The Other Oregon - Winter 2018-19 by designstudio.eomg

A VOICE FOR RURAL OREGON VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2 | Winter 2018-19

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EDITOR’S NOTE

‘m not a native Oregonian. I came to Salem 10 years ago from Illinois to work at the Capital Press, a newspaper that covers agriculture and natural resource issues in the Pacific Northwest. The prairie from where I came is beautiful in a subtle way, and does not provide the scenic sensory overload I experienced with each mile I drove between Ontario and Salem. There is nothing at home that compares to Mount Hood or the Columbia Gorge. There is no city in Illinois that is anything like Portland. I quickly discovered that there is something else different about Oregon. Midwesterners are a taciturn people who keep their feelings to themselves. Our pride in our states goes without saying, as does just about everything else. But Oregonians talk freely about the “Oregon way” and “Oregon values.” A sensory overload. Oregon is as much a state of mind as it is a physical place. But it is a state of mind that is very much in the eye of the beholder. Therein, I think, lies the urban-rural divide. Oregon doesn’t have one way, or one set of values. It has 4 million people, each with their own perception of these things. These feelings hang on perspective. Perspective is shaped by context — the circumstances that form one’s view. Urban Oregon is different than rural Oregon. The perspective of the people who live in each place is different. But the view on either side of the divide is anything but monolithic. There is no single urban way, no single rural way. I’m not a native Oregonian. But I do recognize there is something special about this place. I hope The Other Oregon is able to give everyone a little perspective. — Joe Beach, Editor

Since our inaugural issue came out in September, we have heard from hundreds of Oregonians — urban, suburban and rural — who have signed up for our e-newsletter and print magazine, shared experiences and story ideas, and thanked us for our efforts with our fledgling publication. Clearly, The Other Oregon has struck a nerve. As we strive to close the urban-rural divide and instead create strong connections all over the state, please help us by spreading the word. If you are a business owner or head of an organization, please consider supporting our efforts by advertising to our unique audience. Also, let us know what you would like to read in future issues: To subscribe: theotheroregon.com/subscribe For advertising information: theotheroregon.com/advertise Publisher Kathryn B. Brown, kbbrown@eomediagroup.com, 541-278-2667 Editor Joe Beach, jbeach@eomediagroup.com, 503-506-0905 On the cover: Rancher Tom Sharp of Burns, Ore.

A VOICE FOR RURAL OREGON TheOtherOregon.com

WINTER 2018-19 Publisher Kathryn B. Brown Editor Joe Beach Contributors Brenna Visser Aliya Hall Dick Hughes Mateusz Perkowski Holly Dillemuth Mitch Lies Jayati Ramakrishnan Nella Mea Parks E.J. Harris Designer Adam Drey Copy editor Martha Allen Graphic artist Alan Kenaga Advertising designer John Bruijn

CONTENTS COVER STORY » 12 FEATURES A housing dilemma » 4 The doctor is out » 8 Rural PERS challenges » 10 THE LAND Walking Wetlands » 18 Owyhee stewardship » 20 MAKING A LIVING French fries, and more » 22 Skyline Brewing Company » 26 Ebbs and flows » 30 THE CULTURE Coming home to change the world » 34 Morrow County facts and figures » 36 Geographic names ... » 37

THANKS TO OUR STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERS, WHO MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO DISTRIBUTE THE OTHER OREGON TO 5,000 INFLUENTIAL OREGONIANS AT NO CHARGE

Winter 2018-19 | 3

FEATURES

A HOUSING DILEMMA How vacation rentals contribute to housing shortage on the Oregon Coast

By BRENNA VISSER

s tourism grows along the Oregon Coast, so does the prevalence of vacation rentals. Much of the success of the vacation rental industry, which is estimated to be worth $36.6 billion nationally this year, can be attributed to

4 | Winter 2018-19

online booking platforms like Airbnb and VRBO that conveniently match travelers with private homes around the globe. But with growing popularity comes concern about the effect vacation rentals are having on housing in tourism-based communities, and whether they are bypassing tax and regulatory controls. Many cities see the rise of vacation

rentals as a contributor to a housing shortage, with second homes or investment property taking up stock that could be used to house long-term residents. In recent years, vacation rentals have become a focal point in debates over affordable and workforce housing, with most cities attempting to curb the spread through tighter regulations. Yet many in the tourism industry see

A VOICE FOR RURAL OREGON TheOtherOregon.com

Vacation rental properties line the shore at Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast. COLIN MURPHEY

targeting vacation rentals as a red herring, since the coastal housing crunch is the product of broader economic and cultural forces.

Community impacts

While every community has approached the issue differently, the goal is consistent: retaining housing for residents.

als impact that kind of housing availSome cities with long legacies of ability,” Nebel said. “It’s important tourism — such as Cannon Beach, we retain housing stock for future reswhere 66 percent of the housing stock idents, and that’s the focus of these is second homes, and 20 percent of discussions.” those are registered vacation rentals — have been dealing with rental regulation What makes a home issues for decades. Unlike other parts of the country, Cities such as Manzanita have many coastal communities have housing capped the number of rental permits markets based in large part on external issued to 17.5 percent of the housing stock, while places such as Seaside demand rather than on local economic restricted permits to certain zones to conditions. That demand drives what limit vacation rentals from creeping into kind of development unfolds, and puts more neighborhoods. added pressure on moderately priced But the issue is also beginning to homes. come to the forefront in cities such as A study from the Oregon Office of Newport, where tourism has not always Economic Analysis showed that despite been the main ecothe fact coastal nomic driver. The counties have built city, which instian above average “I THINK THERE’S tuted its first permitamount of housing A LEGITIMATE ting system about between 2000 and seven years ago, is 2016, new develQUESTION opment has mostly brainstorming soluSURROUNDING HOW been vacation or tions on ways to limit expansion, said VACATION RENTALS seasonal homes. Spencer Nebel, the While there was IMPACT THAT city manager. About an overall increase 4 percent of homes in vacation homes, KIND OF HOUSING are registered vacathe stock of workAVAILABILITY.” tion rentals. force housing barely “We’re differincreased. Spencer Nebel, ent than places like Newport City manager Tillamook County’s numbers were Seaside and coastal particularly dracommunities up matic. Roughly 2,600 new units were north,” Nebel said. “We do have a much built between 2000 and 2014, but the more diverse economy with commercial county overall lost more than 100 units fishing, science research folks, etc. It of nonseasonal housing. has just developed a little differently.” Though not all of the seasonal homes Like most cities, vacation rentals came to the forefront of public polare rentals, the disparity still impedes a icy after residents expressed livabilcity’s ability to do long-term planning ity concerns: Too many cars parked for new workforce housing. on side streets; loud parties; rows of “A house is a house on paper. It’s dark, vacant houses in the offseahard to say we need to expand the urban son impacting the community feel of a growth boundary for affordable housing when you technically have enough neighborhood. houses,” said Erin Doyle, of the League But as the unemployment rate stays of Oregon Cities. “These houses exist low and jobs remain unfilled, the pressure is on to maintain and create longin the supply but are not being used for term housing for the workers cities are residential purposes. When you’re trying to find land you have to justify the trying to attract. need, and without a better understand“I think there’s a legitimate question surrounding how vacation renting of how many of these homes are

Winter 2018-19 | 5

FEATURES commercial versus residential, you can’t get data to justify UGB expansion.”

‘A red herring’

One of the questions often raised is whether rental property could ever be accessible to average residents. Marcus Hinz, of the Oregon Coast Visitors Association, argues the impacts of vacation rentals on the housing market have been exaggerated. “Our whole nation is dealing with this,” Hinz said. “It’s a bit of a red herring to blame the visitor industry for the Marcus housing shortage. If you Hinz examine a lot of these vacation rentals, (the owners) would never rent it to a worker. An average worker would never be able to rent it.” Hinz argues vacation Justin rentals should be seen as Aufdermauer an economic anchor for the visitor industry for the property tax and lodging tax revenue they generate. Rentals can also offer an alternative for communities that can’t or don’t invest in hotels or other resort properties. “In finding a solution, I think we need to look forwards instead of looking backwards,” Hinz said. “Local leaders need to examine land use laws, housing codes, ordinances … and have them fit the needs of a changing economy.” There are cultural factors to consider, as well, said Justin Aufdermauer, executive director of the Tillamook Chamber of Commerce. Limiting rental permits won’t change the fact the coast has a culture of second-home ownership, with people investing in properties for their retirement years rather than seeing the homes as a rental business. Development culture needs to change, too, and should be shifted toward attracting developers to build multifamily complexes that increase density and are less likely to be turned into short-term rentals.

