12 CapitalPress.com
FROG
CONTINUED from Page 1
Irrigation districts in-
volved in the case have ob-
jected to the request, noting
that environmentalists opted
to move forward with their
injunction motion instead of
mediation.
The irrigators agree that
April 1, 2016
mediation is the next appro-
priate step in the lawsuit but
argue that such negotiations
aren’t precluded by an official
ruling.
A written opinion would
“provide useful guidance to the
mediator” and “certainly aid in
setting reasonable expectations
for settlement and future pro-
ceedings in this case.”
It’s likely that the plaintiffs
want to avoid a written ruling
because they don’t want the
denial of their injunction to
later be cited as legal prec-
edent, said Scott Horngren,
an attorney with the Western
Resources Legal Center, a
nonprofit that helps farmers,
ranchers and timber compa-
nies in legal disputes.
The irrigation districts, on
the other hand, would benefit
from an official ruling in fu-
ture litigation over the frog or
other species, Horngren said.
Environmentalists
may
recognize they were “shooting
for the moon” in their prelim-
inary injunction request and
now want lesser restrictions
imposed on the reservoirs, he
said. “They might be willing
to settle for less.”
Aside from issue of the
ruling, environmentalists also
want a “bifurcated” trial, un-
der which the court would
first consider whether the ir-
rigators violated the law and
only later consider a potential
remedy, such as an injunction.
The irrigation districts op-
pose that proposal because
it’s possible the case may be
resolved or dismissed without
a need for such a proceeding.
The plaintiffs may want
the judge to solely consider
legal issues without imme-
diately taking into account
the impact on irrigators, said
Horngren.
The defendants, on the
other hand, may want to avoid
the ordeal of an expensive tri-
al and fight the environmen-
talist claims through other
legal procedures, he said.
SURVIVAL
CONTINUED from Page 1
Over the following few
months, Scholz sold 200
mother cows, reducing their
number to 500 because he
could no longer feed them all.
He says he felt heartsick.
The losses. The thought
of selling the land he loves.
The land where he was
raised. The land settled by
his great-grandfather, Dan-
iel Graham, in 1888, a year
before Washington became a
state. It was overwhelming.
“I couldn’t have done it
without Bobbi,” Scholz says
of his wife, 47, who grew up
in the same valley and whose
parents, Robert “Bunk” and
Barb Ayers, own the next
ranch up Pine Creek.
Seven months later, Scholz
is one of a couple dozen
ranchers in Okanogan County
still trying to make a living in
the ashes of the wildfires of the
last two summers. More than
1 million acres were burned,
50 to 80 percent of it state and
federal grazing allotments.
Scholz has miles of fencing
to fix and spent double what he
normally does on hay to get his
cattle through the winter.
That’s on top of two loads
of donated hay and two vouch-
ers for hay through a state
Conservation
Commission
program funded by the Depart-
ment of Ecology.
Two major factors have
kept him from going under.
First, in early January, a
rancher near Toppenish, 200
miles to the south, agreed to
take 250 of his mother cows,
half his remaining herd, for a
year or two. They worked out
a percentage on the sale of the
calves.
Second, after intervention
by Okanogan County commis-
sioners, the U.S. Forest Service
agreed to reopen unburned and
lesser-burned areas to grazing.
Scholz’s USFS grazing ground
didn’t burn and he will be able
to graze 239 cow-calf pairs on
it for the summer starting in
June. He’ll keep a few other
head on his land through sum-
mer, but he won’t be able to
graze his state DNR-permitted
ground for a year.
Scholz usually cuts and
bales three-fourths of the hay
he needs each year for his
cattle but doesn’t know if his
fields will come back enough
to do that this year.
Decisions can be a delicate
balancing act. If he sells too
many cows in one year it in-
creases his capital gains taxes
EPA
CONTINUED from Page 1
remedy,” according to EPA
records.
The campaign has cost ap-
proximately $568,000 to date
and is continuing, according
to reports the tribe filed with
EPA.
The website alleges farm-
ers are unregulated and pollute
waterways, and promotes a let-
ter-writing campaign to state
legislators requesting manda-
tory 100-foot buffers between
fields and waterways.
The website was revised
after EPA’s “extensive review
and engagement,” according to
a tribe report last fall.
