10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2015 Fires: ‘Log it, graze it or watch it burn’ Stark difference About 370 miles to the south, near John Day , retired U.S. Bureau of Land Manage- ment forester Bob Vidourek, pointed out the difference 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. Forest Ser- vice 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. 28, the Canyon &UHHN¿UHURDUHGWKURXJK)RU est Service land and crested Little Creek Mountain. Vi- dourek’s home was put on a Level 3 “leave immediately” evacuation order but he wasn’t worried. The BLM land that had been thinned and cleaned up several years earlier 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.” 7KH ¿UH GLG EXUQ VRPH RI the BLM land but slowed con- siderably and stopped 1,000 feet from Vidourek’s house. Vidourek said he faced North Central Washington wildfires 36, voiced concerns about “mismanagement” of govern- ment lands. Their comments mirrored those of ranchers in southeastern Oregon after the massive 582,313-acre Long Draw and 430,000-acre Hol- ORZD\¿UHVRI ³7KHVH ¿UHV DUH QRW D VXU prise for those of us who live and work in e astern Washing- ton. We’ve been warning about the potential disastrous effects of federal and state manage- ment policies for many years,” said Nicole Kuchenbuch. Agencies have allowed forests to become overgrown and unhealthy, consumed by XQGHUEUXVKWKDW¶VIXHOIRU¿UHV 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 SDVVHVWRFXW¿UHOLQHVWRVRLO she said, adding that sod can be a fuel that’s almost impossible IRU¿UH¿JKWHUVWRH[WLQJXLVK 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 “aspha- lites — born on asphalt, raised on concrete and living in a ZRUOGRISODVWLFÀRZHUV´ Sandra Kaiser, spokeswom- an for the Washington State Department of Natural Re- sources, said the agency is fully on board with thinning forests WRGHFUHDVHWKHLU¿UHIXHOORDG “Last biennium we request- ed $20 million from the Leg- islature and got $10 million for forest health treatment and thinning,” she said. “It’s essen- tial to preparing landscape to UHVLVW¿UH,W¶VZRUNWKDWQHHGV to be done.” LQJ RI WKH &KHODQ 5HDFK ¿UH ¿UHVZHUHSRSSLQJHYHU\ZKHUH (from lightning) and guys were scrambling,” he said. About 130 miles to the northeast in Lauier, Wash., rancher Len McIrvin said the Stickpin, Graves Mountain and 5HQQHU/DNH¿UHVFDPHWRJHWK er on his range. He said he’s losing about 200,000 acres of grazing allotments, but saved 300 to 400 head of cattle and doesn’t know the fate of 300 to 400 others. “Up to now, no one’s really GRQHDQ\WKLQJWRVWRSWKH¿UHV It’s just protecting houses. It’s a let-burn policy. It’s the plan all along. It’s a proposed wilder- ness area so they (Forest Ser- vice) wouldn’t put a bulldozer in there. Later they did,” McIr- vin said. ³$OOWKHVH¿UHVWKHODVW years they let them burn. They refuse to come in and stomp out a little lightning strike. Courtesy of Nicole Kuchenbuch They use all the resources to Rancher Casey Kuchenbuch herds cattle toward his home field during the Okanogan fire, Aug. 18. More than 2 million save a little shack and lose bil- acres of Washington state has burned this summer, impacting scores of ranches. lions of dollars of livestock and timber,” he said. He agreed with the Kuchen- OH\ÀRRUZKHUHWKHLU%ODFN$Q * $UHDLQGHWDLO JXV QRZ JUD]H ¿HOGV LQWHQGHG buchs that the underlying prob- Four large wildfires burning in or near Okanogan County, Washington, for hay and fall forage. He lost lem is build up of forest and have scorched roughly 600,000 acres. Last year’s Carlton Complex half his Forest Service grazing sod fuel loads from no logging, WASH. was the state’s largest on record, burning more than 256,000 acres. allotment summer range, 200 thinning and grazing. Tonasket “A big sign that went up this tons of premium