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12 CapitalPress.com September 4, 2015 Wildfi res will drastically reduce grazing for years Fuel loads add up At the Haeberle Ranch, between the towns of Okano- gan and Conconully in north central Washington state, Rod Haeberle, 66, and his daughter, Nicole Kuchen- buch, 36, and son-in-law Ca- sey Kuchenbuch, 36, voiced concerns about “mismanage- ment” of government lands. Their comments mirrored those of ranchers in southeast- ern Oregon after the massive 582,313-acre Long Draw and 430,000-acre Holloway fi res of 2012. “These fi res are not a sur- prise for those of us who live and work in Eastern Wash- ington. We’ve been warning about the potential disas- trous effects of federal and state management policies for many years,” said Nicole Kuchenbuch. Agencies have allowed forests to become overgrown and unhealthy, consumed by underbrush that’s fuel for fi res, she said. “Agencies tell us to keep our cattle out of creek bottoms but there’s no grass elsewhere because they don’t thin for- ests,” she said. Sod was so thick in Wash- ington Department of Fish and Wildlife grasslands from 20 years of no cattle grazing that it took bulldozers two and three passes to cut fi re lines to soil, she said, adding that sod can be a fuel that’s almost impossible for fi refi ghters to extinguish. While ranchers have lob- bied for change, nothing hap- pens because of the political strength of environmentalists and the Endangered Species Act, the Kuchenbuchs said. Haeberle calls them “as- phalites — born on asphalt, raised on concrete and living in a world of plastic fl owers.” Sandra Kaiser, spokes- woman for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, said the agency is fully on board with thinning forests to decrease their fi re fuel load. “Last biennium we re- quested $20 million from the Legislature and got $10 mil- lion for forest health treat- ment and thinning,” she said. “It’s essential to preparing landscape to resist fi re. It’s work that needs to be done.” North Central Washington wildfires wildfire * Four large wildfires burning in or near Okanogan County, Washington, have scorched roughly 600,000 acres. Last year’s Carlton Complex was the state’s largest on record, burning more than 256,000 acres. 2015 2014 1. Chelan Complex • Acres: 93,694 • Containment: 55% n g a n Ri er FIRES from Page 1 OKANOGAN 3 5 Twisp Carlton 2 Lake 4. Tunk Block Fire • Acres: 161,440 • Containment: 40% Nespelem CONFEDERATED TRIBES N er Riv 5. North Star Fire • Acres: 205,331 • Containment: 25% *As of Sept. 2 Sources: inciweb.nwcg.gov; gacc.nifc.gov/nwcc 20 OKANOGAN NATIONAL FOREST 4 2. Carlton Complex (2014) • Acres: 256,108 • Containment: Inactive 3. Okanogan Complex • Acres: 147,979 • Containment: 45% WASH. Tonasket OKANOGAN NATIONAL FOREST 20 Area in detail 5 miles Col u mbi a Lake Chelan CHELAN Alan Kenaga/Capital Press Stark difference About 370 miles to the south, near John Day, Ore., retired U.S. Bureau of Land Management forester Bob Vi- dourek, pointed out the differ- ence in the way federal forests were formerly managed and how they are managed today. He oversaw projects from 2003 to 2007 that thinned some of the 2,500 acres of BLM land that abuts U.S. For- est Service and private land on Little Creek Mountain. The projects included a timber sale, thinning stands and clearing out a large amount of slash. On Aug. 20, the Canyon Creek fi re roared through Forest Service land and crest- ed Little Creek Mountain. Vidourek’s home was put on a Level 3 “leave immediate- ly” evacuation order but he wasn’t worried. The BLM land that had been thinned and cleaned up several years ear- lier was separating the blaze from his home. “I was never really wor- ried,” he said. “I knew if it got into that stand, it wouldn’t burn too hot.” The fi re did burn some of the BLM land but slowed con- siderably and stopped 1,000 feet from Vidourek’s house. Vidourek said he faced many hurdles when he tried to get the forest management projects going but was even- tually able to overcome them. “I’m confi dent that the work we did probably saved some of these houses,” he said, pointing to other nearby Chelan Alt 97 Coulee Dam 174 1 DOUGLAS 172 homes. The fi re “killed every- thing on the other side of the mountain. I’m confi dent the work we did slowed the fi re down.” Fire mismanagement Beside land mismanage- ment, ranchers involved in Western fi res in recent years allege state and federal mis- cues in fi ghting fi res while praising efforts of local fi re- fi ghters. In the Long Draw