NEWS
BlueMountainEagle.com
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
A7
Beverlin transfers to position with Intermountain Region
By Blue Mountain Eagle
Steve Beverlin, for-
est supervisor on the Mal-
heur
National
Forest,
has accepted the posi-
tion of Director of Natu-
ral Resources for the Inter-
mountain Region in Ogden,
Utah.
He reports to his new
position on Jan. 20, accord-
ing to a Forest Service press
release. Craig Trulock, dep-
uty forest supervisor on
the Rogue-River Siskiyou
National Forest, will con-
tinue as acting forest super-
visor on the Malheur.
Beverlin joined the
Pacific Northwest Region
in 2012 as the deputy for-
est supervisor on the Mal-
heur. He was selected as the
supervisor in 2014. During
his six plus years on the
Malheur, Beverlin has over-
seen higher timber harvests,
private sector jobs created
and investments in forest
and watershed treatments
— all under a collaborative
approach working along-
side partners and commu-
nity members.
Before com-
ing to the
Malheur, he
served in vari-
ous capacities
for the For-
est
Service
Steve
Beverlin including dis-
trict ranger on
the San Juan
National Forest in Colorado
and the Regional Rangeland
Program lead for the Rocky
Mountain Region.
“I am very proud of the
Malheur National Forest
staff and all that we have
been able to accomplish
since 2012,” Beverlin said.
“I have confidence they will
continue this essential work
that has contributed so much
to the health of the forest and
local communities. The col-
laborative approach in Grant
and Harney counties is a
national model for how to
work together to implement
forest-wide restoration.”
Trulock has been with the
Forest Service for over 28
years. While on the Rogue-
River Siskiyou National
Forest,
he
prioritized
strengthening the collabora-
tive partnership between the
forest, community leaders,
partners and stakeholders.
“I am very excited to be
here on the Malheur work-
ing with the local commu-
nities and providing leader-
ship to the dedicated staff,”
Trulock said. “I want folks
to understand that the collec-
tive efforts and the on-the-
ground
accomplishments
that have been set in motion
will continue as we move
forward.”
Trulock’s early career
included positions in timber
and planning in Idaho, Mon-
tana and Alaska. He served
as the Pinedale District
ranger on the Bridger-Teton
National Forest in Wyoming
beginning in 2002.
From 2007 to 2014 he
was a district ranger on
the Nez Perce-Clearwater
National Forest in Idaho.
While there the forest
increased its timber target
by 50 percent with exten-
sive use of stewardship
contracts.
Ranchers see biological opinion as ultimatum
By MATUESZ
PERKOWSKI
EO Media Group
Though the U.S. Forest
Service didn’t say so outright,
Matt McElligott and other
ranchers who graze cattle in
Oregon’s Malheur National
Forest believed they’d been
given an ultimatum.
Either bow to the agen-
cy’s demands, or lose their
grazing rights and suffer
financially.
The timing seemed to send
a message, McElligott said.
The ranchers were given less
than a week to comment on
the 335-page biological opin-
ion that would govern graz-
ing in the national forest for
the next four years.
In the days he had to read
the document, McElligott
said he found reasons to be
alarmed that grazing restric-
tions would increase, but his
back was against the wall.
The
Forest
Service
released the document for
ranchers to review in late
May, when some would ordi-
narily have already turned
out cattle onto forest graz-
ing allotments. But unless
the biological opinion for the
Mid-Columbia steelhead —
a fish population protected
under the Endangered Spe-
cies Act — was finalized,
there could be no grazing.
No choice
“If I’d objected, they’d
just have put the brakes on it.
Nobody would have gone out
to graze,” McElligott said.
“If you guys want to turn
out,” he inferred, “you just
have to accept this.”
Seven months later, hav-
ing endured one grazing
season under the biologi-
cal opinion, McElligott isn’t
optimistic about next year.
Because the Forest Ser-
vice determined that some
ranchers were out of compli-
ance with the plan in 2018,
certain repeat violations on
those same grazing allot-
ments in 2019 could trigger
the need for yet another bio-
logical opinion — and with
it, further restrictions on the
number of cattle that can be
turned out and where they
can graze.
Ranchers turn out more
than 24,000 cow-calf pairs
a year between June and
mid-October on 111 allot-
ments in the 1.7 million-acre
national forest, about 90 per-
cent of which is grazed. The
Forest Service estimates
grazing generates roughly
$200,000 in fees for the fed-
eral government and approx-
imately $7.7 million in labor
income, which is farm reve-
nues after expenses.
Dissatisfaction with the
current biological opinion,
which governs grazing from
2018 until 2022, already runs
deep among ranchers in the
area, with some considering
a lawsuit against the federal
government over the doc-
1809 First Street • Baker City • (541)523-5439
‘Embedded
bureaucracy’
That’s probably because
the deregulation message can
have trouble filtering through
multiple layers of fed-
eral government, said Rep.
Greg Walden, R-Oregon,
whose congressional district
includes the national forest.