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COLIN MURPHEY

Vacation and short-term rental properties, including many listed on Airbnb, are common in Cannon Beach and surrounding communities in Clatsop County.

Focusing on limiting vacation rentals on single-family homes, he said, will do little to influence affordability. “From a surface point of view, sure, I’ll buy a $500,000 house if I know I can make money off a rental, but that doesn’t change the assessed value of the house from the government,” Aufdermauer said. “They assess real market values.”

‘A straw in the bundle’

Sheila Stiley, executive director of the affordable housing nonprofit Northwest Coastal Housing, disagrees, arguing the demand for homes on the coast takes properties off the market that could be affordable to average families. Though some places like Cannon Beach, with a median home price of more than $550,000, will struggle to be affordable, areas like Lincoln County, where Stiley is based, has a median home price of about $277,000. It’s a price that could still be attainable for

some of her clients if the homes were not being taken off the market to be used as vacation rentals. “We’re denied wonderful people trying to work in this community because we don’t have the supply,” Stiley said. As cities continue to struggle with housing, Oregon Office of Economic Analysis projections predict change is unlikely to happen unless there are significantly different construction trends or a sizable reduction in demand — patterns that are unlikely to occur until the next recession. But making existing housing more available is at least a place to start. “There are a lot of reasons for the affordable housing crisis, but rentals is one more straw in the bundle,” Doyle said. “Things we can’t control are things like the availability of the workforce. But what we can do is say the units that we do have need to be available. That’s something we can regulate.”

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FEATURES Sky Lakes Medical Center in Klamath Falls. COURTESY SKY LAKES MEDICAL CENTER

The doctor is out Rural communities fight to attract physicians By ALIYA HALL

he average lifespan for a person living in rural communities is four years less than individuals living in urban or suburban areas, according to Grant Niskanen, vice president of medical affairs for Sky Lakes Medical Center in Klamath Falls. Despite the need for providers and quality health care in rural areas, hospitals and medical practices in those communities have been fighting to overcome the challenges in attracting and retaining physicians. Tim Herrmann, chief administrative officer at PeaceHealth Cottage Grove Community Medical Center and found8 | Winter 2018-19

ing member of the Oregon Rural Health Quality Network is concerned that the rural population in the U.S. doesn’t have access to care. “The more we can curate centers for health, the better we can serve rural America.” Although there is a physician shortage throughout the U.S., the shortage is particularly felt in small and remote sectors of the state. That shortage means rural physicians often provide care that would fall to a specialist in an urban setting. Niskanen said he had an intern from New York ask him where to send a patient who had renal failure, and he said that the intern had to take care of it. “Here, we do all that work,” he said. That’s what drew Niskanen into rural health care. He specifically trained for rural medicine, educating himself in multiple medical focuses to ensure he could maintain the same quality of care

that a specialist could offer, because those standards are universal. “If you’re doing C-sections, you’re held to the same OB-GYN standards,” he said. “It’s hard when you’re doing everything, and it’s intimidating for a lot of physicians to be in a small (emergency room) and not have a cardiologist around the corner.” Although a barrier for some physicians, Derek Daly, CEO of the Blue Mountain Hospital District in John Day, said that it could also be spun as a positive during recruitment. “You wear a ton of hats,” he said. “It’s attractive to people because of that opportunity.” When it comes to recruitment, many hospitals have developed strategies to attract physicians: Offering competitive pay, providing opportunities for residents and medical students and supporting younger physicians with loan programs.

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Don York, Director of Human Resources at Sky Lakes Medical Center in Klamath Falls, said that once the students or residents do their training there they “begin to fall in love with what is offered here, and can often times be talked into staying.” Each hospital also sets itself apart by bringing something more to the table. Daly said Blue Mountain district also has a focus on the work-life balance. Harry Geller, president of St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton, highlights the community by presenting tours of the schools and neighborhoods in the area. Showcasing the community gives prospective physicians and their families an idea of what their life would be like there. One of the biggest recruiting challenges isn’t attracting the physician — it’s convincing their partner. “They may be dual professionals, and the partner (may) have a profession that can’t be found there,” Herrmann said. Although many of these tools have been successful for these hospitals to keep their number of physicians, Niskanen said that in a two-year span Sky Lakes Medical Center has interviewed around 40 people and hasn’t had one take the job. Without the fundamental services offered by physicians, the toll on patients could be life threatening. York said that if their providers can’t offer treatment and the patient has to drive to get it, they will choose to not get the care. “(Take an) illness like cancer. Before we had the treatment center, patients would have to drive (80 miles) to Medford,” he said. “Because they would be inconveniencing family and friends, they chose not to be treated when it was a treatable cancer.” Geller said when tourists from Western Oregon come to the Pendleton Round-Up or Pendleton Whisky Music Fest, there are expectations for health care if there is an emergency. Daly said that the “importance of access to health care can’t be over-

St. Anthony Hospital President Harry Geller. E.J. HARRIS

Blue Mountain Hospital CEO Derek Daly. SEAN HART

stated.” He said there is a direct correlation between financially healthier communities and health care. “We’re the first or second largest employer in communities,” he said. “We’re a driver of economic activity and employment. (Medical facilities) are fundamentally important but so is the impact it has on local environment in other ways.” Herrmann said that in the future, rural health providers will have to get creative. With the advancement of telehealth and telemedicine, hospitals can bring in specialists to remote areas of the country on case-by-case basis without employing a full- or part-time employee. “(Technology) continues to advance and physicians can see and almost touch

every patient out there,” he said. In dealing with the shortage of physicians, rural hospitals and clinics have traditionally employed more nurse practitioners and physician assistants. But with the growing number of clinics in pharmacies or grocery stores in larger cities, “that well has dried up,” Geller said. While rural health care has its challenges, Daly said the rewards outweigh them, because a rural physician’s presence is that important. “You make a bigger difference in rural health care,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who you are, each one of us in our areas make a bigger difference in each patient’s life than in a 700-bed hospital in Seattle, because we’re more directly involved.” Winter 2018-19 | 9

FEATURES

Retirement costs challenge rural governments, school districts By DICK HUGHES

he city of Ontario, on Oregon’s eastern edge, pays some of the highest employee retirement costs in the state. “We’re just struggling to provide basic services because of this burden,” Ontario City Manager Adam Brown said. “We’re cutting every year.” Costs for Ontario and other governments have soared because the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System doesn’t have enough assets to cover its expected pension costs. That gap is referred to as the unfunded actuarial liability (UAL), and its burden can fall particularly hard on rural municipalities and school districts. Compared with urban areas, those jurisdictions have smaller workforces but often have a higher percentage of longterm employees, which means they spend a proportionally larger share of their payroll for PERS. There are several ways to measure that burden on Ontario. One is context: What the city owes to PERS amounts to nearly six times as much money as the city spends on salaries every year. Another is the annual cost: More than 900 school districts, community colleges, universities, special districts and local and state governments are part of PERS. Each one must pay a certain amount toward its current and future pension obligations, depending on the size of its UAL. The rate is expressed as a percentage of the government’s payroll. It’s like a payroll tax, except all the money goes to PERS. Each government has three PERS rates, depending on such factors as when the affected employees joined PERS.