and Hol- loway fi res in Oregon three years ago, ranchers accused the BLM of letting land burn to expand designated wilder- ness areas. The BLM denied it. In Washington’s 256,108- acre Carlton fi re last year, many ranchers and others be- lieve the DNR let the fi re go to gain more federal dollars. More than 200 landowners are preparing to fi le a lawsuit seeking more than $75 mil- lion in damages for what their attorney says was “a series of intentional and negligent ac- tions.” In this year’s Okanogan fi re, a Pine Creek rancher, Gerald Scholz, blamed DNR backburning for the loss of his grazing land, timber and hay. He treated cattle with burned feet and sold others, saying he would have to reduce his herd from 700 to 200 for winter. “Gerald told them not to backburn anything up here. He’s been fi ghting fi re 30 years and was adamant we didn’t need it,” said his wife, Bobbi. 155 17 Banks Lake GRANT 174 a head offi cial he would have a Cat up there. It never hap- pened. We saved our cows. If I’d gone and had Gebbers with me there’s a high percentage chance I might have save the rest of my summer range....” “We recognize they had limited resources and a mas- sive fi re,” Haeberle said. But a Forest Service con- sultant turned around Gebbers’ Cats and “they backburned the rest of our summer range and our cabin to try to save the town,” Haeberle said. State and federal fi refi ght- ers went back to camp for the night, but local fi refi ghters and volunteers held lines all night because “it was our land and our homes,” Nicole Kuchen- buch said. Ranch losses LINCOLN Kaiser, the DNR spokes- woman, said she would have to fi nd out the facts of the situ- ation before commenting. Okanogan County Com- missioner Jim DeTro said he repeatedly asked an agency — he declined to say which one — not to backburn in Pine Canyon, but it did. As a result, the dozen or so ranches along Pine Creek lost their spring and fall grazing ground. “The fi re swept around the east side and fi ve hours af- ter they did that burnout they were evacuating Pine Creek, Crumbacher development and Riverside,” DeTro said. DNR stepped up on early lightning strikes, using smoke jumpers on initial attacks, DeTro said. “Then it had one or two major screw-ups that turned into catastrophic situa- tions.” Things went well once Type 1 management teams, which handle major wildfi res, arrived, he said. DNR contracted with Gebbers Farms, of Brewster, which used six Caterpillar D-8 bulldozers to build and hold a line on the south of the fi re, he said. There are a lot of good fi re- fi ghters but there was lack of coordination and delays of en- gagement, said rancher Casey Kuchenbuch. ‘Tough decision’ “We had a tough decision. Move our cows and save them or go build a Cat line,” Kuchen- buch said. “I was promised by Haeberle lost all of his 6,000 acres of spring and fall pastures on the hillsides on both sides of the still green val- ley fl oor where their Black An- gus now graze fi elds intended for hay and fall forage. He lost half his Forest Service grazing allotment summer range, 200 tons of premium alfalfa hay and many miles of fencing that costs about $20,000 per mile. They rescued 120 cow-calf pairs but 60 are missing. They fi gure they will have to reduce their herd of 425 pairs and 100 replacement heifers and buy up to 750 tons of hay at about $150,000 to compensate for three months of extra feeding, split between fall and spring. Usually, they are self-suffi - cient with their own hay and grazing. Because of the fi re dam- age, their grazing will be drastically reduced for two or three years. Well over 200 cattle, hay and hobby ranches were impacted by the Okanogan, Tunk and North Star fires, DeTro said. Of that, about 20 are operations with more than 200 head of cattle that lost their spring and fall pastures, portions or all of grazing allotments and hay- stacks. Cass Gebbers, co-owner of Gebbers Farms and Gamble Land & Timber, said he lost most of the rest of his DNR grazing allotments in this year’s fi re that he didn’t lose in the Carlton fi re last year. Altogether, 95 percent of his allotments are burned out, and this year so far he has 18 cows dead, 33 badly maimed and 46 pairs and 10 bred heif- ers missing, he said. “We barely got out of the west fork of Rock Creek (gathering cattle) when the fi re boiled out of there. It sounded like a jet engine,” Gebbers said. Early on, lightning ignited just inside the “donut hole,” acres of his private range he saved last year. “We threw everything we had on it and nailed it in fi ve to 10 acres