Like farmers use scarecrows to protect seeds and crops from birds, a Jackson County rancher is employing an inflatable dancing tube man to keep gray wolves from killing his livestock.

Ted Birdseye set up a lime-green inflatable dancer, such as those seen in used-car lots, in his pasture after Oregon-7’s Rogue Pack killed a calf in the field. They had previously slain five cows and a dog, according to The Mail Tribune. Early results proved promising, although Birdseye didn’t know how well it would deter the wolves in the long term. Continue reading

US Representative Greg Walden,

President Trump signed into law legislation introduced by Representative Greg Walden (R-Hood River) to protect a central Oregon community from wildfire. Walden’s Crooked River Ranch Fire Protection Act (H.R. 524) will allow for needed management of the fire fuels that surround Crooked River Ranch in Jefferson and Deschutes counties, which will reduce the risk of wildfire for the approximately 5,500 residents living at the Ranch. Walden released the following statement: Continue reading

Photo: Dwight Hammond after his Presidential pardon.
By Oregon Family Farm Association,

A Burns, Ore., rancher convicted of unlawful field-burning that burned federal land was pardoned by President Trump in July and now has received a 10-year renewal of their grazing permit.

In one of his last moves before stepping down from office, former Interior Secretary Ryan K. Zinke ordered renewal of the grazing permit for Hammond Ranches Inc. through 2024. That’s a decade after the federal Bureau of Land Management refused to renew the permit because of their past criminal convictions. Continue reading

Capitol watch by Oregon Family Farm Association,

There is a bill in the Legislature that has gotten people’s attention. HB 2437 would allow farmers to clean out 3000 cubit yards of dirt per mile of drainage in wetland areas. This would be up from 50 cubit yards of dirt. The Capital Press reports several environmentalist spoke against the bill saying it would interfere with fish habitat while Ag groups spoke in favor.

Here is the House Bill summary: Continue reading

U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat who founded the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, has proposed regulating marijuana like alcohol.

HB 420, a bill introduced in Congress recently, would take marijuana off the list of federally controlled substances. Since the 1970s, the number 420 has been used in cannabis culture to refer to smoking marijuana around 4:20 p.m. and on April 20 (aka 4/20).
Blumenauer discussed the proposed legislation in a press release posted on his House website. Continue reading