EPA regional policy adviser
Bill Dunbar said that the agen-
cy had no comment on the web-
site other than it didn’t violate
prohibitions on using federal
funds to lobby.
“Our input was focused on
the question of the legality of
language urging people to po-
litically engage,” he said. “Our
people noted for the tribe what
activities would not be permit-
ted under the law. At a later
point our attorneys reviewed
revised language — what is
on the website now — and de-
termined it did not violate the
law.”
The federal funds also
paid for online and radio ads,
social media, billboards and
attempts to place stories in
Courtesy of Jean Hawthorne
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Melvin Utt, 92, and Jim Utt, 56, and their dog Dutch feed cattle on their ranch north of Riverside,
Wash., March 24. They will feed hay two months longer this spring because of last year’s wildfires.
“so then you’re essentially giv-
ing your cows away,” he says.
“We ain’t gonna quit,” he
says. “It’s just sometimes you
feel like it.”
Other ranchers cope
Scholz and other ranchers
tell the same story. Their pri-
vate spring and fall pastures
near their ranch houses are too
fire-damaged to graze. They
have to keep feeding their cat-
tle hay and then hope they can
summer graze them on state or
federal land. The availability
of that land is limited or con-
tingent upon the conditions
uncovered as the winter snow-
pack recedes.
The Scholz, Ayers, Jones
and Sasse ranches in the Pine
Creek area were among the
hardest-hit in the county, says
Jim DeTro, Okanogan County
commissioner.
He also includes the Utt,
Figlenski and Vejraska ranch-
es near Tunk Creek east of
Pine Creek, and the Haeberle,
Woodward and Cunningham
ranches in Conconully and
Johnson Creek and Albert Wil-
son in the Chewiliken Valley
north of Tunk Creek.
“The Figlenskis lost all
their houses (three), several
barns and hay and all their pas-
ture,” DeTro says.
“The Utts were thinking of
selling their whole herd until
we got this worked out to get
them back on grazing per-
mits,” he says.
The USFS officials started
out saying “no” to any grazing
but now will allow 105 cows
on his permit from about the
end of June to about the end of
September, says Jim Utt, 56.
That’s fewer cows than normal
and the duration is uncertain.
Meanwhile, Utt is feeding
two tons of hay per day at $160
per ton. That’s for 140 cows.
He’s already sold off 20 to 30
head and plans to sell more.
Scholz’s
mother-in-law,
Barb Ayers, says she and her
husband lost about 90 percent
of their permitted and pri-
vate grazing land, 12 cows,
16 calves, a barn, shop and a
house that was not their resi-
dence.
The state Department of
Fish and Wildlife is helping
them put up a mile of tem-
porary fencing so they can
graze 75 cow-calf pairs on
department land from April
15 to May 15. The Ayerses are
asking DNR to open grazing
ground on Coxit Mountain to
the north, but unless that hap-
pens they will be feeding their
cattle hay through the summer.
They’ve been knocked
back at least one-third finan-
cially and were lucky to get
some federal aid, she says.
“We know we will buy a
lot more hay this year than the
cows are worth, but it’s either
that or go out of business,” she
says. “We know this will be a
tough year.”
Craig Vejraska of Omak
lost 31 of his 700 mother cows
and 15 calves to the fire. Most
of his 4,000 acres of private
ground is burned and he’s
counting on a USFS grazing
permit to come through in July.
He says he will graze 700 acres
of his fields, forgoing 2,500 to
2,700 tons of hay production
and will have to buy more hay.
Rod Haeberle of Conconul-
ly lost 6,000 acres of his pri-
vate spring and fall grazing
land. He will summer graze
180 pair on a Forest Service
allotment that didn’t burn
and 75 pair, down from 154,
on another allotment that was
partially burned. He lost one
calf in the fire but his 500
mother cows survived. He
lost 40 miles of fencing and
200 tons of hay.
“For the first time in the
history of the ranch, we’ve
sold all our yearling heifers.
Normally, we keep 100 to
125 to replace older cows,” he
says. He sold them all because
of the lack of summer pasture.
Haeberle figures he will
spend $70,000 on hay from
mid-April to mid-June, when
he normally doesn’t have to
buy any.
“If we were financing to
any degree our land base, this
sort of thing would kill us,”
he says. “It will take us two
to three years to get our feet
back and that’s hugely de-
pendent on weather. So far it
looks good.”
