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Goats clear a pasture of
weeds south of Spokane.
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
How targeted grazing
on public lands
is changing
Volume 95, Number 24
S
POKANE, Wash. — When Craig
Madsen left his job as a range con-
servationist for USDA to start his
own goat grazing business, he recalls
some people thought he was crazy.
“It took a while to get people to realize
it’s not a dumb idea to use goats to do vege-
tation work,” said Madsen.
When he started his Spokane-based busi-
ness, Healing Hooves, in 2000, Madsen
struggled to get work. Twenty-two years
later, he’s so inundated with requests he
turns many down.
“There’s more demand than supply,” said
Madsen.
The past six years, the shepherd has seen
increased interest in targeted grazing, espe-
cially after goats were credited with help-
ing save the Ronald Reagan Presidential
Library from a California wildfi re in 2019
by eating fi rebreaks around the building.
See Grazing, Page 9
LEFT: Craig Madsen in a pasture south of
Spokane, where 200 of his goats get weeds under
control. | RIGHT: Stacy Davies, manager of Roaring
Springs Ranch. | BELOW: The crew at Roaring
Springs Ranch herds cattle, with Davies riding center.
Roaring Springs Ranch is working with the BLM on a
pilot project that experiments with more fl exibility
surrounding grazing regulations.
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Roaring Springs Ranch
Groups fi le petition to reconsider Departures shake up leadership
permit for large chicken farm
at Washington Farm Bureau
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
SCIO, Ore. — Oppo-
nents of a commercial
chicken farm slated for the
Mid-Willamette Valley are
asking Oregon regulators
to re-evaluate the facility’s
permit, and either add new
requirements to better pro-
tect water quality or revoke
their approval altogether.
The state Department of
Agriculture and Department
of Environmental Qual-
ity issued a Confi ned Ani-
mal Feeding Operation, or
CAFO, permit for J-S Ranch
in Scio, Ore., on May 26.
A coalition of groups
petitioned the agencies on
June 9 to reconsider the
operation, citing potential
risks to surface and ground
water.
J-S Ranch will raise about
3.5 million broiler chickens
annually for Foster Farms.
Kendra Kimbirauskas, who
raises beef, hogs and goats
on 70 acres in Scio, said the
permit issued “does not ade-
quately protect our water
and wells from the inev-
itable pollution from this
mega-poultry operation.”
“Instead, ODA must pro-
tect our community, farms
and water from this incur-
sion of massive Foster
Farms chicken operations,”
she said.
Kimbirauskas is an orga-
nizer of Farmers Against
Foster Farms, which formed
last year to protest several
proposed poultry CAFOs in
Marion and Linn counties,
including J-S Ranch.
In addition to Farmers
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
USDA ARS
Several groups have re-
quested state regulators
to review approval of a
chicken farm planned for
the Willamette Valley of
Oregon.
Against Foster Farms, peti-
tioners include Willamette
Riverkeeper, Friends of
Family Farmers, Humane
Voters Oregon, Food &
Water Watch, the Center for
Food Safety, Animal Legal
Defense Fund and Center
for Biological Diversity.
See Farm, Page 9
Washington
Farm
Bureau’s top leaders for the
past decade have left for
other jobs in recent weeks
as the organization shifts
course under its new pres-
ident, King County farmer
Rosella Mosby.
CEO John Stuhlmiller,
Chief Financial Offi cer
Enrique “Rick” Gastelum
and director of government
relations Tom Davis have
departed, taking with them
a total of 37 years of experi-
ence with the Farm Bureau.
The organization has yet to
hire replacements.
Mosby said Tuesday that
all three chose to leave for
other positions. The board
is interviewing candidates
to replace Stuhlmiller, who
will have the title adminis-
trative vice president, not
CEO, she said.
Mosby said she wanted
to make changes at the
Farm Bureau, but that she
and the board are still work-
ing on specifi cs.
Mosby was elected pres-
“We’re doing a lot of
that refl ective work right ident in November at the
now,” she said. “When I annual convention, defeat-
ran for president, I ran with ing Kittitas County farmer
the message that we need Brad Haberman, who had
to pivot in our approach in been a state vice president
how we deal with agricul- since 2016. LaPlant did not
seek re-election.
tural issues.”
After two years
Stuhlmiller had
of COVID, peo-
been CEO since
ple came to the
2013 and was direc-
convention
with
tor of government
“pent-up
ideas,
relations for the
pent-up emotions,”
previous nine years.
said Gastelum, who
He is now execu-
had been CFO since
tive director of the
Mosby
2013. “There was
Washington State
a groundswell of
Water Resources
Association, which rep- people who wanted to see
changes,” he said.
resents irrigation districts.
Gastelum left in May
Stuhlmiller said Tues-
day he worked closely with to become the director of
Grant County farmer Mike WAFLA, which recruits
LaPlant, who had been foreign farmworkers for
state Farm Bureau presi- its members. He said the
dent for 10 years. Mosby job was a professional
advancement and that he
wanted change, he said.
“There was a new direc- would have sought it under
tion desired,” said Stuhl- any circumstances.
Gastelum said he and
miller, who signed an
agreement not to criti- Stuhlmiller had been a
cize the Farm Bureau. “It’s “one-two punch” for a
really unclear to me what
See Bureau, Page 9
that direction is.”
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