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Ontario, other governments often must This year, the top-rate “PERS tax” trim current staffing in order to pay for for Ontario will be 28 percent of its payfuture retirements. roll. On July 1, that will jump to 35 “Growth begets growth, and decline percent. begets decline,” said Nick Green, city Ontario will be spending $1.1 million manager of John Day, whose PERS liafor PERS despite having only 42.4 staff bility has gone from approximately positions. a $173,000 surplus in 2015 to an To survive, the city has been cutting $869,000 deficit today. expenses wherever it can. At one time Gov. Kate Brown and the Oregon having 75 employees, the city has since Legislature created an Employer Incenprivatized its finance and public work tive Fund, so local governments could departments to save money. It’s turning get a partial state match for paying off recreation programs over to a recreation their PERS liability sooner. John Day, district approved by voters on Nov. 6, like many municipaland it’s reducing park and ities, has no money to cemetery maintenance. “YOU CAN’T do so. Grant County has Although Ontario endured one of the highSAVE ENOUGH lost around 1,000 resiest increases in PERS dents since the 1990s, MONEY TO GET and the vast majority of rates, other governments are paying even more. households are low- or OUT FROM Next year, Douglas moderate-income. UNDER PERS.” County’s PERS rate will Meanwhile, John cost as much as 38 perDay – the county’s Ralph Wyatt, Linn County cent of payroll; Douglas largest city at populaadministrative officer tion 1,735 – continuCounty Fire District No. ally faces other budget 2, nearly 45 percent; and challenges. For example, every year it Tangent Rural Fire Protection District, receives less 911 funding from the state. 47 percent. Those rates are for the most “PERS adds to the portfolio of probexpensive PERS category. lems,” Green said, describing the growThirty miles and a time-zone change ing PERS payments as “knee-capping” away from Ontario is Huntington, to the city budget. which has an unfunded PERS liability of $335,340. That is a paltry sum Jefferson County created a side compared with Portland’s $605.2 milaccount to reduce costs and intends to lion liability. Yet that amount is huge participate in the Employer Incentive for Huntington, a city of fewer than 500 Fund to help pay down its nearly $6.2 residents and a declining population. million unfunded actuarial liability. As a result, Huntington’s top PERS “For us, it’s a smart financial decision,” said Jeff Rasmussen, county rate this year equals 50 percent of the administrative officer. city’s payroll. Next year it will exceed The county’s PERS rates are lower 63 percent of payroll. than those in much of rural Oregon, curMuch of rural Oregon is economically challenged, so governments have rently a top rate of 18.6 percent of payroll, rising to 21.97 percent on July 1, little opportunity to increase revenue through local taxes and fees. Like 2019.

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Those costs still make it difficult to offer competitive wages, Rasmussen said. The county’s workforce, which was about 180 employees in 2007, fell to 142 three years ago and is now 135. The increased payroll costs for PERS mean the county often must obtain three grants to pay for a grant-funded job, compared with two grants in the past. “PERS is eating up any opportunity to be innovative,” Rasmussen said. On the west side of the Cascades, Linn County is a mix of urban and rural. But with only about a half-month’s payroll in the bank at any given time, the county lacks any reserves to pay down its unfunded actuarial liability. “You can’t save enough money to get out from under PERS,” said Ralph Wyatt, county administrative officer. “The PERS thing has been coming a long time. And now it’s eating everybody’s lunch, especially schools’.”

In Northwest Oregon, the 450-squaremile Banks School District, like many rural districts, saved the additional money it received when the 2017 Legislature expanded the state education budget more than anticipated. As a result, the district can absorb its PERS increases through next year. “We planned ahead for this, but it’s a short fix,” Superintendent Jeff Leo said. Without more funding, the rate of PERS increases could mean cutting district jobs within a few years. The district already has difficulty maintaining its old facilities. Banks also has the challenge of keeping its academic programs comparable with the nearby Hillsboro School District, which is Oregon’s fourth-largest district, so students will stay in Banks instead of transferring to Hillsboro. “The smaller the district, the less maneuverability they have” to deal with PERS, said Mark Mulvihill, superin-

tendent of the InterMountain Education Service District in Pendleton. “It’s such a big issue for school districts because of the escalating costs.” His proposed solution: Let longtime, higher-pensioned employees retire, collect their benefits but continue working for as long as five years. Require both them and their employer to pay 6 percent of their salary toward the employer’s PERS liability. The proposal needs vetting, Mulvilhill said, but it would help retain good employees, give them more money while holding their pension level stable, but reduce the employer’s PERS liability. Other ideas include switching to a straight 401(k) retirement plan for new employees, giving current employees a choice between PERS and a 401(k), and redirecting the “6 percent employee match” to pay down the liability.

world premiere of a new composition by artist-in-residence

R AV E N

CHACON Winter Chamber Music | February 16, at 6:30 pm Vert Auditorium, Pendleton | oregoneastsymphony.org

Partnering with Employees Building Customers for Life Matinee Performance | February 17, at 1:00 pm Crow’s Shadow, Pendleton | crowsshadow.org

www.threemilecanyonfarms.com Boardman, OR

Winter 2018-19 | 11

COVER STORY

Disputes over public land management linger Three years after standoff, issues concerning access remain By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI

rom above, the chasm certainly looked insurmountable for even the most robust of fish traveling upstream. Before falling onto rocks several feet below, water passed through a notch cut in a log that was placed across the stream in the Malheur National Forest decades ago by the U.S. Forest Service. The idea had been to slow down the stream’s current, preventing erosion and creating better habitat for fish and other aquatic creatures. But the “log weir” turned out to have undesirable effects: Not only had it widened the creek against federal policy, but the water passing over the obstacle had deepened the channel below it. From below, the view was even more alarming. The soil beneath the old log had heavily eroded, creating a deep cavity. “You see a fish passing that going upstream?” asked Ken Holliday, a rancher whose boots were eye-level with a 6’2” reporter standing at the bottom of the miniature waterfall.

12 | Winter 2018-19

The sign welcoming visitors to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which was the site of a standoff between protesters and the federal government in 2016. MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI

A VOICE FOR RURAL OREGON TheOtherOregon.com

Tom Sharp, a rancher from Burns, Ore., speaks of friendships between ranchers and federal managers. MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI

The question was obviously rhetorical. This was a stream that fish were meant to travel up and spawn in, contributing to generation after generation of healthy salmon and steelhead. The notion was laughable. This log weir was one of 16 that had been dug in across the creek. “The restoration out here’s what’s killing the fish,” said Loren Stout, a fellow rancher who stood along the inadvertent dam. The U.S. Forest Service now acknowledges the log weirs were a mistake and has set about removing them while trying to recreate better stream conditions. Some of the work involves using heavy machinery within fish habitat. Removing log weirs and inserting woody debris that’s intended to simulate natural stream conditions.

Rebuilding stream channels to reconnect them with nearby floodplains. “It usually looks rough, but by the next year, it’s pretty well recovered,” said Amy Unthank, natural resources and planning staff officer with the agency. “You’re doing a short-term impact for long-term recovery.” For ranchers such as Holliday and Stout, such assurances often ring hollow. Having witnessed the unintended impacts of the log weirs, they’ve grown skeptical of Forest Service attempts at habitat restoration. The log weirs are just one example of what these ranchers see as federal mismanagement of public lands: Allowing forests to become overstocked with trees, creating the danger of massive blazes like the Canyon Creek Complex, which destroyed more

than 110,000 acres in Grant County in 2015. Allowing trees that are logged to rot on the ground rather than being trucked to the sawmill. Installing riparian fencing that’s meant to keep cattle out of streams, but which can trap debris that eventually blows out into the creek during heavy flows — damaging habitat and changing stream dynamics. Allowing wild horses and hunters to gather near streams that cattle are later blamed for trampling. “The rules they play by and we have to live by are completely different,” said Holliday, adding that ranchers disproportionately bear the consequences for the health of federally protected fish in the Malheur National Forest. “We’re a minority. We’re easy to blame,” he said.

