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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
Crook County asserts greater role in use of federal land
Pro-development
nod to Trump
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
PRINEVILLE — Encour-
aged by the Trump adminis-
tration’s pro-development pol-
icies, Crook County wants to
take some control over federal
lands that cover half of the high
desert, mountains and forests
within its borders.
The three-member Crook
County Court governing body
unanimously approved the
Natural Resources Policy after
a public meeting Wednesday in
which people spoke passion-
ately for and against the policy.
A sign at the building’s
entrance asked attendees to
leave their weapons in their
cars, and they were told by
County Judge Seth Crawford
to be respectful of each other.
Crawford is the elected county
administrator, not a courtroom
judge.
The policy notes that “tim-
ber harvest, ranching, farming,
and mining are the lifeblood
of Crook County’s economy”
and that “humans are entitled
to an equal opportunity to use
federal and private lands for
both recreation and economic
growth.”
At least two other counties
— Owyhee County in Idaho
and Baker County in Ore-
gon — have enacted similar
provisions.
The Crook County pol-
icy was drafted by a politi-
AP Photo/Andrew Selsky
Pete Sharp, a member of the Central Oregon Patriots and
of the political action committee that drafted a land use
plan adopted by the Crook County commissioners, speaks
after the commission meeting Wednesday in Prineville.
cal action committee created
by a group known as Central
Oregon Patriots that backed
Crawford in the election a year
ago. His rival had opposed an
earlier version of the land use
plan.
“This plan puts Crook
County front and center in
an aggressive challenge of
federal authority on public
lands,” said Sarah Cuddy, of
the environmental group Ore-
gon Wild, who attended the
meeting.
Patrick Lair, a spokes-
man for the Ochoco National
Forest, said the Forest Ser-
vice would have to wait and
see how the county pursues
the new policy. The county’s
opinions are valued but are
just a part of federal consider-
ations, he said.
“As a federal agency, we
have obligations to take input
from all citizens and stake-
holders, not just those who live
closest,” Lair said.
Ponderosa pines
The 1,330 square-mile
national forest features stands
of majestic Ponderosa pines
that were once used to feed
five sawmills. All the mills
were shuttered years ago as
logging took a plunge.
County
Commissioner
Jerry Brummer said after the
meeting that he believes the
Trump administration will
be receptive to the county’s
attempt to assert its author-
ity in helping manage federal
lands.
“We’ve got to go up the
ladder. A lot of this is policy
change,” Brummer said.
Crook County Court pre-
viously considered the policy
more than a year ago — before
elections shifted the politi-
cal landscape. Federal Bureau
of Land Management district
head Carol Benkosky warned
it would create an adversar-
ial relationship with federal
agencies.
Since then, Wyoming law-
yer Karen Budd-Falen, a key
figure in the county supremacy
movement, advised the county
about modifying the plan.
Budd-Falen served on Pres-
ident Donald Trump’s transi-
tion team and has been men-
tioned as a possible nominee
to lead the Bureau of Land
Management.
The movement that Budd-
Falen has championed since
the 1980s pushed to ensure
federal land managers’ plans
were consistent with the “cus-
toms and cultures” of the
counties in which the fed-
eral lands were located, said
R. McGreggor Cawley, a pro-
fessor of environmental poli-
tics and public administration
at the University of Wyoming.
Another takeover
Opponents of the Crook
County policy predicted fed-
eral agencies will ignore it,
and they fear it could spark an
armed takeover such as the one
at Malheur National Wildlife
Refuge two years ago.
Pete Sharp, a member of
the Central Oregon Patriots
and the political action com-
mittee that drafted the land-
use plan, said his group is not
a militia.
He said he believes in guns
and agreed with those who
occupied the wildlife refuge
in an adjacent county for 41
days to protest federal land
use policies. But Sharp said he
wouldn’t take up arms to push
his agenda.
“I would not even think
about that kind of thing,”
Sharp, 74, said in an inter-
view, wearing a black leather
vest over a red shirt and cow-
boy hat and boots. He said
elections were a more produc-
tive and less disruptive way to
achieve goals.
Chris Scranton held a sign
during the meeting that said,
“I love public land.” He said
he believes the local PAC
“has the same motivations and
goals as the … Malheur occu-
piers although their tactics are
different.”
The people behind the new
policy “do not believe people
like me who are not extracting
resources but instead are bird-
ing, hunting, fishing, flow-
er-sniffing etc. have the same
rights to the land as they do,”
Scranton said in an email.
Opponents also noted
the Ochoco Forest Resto-
ration Collaborative, with a
wide variety of stakehold-
ers, already works with fed-
eral officials about land
management.
Steve Forrester, who had
a career in forestry products
and is now city manager of
Prineville, the county seat,
said he favors the new policy.
“If you don’t communicate
and educate, you’re going to
get run over,” he said outside
the hearing room.
The new policy takes effect
in 120 days.
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