Washington Farm Bureau Newswatch

June 9, 2004 No. 58

BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION SAID TUESDAY IT WOULD REDUCE THE amount of water spilled over Columbia and Snake river dams by 39 percent this year,
saving ratepayers about $31 million. (Seattle Times, June 9) The agency said
sending more water through power-generating turbines instead of over dams to
aid juvenile salmon migration would reduce the adult return of federally
protected Snake River chinook by five to 40 fish. The agency initially
proposed reducing spill by 55 percent, but changed plans after complaints
from environmentalists, tribes and fisheries biologists for Washington
state.

GROWERS USED HELICOPTERS AND WIND MACHINES TO BLOW POTENTIALLY damaging moisture off almost ripe cherries after more than an inch of rain fell in
some areas of the Mid-Columbia between Monday evening and early Tuesday
afternoon. (Tri-City Herald, June 9) Cherries can split if they absorb too
much moisture. Northwest Cherry Growers estimated the rain might have
damaged between 1 and 3 percent of the crop, which is projected to be a
record 220 million to 240 million pounds.

U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE JAMES REDDEN LAST WEEK EXPRESSED CONCERN THAT NOAA
Fisheries is not complying with a court order to bring a biological opinion
on the operation of Columbia and Snake river dams into compliance with the
Endangered Species Act. (Greenwire, June 7) The agency has proposed
rewriting the biological opinion addressing the need to mitigate for the
dams' operation on federally protected populations of salmon, while making
the existence of the dams part of the environmental baseline. Worrying that
NOAA Fisheries was "moving the goal posts" for salmon recovery, Redden said
he never envisioned that the agency would change the environmental baseline
when he sent the biop back for revision more than a year ago. Redden
cautioned that he might need to step in and dictate how the dams are
operated if environmentalists file a barrage of lawsuits over the proposal.
The agency is to release the revised biop in August.

ENVIRONMENTALISTS HAVE FILED A LAWSUIT SEEKING TO FORCE THE U.S. FISH and
Wildlife Service to implement a recovery plan for grizzly bears in the North
Cascades. (AP/Seattle Times, June 5) The recovery plan was adopted several
years ago, but has never been implemented. Biologists estimate there are
five to 20 grizzly bears in the North Cascades, one of six recovery zones
designated when the bears were listed as threatened in the lower 48 states
in 1975. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, also seeks to
have grizzlies in the North Cascades listed as "endangered," rather than
"threatened."

WASHINGTON HAY GROWERS WANT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO DECLARE their first harvest a disaster after rains and cool weather severely damage the
Mid-Columbia crop. (Tri-City Herald, June 5) The designation would apply to
Grant, Benton, Walla Walla, Franklin, Yakima and Adams counties, and would
make the growers eligible for low interest loans or other financial
assistance in 2005.

IN AN EDITORIAL TUESDAY, THE SEATTLE TIMES CALLED ON FEDERAL OFFICIALS to
"remedy a U.S. policy that is debilitating the domestic asparagus industry."
The Times noted that the Andean Trade Preferences Act, which gives asparagus
grown in Peru duty-free access to U.S. markets, has been ineffective in
curbing cocaine production, as originally intended. The result is that
Seneca Foods is closing the last remaining asparagus cannery in the state
and following Del Monte to Peru. The Times also noted that the challenge for
food processors has been "exacerbated by the state's minimum wage, the
highest in the nation."

* 2004 Washington Farm Bureau. NewsWatch is a periodic
update on news of interest to agriculture. Contact Dean Boyer, director of
public relations, 1-800-331-3276 or, to receive NewsWatch by fax or e-mail.