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COVER STORY The refuge standoff

While they’re vocal about their discontent with federal lands management, Holliday and Stout don’t have much sympathy for the people who took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to the south in Harney County. For many across the country, the standoff in early 2016 came to symbolize the rift between ranchers and the federal government, but Holliday and Stout saw it largely as a publicity stunt by outsiders who were pushing their own agenda. “Within 15 minutes, it was all about them,” Holliday said. “It went viral. It went nationwide. In the end, it just made us look like a bunch of idiots.” That Harney County came to represent strife over public lands is perhaps ironic because relations between federal managers and ranchers in the area are often described in cordial terms. The landscape here is dominated by vast expanses of sagebrush and squat juniper trees, in contrast to the more heavily wooded Grant County to the north. Generally, through initiatives such as the High Desert Partnership — which fosters collaboration on environmental issues in the area — relations have improved over time, said Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., whose congressional district encompasses Eastern Oregon. “I never was quite sure why that was the target,” he said, noting that distrust between ranchers and the government is worse in Grant County. “Often, it gets down to individuals and managers rather than public policy,” Walden said. With about 75 percent of Harney County owned by the federal government, farmers and ranchers basically have no choice but to deal with federal priorities, such as protecting the sage grouse, a bird that was a candidate for Endangered Species Act protection. However, rancher Tom Sharp of Burns, Ore., said the county’s sparse population and the inevitable proximity between ranchers and federal managers often leads to friendships. Fed14 | Winter 2018-19

eral employees and ranchers commonly drink beer and go hunting together, he said. “They’re not faceless bureaucrats out to do us harm,” Sharp said. Federal staff in Harney County are more likely have family roots there, which has contributed to a more stable culture than elsewhere, said Bill Wilber, an area rancher. In other places, the faces are prone to constant change as people climb the career ladder, but federal postings in Harney County are often long-term. “They don’t see that as a stepping stone to a new opportunity,” he said. Ranchers must consult with federal rangeland specialists about matters of mutual concern, such as rotating cattle among grazing allotments, building

fences to separate pastures and developing springs for water used by livestock and wildlife. In such matters, appreciating the value of diplomacy is key, said Wilber. “It’s all attitude and how you present yourself,” he said. “You can’t go in there pissed off at the government because everything’s their fault.” Of course, that doesn’t mean the picture is entirely rosy in Harney County. The standoff was inspired by the return to prison of Steve and Dwight Hammond, two local ranchers convicted of arson for setting fire to rangeland. After initially serving shorter prison terms, they were forced to go back behind bars after a federal appeals court ruled they must fulfill mandatory-minimum five-year sentences.

A VOICE FOR RURAL OREGON TheOtherOregon.com

three years ago in their beliefs,” Sharp said. “We’re not over it and we may never be over it.” Mark Owens, an alfalfa grower and Harney County commissioner, would prefer not to discuss those tense weeks in January 2016. In his view, the majority of farmers and ranchers think of federal employees as partners who share the same desired outcomes. “We’re moving away from the standoff. It was not good for Harney County,” Owens said.

MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI

Ken Holliday, left, and Loren Stout are ranchers who graze cattle in the Malheur National Forest, where they complain of federal mismanagement.

While the Hammonds’ plight may have been the spark for the takeover of the refuge, it soon became clear that occupation leaders embraced an alternate interpretation of the U.S. Constitution — one under which the federal government had no right to permanent ownership of public land, said Sharp. Those teachings resonated with some locals and reinforced their own distrust of federal authority, which they have since felt freer to express, he said. “We still have a faction in the community that are different than they were

being listed as threatened or endangered, which ranchers feared would have the same repercussions for grazing as the spotted owl had for logging: major new restrictions, bordering on complete prohibition. “Grazing is about all that’s left,” said Jeff Maupin, interim president of the Harney Stockgrowers Association. “I don’t want to see these towns dry up and go away.” Through collaborative agreements with the federal government, ranchers committed to conservation activities Public, private collaboration in return for assurances they’d be proIt’s more important for Owens to tected even if the species was listed. look forward at how the federal governThose voluntary actions played a ment’s priorities can coexist with farmbig role in convincing the U.S. Fish ing and ranching, which generate $89 and Wildlife Service against extending million in revenues in Harney County. Endangered Species Act protections to Agriculture is the lifeblood of the counthe sage grouse, since the agency was ty’s economy and reassured the bird’s represents more than habitat would be “GRAZING IS one-third of its jobs. preserved. “You see more and “We dodged a bulABOUT ALL THAT’S let in the non-listing more restrictions on LEFT. I DON’T decision in 2015,” those economic drivers,” Owens said. said Sharp. WANT TO SEE The county is Even so, that same THESE TOWNS DRY year, the U.S. Bureau developing a comprehensive land use UP AND GO AWAY.” of Land Management imposed a new plan that includes its Jeff Maupin, interim president of the resource management goals for public propHarney Stockgrowers Association. erty, which Owens plan for the bird, hopes will serve as a which applies to the model for other areas vast acreage of public in Eastern Oregon. land overseen by the agency in Eastern “They’re completely integrated with Oregon and elsewhere in the West. our private lands. You can’t look at The plan was seen as overly restrictive and was challenged in court by the them in a vacuum,” said Owens, who Harney Soil and Water Conservation notes that the county government simply wants a voice at the table, not to District, a local governing body that take over. negotiates with the federal government “We’re not looking for local control over natural resources issues. or local ownership,” he said. “I feel the The litigation is currently stayed to federal government is the proper mangive the BLM time to revise the plan, ager of public lands.” which could potentially resolve the The greater sage grouse provides a lawsuit. prime example of how local communiEven if that dispute ends up being ties can cooperate with the federal govsettled, the incident points to the preernment on a contentious issue — and carious position in which federal agencies can find themselves: If they act too also how they can come to butt heads aggressively to restrain industry, they about it, anyway. can be sued by industry representatives. The bird was long a candidate for Winter 2018-19 | 15

COVER STORY If they don’t act as aggressively as environmentalists would want, they can be sued by those organizations.

Excessive regulation a ‘fantasy’

In contrast to ranchers whose cattle graze public lands, the Western Watersheds Project nonprofit group thinks the notion of excessive federal grazing regulation is “pure fantasy,” said Erik Molvar, its executive director. Molvar said federal agencies routinely overstock public lands with livestock, opening the door for invasive weeds and damaging sensitive riparian habitats — areas on or adjacent to MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI stream banks. Mark Owens, alfalfa farmer and Harney County commissioner, in front of the county courthouse in Ranchers often display a “lingering frontier mentality” that natural Burns, Ore. resources are limitless by ignoring these problems and through their antipathy toward wolves, coyotes, cougars, prairie toward it.” rye and cheatgrass cling to the mud on dogs and beavers, which they consider Since the mid-20th century, the numcattle hooves and the hair on their legs, ber of livestock permitted on the West“inconvenient,” he said. but these invasive weeds would spread ern range has fallen by roughly half, “It illustrates ranching is incompatwithout the help of livestock now that ible with healthy lands and wildlife,” said Bill Dragt, supervisory natural they’re established in the West, Dragt Molvar said. resources specialist with BLM. said. As for the refuge occupation, the “If numbers are the issue, that should Cattle can actually play a critical incident “gave public lands ranching a have addressed it,” he said. role in reclaiming rangeland from these black eye” while the Grazing practices can’t weeds, which have led to more intense “fire-breathing rhetand frequent fires in recent decades, “CAN YOU FIND be painted with a broad oric and gun-toting brush because each livesaid Bob Alverts, a former BLM area A BALANCE THAT stock allotment and each antics” revealed the manager in Burns and a part-time faculty researcher at the University of stream is different, he lack of respect some WORKS FOR Nevada-Reno. said. ranchers have for the EVERYBODY?” When it isn’t grazed, for example, Impacts to riparian rule of law and environmental protection, Erik Molvar, newly germinated cheatgrass will thrive areas can be managed by Western Watersheds Project he said. under the thatched cover of its parents’ monitoring the widths and executive director “It really exposed generation, he said. depths of streams, then the reality there are By allowing cattle to graze on the adjusting grazing levels some among public previous crop of cheatgrass, the next accordingly, Dragt said. lands ranchers who don’t want to make generation is subject to full sunlight and When a stream gets too wide — contributing to elevated water temperaan effort whatsoever and just want to doesn’t grow as vigorously because it tures that hurt fish — giving it a break take over,” Molvar said. needs that shade. from grazing will allow for recovery, Molvar said his organization doesn’t Similarly, livestock will graze on he said. Stubble from grasses along the want to completely end grazing on pubmedusahead rye in autumn when it lic property, but it would want federal stream will collect sediment, eventually becomes more palatable to them, weakening its stronghold and allowing desirmanagers to close the “credibility gap” reforming the stream banks to become able perennial grasses to return, Alverts by enforcing rangeland health standards deeper and narrower. said. and reducing the amount of forage liveAs long as rangeland isn’t damaged stock consume. “Grazing is a management tool that’s year after year, it’s proven resilient, “Can you find a balance that works Old Testament in terms of history,” he Dragt said. “We don’t have to do everything perfect every year.” for everybody?” he asked. “It’s a testsaid. “Grazing can be beneficial, it can able hypothesis and I want to work It’s true that seeds from medusahead be harmful and it can be neutral.” 16 | Winter 2018-19

At Umatilla Electric Cooperative, we continue to grow because the families, farms, businesses and industries we serve in northeastern Oregon continue to invest and grow. We look forward to new opportunities coming our way, including the wise and productive use of the water that powers our communities. We continue to explore investments in solar or wind generation on behalf of our members, and we are helping our region plan for a “green energy corridor” that will connect renewable projects in southern Morrow County to the Northwest power grid. Our access to public preference power helps keep our electric bills among the nation’s lowest. Our carbon-free energy sources protect the environment today and for future generations. In support of the cities, counties and ports in Umatilla and Morrow counties, we invite you to consider our communities as you plan your future investments. We are public power. We are MORE POWERFUL TOGETHER.

