Finding Common Ground

William J. Lyons Jr., the newly named state agriculture secretary, said in an interview Tuesday that his good relationship with environmental groups should help him build consensus among activists and farmers on sticky issues of land and water use.

A self-proclaimed workaholic, Lyons is a lifelong, third-generation rancher. The family’s 9,000-acre property near Modesto lies next to a wildlife refuge, and Lyons has supported projects to benefit migratory birds.

Among the issues Lyons will be tackling next year are international trade, the environment, water use and the potential loss of several organophosphate pesticides, on which many California growers rely.

“I have an agricultural perspective,” Lyons said, “but I pride myself on being able to reach consensus and find common ground.”

Lyons was born into his California ranching and farming family July 4, 1950, and has spent most of his life on the family’s Mapes Ranch. His father, William, and two brothers also live on the ranch and are active in its operation.

They raise beef cattle, primarily Hereford and Angus. They also grow almonds, walnuts, peaches and tomatoes.

Glenn Olson, director of field programs with the National Audubon Society in Sacramento, said Lyons’ environmental credentials are well-established. In the mid-1980s, Lyons and his siblings halted the cutting of trees on the family’s Christman Island, at the confluence of the Tuolumne, San Joaquin and Stanislaus rivers, after they noticed a large heron and egret rookery. They sold 780 acres to the Audubon Society, which transferred the property to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. It became the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge.

Lyons earned a teaching credential from Chico State University but never used it, preferring the rancher’s life. Since 1993, he has chaired the Farm Service Agency for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in California, overseeing farm policy in the nation’s largest farm state.

“As agriculture secretary, I’ll be trying to expand agriculture’s base and [the state’s] international trade representation,” Lyons said by cellular phone as he drove through tule fog to a morning meeting. On Monday, Gov.-elect Gray Davis named Lyons, a longtime Davis supporter, to head the California Department of Food and Agriculture, replacing Ann M. Veneman.

Agriculture groups applauded the selection. David Moore, president of Western Growers Assn., said Lyons “can hit the ground running and provide the leadership the industry needs as it enters the 21st century.” Western Growers, based in Irvine, represents 3,400 growers, packers and shippers of fresh produce in California and Arizona.

Squeeze on Trees

It’s hard to tell from the truckloads of freshly cut Christmas trees arriving at Southland lots, but supplies are a bit tight this year. And that means that prices in some locations are up.

“A lot of our growers sold out early this year,” said Mike Bondi, an extension agent with Oregon State University in Oregon City. And they got prices that were 5% to 10% above last year’s.

Oregon provides about 90% of the trees sold in California. The state’s growers sold about 300,000 trees this year and “probably could have sold another 100,000,” said Bryan Ostlund, executive secretary of the Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Assn. in Salem, Ore.

Tempted by the higher wholesale prices, some growers sold trees a year ahead of schedule. That could signal that 1999 supplies will be short too. The trend marks a sharp turnaround from the late 1980s and early 1990s, when overproduction drove many growers out of business.

Holiday Tree Farms in Corvallis, Ore., the state’s largest grower, said its wholesale price stayed fairly stable, rising about 3%. The company supplies trees to Home Depot, Home Base, Target and big grocery chains.

For Holiday, Los Angeles sales manager Jim Auld said, “there was ample supply.”

Bad Apples

Pummeled by stiff competition from Washington state, California apple growers will remove more trees than usual this winter in favor of planting other crops. The California Apple Commission estimates that farmers will remove 2,000 acres of trees this year, compared with 200 in a typical winter. Harvest delays forced growers to compete with a big Washington crop that drove down the prices of Fuji apples by nearly half.

Martha Groves can be reached by phone at (213) 237-0738 or by e-mail at martha.groves@latimes.com.