NEWS
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
A11
Judge revokes Hammonds’ grazing permit, sends it back to BLM
By Mateusz Perkowski
EO Media Group
A federal judge has effec-
tively revoked a grazing per-
mit for Oregon’s Hammond
Ranches, ruling that it was
renewed contrary to regula-
tions and thus unlawful.
U.S. District Judge
Michael Simon has deter-
mined that former Inte-
rior Secretary Ryan Zinke
didn’t properly justify his
decision earlier this year to
renew the grazing permit for
ranchers Dwight and Ste-
ven Hammond, a father and
son who’d been convicted
of arson and then received a
presidential pardon.
The U.S. Bureau of Land
Management had previously
decided against renewing
the grazing permit for Ham-
mond Ranches in 2014, after
a jury had found the Ham-
monds guilty of setting fi res
to public rangeland.
Contrary to federal reg-
ulations, Zinke didn’t con-
duct the analysis necessary
to fi nd that their company,
Hammond Ranches, had a
“satisfactory record of per-
formance” by reviewing the
“nature and seriousness” of
incidents in which they’d
failed to comply with graz-
ing rules, the judge said.
“It was arbitrary and
capricious, an abuse of dis-
cretion, not rationally con-
nected to the facts before the
agency, inconsistent with the
governing statutes and regu-
lations, and an unexplained
change in agency practice
and procedure,” Simon said.
EO Media Group was
unable to reach the Ham-
monds for comment as of
press time.
Although the Hammonds
were pardoned by President
Donald Trump in 2018 and
released from prison before
completing their manda-
tory fi ve-year prison sen-
tences, that doesn’t provide
a suffi cient basis for renew-
ing their grazing permit, the
judge said.
The pardons could have
Baker City Herald
Baker City Herald
Steven Hammond
Dwight Hammond
been issued for multiple rea-
sons and don’t necessar-
ily mean the president dis-
counted the seriousness of
their crimes in the context of
grazing regulations, Simon
said.
“The President may have
believed that the shorter sen-
tences originally imposed
of three months for Dwight
Hammond and one year and
one day for Steven Ham-
mond were more equita-
ble,” the judge said. “Such
a belief would not show that
the underlying crimes were
not serious or did not sup-
port permit nonrenewal, but
follows regulatory proce-
dures, the judge said. “Thus,
it is far from certain that
a renewal permit will be
issued after remand.”
The consequences of
vacating the grazing per-
mit renewal would not have
severe consequences for
BLM, aside from “the loss
of a few thousand dollars
in grazing revenue,” Simon
said.
Nor would the impact be
“economically disastrous”
for Hammond Ranches,
which was “able to main-
tain its ranching operation
and obtain private grazing
‘IF GRAZING IS MANAGED
PROPERLY, IT’S HEALTHY
FOR THE LANDSCAPE.’
Luther Hajek, an attorney
representing the government
merely that they did not sup-
port fi ve years of confi ne-
ment in a federal prison.”
Due to these “serious
errors,” Simon said it was
more appropriate to over-
turn the renewal of Ham-
mond Ranches’ grazing per-
mit rather than allow it to
remain in place while the
agency reconsiders the deci-
sion under the proper regu-
latory framework.
That’s particularly true
since BLM may eventu-
ally decide the Hammonds
didn’t have a “satisfactory
record of performance,”
once the agency properly
for the previous fi ve years
when it had no federal graz-
ing permit and, presumably,
during this past year when it
was allowed only reduced
grazing.”
The judge issued his rul-
ing on Dec. 20, a day after
hearing oral arguments
between attorneys for the
BLM and several environ-
mental groups that sued the
federal government over the
grazing permit’s renewal.
The BLM had argued
against a motion by the
environmental
plaintiffs
to revoke the Hammonds’
grazing permit, claiming
that Zinke properly consid-
ered the pardons in deciding
to renew the ranchers’ graz-
ing authorization.
“The secretary did have
the authority to make the
decision he did,” said Luther
Hajek, an attorney repre-
senting the government.
For Zinke, the pardons
were relevant when exam-
ining the ranchers’ “record
of performance” in regards
to maintaining rangeland
health, including the seri-
ousness of past non-com-
pliance with the govern-
ment’s standards, according
to BLM.
The grazing decision
was consistent with BLM’s
grazing regulations and
did not violate the Fed-
eral Land Policy and Man-
agement Act, nor did the
lack of a full environmen-
tal analysis run afoul of the
National
Environmental
Policy Act, according to the
government.
The BLM appropriately
used a “categorical exclu-
sion” to exempt the graz-
ing permit renewals from
such an assessment, since it
was within Zinke’s discre-
tion to fi nd an environmen-
tal analysis to be unneces-
sary based on the decision’s
environmental signifi cance,
the agency said.
Even if the grazing per-
mit renewal violated fed-
eral law, the decision should
be sent back to the BLM
for reconsideration while
allowing grazing to con-
tinue at the reduced levels
ordered by the judge earlier
this year, according to BLM.
Not revoking the graz-
ing permits would reduce
fi re risks by keeping fuels in
check, Hajek said. “If graz-
ing is managed properly, it’s
healthy for the landscape.”