“This administration is
not doing as much as many
of us thought it would on
the national forests and
grazing,” he said. “Driving
change through the embed-
ded bureaucracy is very
difficult.”
Walden noted the biolog-
ical opinion is based on a lot
of work that occurred before
President Trump came into
office, setting a foundation
that’s tough to budge.
If the political route is
slow-moving, the legal route
isn’t necessarily any faster.
Lawsuits over grazing in
the Malheur National Forest
are nothing new. Complaints
have been filed over the
years by environmentalists
who claim the government’s
biological opinions insuffi-
ciently protected the threat-
ened fish species. One case
over bull trout was finally
thrown out this year after 15
years of litigation, but the
decision is now under appeal.
The potential for court
battles highlights the com-
plexity federal agencies face
when analyzing the effects of
grazing on riparian habitats.
In basic terms, the For-
est Service develops man-
agement plans for regulating
grazing to avoid harming fish
protected under the Endan-
gered Species Act.
Those plans are then sub-
mitted to the National Marine
Fisheries Service, which
issues a biological opinion
determining whether the spe-
cies or their habitat will be
jeopardized by the proposed
activity.
The steelhead popula-
tion within the tributaries of
the John Day River is esti-
mated at roughly 4,500 to
20,000 fish, depending on the
year, according to the Forest
Service.
In the past, when the
agency found the graz-
ing plans were “not likely
to jeopardize” steelhead as
long as restrictions were fol-
MOVIE SCHEDULE DEC 14 - DEC 19
lowed, environmental activ-
ists claimed they were arbi-
trarily lenient.
Now, ranchers believe
those regulations are arbi-
trarily excessive.
‘You’re
demonized’
“The problem is the sci-
ence they used to build this
goddamn document,” said
Loren Stout, a rancher in the
area.
For example, federal
agencies have developed
their environmental data
about steelhead populations
by studying areas where fish
are unlikely to travel, such as
upstream of multiple “check
dams” installed by the Forest
Service to slow water flow,
Stout said.
Though ranchers aren’t
responsible for the problem,
grazing cattle nonetheless get
the blame, he said.
“If you go against their
agenda, you’re demonized,”
he said.
Ken Holliday, another
area rancher, said the biolog-
ical opinion is just one ele-
ment in a broader pattern of
mismanagement within the
national forest.
For example, riparian
fences prized by federal
agencies for keeping cat-
tle out of creeks can actually
backfire, he said.
A fence across one creek
got clogged with scraps of
wood and other debris, which
accumulated and eventu-
ally burst through the struc-
ture, severely damaging the
stream bank, he said.
Efforts to slow down
streams can cause them to
become overgrown with
sod, whereas steelhead need
fine gravel in which to lay
their eggs, Holliday said.
“What this is, is science gone
wrong.”
Some restrictions within
the biological opinion hav-
en’t been scientifically val-
idated but are based on
decades-old
conjectures
Did you know Grant County Veterans
Services Officer is available to assist
YOU in applying for all VA benefits
you may be entitled to?
See your Grant County Veteran Services
Officer today for more information.
10am-4pm Monday-Friday • 541-620-8057
530 E. Main, Ste. 5, John Day, OR
65198
and theories that have been
cited in federal documents so
long that they’ve essentially
become sacrosanct, said
Shaun Robertson, a natu-
ral resources consultant who
works in the area.
“The more times it’s
translated, the more it’s insti-
tutionalized,” he said.
Bank alteration
Among the more con-
troversial measures of cat-
tle impacts in the biological
opinion is bank alteration, or
the percentage of hoof prints
on the stream bank. In the
most sensitive riparian areas,
10 percent bank alteration
triggers the need to move cat-
tle, while more than 15 per-
cent is a violation.
McElligott said he hit the
10 percent threshold in 10
days on one allotment, forc-
ing him to devote manpower
to moving cattle instead of
rebuilding water structures
at several springs, which
would keep livestock away
from streams. In the eyes of
the Forest Service, it doesn’t
matter if the bank alteration
was caused by elk or wild
horses, he said. Meanwhile,
the agency regularly tears up
brush along creek banks with
heavy machinery when con-
ducting in-stream restoration
work. Amy Unthank, natural
resources and planning offi-
cer with the Forest Service,
said the agency is aware of
complaints about a double
standard in regard to resto-
ration work.
However, using heavy
equipment to create “ana-
log beaver dams” and rebuild
stream channels is a one-time
impact to the riparian area
from which it quickly recov-
ers — unlike an impact that
occurs year after year, she
said. As for tensions about
bank alteration, Unthank said
they’re largely a matter of
stricter enforcement rather
than stricter standards — the
benchmarks haven’t changed
from the previous biological
opinion.
Unthank said the stan-
dards in the biological opin-
ion are based in science, with
some measures of impact
serving as a proxy of actual
“take” — killing or harming
— of fish or their habitat.
There has been an uptick
in “non-compliance” let-
ters to ranchers, though that
doesn’t necessarily mean the
frequency of violations has
risen, Unthank said.