alfalfa hay 20 OKANOGAN 2015 2014 NATIONAL OKANOGAN and many miles of fencing that VSULQJLQ&ROYLOOHVD\Vµ3XEOLF FOREST 1. Chelan Complex lands. Log it, graze it or watch costs about $20,000 per mile. OKANOGAN ‡$FUHV NATIONAL it burn,’” he said. They rescued 120 cow-calf 20 ‡&RQWDLQPHQW FOREST pairs but 60 are missing. They 2. Carlton Complex (2014) Helping out ¿JXUHWKH\ZLOOKDYHWRUHGXFH ‡$FUHV Help has come from many their herd of 425 pairs and 100 ‡&RQWDLQPHQW,QDFWLYH replacement heifers and buy directions. Twisp Okanogan Complex At the request of the Okan- up to 750 tons of hay at about ‡$FUHV ogan County Cattlemen’s As- $150,000 to compensate for Carlton /DNH ‡&RQWDLQPHQW WKUHHPRQWKVRIH[WUDIHHGLQJ sociation, Monte and Laurie 4.7XQN%ORFN)LUH Nespelem split between fall and spring. Andrews, owners of Ag-Tech CONFEDERATED ‡$FUHV 8VXDOO\WKH\DUHVHOIVXI¿FLHQW Farm Services in Okanogan, TRIBES N ‡&RQWDLQPHQW HU Y with their own hay and grazing. are coordinating hay that’s L 5 miles 5 5.1RUWK6WDU)LUH &RO %HFDXVHRIWKH¿UHGDPDJH been donated from as far away X PEL D ‡$FUHV Coulee their grazing will be drastically as Spokane, the Tri-Cities, El- Dam ‡&RQWDLQPHQW 174 /DNH reduced for two or three years. lensburg and Mt. Vernon. &KHODQ *As of Sept. 2 As of Aug. 31, the feed store Well over 200 cattle, hay 155 174 DOUGLAS 17 %DQNV Sources: LQFLZHEQZFJJRY had received about 1,000 tons. and hobby ranches were im- Chelan /DNH JDFFQLIFJRYQZFF CHELAN LINCOLN GRANT “Cattle loss is not as great as pacted by the Okanogan, Tunk 172 97 Alan Kenaga/Capital Press DQG 1RUWK 6WDU ¿UHV 'H7UR ZKDWZH¿UVWWKRXJKWLWZRXOG said. Of that, about 20 are oper- be, maybe 5 percent, but a lot many hurdles when he tried He treated cattle with burned RQWKHVRXWKRIWKH¿UHKHVDLG ations with more than 200 head of ranchers haven’t found their to get the forest management feet and sold others, saying he 7KHUHDUHDORWRIJRRG¿UH of cattle that lost their spring cattle yet,” Monte Andrews projects going, but was even- would have to reduce his herd ¿JKWHUVEXWWKHUHZDVODFNRI and fall pastures, portions or said. In The Dalles , Elizabeth tually able to overcome them. from 700 to 200 for winter. coordination and delays of en- all of grazing allotments and Turner offered 1,200 acres of ³,¶PFRQ¿GHQWWKDWWKHZRUN “Gerald told them not to gagement, said rancher Casey haystacks. we did probably saved some of backburn anything up here. Kuchenbuch. Cass Gebbers, co-owner of dry pasture. Depending on the these houses,” he said, pointing +H¶VEHHQ¿JKWLQJ¿UH\HDUV Gebbers Farms and Gamble weather, it could hold 50 to 100 ‘Tough decision’ WRRWKHUQHDUE\KRPHV7KH¿UH and was adamant we didn’t Land & Timber, said he lost pair for two months and with “We had a tough decision. most of the rest of his DNR wheat stubble straw maybe “killed everything on the other need it,” said his wife, Bobbi. side of the mountain. I’m con- Kaiser, the DNR spokes- Move our cows and save them grazing allotments in this longer, she said. Oregon Country Natural ¿GHQWWKHZRUNZHGLGVORZHG woman, said she would have to or go build a Cat line,” Kuchen- \HDU¶V¿UHWKDWKHGLGQ¶WORVHLQ Beef Co-op is making a list of WKH¿UHGRZQ´ ¿QGRXWWKHIDFWVRIWKHVLWXD buch said. “I was promised by WKH&DUOWRQ¿UHODVW\HDU D KHDG RI¿FLDO KH ZRXOG KDYH Altogether, 95 percent of resources, she said. tion before commenting. Fire mismanagement “My hope is (burned out) Okanogan County Com- a Cat up there. It never hap- his allotments are burned out, Beside land mismanage- missioner Jim DeTro said he pened. We saved our cows. If and this year so far he has 18 ranchers don’t have to sell their ment, ranchers involved in repeatedly asked an agency I’d gone and had Gebbers with cows dead, 33 badly maimed cows, because once you sell :HVWHUQ¿UHVLQUHFHQW\HDUVDO — he declined to say