just an hour before high winds hit,” he said. Gebbers’ Cats built and held a line on the south side of the fi re, just north of High- way 20, and received “much more government support in holding it” than they did last year, he said. “Government guys were stretched real thin. The morn- ing of the Chelan Reach fi re, fi res were popping every- where (from lightning) and guys were scrambling,” he said. About 130 miles to the northeast in Lauier, Wash., rancher Len McIrvin said the Stickpin, Graves Mountain and Renner Lake fi res came together on his range. He said he’s losing about 200,000 acres of grazing allotments, but saved 300 to 400 head of cattle and doesn’t know the fate of 300 to 400 others. “Up to now, no one’s real- ly done anything to stop the fi res. It’s just protecting hous- es. It’s a let-burn policy. It’s the plan all along. It’s a pro- posed wilderness area so they (Forest Service) wouldn’t put a bulldozer in there. Later they did,” McIrvin said. “All these fi res, the last 20 years they let them burn. They refuse to come in and stomp out a little lightning strike. They use all the resources to save a little shack and lose billions of dollars of livestock and timber,” he said. He agreed with the Kuchenbuchs that the under- lying problem is build up of forest and sod fuel loads from no logging, thinning and graz- ing. “A big sign that went up this spring in Colville says, ‘Public lands. Log it, graze it or watch it burn,’” he said. Capital Press staff writer Dan Wheat reported from Okanogan, Wash., and staff writer Sean Ellis reported from John Day, Ore. Members represent ranchers, At issue is whether injunction is in force beyond the 13 states represented by plaintiffs environmentalists and hunters dation, which has also fi led suit against the agencies on behalf of Western livestock associations and private land- owners, said injunctions are typically limited to parties to the suit; however, the federal government is a party to the suit, he said. “It’s a stretch to say it doesn’t have nationwide ap- plicability,” he said. WATER from Page 1 On Aug. 27, U.S District Judge Ralph Erickson granted an injunction sought by Alas- ka, Arizona, Arkansas, Colo- rado, Idaho, Missouri, Mon- tana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. Erickson ruled that the states’ success in the case is likely “because (1) it appears likely that the EPA violated its congressional authority in its promulgation of the rule at issue, and (2) it appears likely the EPA failed to comply with (Administrative Procedural Act) requirements when pro- mulgating the rule.” The EPA rule positioned the agency to regulate “intermit- tent and remote wetlands” that have no connection to naviga- ble waterways, he stated. “The risk of irreparable harm to the states is both im- minent and likely” and the greater public interest would benefi t because it would en- sure federal agencies do not extend their power beyond congressionally delegated au- thority, he concluded At issue now, however, is whether the injunction is in force beyond the 13 states represented by the plaintiffs. The EPA says no. In a statement to the Capital Press, the agency noted that U.S. District Courts in Georgia and West Virginia denied re- quests for injunctions in oth- er lawsuits, “agreeing with the agencies that legal chal- lenges to the rule could only be brought in United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit,” which includes Ken- tucky, Tennessee, Michigan and Ohio. Ag reacts Don Jenkins/Capital Press An irrigation ditch in Western Washington fi lls with water drawn from the Skagit River. The new federal Clean Water Act rule went into effect in Washington, Oregon and California and 34 other states on Aug. 28. An injunction has kept it from being implement- ed in Idaho and 12 other states. The challenges fi led in fed- eral circuit court have been consolidated in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Washington and Oregon have joined fi ve other states and the District of Columbia in coming to the defense of the new federal rule at the ap- peals court. The pro-rule coalition, led by New York, argues the rule is based on sound science and will ensure uniform enforce- ment in all 50 states. “Nationwide pollution controls protect downstream states from pollution origi- nating outside their borders,” according to their brief fi led Aug. 28 in the 6th U.S. Cir- cuit Court of Appeals in Cin- cinnati, Ohio. “They serve to prevent the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’ that might result if