Rather, the agency is try-
ing to live up to its forest plan
standards and Endangered
Species Act commitments
at the behest of the National
Marine Fisheries Service and
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-
vice, which consult on threat-
ened and endangered species
in the forest, she said.
“You guys have an uneven
record of enforcing the range
policy,” Unthank said, sum-
marizing the two agencies’
concerns about the For-
est Service. Another issue is
stubble height, or the length
of grass. Along riparian areas
it must be no shorter than 6
inches at the end of the sea-
son, she said. That’s more
stringent than the previous
plan, which allowed stub-
ble height as low as 4 inches
in some cases, but it’s still
lower than the 6 to 8 inches
the consulting agencies had
pushed for, Unthank said.
The short amount of time
that ranchers had to review
the biological opinion was
a result of the complex-
ity of putting the document
together with a limited num-
ber of staffers, she said.
Hard choice
“Do you really want to
review it, ranchers, or do you
want to go out and graze, was
the hard choice it came down
to,” she said.
If the ranchers were per-
mitted to graze their cattle
without a biological opin-
ion, they’d have no protec-
tion for “incidental take,” or
harming, of threatened fish,
leaving them vulnerable to
environmental lawsuits, said
Dale Bambrick, who heads
the Columbia Basin NMFS
branch of the National Oce-
anic
and
Atmospheric
Administration.
While NMFS often gets
blamed for more stringent
restrictions in the biological
opinion, the agency merely
approved proposals submit-
ted by the U.S. Forest Ser-
vice, Bambrick said.
In some respects, such as
stubble height and the allow-
able number of “redds” —
fish egg nests — that can be
trampled, the new document
is actually fairly liberal in
favor of grazing, Bambrick
said. The previous biological
opinion allowed two redds to
be trampled, while the cur-
rent one allows for three.
In the future, NMFS
hopes to coordinate with
ranchers and the Forest Ser-
vice more closely to avoid
such a drawn-out process
for the biological opinion, he
said.
Holiday Dining
&
Lodging
• 11 8 8 B re w in g Co mp a n y
• America’s Best Value Inn
• The Austin House
• Best Western Motel
• Boulder Creek Ranch
• Da i ry Qu ee n
• Dreamer’s Lodge Motel
• Fi g a r o’ s
• Fish House Inn and RV Park
• Silvies Retreat and Links
• Grant County Senior Center
• T
Th
h e G r ub st ea k Min in g C o.
• Hotel Prairie
• John Day Motel
• John Day Valley Rentals
• Lands Inn
• Little Canyon Food Cart Catering
• Long Creek Lodge
• Mabel’s Cafe and Eve’s Sweets
• Monument Hotel & RV Park
• T h e Out p os t Piz z a , Pu b & G r i l l
• The Corner Cup
• Cowboy Cottages
• Hillcrest Cottages
• Pine Shadows Getaway Resort
• Sq ue e ze In R e st a ur a n t
• Su b w a y o f Jo hn D a y
• Timbers Bistro
Re s ta u ra n ts t h at wi l l b e op e n d u ri n g th e c e r e mo n y a re i n g r e e n
T r e e Li ghtin g Cer em ony
Friday, D ec. 14th – 5:30 p.m .
Bridge S treet and M ain
Watch for new members each week!
94729
SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-
VERSE (PG) Miles Morales comes across
the long-dead Peter Parker. With Parker’s
guidance, Miles will become Spider-Man
FRI & SAT
(4:00) 7:00 9:35
SUNDAY
(4:00) 7:00
MON - WED
7:00
WIDOWS (R) Four women with nothing in
common except a debt left behind by their dead
husbands’ ciminal activities, take fate into their
own hands.
FRI & SAT
(3:45) 6:45 9:30
SUNDAY
(3:45) 6:45
MON - WED
6:45
INSTANT FAMILY (PG-13) A couple find
themselves in over their heads when they foster
three children.
FRI & SAT
(4:10) 7:10 9:40
SUNDAY
(4:10) 7:10
MON & TUES
7:10
MARY POPPINS RETURNS (PG)
Opens Wednesday, 12/19!
WEDNESDAY 7:10
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press /Capital Press
Ranchers Ken Holliday, left, and Loren Stout discuss
grazing restrictions in Oregon’s Malheur National
Forest associated with a new biological opinion for
threatened steelhead.
Attention Grant County Veterans:
Katee
Hoffman
BARGAIN MATINEE IN ( ) Adults $7
ALL FILMS $6 ON TIGHTWAD TUESDAY
$9 Adult, $7 Senior (60+), Youth
ument’s scientific validity,
McElligott said.
McElligott and others say
they hoped the Trump admin-
istration, with its emphasis
on deregulation, would be
more “reasonable” regarding
grazing policy. Two years in,
however, they say there’s lit-
tle evidence of that in the bio-
logical opinion.
90630
Grant County Chamber of Commerce
301 W Main St., John Day, OR 97845
541.575.0547
www.gcoregonlive.com