10 CapitalPress.com
January 13, 2017
Oregon
Investigation turns up dead,
malnourished cattle in E. Oregon
Sheriff’s office
recommending
animal
neglect charges
By GEORGE PLAVEN
EO Media Group
HERMISTON, Ore. —
Fourteen dead cattle were dis-
covered Jan. 7 at a property
on Columbia Lane and South
Edwards Road in Hermiston,
which the Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Office is investigat-
ing as a case of animal ne-
glect.
Fifteen other cattle were
so malnourished they could
not be moved safely, accord-
ing to Sheriff Terry Rowan.
One calf was so weak it could
not stand and had to be euth-
anized, Rowan said. None of
the sick animals appeared to
have enough food or water.
Authorities are working
with a special prosecutor from
Benton County who special-
izes in animal neglect cases,
and reports should be turned
in to the Umatilla County dis-
trict attorney soon.
Rowan said investiga-
tors will recommend press-
ing charges against the cattle
owner, 55-year-old Michael
Hockensmith of Hermiston.
For now, though, the cattle
have technically been seized,
but Rowan said the animals
will be left in place due to
their numbers and fragile
health. Officers will be check-
ing daily to make sure they
receive proper care.
“We do not believe they
can be transported without fur-
ther loss,” Rowan said. “From
this point forward, we’re just
ensuring continued care.”
The incident was first re-
ported Jan. 5 by an anony-
mous caller who noticed sev-
en dead cows that were clearly
visible from across Columbia
Lane. A search warrant was
served Jan. 7, and Rowan
said they found a total of 14
dead cattle — mostly yearling
calves.
Fifteen more cows were
badly malnourished, Rowan
said, and separated from the
rest of the herd where they
were treated by veterinarians.
During their investigation,
officers found that a water
trough for the sickest animals
was frozen over with six inch-
es of ice.
“They weren’t able to get
to water for a couple of days,”
Rowan said.
Some of the cattle were
also very skinny, Rowan said,
with their backbones and hip
bones showing.
“These are Angus cattle
that are typically well-round-
ed animals,” he said. “Our
evaluation and evidence
would point to neglect or in-
adequate feed.”
The carcasses of the dead
animals had been left outside
for several days, Rowan said,
though state law requires car-
casses be buried or burned
within 15 hours.
Hockensmith, who did
not return calls for comment,
was apparently the only one
caring for the animals. Row-
an said Hockensmith seemed
willing to work with the sher-
iff’s office to care for the ani-
mals while they remain on his
property.
“Hopefully, we can create
a partnership there to where
he is willing to provide ade-
quate care,” Rowan said. “We
will just continue to monitor
it.”
Environmentalists win $60,000 for blocking juniper removal
Ranchers worry
the prohibition
will impede sage
grouse recovery
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
An environmentalist group
has won more than $60,000 in
attorney fees for blocking ju-
niper removal with motorized
vehicles on 80,000 acres in
Eastern Oregon.
U.S. District Judge Garr
King has awarded the Oregon
Natural Desert Association
nearly $63,500 because the
nonprofit prevailed in a lawsuit
opposing the use of motorized
vehicles in an 80,000-acre “wil-
derness study area” near Steens
Mountain.
Ranchers and local officials
worry the prohibition against
motorized vehicles will im-
Eric Mortenson/Capital Press File
A mature Western Juniper was cut down as part of a removal proj-
ect on private land near Prineville, Ore., in this 2015 photo.
pede juniper removal to the
detriment of habitat for the sage
grouse.
The bird’s declining popula-
tion has prompted restoration ef-
forts in the arid West to forestall
its designation as a threatened
species, which would likely cur-
tail cattle grazing on public land.
In 2015, King found that
the U.S. Bureau of Land Man-
agement had interpreted its au-
thority too broadly in allowing
for the “administrative” use of
off-road motorized vehicles to
cut and remove juniper trees,
which crowd out sage brush and
sap water.
Since then, ONDA has
sought $70,000 in attorney fees
from BLM under the Equal
Access to Justice Act, which
requires compensation for plain-
tiffs who successfully challenge
government actions that aren’t
“substantially justified.”
The BLM argued that
ONDA doesn’t qualify for attor-
ney fees in this case because the
agency was substantially jus-
tified in trying to reconcile one
legal provision that requires ju-
niper management with another
that restricts off-road motorized
vehicles.
The judge said that while
he’s “sympathetic” with the dif-
ficulty of removing juniper on
a large scale without motorized
vehicles, BLM’s attempt to rec-
oncile the two provisions was
“simply not reasonable.”
King also said the amount of
time ONDA’s attorneys spent
on the case was “eminently rea-
sonable” and found their hourly
rates were justified “considering
their experience, skill, and repu-
tation.”
Counties pressured to exit
$1.4 billion forest lawsuit
Class action seeks
compensation
for change in
forest policy
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Fifteen Oregon counties
must soon decide whether to
opt out of a class action law-
suit seeking $1.4 billion for
allegedly insufficient logging
in state forests.
As the Jan. 25 deadline ap-
proaches, a coalition of envi-
ronmental and fishing groups
is urging counties and the
taxing entities within them —
including school and fire dis-
tricts — to exit the litigation.
The North Coast State
Forest Coalition, which rep-
resents the seven organiza-
tions, hopes to send a message
that counties and taxing dis-
tricts see state forests as more
than just “piggy banks,” said
Chris Smith, the coalition’s
coordinator.
Linn County is the lead
plaintiff in the lawsuit but its
boundaries contain far fewer
acres of state forestland than
Tillamook, Clatsop and Wash-
ington counties, he said.
“If some of the bigger
counties opt out, the merits
of the case are then suspect,”
said Smith.
John DiLorenzo, the attor-
ney representing Linn Coun-
ty, said the groups within the
coalition have nothing to lose
with their request, but coun-
ties and tax districts will suf-
fer remorse if they opt out.
“It’s a half-baked strate-
gy,” DiLorenzo said.
The lawsuit simply aims
to recoup revenues lost by the
counties when the State of Or-
egon changed forest policies
in 1998 to focus on the en-
vironment and recreation in-
stead of maximizing logging,
he said.
By making that deci-
sion, Oregon’s government
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Fifteen counties and roughly
130 tax districts are being
pressured by environmental
and fishing groups to opt out
of a $1.4 billion lawsuit that
accuses Oregon’s government
of insufficiently logging state
forests.
breached its contract with
counties, which turned over
their forestlands in the early
20th Century in return for a
portion of timber revenues,
DiLorenzo said.
Counties and tax districts
that exclude themselves from
the lawsuit won’t impact for-
est policy because the case is
purely about financial damag-
es, he said.
“Opting out is a useless
gesture that amounts to turn-
ing down money,” DiLorenzo
said. “They will have a lot of
explaining to do the next time
they ask voters for more mon-
ey.”
Entities that exit the litiga-
tion also won’t have any influ-
ence if Oregon does decide to
enter settlement negotiations,
he said. “You have to be at the
table to have a judge listen to
you.”
Smith, of the North Coast
State Forest Coalition, coun-
tered that counties and other
entities that opt out of the case
will reduce the state’s possi-
ble liability and thus the pres-
sure to settle.
“They haven’t won the
case yet and I’m not at all sure
they will,” he said.
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