Any legal errors com-
mitted in the case weren’t
serious, while the reduced
grazing level currently in
place is suffi cient to allay
the plaintiffs’ environmen-
tal concerns about impacts
to the sage grouse and red-
Fishtrap Fireside welcomes two local writers
and EOU’s new dean for Jan. 3 reading
ENTERPRISE — Fish-
trap Fireside starts off the
new year with two Wal-
lowa County locals and a
special guest from Union
County.
People are invited to
find a seat by the fire and
hear readings from Moll
McCarty, Ralph Swinehart
and Nate Lowe, Eastern
Oregon University’s dean
of the College of Arts,
Humanities, and Social
Sciences.
“Fishtrap has devel-
oped a unique partnership
with EOU through Fish-
trap College and Summer
Fishtrap” said Mike Midlo,
Fishtrap program manager.
“It’s an honor to introduce
Nate to the Fireside audi-
ence and have him read.”
The free event is on
Friday, Jan. 3 at 7 p.m. at
Fishtrap, 400 E. Grant St.,
Enterprise. An open mic
follows where audience
members have a chance to
get up to the podium and
share their stories.
Fishtrap Fireside is a
free monthly event for
Wallowa County writ-
ers to read and share their
work. The program takes
place the first Friday of
the month October through
April. For more infor-
mation, contact Midlo at
mike@fishtrap.org, 541-
426-3623 or visit www.
fishtrap.org.
band trout, he said.
“It’s not necessary to
vacate the permit to main-
tain those environmental
conditions,” Hajek said.
The environmental plain-
tiffs — Western Watersheds
Project, Center for Bio-
logical Diversity and Wil-
dearth Guardians — argued
the grazing permit renewal
was unlawful because the
Hammonds don’t meet the
requirement for a “satisfac-
tory record of performance.”
“Livestock
grazing
on public lands is a priv-
ilege, not a right,” said
David Becker, attorney for
the environmental groups.
“Like any privilege, it’s
subject to revocation if it’s
abused.”
The presidential pardons
don’t change the ranchers’
past actions that caused their
request for grazing re-au-
thorization to be denied in
2014, the groups argued.
The BLM should also have
evaluated the decision’s
impacts on the sage grouse,
rangeland health, invasive
weeds and fi re risks, the
plaintiffs claim.
Just because President
Trump pardoned the Ham-
monds does not indicate he
thought their crimes weren’t
serious, Becker said. “There
is nothing on the face of
either pardon about what the
president’s intent was.”
The decision to renew the
Hammonds’ grazing rights
was “egregious” because
Zinke “invented a rationale
out of thin air,” which jus-
tifi es overturning it, Becker
said.
It’s possible for the BLM
to take into account that
the Hammonds have paid
their debt to society, but the
renewal decision should fol-
low the proper regulations
and undergo environmental
assessment, he said.
“The secretary and the
BLM completely cut the
public out of the manage-
ment process for this allot-
ment,” Becker said, adding
that dangerous environmen-
tal effects from revoking the
decision were unlikely.
“There’s no showing of
highly disruptive conse-
quences,” he said.
A jury convicted the
Hammonds of arson in
2012, with Dwight Ham-
mond receiving a three-
month prison sentence for
igniting a fi re in 2001 that
consumed about 140 acres
of federal grassland. His
son, Steven Hammond, was
sentenced to a year behind
bars for that blaze as well as
another fi re that spread onto
an acre of public grassland.
However, the ranchers
were sent back to prison in
2016 after the 9th U.S. Cir-
cuit Court of Appeals ruled
that they must both complete
the federal mandatory mini-
mum sentence of fi ve years
for arson. A protest against
their re-imprisonment pre-
cipitated an armed stand-
off at the Malheur National
Wildlife Refuge.
Happy
Holidays!
Wallowa County
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Whoo’s there? Georgia family discovers owl in Christmas tree
ATLANTA — A Georgia
family got a real hoot from
its Christmas tree: More than
a week after they bought it,
they discovered a live owl
nestled among its branches.
Katie McBride Newman
said Friday that she and her
daughter spotted the bird on
Dec. 12. They had bought
the 10-foot tall tree from a
Home Depot, brought it back
to their Atlanta area home
and decorated it with lights
and, coincidentally, owl
ornaments.
“It was surreal, but we
weren’t really freaked out
about it,” McBride New-
man said. “We’re really out-
doorsy people. We love the
wilderness.”
The family opened win-
dows and doors near the tree
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Enterprise, OR 97828
541-426-6210
Time
again for the
Lollipop
Drawing
hoping the owl would fl y
away, but it didn’t.
“The owl seemed to be
pretty comfortable, and I
thought, ‘Hey buddy, it’s not
going to go well if you just
stay here. There’s no food,
I’m sorry,’” said McBride
Newman’s husband, Billy
Newman.
So the family called a non-
profi t nature center for help.
Merr
s
a
y
m
t
C
s
i
h
r
&H
appy New Year
The Chattahoochee Nature
Center caught the bird and
helped the family release it.
McBride Newman said
she believed the bird had
been in the tree since they
bought it, but was hidden.
“We think he was just in
there hugging the trunk,” she
said. “It’s a very dense tree
and it was very fresh. That’s
why we picked it.”
107 E. Main St.
541.426.3351
Always open at
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