A4
OPINION
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
Ranchers
receive
biological
ultimatum
T
here was a time
when Americans
could expect their
federal government to
offer service that was both
even-handed and helpful.
Even timely.
They may not have gotten
it, but at least the expectation
was there.
That has changed, for
many of those who now work
in government, and for those
who depend on the govern-
ment to treat them fairly.
An article in last week’s
Eagle illustrates that change.
It’s not that the U.S. For-
est Service wanted to force
ranchers whose cattle graze
on the Malheur National For-
est to accept a biological
opinion that would dictate the
conditions. The Forest Ser-
vice produced the 335-page
document just as ranchers
were preparing to turn out
their cattle on the 1.7 mil-
lion-acre forest. The catch:
They couldn’t move their cat-
tle until they agreed to the
biological opinion.
The ranchers, who pay
about $200,000 for the use of
111 allotments, saw the situ-
ation as an ultimatum, and it
was. By producing the bio-
logical opinion at the last
moment, that conclusion was
inescapable.
The Forest Service, how-
ever, maintains that the rea-
son for the tardiness of the
document is that it is short-
handed. No doubt, some
staffers are also tied up in
legal matters, such as defend-
ing against environmental
lawsuits fi led under the fed-
eral Endangered Species Act.
The ESA is a law that
allows environmental groups
to sue federal agencies over
more than 1,661 populations
of fi sh, wildlife and plants
currently listed as threatened
or endangered. In the case of
the Malheur National For-
est, the population of steel-
head was the subject of the
biological opinion. It should
be noted that, according to
the Forest Service, 4,500
to 20,000 steelhead live in
streams and rivers within
the national forest for part of
their life cycle. It should also
be noted that sport fi sher-
men around Oregon reported
catching more than 15,000
summer and winter steel-
head in the 2017-18 season.
The fi sh is not exactly on the
verge of extinction.
As it is now written, the
ESA is little more than a
hammer that environmental-
ists can use to drive ranchers
off federal land, stop all types
of development and raise
money. Only a few popula-
tions have been taken off the
list, often over the objections
of environmental groups.
Because of this poorly
written law, federal agencies
such as the Forest Service,
Bureau of Land Manage-
ment, U.S. Fish and Wild-
life Service and National
Marine Fisheries Service are
short-staffed. When President
Richard Nixon signed the
ESA into law in the 1970s,
he probably had no idea it
would become a litigation
generator that turned scien-
tists and land managers into
defendants. Instead of doing
their jobs, they are being
dragged into court.
But there’s also an
“embedded bureaucracy”
in the federal government
that, instead of carrying out
the law, carries out its own
agenda, according to U.S.
Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore-
gon, whose district includes
the Malheur National Forest.
“Some of this has been
going on for decades, and
there’s a lot of momentum
behind it,” he said.
All of which is illustrated
by the biological ultimatum
— er, opinion — delivered to
ranchers in May. The ranch-
ers could have rejected it and
been without summer graz-
ing for the year, or they could
have accepted it. Even with
tighter restrictions on grass
height, having a place to
graze is better than the alter-
native of buying hay.
Had the biological opin-
ion been delivered in a timely
manner that would allow
a thoughtful analysis, the
ranchers would have felt
as though they were being
treated in an even-handed
and helpful manner.
As it it turned out, the
treatment was neither.
First round of objection-resolution
meetings deemed positive step
By Glenn Casamassa
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
Dear objectors, interested per-
sons, and Blue Mountains commu-
nity members:
I recently had the privilege of
meeting many of you during the
fi rst round of objection-resolution
meetings for the Blue Mountains
Revised Forest Plans. I want to sin-
cerely thank everyone who partic-
ipated. Over 300 objectors, inter-
ested persons and public observers
attended meetings in John Day,
Pendleton, Wallowa, Baker City
and La Grande. I am grateful for
the time and effort invested by
each of you. I hope you will agree
that this fi rst round of resolution
meetings was a positive step.
The meetings were led by
objection reviewing offi cers based
in Washington, D.C., with support
and coordination from the Pacifi c
Northwest Regional Offi ce as well
as the Malheur, Umatilla and Wal-
lowa-Whitman national forests.
The goal for these initial meetings
was to bring clarity and mutual
understanding to the Blue Moun-
tains Forest Plan objection issues.
The dialogue helped Forest Ser-
vice leadership and staff to better
understand your values, concerns
and views.
Spending time in Eastern Ore-
gon improved much more than our
understanding of the issues iden-
tifi ed in the objections, though.
Through our initial discussions we
also gained a deeper appreciation
of local residents’
special relation-
ships with the land.