Haeberle’s daughter, Ni-
cole Kuchenboo, president of
the Okanogan County Farm
Bureau, says the public per-
ception, even in the towns of
Omak and Okanogan, is that
with spring everything is better
for the ranchers.
“Actually, I think the
toughest days in fire recovery
are still ahead of us,” she says.
Expenses include spray-
ing, seeding, fencing, more
hay and hauling cattle to new
grazing ground farther away.
Some Haeberle cattle are on
newly leased pasture near
Havillah, about 40 miles to the
north.
A Smokey Bear sign is seen in the burned area near Loomis,
Wash. The Okanogan Complex Fire burned more than 133,000
acres in 2015.
Grazing flexibility
Haeberle and Scholz credit
DeTro and other county com-
missioners for taking a stand
that resulted in greater USFS
flexibility toward grazing.
“Early on, the USFS was
doing its usual Gestapo tactics.
At the first range meetings,
they were telling us we’d be
off these (grazing) permits
three years with no excep-
tions,” DeTro says.
The state DNR then became
more flexible in the Loomis
area, allowing a percentage of
AUMs — one-month’s forage
per cow-calf pair — instead of
a total grazing shutdown.
The USFS saw that, coun-
ty commissioners spoke up
and the USFS came around,
DeTro says.
The USFS agreed to allow
30 percent fewer AUMs in
areas 30 percent burned, for
example, and to be flexible on
grazing starting and ending
dates.
“I think DNR and USFS
now are pretty much on the
same page now of getting as
many AUMs out there as pos-
sible,” DeTro says. “There al-
ways will be some problems
given the amount of fire we
had, but I’m optimistic.”
As snowpack recedes,
agency biologists will reassess
the amount of grazing possi-
ble, he says.
Matt Reidy, a ranger in the
Tonasket District of the Okan-
ogan-Wenatchee National For-
est, says the district has 11 graz-
ing allotments totaling 85,880
acres. Some 30,874 acres of
that, or 36 percent, burned.
Shortly after the fires, all
mainstream media outlets.
“Take Action! We’ve made it
EPA records show the cam- from Strategies 360 to the
The message was crafted to simple.” Clicking on the link al- paign began taking shape in tribe’s Wasserman. “There is
persuade a “malleable” public lows people to send a form letter 2011 when the Swinomish tribe no clearly defined problem in
that Puget Sound is threatened, to their legislators by entering used EPA funds to hire Strate- people’s minds, as most do not
according to a memo from their zip code.
gies 360. Efforts to reach Strat- perceive a problem with exist-
Strategies 360, the public-rela-
“If it isn’t political cam- egies 360 for comment were ing water quality.”
tions firm, to the tribe’s envi- paigning and lobbying, I don’t unsuccessful.
To generate support for
ronmental policy director, Lar- know what is,” Baron said. “We
The grant was awarded to more laws, the public would
ry Wasserman.
do want EPA to be held account- inform the public about fish have to be persuaded the “sce-
Wasserman said the web- able on this by our own elected restoration, “consistent with nic appearance of Puget Sound,
site’s purpose was to inform officials.”
the Skagit Chinook Recovery rivers, lakes hides a growing
the public, noting statements
U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, Plan,” according to the tribe’s and dangerous problem,” ac-
on the website
cording to the
were linked to The Government Accountability Office concluded last year memo.
government re-
Subsequent-
that EPA engaged in “covert propaganda” in promoting its ly, according
ports.
“We’re just
to tribe reports,
new Waters of the United States clean-water rule.
trying to get in-
Strategies 360
formation out
developed
a
there that’s factual,” he said.
“more refined outreach pro-
who represents Central Wash- reports to the EPA.
The initiative comes as envi- ington’s agricultural-rich 4th
The plan was compiled by gram.”
ronmental groups are stepping District, is aware of the com- tribes and the Washington De-
“A strategic advertising
up efforts to regulate farmers, plaints and is concerned, partic- partment of Fish and Wildlife plan will be developed to reach
particularly dairies, through ularly in light of EPA’s past mis- to address how agriculture, log- a targeted audience both to raise
state rules or federal lawsuits.
use of social media, a Newhouse ging, roads, stormwater runoff awareness of the issue and build
Farm groups are calling the spokesman said.
