crabbing. The ocean commercial Dungeness crab season in Oregon normally opens Dec. 1, but was delayed this year because crab did not meet minimum pre-season quality testing. Fishery managers made the decision in December to delay the season from about Gold Beach (42°26’00″ N. Lat.) south to the California border until Jan. 15.

By American Farm Bureau Federation

Farmers need to commit their time, energy, money and best thinking if they want to stop the proliferation of federal regulations that threaten their businesses, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce official said today at the American Farm Bureau Federation 93rd Annual Meeting. “This isn’t academic folks,” said Reed Rubinstein, senior counsel for the Chamber of Commerce. “When the federal government exercises its authority, it can send you to jail. We are all one regulation away from being out of business.”

Windpower has killed 2,000 golden eagles in California & 500 other birds in Virginia proding conservationist to call for new guidelines.
By Oregon Tax News,

New federal rules instructing wind companies on how to better monitor and reduce the number of wildlife deaths from wind turbines are being worked on by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The new guidelines, which have been under consideration for a year, will increase potential fines for wind companies but will remain voluntary—a move that underscores the challenge regulators face trying to balance competing environmental priorities.

Private wind farms are cropping up across the U.S. as part of the Obama Administration’s push to increase wind energy to 20 percent of the nation’s total energy production by 2030. Consequently, the U.S. has doubled its wind energy, now at 43,000 megawatts of power, over the last three years. There are now roughly 500 wind farms operating 35,000 turbines, and wind energy accounts for three percent of U.S. energy output. That increase, however, has come at a high price in the eyes of some conservationists who say the government has made peace with wind farms’ threat to wildlife for the sake of reducing the nation’s carbon footprint.