We had it affi rmed
that, for many of
those who live in
and around the
Glenn
Blue Mountains,
Casamassa
these national for-
ests are not just
places to visit and recreate — the
forests are a vital part of your com-
munity life, identity, heritage and
livelihoods. The Forest Service is
striving to honor these special rela-
tionships in the Blue Mountains
Forest Plan’s resolution process.
In doing so, we will better respect
the views of many different com-
munity members — including our
tribal neighbors, the states of Ore-
gon and Washington, county and
other local government represen-
tatives, user groups, environmen-
tal groups, industry and business
— all of whom seek assurances
that the Forest Service will protect
their priority resources.
During the initial meetings the
Forest Service heard a lot about
a wide range of topics, including
access; aquatic and riparian con-
servation; elk security and bighorn
sheep; fi re and fuels; fi sh, wild-
life and plants; livestock grazing;
local government cooperation and
coordination; public participation;
social and economic issues; timber
and vegetation; and wilderness,
backcountry and other special
areas. Digging into these topics in
person gave the Forest Service the
opportunity to explore issues that
were not as prominent in the writ-
ten objection letters. From the dia-
logue, some issues appear to be
close to resolution while others
will require further discussion, so
there will be more steps to take in
this process.
The Forest Service knows that
many topics are interrelated, and
we will work to pull together the
related topics for discussion in
future meetings, so all of us can
better see the connections and con-
sider the trade-offs of potential res-
olutions. The Forest Service also
understands that not all objectors
and interested persons were able to
attend the fi rst round of meetings
or have their voices represented
by others. So, as we navigate these
next steps, the Forest Service will
work to ensure we are as inclusive
as possible in future objection-res-
olution meetings.
Over the coming weeks the
reviewing offi cers will be study-
ing the notes and refl ecting on
what we heard in the fi rst round of
resolution meetings, and we will
be helping the Washington Offi ce
in scheduling the next round of
objection-resolution meetings. We
will be in touch again to announce
the next steps. Thank you for your
contributions, and I look forward
to making more progress together
in the near future.
Glenn Casamassa is the
regional forester for the Pacifi c
Northwest Region of the U.S. For-
est Service.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Access restrictions road with no Forest Service “advi- ing my name.
Judy Kerr
sory sign” in sight, jump out of
could harm
Canyon City
my rig, spray premium deer urine
all over my body with a misdi-
tourism
rected mist to my face, struggle
Can someone tell
into my screaming orange “can
To the Editor:
you see me now?” hunting vest
me why?
Follow me on this imaginary
and I am ready to go. I lick my
trip scenario. I meet this guy from
Oregon at a friend’s wedding
in California. We share a com-
mon interest in hunting sports. He
sells me on the idea to hunt tro-
phy mule deer on public lands in
the Malheur National Forest. It
sounds so enticing that I am buy-
ing my camo and camping gear on
eBay the next day. I apply for the
non-resident hunting license and
application for the draw, which
because of the exorbitant price I
am practically guaranteed a fun-
fi lled trip into the panoramic
mountains of Eastern Oregon.
The notice of a successful
draw has arrived, and my trip
north commences. I have washed
my new duds in scent killer and
sprayed UV killer all over the
exposed surface. I drive up into
the hills, set up camp, fi nd a spot
to park a short distance up an
unmarked road adjoining a gravel
lips with anticipation, wonder why
my mouth now tastes like deer
urine, load my rifl e and I am off.
Later, exhausted from trudg-
ing through waist-deep brush and
steep inclines, I return to my vehi-
cle to fi nd a greeting from law
enforcement advising me that I
have trespassed on a closed road
and some federal judge in Pendle-
ton has an opening on his agenda
to fi ne me a sizable sum for my
transgression.
Prior to my trip, I had thor-
oughly read the Oregon Hunt-
ing Regulations, which, though
thicker to wade through than cattle
yard muck, were fairly straightfor-
ward. I had no advanced warning
of massive access restrictions until
I could hunt up a local Forest Ser-
vice offi ce or notice a sign board
alongside the road.
I probably won’t be back. An
antelope hunt in Wyoming is call-
To the Editor:
If the U.S. Postal Service deliv-
ers mail for free to rural house-
holds or a city has free street
delivery, why must I pay for a
mailbox housed at the post offi ce?
Relatives in a nearby state have
their mailbox for free!
As I understand, every Amer-
ican is entitled to free mail
delivery.
Free is a dangerous thing.
The USPS is in the red. That’s
why the stamps are increasing
again. That’s why my box rent is
increasing again.
If everyone paid a mere amount
annually of $10 for the currently
free delivery, then the burden
would not be on the few.
So can someone explain why
we can’t address the inequity in
this antiquated system?
Nicky Blackwell
Long Creek
L
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