jurisdictions could compete for industry and development by allowing more water pol- lution than their neighboring states.” North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, who fi led the lawsuit lead- ing to the injunction, said his reading of Erikson’s rul- ing was that it applied to all 50 states, not just the 13 that sued. He told The Associated Press that he and other law- yers from the 13 states believe the EPA , by enforcing the rule in the 37 other states, is doing so “contrary to, and in defi ance of, the court’s order.” Opposition and support for the measure is split along par- ty lines. States with Repub- lican attorneys general fi led suit, states with Democrat attorneys general support the rule. Reed Hopper, principal at- torney for Pacifi c Legal Foun- For the time being, the rule is in effect in the majority of the states. The California Cattlemen’s Association director of govern- ment relations Kirk Wilbur said the group is advising ranchers to be cautious about under- taking projects near water or places that are occasionally wet. Ranchers should be wary about assurances from the EPA that the new rule won’t hinder agriculture, he said. “When an agency is at- tempting to regulate you, it’s not always the smartest thing in the world to take their word for it,” Wilbur said. Bob Stallman, president of American Farm Bureau Federation, said the rule is “yet another example of EPA’s reckless and unlaw- ful behavior in the face of science, economics and the law … and simply has to be stopped.” Philip Ellis, president of National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said, “If EPA actually wants to pro- tect navigable waters as it claims, they will put this subjective and ambiguous rule to rest and start over with stakeholders at the ta- ble this time around.” WOLF from Page 1 anyone would be interested in the morning session, but if they were, they couldn’t attend. “This group needs to have some time to hear from each other about what their concerns are,” Madden said Wednesday. Madden’s hiring represents a six-fi gure investment in addressing human confl ict, which is the biggest challenge with wolf management, said WDFW wolf policy coordina- tor Donny Martorello. Madden, based in Hous- ton, Texas, will be paid up to $8,000 a day to lead meetings and $400 an hour for “remote engagement and strategic guidance.” While traveling to Washington, she will receive $200 an hour. Wolf advisory group mem- bers represent ranchers, en- vironmentalists, hunters and hikers. WDFW hopes the dis- parate panelists can reach con- sensus on the state’s growing wolf population. Martorello said WDFW needed outside help to address deep-rooted confl icts. “We started having the meetings without a facilita- tor and found it be extremely challenging,” Martorello said. “We tried an in-house facilita- tor from the department and still found we weren’t making progress on these issues.” Martorello defended clos- ing the morning session, where the group will hear from Woodland Park Zoo vice president for conservation Fred Koontz and a teenager from Kids for Wolves. He compared the meet- ing with a tour of ranches the group took in May. The group is scheduled to hear from hunters at its next meeting. Wolf advisory group meet- ings are not subject to the state’s public meetings law, though the WDFW has a general policy of opening up meetings of publicly funded panels that advise the depart- ment and presumably shape decisions. The wolf advisory group was scheduled to gather Wednesday evening at Wolf Haven International, an an- imal refuge in Tenino, with WDFW providing dinner. “To me, there are transpar- ency issues,” said state Sen. Brian Dansel, whose north- east Washington district has the heaviest concentration of wolves. Dansel opposed legisla- tion authorizing WDFW to hire a consultant to lead wolf meetings. The legislation failed, but WDFW funded the position out of its capital budget. Dansel called the adviso- ry group a “bad vehicle” for setting wolf policy, which he said should be left to legisla- tors or the Fish and Wildlife Commission. “I’ve never really had faith in the wolf advisory group,” he said. “It’s like, mass spe- cial interest.” Madden interviewed doz- ens of legislators, ranch- ers, environmentalists and WDFW offi cials this year for an $82,000 report on the wolf management confl ict. “After meeting her, I have to say she may have the abili- ty to bridge the groups that are somewhat dug in,” said House Agriculture and Natural Re- sources Committee chairman Brian Blake, D-Aberdeen.