which me there’s a high percentage and 46 pairs and 10 bred heif- them it’s almost impossible to lege state and federal miscues RQH²QRWWREDFNEXUQLQ3LQH chance I might have saved the ers missing, he said. buy bred cows later,” Turner LQ¿JKWLQJ¿UHVZKLOHSUDLVLQJ Canyon, but it did. As a result, rest of my summer range ...” “We barely got out of said. “If there’s enough re- HIIRUWVRIORFDO¿UH¿JKWHUV “We recognize they had the west fork of Rock Creek sources to move those animals the dozen or so ranches along In the Long Draw and Hol- 3LQH&UHHNORVWWKHLUVSULQJDQG limited resources and a mas- JDWKHULQJFDWWOHZKHQWKH¿UH around and not sell them, it’s ORZD\ ¿UHV LQ 2UHJRQ WKUHH fall grazing ground. VLYH¿UH´+DHEHUOHVDLG boiled out of there. It sound- better for feedlots and every- years ago, ranchers accused But a Forest Service con- ed like a jet engine,” Gebbers one in the Northwest.” ³7KH¿UHVZHSWDURXQGWKH A lot of the help came in the BLM of letting land burn to HDVW VLGH DQG ¿YH KRXUV DIWHU sultant turned around Gebbers’ said. H[SDQG GHVLJQDWHG ZLOGHUQHVV they did that burnout they were Cats and “they backburned the Early on, lightning ignited the form of neighbors helping areas. The BLM denied it. HYDFXDWLQJ3LQH&UHHN&UXP rest of our summer range and just inside the “donut hole,” one another. Oliver, the Seneca In Washington’s 256,108- bacher development and Riv- our cabin to try to save the acres of his private range he rancher, said a lot of ranchers DFUH &DUOWRQ ¿UH ODVW \HDU erside,” DeTro said. town,” Haeberle said. saved last year. “We threw dropped what they were doing many ranchers and others be- 6WDWH DQG IHGHUDO ¿UH¿JKW everything we had on it and and rushed to help him and DNR stepped up on early OLHYH WKH '15 OHW WKH ¿UH JR lightning strikes, using smoke ers went back to camp for the QDLOHGLWLQ¿YHWRDFUHVMXVW RWKHUV ZKR ZHUH ¿JKWLQJ WR to gain more federal dollars. jumpers on initial attacks, DeT- QLJKWEXWORFDO¿UH¿JKWHUVDQG an hour before high winds hit,” protect their operations. “It’s pretty shocking how More than 200 landowners ro said. “Then it had one or two volunteers held lines all night he said. DUH SUHSDULQJ WR ¿OH D ODZVXLW major screw-ups that turned because “it was our land and Gebbers’ Cats built and many people dropped every- seeking more than $75 million into catastrophic situations.” our homes,” Nicole Kuchen- held a line on the south side of thing they were doing and in damages for what their attor- WKH¿UHMXVWQRUWKRI+LJKZD\ came and helped us out,” he Things went well once Type buch said. ney says was “a series of inten- 1 management teams, which 20, and received “much more said. “We had a pile of help.” Ranch losses Capital Press staff writ- tional and negligent actions.” government support in hold- KDQGOHPDMRUZLOG¿UHVDUULYHG Haeberle lost all of his ing it” than they did last year, er Dan Wheat reported from In this year’s Okanogan he said. Okanogan, Wash., and staff ¿UH D 3LQH &UHHN UDQFKHU DNR contracted with Geb- 6,000 acres of spring and fall he said. Gerald Scholz, blamed DNR bers Farms, of Brewster, which pastures on the hillsides on “Government guys were writer Sean Ellis reported from backburning for the loss of his XVHG VL[ &DWHUSLOODU ' EXOO both sides of the still green val- stretched real thin. The morn- John Day . grazing land, timber and hay. dozers to build and hold a line Q JDQ 5L HU Continued from Page 1A Alt Fick:µ,¶PUHDOO\H[FLWHGWREHDKHDGFRDFK¶ Continued from Page 1A UHHU ZLWK D WKSODFH ¿QLVK in the 1999 OSAA state meet every day.’ But we’re coming at Lane Community College, up with different workouts, where the Fishermen placed different routes and different seventh in the team standings. coaches and teams to coordi- And that was back in the nate with. I enjoy all that.” GD\VRIWKHROGIRXUFODVVL¿FD