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THE LAND

Wetlands find a way in tough drought year By HOLLY DILLEMUTH

ason and Victoria Flowers walked through the fields on their family’s property in Worden on a mild November afternoon, pointing toward acreage that’s been part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Walking Wetlands Program for more than 10 years. Jason grew up exploring these fields 10 miles outside of Klamath Falls. The couple had their engagement photos taken there as well.

In exchange for flooding his fields and leaving standing grains to feed migrating birds, Flowers was allowed to farm land on the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge this year. He has a year-to-year contract subject to irrigation water availability, which this year was consistently uncertain. So uncertain that he is one of the few participants this year who took part in the program, facilitated by the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Com-

plex and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Under the program, land is flooded for wetlands in some years, then later restored to cropland as other parcels in the area are flooded in rotation. Some parcels are left flooded for up to four years. Others are flooded from fall through spring to provide seasonal wetlands. The rotation, which gives the effect of the wetlands “walking” around the area, gives the program its name. The program operates on leased Standing grain is left for migrating birds as part of the Walking Wetlands Program in the Klamath Basin. HOLLY DILLEMUTH

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A VOICE FOR RURAL OREGON TheOtherOregon.com

cropland within both Lower Klamath and Tule Lake Wildlife National Refuges on the Oregon-California border. Private landowners such as the Flowers can also opt in the program, which offers them land to farm for free within the refuges. In exchange, farmers agree to leave as much as 33 percent of their grain standing for the birds. Because of significant drought in the Klamath Basin, none of the participants could provide year-round wetlands in 2018. “We didn’t have any wetlands this summer through our Walking Wetlands Program — at least permanent wetlands,” said Greg Austin, manager of the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex, which covers six refuges in Oregon and California. Austin noted the program still had seasonal wetlands this year. “If it’s a drought year, we just go to plan B,” Austin said. “Instead of a wetland, we will ask for more standing grain, so we’ll still get those energy benefits, energy requirements for the birds met, but through a grain.” Austin said even in a drought year, the refuge has population objectives to meet so that birds flying through the Pacific Flyway have enough to eat. “We try to grow the foods to meet the requirements of those large numbers of birds that come through,” Austin added. The availability of water is key to farmer participation. “(With) the water situation, a lot of people couldn’t keep the ground flooded because of the lack of water,” Jason Flowers said. The Flowers were able to keep land flooded throughout the spring by recycling and recirculating water until they could tap irrigation water from the Klamath Project in June. They also left standing barley for the ducks and geese that frequent the family’s property. In exchange, Flowers farmed on the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge this year, as well.

HOLLY DILLEMUTH

Victoria and Jason Flowers and their family have about 260 acres in the Walking Wetlands Program south of Klamath Falls, near the California border.

Water availability is the key factor for the program. “We were still able to provide a wetland habitat,” he said. But he had to scale back normal participation in the program. Instead, of flooding all of the 260 acres in the program, he drained 100 acres nearby and used that water to keep the remaining 160 flooded. “They knew that this was going to be a tight water year and so what they let some people do to stay in the program, instead of flooding their ground, you could farm it up, plant a grain crop, and just leave it all standing for the birds,” he said. Seeing the wildlife thrive is part of the reason Flowers decided to stay on the family farm. The wildlife is also part of why he did what was necessary to make a wetlands work on his property in a dry year. “I know we weren’t the first ones in the area but we were one of the earlier ones to get involved with it. They (Fish and Wildlife Service) had funding available to help develop your property so it floods easier.”

As part of the incentive for the program, the Fish and Wildlife Service installed control structures to help the Flowers maintain the water levels. At the direction of the agency, Jason said he floods the field in the spring and then slowly drains it off as summer approaches. “That encourages certain aquatic weeds to grow that they’re looking for,” Flowers said. “You leave it dry pretty much most of the summer and early, mid-fall you start kind of flooding it back up,” he added. “They only want you to flood it to a certain depth so that way the ducks can tip over and eat the weeds off the ground.” The program has benefits for the farmers. When researchers first devised the rotation system they found that it improved soils and helped eliminate soil-borne pests such as nematodes, which can be parasitic to potatoes. “They saw both a reduction in nematodes and noxious weeds,” Austin said. “When they came out of that wetland status, then they saw increased yields as well.”

Winter 2018-19 | 19

THE LAND

Why some in Eastern Oregon opposed the Owyhee Canyonlands National Monument By MITCH LIES

he “blue sky” promises of an infusion of tourist dollars that would accompany the designation of a national monument in the Owyhee Canyons didn’t ring true with locals in Southeast Oregon, who for years have watched hikers and rafters visit the area without leaving much behind in the way of cash. “The reality is folks have already bought everything they need before they get here,” said Elias Eiguren, a fifth-generation rancher and founding member of the Owyhee Basin Stewardship Coalition, a group that was formed to fight the national monument proposal. Then there was the stark possibility that the designation would prevent ranchers from putting out cattle on the public lands they had grazed for decades, and the subsequent harm that would inflict on the environment and local business. “Our concern was if the monument designation were to happen, that we would eventually be phased out,” said Steve Russell, a Jordan Valley rancher and chairman of the coalition. “Our livelihoods were at stake. And, if we are gone, these other businesses are hurting, too.” Added up, the proposal to create a national monument on 2.5 million acres of Malheur County — a proposal backed by Keen Footwear and other outside interests — didn’t sit well with the locals, and, in fact, coalesced them into opposition. The opposition had history on its side, Eiguren said. “Every time we invite more government and more folks to be involved in management from outside, it has been a negative for us,” Eiguren said. “Gener-

20 | Winter 2018-19

MITCH LIES

Elias Eiguren, with his son, Thales, in this 2016 photo on the family’s ranch in Arock, is treasurer of the Owyhee Basin Stewardship Coalition.

ally, our values don’t align, they don’t understand how we live on a daily basis and our operations get cut back. “We saw this negatively affecting our businesses and also contributing to the terrible fires that we’ve seen and the resulting invasive species that have been taking over this landscape,” he said. The coalition hired a public relations firm with money it raised from ranchers, local business owners and concerned organizations and launched a campaign to turn back the designation. When the Owyhee Canyonlands were not included on former President Obama’s final list of monument priorities, members of the coalition and the community at large could breathe a sigh of relief, and, perhaps, pat themselves on the back. “It is pretty exciting to show that

when we get folks together for a good cause who are willing to think and do good works, even in a place as small and spread out and rural as Malheur County, we can actually have some level of self-determination,” Eiguren said. “I think our work had a lot to do with the result,” Russell said. “Had we done nothing, I think we might have got a monument.” The coalition now is crafting legislation it hopes will prevent future attempts to create a national monument in the rugged, scenic canyonlands. “The legislation is designed to take away the incentive for a monument by ensuring multiple and healthy uses of the land, instead of setting it aside as a monument and shutting it off,” Russell said. “We want to keep working on the land to ensure our future,” he said.