and urban development con- public support for a regulatory
website a misuse of taxpayer
The Government Account- tribute to impaired water qual- remedy,” according to a tribe re-
dollars and dishonest for por- ability Office concluded last ity in the Skagit River basin.
port to EPA.
traying farmers as unregulated year that EPA engaged in “co-
The strategy was to “target
Six months after Strategies
polluters.
vert propaganda” in promoting 360 was hired, the tribe told those groups that we feel would
“We object for two reasons. its new Waters of the United EPA: “Message will focus on be most responsive to media
One, it’s illegal. There are many States clean-water rule.
water-quality issues, not nec- outreach associated with im-
rules and restrictions on using
U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBe- essarily tied to a single land- proving water quality,” accord-
taxpayer money for political ne, who represents northwest use concern.”
ing to another report.
purposes because it’s the foun- Washington, has also heard
The major theme that
A month later, in July 2012,
dation of political corruption. from frustrated constituents and Strategies 360 conducted a emerged was that farmers aren’t
Two, we object because it’s is watching the situation closely, statewide survey and found the legally obligated to protect wa-
false,” said Gerald Baron, ex- a DelBene spokeswoman said.
public wasn’t particularly wor- terways.
ecutive director of Save Family
Strategies 360 reported lim-
The campaign drew height- ried about water pollution.
Farming, a new group formed to ened attention in March when
“Water quality is not a ited success in “earned media,”
respond to criticism from envi- What’s Upstream billboards be- top-of-mind concern for most though a Seattle TV station did a
ronmental groups.
gan appearing on public buses Washingtonians and their “Problem Solvers investigation”
The What’s Upstream web- in Whatcom County, which has opinions on this issue are that was linked to on the what-
site includes a link labeled, a large number of dairies.
malleable,” stated the memo supstream.com website.
agencies began working with
ranchers regarding 2016 graz-
ing, Reidy says.
DeTro was helpful, propos-
als changed in November and
more heavily burned areas will
be rested in 2016 and re-evalu-
ated in 2017, he says. Electric
fencing or additional range
riders will keep cattle out of
burned areas on some allot-
ments, he says.
“Our intent is to provide for
the sustainability of rangeland,
and permittees share that same
goal,” Reidy says. “Winter
moisture has been very abun-
dant. I’m hopeful we will see a
good recovery.”
Relief efforts
“Everybody is dividing
herds to find them forage. It’s a
mad scramble by just about ev-
erybody affected. It’s a jigsaw
puzzle much more so than it’s
ever been,” says Craig T. Nel-
son, manager of the Okanogan
Conservation District.
Cattle sell-offs may not be as
severe as first feared, but there’s
no way to quantify it, he says.
“There was more despera-
tion right after the fire, but a lot
of ranchers are still in survival
mode,” Nelson says.
The USDA Farm Service
Agency is seeking $17 million
to help rebuild private, state
and federally owned fences,
according to the FSA’s Okan-
ogan loan manager.
The agency distributed
$500,000 among 20 Okano-
gan ranchers for 2014 live-
stock losses, $225,000 to
seven ranchers for 2015 and
has more claims to process for
both years, says Judy Olson,
FSA state director.
In a response on its website,
Save Family Farming notes
dairies must follow the state’s
manure-management law. Also,
farmers and ranchers can be
fined by the state Department of
Ecology for allowing livestock
to congregate in a stream, such
as the cows pictured at an un-
identified location on whatsup-
stream.com.
Save Family Farming also
took note of a photo of a dead
fish that had died after spawn-
ing. “Farmers don’t cause salm-
on to spawn and die,” the group
observed.
Other partners of What’s
Upstream include the Center
for Environmental Law & Pol-
icy, Western Environmental
Law Center and Puget Sound-
keeper. The organizations de-
fended the website’s accuracy
and purpose.
Puget Soundkeeper Execu-
tive Director Chris Wilke said
the website furthers the EPA’s
mission to educate people about
the environment and the Clean
Water Act. “It seems totally ap-
propriate for EPA to fund,” he
said. “The website is primarily
educational in nature.”
The Washington Farm Bu-
reau disputed the website’s por-
trayal of farmers poisoning fish
without restraints.
“Just on its face, it’s not ac-
curate. It’s deceptive,” the bu-
reau’s director of government
relations, Tom Davis, said. “I
think if you ask farmers, they
wouldn’t feel unregulated.”