WA Farm Bureau Newswatch for May 22, 2001

WASHINGTON FARM BUREAU NEWSWATCH

May 22, 2001 No. 78

THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS WAS FORCED TO RELEASE 360,000 JUVENILE SALMON from a barge above Ice Harbor Dam last weekend when drain screens became clogged and operators were unable to control the water level inside the vessel. (AP/The Spokesman-Review, May 22) After the fish were released, the Corps ordered dams to spill hundreds of millions of cubic feet of water to help flush the salmon downriver.

ECO-TERRORISTS ARE BEING BLAMED FOR A FIRE MONDAY THAT DESTROYED laboratories and academic offices at the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture. (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 22) The fire started in the office of associate professor Toby Bradshaw, whose work with genetically enhanced fast-growing poplar trees was also targeted by eco-terrorists during the World Trade Organization riots in Seattle in 1999. A fire about the same time at Jefferson Poplar Farms in Clatskanie, Ore., which has a working relationship with Bradshaw, destroyed two buildings and at least 10 vehicles. (Seattle Times, May 22) "Burning crosses did not stop the civil rights movement and burning buildings won't stop the tree-genetics research programs around the country," Bradshaw said Monday. He said the goal of his research was to produce more wood fiber in smaller areas, leaving more wild areas untouched.

ANTI-LOGGING PROTESTORS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA HAVE BEGUN SPIKING TREES with concrete plugs to avoid metal detectors, posing a potentially deadly hazard to forestry workers. (AP/The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 22) The eco-terrorists use pieces of bark to hide the plugs.

THE BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION IS REFUSING TO PAY FOR THE COST OF two traditional Yakima Nation rain ceremonies to end the drought. (AP/The Olympian, May 22) The tribe sent the BPA a bill for $32,000 after holding the ceremonies in March. A much larger five-day ceremony in April was cancelled after BPA refused to pay the first bill.

MID-COLUMBIA IRRIGATION DISTRICTS ARE WAITING FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF Ecology to decide if it will issue an emergency order allowing them to use weed-killing chemicals without a Clean Water Act permit. (Tri-City Herald, May 22) An emergency petition submitted by three irrigation districts cites the likelihood of "catastrophic failure" of hundreds of miles of canals if they are not allowed to treat the weeds, resulting in crop losses in the millions of dollars. Earlier this year, a federal court ruled that a small irrigation district in Oregon needed a permit to apply acrolein, a chemical commonly used to kill waterweeds. DOE said Monday the petition had been forwarded to agency lawyers for review.

THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR HAS DELAYED RELEASE OF A MANAGEMENT plan for the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in southern Oregon indefinitely, leading environmentalists to worry that the 53,000-acre national monument, approved in the waning days of the Clinton presidency, could be scaled back in size. (Los Angeles Times, May 19) The Cascade-Siskiyou management plan is the first to come up for review since Gale Norton was name secretary of the Interior. One concern is that the monument encircles an additional 27,000 to
40,000 acres, and private property owners are worried about future access to timber and grazing lands.

SHUT DOWN THE RAILROADS: Amtrak trains may be violating the Endangered Species Act and other federal laws by killing eagles as they feed on other railway kill along a 142-mile stretch of track between Albany and New York City. (Albany Times Union, May 22) At least eight of 16 dead eagles found along the tracks between 1986 and 2000 had been struck by trains.
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* 2000 Washington Farm Bureau. NewsWatch is a daily update on news of
interest to agriculture. Contact Dean Boyer, director of public relations,
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