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MAKING A LIVING

French fries, mint oil, Tillamook cheese, Amazon’s data and more By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN

nyone who eats french fries or shops on Amazon has likely used a product with ties to the Port of Morrow. Despite its widespread impact, the port, located in Boardman, is relatively unknown outside of its Eastern Oregon base. But in the past few decades,

it’s grown to become the second-largest port in the state, driving rapid local economic development, as well as increasing its regional influence through food and energy production, cloud computing, and natural resource development. Port manager Ryan Neal said the growth has been steady, but it’s hard to quantify exactly how much port activity affects consumers around the state.

Many products known worldwide are processed, packaged or distributed at the port. Those include french fries from Lamb Weston, Tillamook Cheese, Calbee potato snacks and Les Schwab tires. “The Lamb Weston plant makes 4 million pounds of french fries a day, between two warehouses,” he said. “Probably 150 million pounds are stored at any time.”

A barge loaded with grain heads west on the Columbia River after being loaded at the Port of Morrow . COURTESY PORT OF MORROW

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A VOICE FOR RURAL OREGON TheOtherOregon.com

Ryan Neal, manager of the Port of Morrow. E.J. HARRIS

That product goes to global and domestic customers, transported via truck and rail. The company is the second-largest french fry producer in the world, he said. Business at the port has been steadily growing for many years — in 2017, it had an output of $2.77 billion, more than double its output a decade before. But there’s still room for expansion. The port acts as a hub for freight movement on the Columbia River, Interstate 84 and the Union Pacific Railroad. It has capitalized on its proximity to irrigated farmland to attract a variety of businesses. The port consists of about 8,000 acres in four separate industrial parks. Its tenants employ about 8,500 people, both directly and indirectly. Morrow County, which has

about 12,000 residents, now has the fourth-highest annual average county wage in the state at $50,354, trailing only the three counties in the Portland Metro area. Most rural counties have an average wage in the mid-$30,000s. Neal was hired as general manager in August, taking over from his father Gary, who was at the helm for nearly 30 years. Neal credited much of the port’s growth with its infrastructure, even on vacant land. Many of those empty plots are already equipped with water, sewer, developed roads and fiber connections, so that a business could start constructing a facility immediately if they decide to locate there. “It’s easy to take a client out there and show them shovel-ready land,” Neal said.

Diverse clientele

Much of the port’s initial growth was rooted in food products, playing off the local agricultural industry. Lamb Weston recently invested more than $700 million in the region, including a new plant in Hermiston, upgrades or remodels to both of its Boardman plants, and a new plant in Richland, Wash. Tillamook Cheese produces about 120 million pounds of cheese annually, as well as whey protein byproducts. Many other facilities at the port process and package food items. Boardman Foods packages fresh and processed onions to sell to companies such as Amy’s and Campbell’s Soups. Cascade Specialties also dehydrates onions. JSH Mint processes mint oil, which goes into products like toothpaste and mouthwash.

Winter 2018-19 | 23

MAKING A LIVING The port has been a site of energy and natural resource development as well. Portland General Electric has had a major presence since the 1990s. It operates Carty Generating Station, a natural gas-fired power plant at the port. There is a coal-fired power plant, which will close in 2020, and several ventures into solar and wind energy. Cadman Sand and Gravel, Dodge Logging and Pacific Ethanol also make their homes there. Steve Johnson, a spokesman for the Port of Portland, said the two ports have long had a good working relationship, and look to develop it further. “We are currently exploring together the possibility of moving dry goods and refrigerated cargos by barge or rail from the Port of Morrow to our Terminal 6 in Portland, for transportation on rail to other destinations,” he said.

The Port of Morrow JAMES THOMAS

Amazon’s influence

Perhaps the most significant addition to the port has been the presence of Amazon, which has two data center campuses at the port and is constructing a third. According to numbers from the Morrow County Assessor’s Office, just over 250 people are employed at the two existing data center sites at the port. Though Neal said he couldn’t talk specifically about the business, he said the presence of data centers has changed the economy of Eastern Oregon. “I think it’s diversified it,” he said. “What was traditionally an ag-based economy has now changed — it’s changed the workforce, even the livability.” He noted that it’s played a part in the climbing average county wage, but noted that other industries at the port are competitive with those wages. When visitors come to the port, they can go to the SAGE (Sustainable Agriculture and Energy) Center to look at interactive exhibits and maps of where all the products from Port of Morrow businesses are shipped around the world.

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The SAGE Center, developed by the Port of Morrow, highlights sustainable agriculture and energy. E.J. HARRIS

A map entitled “Boardman to the World” shows about 20 different products produced at the port, and how far they travel. Some products, like mint oil, make it to nearly every continent, while others are limited — beef products primarily go to Asia. As the port continues to grow, it’s tapped into its local community. Blue Mountain Community College has a

Workforce Training Center located at the port. Programs there include Data Center Technology, Industrial Systems Technology, and Early Childhood Education, all of which give students skills they can directly apply to jobs at the port. “The coordination between the schools, that’s something unique to this area,” Neal said.

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MAKING A LIVING

26 | Winter 2018-19

A VOICE FOR RURAL OREGON TheOtherOregon.com

Ry Kliewer, left, and Ty Kliewer, right, converted a near 100-year-old milk parlor on Ty’s farm into a brewing building earlier this year to create Skyline Brewing. The brothers, just 16 months apart, joined forces to craft their own brewing company and more plans are in the works. HOLLY DILLEMUTH

Skyline Brewing creates following, taps local flavor mortgages that doesn’t depend on irrigation water,” Ty said. espite challenges they face Ty and Ry converted a 100-year-old in 21st century farming, the milk parlor into a brewing room, complete with fermenters, a walk-in freezer, Kliewer brothers — Ty and Ry and even a keg-washing station Ry man— look at the future of their farming ufactured himself. They took on the help operations through a glass half-full. of Derek Pallet, a local entrepreneur, A pint half-full, really. who also helped build their equipment. In Midland, several miles outside of Ry grew some barley during the sumKlamath Falls, tucked away in an old mer that he harvested in the fall that will milk parlor near a cow pasture, the brothers are brewing something new beneath go into some of the brothers’ recipes. the southern Oregon skyline. Ty uses the spent grain to feed his Ty, 40, and Ry, 39, grew up east of cows, which they eat like it’s dessert. the Cascades in Klam“It’s a functioning ath Falls and each took piece of the farm,” Ty “THE ULTIMATE to farming and the said during a walklife it provides. But GOAL OF FARMING through of the brewery this year, they’ve also in early November. IS TO CONSTANTLY incorporated their pas“The heifers – they sion and creativity into ate spent grain all GET BETTER a new part of the farm summer instead of the EVERY YEAR, AND – Skyline Brewing really expensive (feed) DO NEW THINGS Company. and the bull calves “The ultimate goal we’re going to sell EVERY YEAR TO of farming is to connext spring have been GET A BETTER stantly get better every exposed to the spent year, and do new things RESULT THAN THE grain lately. So it’s a every year to get a betnice functioning piece YEAR BEFORE.” ter result than the year to everything.” Ty Kliewer before,” Ty said. The brewing operation also provides a As water for watering crops becomes creative outlet for the more scarce in the Klamath Basin, the duo, who both excel in areas that complement one another. brewery provides a way to diversify their Ry is mechanical and refurbished income stream. They have also been able used brewing equipment he found to grow some of their ingredients and online. He also created a keg-washing feed the byproducts to their cows. station, which he may consider making “One of the long-term goals for sure, more of in the future. we need a revenue source to pay the By HOLLY DILLEMUTH

Winter 2018-19 | 27

MAKING A LIVING Ty handles the public relations of the business and is also keen on thinking up recipes for the beers. The brewing operation, for Ty, also provides some yin to the farm life’s yang. Ty’s first passion in life – breeding beef cows – comes with challenges, challenges that he just doesn’t find with brewing craft beer. It can take up to three years to see if a calf reaches the potential one hopes for, according to Ty. “Even if everything goes right, it’s going to be three years before you have progeny out of that idea,” Ty said. Not so with with the process of brewing craft beer, which allows Ty the ability to set the stage while leaving room to experiment. “Unlike out there where you’re at the mercy of nature, in here you can literally control every variable,” Ty said. “In here, we can manage nature instead of get steamrolled by it.” The brothers brew five different beers. From a less than full-bodied but coffee-centric raspberry Porter to an India Pale Ale that’s approachable for not-your-usual-IPA drinkers, the brothers brew something for a variety of palates while sticking to the basics. “Maybe sometimes limiting how many different products you have can actually help your business rather than hinder,” Ry said. “We’re only what, four or five months into this now, so we’ve still got a lot of stuff to figure out.” Ty relishes the chance to debut their beers at local restaurants in Klamath Falls especially. Their beers, sold by the keg, are now available at about 15 locations in the Klamath Basin, including at Running Y Ranch Resort. “Local consumers are really interested in having a local product and local businesses are really, really receptive to the thought of having a locally made product,” Ty said. “If we kind of have a tool to help get customers into local businesses, I really, really like that a lot.” Some day they might begin putting their beer into bottles or cans for retail

28 | Winter 2018-19

Ry Kliewer fills a glass with beer crafted by Skyline Brewing, a company he and brother Ty Kliewer started earlier this year on Ty’s Klamath Falls-area farm. HOLLY DILLEMUTH

distribution. But for now, their current brewery business fits with everything else happening on the farm. “Creatures who can adapt survive and the world going forward is not going to look like it did 30 years ago. But there are ways that you can adapt to it and have a pretty bright future despite

the challenges.” Ty believes it will get better from here. As a farmer in the Klamath Basin, optimism is nearly required. “Anything you do in life that’s really worth doing is going to involve a significant amount of pain and effort to get there unfortunately,” he said.

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MAKING A LIVING

EBBS & FLOWS

Even though there are only 423 permits for crabbing, landings in 2017 broke a record at 23 million pounds and $74 million. COURTESY DUNGENESS CRAB COMMISSION

Fishing industry faces challenges, reaps rewards By ALIYA HALL

n hour before daylight, fisherman Jerry McClosky is up preparing himself for his day. He sets out the fishing gear, dropping lines with hooks behind the boat, where it stays until the sun sets every day. The salmon season runs from May to October, and while some days can be an endless trolling with little to no

30 | Winter 2018-19

fish, other days the moment the gear is dropped there’s no time to finish a cup of morning coffee. “The springs begin to bounce and the blood starts to flow as the fish start coming aboard,” McClosky said. “To a fisherman, there is no better feeling. All of this on top of the weather and swells make it a dangerous and exciting job.” McClosky grew up around fishing. His father and uncle fished salmon

in Alaska, and the stories about fishing trips and his father’s excitement over the catches stuck with him. He was invited to work by a friend and has been doing it ever since. “I want to do this because this is what I love,” he said. “You never know what the day will bring, but you do know no two days will be the same. As fishermen, we get to see things only a small percentage of people get to see

A VOICE FOR RURAL OREGON TheOtherOregon.com

Fisherman Jerry McClosky says he loves his job despite the challenges his industry faces. JERRY MCCLOSKY

and enjoy. People pay big money to go out and see what we see at work.” Although the salmon fishing industry in Oregon has historically been strong, in the past three years the salmon fishery has been declared a disaster by the federal government. In 2017, the landings were 267,000 pounds and $2.1 million valued to the fishermen; a sharp decline from 2014, when the industry landed 2.7 million pounds and valued $14.8 million to the fishermen, according to Nancy Fitzpatrick of the Oregon Salmon and Albacore Commissions. The California drought has meant that there have been fewer fish to catch. And in an attempt to boost fish populations on specific runs, wildlife managers have placed catch quotas on salmon for certain runs. For example, there is a 50-fish per boat, per week quota

“WE HAVE NO CONTROL OVER WHAT’S OUT THERE IN THE OCEAN. LIKE FARMERS, WE SAY NEXT YEAR WILL BE BETTER.” Nancy Fitzpatrick, of the Oregon Salmon and Albacore Commissions

on salmon from the Klamath River to keep the population from being over harvested. The constraints push larger boats farther up and down the coast to follow the fish. Smaller boats can’t do that. For McClosky and other fishermen, the impact of the decline has been tremendous. The loss of income has led some fishermen to bankruptcy and the

loss of their boats. “The bills never stop coming, so when the fish do it hurts a lot of families,” he said. As of Oct. 23, fishermen landed 323,797 pounds of salmon valued at $2.7 million. That’s better than last year, the but the commission is still going to petition the government to declare 2018 a disaster as well. “We have no control over what’s out there in the ocean,” Fitzpatrick said. “Like farmers, we say next year will be better.” Beyond the shortage of fish, fishermen face other challenges. Fishermen get ice from the plants they sell the fish to before they head out each day, but sometimes the plants run out of ice. When that happens it puts more strain on the fishermen because they can’t go out without it.

Winter 2018-19 | 31

MAKING A LIVING Many fisherman struggle to assemble and keep a crew. There’s a lot of turnover from people who either want to buy and manage their own boat, or would prefer a job on land. With the struggles salmon and albacore fishermen are seeing, Fitzpatrick said that many fishermen have started to diversify and switch over to crab after the early fishing seasons end; in Oregon, crabbing season starts in December and goes into August. This is a lucrative strategy, seeing as in 2017 crab landings broke a record at 23 million pounds and $74 million in value to the fishermen. John Corbin, a fisherman and chairman of the Dungness Crab Commission, started fishing in high school. He worked on sport salmon fishing charter boats before he joined the Air Force. After his deployment, he was only home for an hour before the call came in asking if he wanted to go fishing — that was 40 years ago. “For a crabber or any fisher, it takes an entrepreneurial spirit,” he said. “It could be compared to Gold Rush days. The season opens and it’s like, ‘Go for it; catch as much as you can.’” Corbin crabs in Oregon, Washington, California and Alaska, and owns three boats. He said that last season was better than expected, and the researchers with the commission are projecting around 25 million pounds for 2018. Dungeness Crab Commission Executive Director Hugh Link said larger boats will commonly fish for the first four to eight weeks in local waters before moving onto another fishery in Alaska or shifting to shrimp. That gives smaller boats that depend on that fishery an opportunity to continue to catch more. “Access to the resource is most important,” Link said. “We’re sharing the sea.” Corbin said fishermen are conservation-minded individuals, and they are very concerned about the balance of the ocean. “We understand that we can’t go out and fish every last crab and fish,” he said. “We’re working to ensure there’s a resource and ocean out there in the future for all of us.”

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JOHN CORBIN

John Corbin, chairman of the Dungeness Crab Commission and fisherman, poses next to his boat with his granddaughter, Maisy. He has been in the industry for around 40 years.

THE CULTURE

Coming home to change the world A

By NELLA MEA PARKS

t age 18, the imagined made-for-TV movie of my life features a whipsmart young woman leaving her podunk, backwards town to get educated and completely change the world. I left my town of Cove gleefully for college with the intention of returning, victorious, only at holidays. I planned to fully participate in the so-called â&#x20AC;&#x153;rural brain drainâ&#x20AC;? because I was told that in order to fulfill my potential I had to leave. Yet, I returned to find the opportunity and support I needed to build a business, start a family, and make a life in a town of 500 people and in a county of 26,000.

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A VOICE FOR RURAL OREGON TheOtherOregon.com

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Area in detail

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Now I am a farmer, daughter, parent and wife, business owner, volunteer, and active member of the very same community that I intended to leave forever. I have been asked so many times why I live in “a place like that.” In college I found myself fielding bizarre questions from across the rural-urban divide. “Yes, we have electricity. Yes, I ride horses, but no, not to school.” I was told I was “surprisingly articulate for someone from Eastern Oregon.” I constantly explained the geography of the state and location of my hometown. I felt like an unpaid diplomat of an inglorious foreign land. I was distressed that people in my own state didn’t know about my home — as if it didn’t exist; as if we didn’t matter; as if none of it was worth knowing. But my home is worth knowing. I want to shout out across Oregon’s rural-urban divide that my home is strong and good and complex. I have a deep, abiding love for my home place, but I also sometimes encounter attitudes I hate. Here there is less access to public transportation, entertainment, and anonymity. Finding employment is hard. I have my business and two or three side hustles to make it work. To live here, you have to be creative and flexible. You have to be comfortable with risk and instability. Yet, things seem possible here. Sometimes I think this is the only place I could have started my business. I had so much help from friends, family, and strangers it seems unfathomable to start anything — business or family — in a place where you don’t know people. But that’s the easiest answer and the hardest thing to explain about why I live here — community. My experience in rural Oregon is not everyone’s experience — many people have to leave to find their place. I know living here is not for everyone.

Nella Mae Parks on her farm in Cove, Ore.

Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group

I moved back to my home place in rural Oregon because I love it, but I am not complacent in it. Neither are the many young people who stayed, who returned, and who choose to live here. This place is complex and messy. This place impresses and frustrates me. I love how it is and I want to improve it. I left with the intention to change the world, but in the 33-year-old version of my made-for-TV movie, a whip-smart young woman quickly realizes that she has to start in the place she loved most.

Winter 2018-19 | 35

THE CULTURE

Morrow County

Total land area: 2,049 sq. mi. Percent public land: 17

Facts and figures Population

Communities

Morrow: 11,890 or 0.3%

City/town

Multnomah: 803,000 or 19.4%

Other: 1.42 million or 34.4% Total statewide: 4.14 million

Washington: 595,860 or 14.4%

Deschutes: 182,930 or 4.4%

Clackamas: 413,000 or 10%

Marion: 339,200 or 8.2%

*Partly in adjacent counties.

Existing Shepherds Flat Central, South* PGE’s Boardman Coal Plant Coyote Springs Cogeneration Carty Generating Station

Type

Capacity (MW)

Wind Coal Natural Gas Natural Gas

580 550 503 450

Proposed Wheatridge Wind* Saddle Butte Wind Park* Boardman Solar Energy Facility* Carty Generating Station

Wind Wind Solar Solar

500 399 75 50

Sources: Oregon Dept. of Energy; Energy Facility Siting Council

Major production in Morrow County includes wheat, cattle and calves, dairy and vegetables. Quantity

Number of farms Land in farms (acres)

401 1.17 million

Average size farm (acres)

2,906

Percent pastureland

49.6

Percent cropland

41.7

Percent woodland/other

6.3

Average market value of products sold per farm

$1.4 million

Source: USDA Census of Agriculture, 2012

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Irrigon

1,975

Heppner

1,295

Ione

330

Lexington

255

Unincorporated

4,400

Source: 2017 estimates from Population Research Center, PSU

Law enforcement officers in county

Health Morrow rank on health outcomes .....11 out of 36 Oregon counties (Based on length and quality of life.)

Morrow rank on health factors .......... 22 out of 36 Oregon counties

(Based on weighted scores for health behaviors, clinical care, social and economic factors, and the physical environment.)

Item

Morrow

Statewide

Number of people per physician

1,632

353

Number of people per psychiatrist

11,425

6,280

457

101

Number of people per registered nurse

Sources: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, County Health Rankings for Oregon, 2016 ; Oregon Health Authority, Oregon Health Professions-Occupational and County Profiles, 2014

Boardman Tree Farm

Agriculture

Item

3,635

Source: State of Oregon Annual Report of Criminal Offenses and Arrests, 2015

Lane: 370,600 or 8.9%

Energy generation

Population

Boardman

From 1990 until recently, a 25,000-acre hybrid poplar tree farm owned by GreenWood Resources was a landmark, stretching for miles along Interstate 84 in Morrow County. Now, the trees have been harvested and the land has been sold, most of which will be planted in crops.

You may not know

Ordnance Brewing in Boardman makes great fresh hop brews and is named for the World War II-era community built to store munitions in 1,001 concrete "igloos" that you can still see today from Interstate 84.

Tourist attractions

• Visit SAGE Center in Boardman to learn about modern sustainable agriculture. • Fish the Columbia River for walleye, bass, sturgeon, salmon and steelhead. • Hunt waterfowl, pheasant, deer and elk.

Colleges & universities

• Blue Mountain Community College’s Boardman Campus

State representative Greg Smith (R)

State senator Bill Hansell (R)

U.S. representative Greg Walden (R)

OREGON / GEOGRAPHIC NAMES

Many more than three places in Oregon have names starting with three. These are just a few: 1. Three Sisters — These three peaks in the Cascade Range west of Bend are all more than 10,000 feet high. Cleverly named North Sister, Middle Sister and South Sister today, they once were known as Faith, Hope and Charity.

4 2 1 3

2. Three Fingered Jack — Found north of Three Sisters and

south of Mount Jefferson in the Cascades, this 7,841-foot mountain is topped with rocky spires, which might have given the peak its name. Or, it may be named for a three-fingered miner named Jack who lived in the area around 1900.

3. Three Trappers — Found south of Three Sisters, these three buttes are named to commemorate three men who were murdered in 1924 while tending a fox farm at Little Lava Lake.

4. Three Lynx Creek — In Clackamas County, mostly likely named for three bobcats that were seen on its banks by early settlers to the area. 5. Three Arch Rocks National Wildlife Refuge — A half-mile off the coast west of Oceanside, these three rocks have been traditionally home to seabirds, including common murres, cormorants, gulls, auklets and puffins, although bald eagles have recently caused birds to abandon the rocks.

Every day Oregonian farmers are ﬁnding better ways to grow the safest and freshest produce to meet the needs of Oregon. Using tools like personal experience, pesticides, and research we are feeding Oregon families and protecting environmental resources. Find out how they are doing at www.ofsonline.org

6. Threebuck Lake — In Wallowa County, so named in 1878 by local hunters who had good luck there.

7. Threemile Canyon — In Morrow County, three miles from the

mouth of Willow Creek. Now home to a 93,000-acre farm and dairy that supplies milk to Tillamook Creamery. Sources: Oregon Geographic Names, 7th edition (2003), by Lewis A. McArthur & Lewis L. McArthur; Oregon Historical Society Press, Portland; U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; EO Media Group research

Winter 2018-19 | 37

Community newspapers

are the backbone of American democracy

Get to know your community by subscribing to your local newspaper EO Media Group has been family-owned since E.B. Aldrich became an owner of the East Oregonian in 1908. Today, his grandsons and great-grandchildren publish newspapers, magazines, real estate guides and websites covering much of Eastern Oregon, the northern Oregon Coast and agriculture in the West.

EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER

Every Friday Agriculture in the West www.capitalpress.com 800-882-6789

Monday through Friday Clatsop Co. www.dailyastorian.com 800-781-3211

Tuesday through Saturday Umatilla Co. & Morrow Co. www.eastoregonian.com 800-522-0255

Every other Friday Seaside www.seasidesignal.com 503-738-5561

Every Wednesday Hermiston area www.hermistonherald.com 800-522-0255

Every other Friday Cannon Beach www.cannonbeachgazette.com 503-738-5561

Every Wednesday Wallowa Co. www.wallowa.com 541-416-4567

Monthly Columbia-Pacific Region www.crbizjournal.com 800-643-3703

The

Blue Mountain

EAGLE

oregon coast

Grant CountyÂˇs newspaper since 1868

Every Wednesday Grant Co. www.bluemountaineagle.com 541-575-0710

Every Friday Lincoln City www.oregoncoasttoday.com 503-921-0413

EO Media Group is committed to reporting and distributing local news and information because a well-informed public keeps our communities strong.

Farm Bureau keeps Oregon agriculture viable & sustainable Established at the county level in 1919 and the state level in 1932, Farm Bureau is a grassroots, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization representing the depth and breadth of Oregon’s diverse agricultural community. We give a voice to farm and ranch families at the capitol, in the courts, and within regulatory agencies at the local, state, and national levels. We help these hard-working Oregonians stay in business and keep doing the job they love.

 So much of public policy directly impacts farmers and ranchers’ ability to do their jobs, including laws involving land use, labor, water, taxes, transportation, energy, and wildlife. Farm Bureau’s goal is to help Oregon’s farm and ranch families survive, succeed, and remain sustainable. Sharon Waterman, Oregon Farm Bureau President Owner of a Century Farm raising cattle, sheep, and timber in Coos County

Visit



OregonFB.org to learn more or call us at 800.334.6323

   