LAND AND AG
A12 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2022
Federal land managers face lawsuit
BY MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Federal land managers are facing
a lawsuit alleging they’ve violated
the Freedom of Information Act by
failing to timely release documents
about the controversial River De-
mocracy Act.
Nearly 4,700 miles of rivers and
streams in Oregon would be feder-
ally designated as “wild and scenic”
under the bill, which critics fear
would restrict logging and grazing,
among other activities.
The legislation was introduced by
Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff
Merkley, who claim the bill would
shield property rights from adverse
effects while tripling the number of
river miles with “wild and scenic”
protections in the state.
USDA:
Farm
input
costs
rising
Federal land managers testified
about the bill before a congressio-
nal subcommittee last year, which
prompted a FOIA request from the
Western Resources Legal Center, a
legal education nonprofit.
“To date, we have not been pro-
vided with any information and
therefore resorted to legal recourse
under the Freedom of Information
Act,” said Caroline Lobdell, the or-
ganization’s executive director.
“The public should not have to
wait for the proposed permanent
designations to occur before they
are allowed to understand the legis-
lation,” she said in an email.
Testimony at the hearing indi-
cated government officials have an
“enhanced understanding of the
process, basis and potential im-
pacts” of adding waterways to the
Wild and Scenic River System, ac-
cording to the legal center’s lawsuit.
For example, the testimony in-
cluded information about how
many river miles and surrounding
acres managed by the U.S. Forest
Service and U.S. Bureau of Land
Management would be affected by
the bill.
The hearing revealed that gov-
ernment officials “spent significant
time analyzing” the legislation’s “ef-
fect and methods of enforcement,”
including the need to develop “com-
prehensive river management plans”
that guide how it would be imple-
mented, according to the legal center.
The legal center wants to access
that information to better explain
the River Democracy Act to the
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BY SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
A USDA report released
June 30 shows that farm input
costs continue to rise, putting
additional financial pressure on
farmers and ranchers.
The study, called the Agri-
cultural Prices report, looked at
farm input costs in May 2022
compared to input costs one
month prior and one year prior.
USDA collected data for the
May Prices Paid Index by ran-
domly contacting more than
8,500 farms nationwide with an
average response rate of 75% to
80%.
The report found that farmers
across America continue to face
rising costs for feed, fertilizer, fu-
els and other inputs.
In May, the price of livestock
feed increased 0.8% from April
and 15% from May 2021. Al-
though concentrates fell in price,
that was more than offset by
higher prices for complete feeds,
feed grains, supplements, hay
and forages.
Fertilizer in May cost 6.2%
more than it did the month
prior, in April. Prices for potash
and phosphate didn’t change
month-over-month, but prices
rose for nitrogen and mixed fer-
tilizer.
The rise in cost is even more
stark when compared to a year
ago. The May 2022 cost of fertil-
izer was 77% higher than it was
in May 2021.
Chemical costs remained
static between April and May of
2022, but prices this May were
33% higher than last May.
The May fuel index was up
6% from April, and fuel cost
67% more this May than it did
in May of 2021. USDA data
shows that, compared to the
month prior, May prices were
higher for diesel and gasoline
but lower for LP gas.
Machinery in May cost 0.6%
less than it did in April — one of
the few areas where input costs
decreased. Prices slightly de-
clined for tractors, self-propelled
machines and other machinery.
However, machinery costs were
19% higher than a year ago.
In a statement this week,
American Farm Bureau Presi-
dent Zippy Duvall said Ameri-
can farmers and ranchers con-
tinue to “grapple with increased
costs of growing food and fiber.”
ment “seeks to hide records from
the public” regarding its interpreta-
tion of the bill, the complaint said.
The federal agencies had not yet
responded to requests for comment
about the lawsuit as of press time.
The River Democracy Act has
“significant implications” for man-
aging roughly 3 million acres of
“fire prone forests” in the state, and
it stands to reason that government
officials testified “based on infor-
mation, data and analysis provided
to them,” Lobdell said.
“We would like to see that infor-
mation so that Oregonians can un-
derstand the implications for man-
agement of the proposed lands and
resulting impacts to Oregonians and
the public so they can meaningfully
engage in the process,” she said.
Chamber of
Commerce
CHAMBER
LUNCHEON
Umapine farmer Tim Leber on
May 31, 2022, leans against the
Case Quadtrac tractor he uses to
fertilize and seed his crops. Fer-
tilizer prices have doubled in the
past year.
public and its constituents, such
as farmers and ranchers, who may
“rely on public lands for their live-
lihood.”
In late October and early No-
vember 2021, the center submitted
FOIA requests for records pertain-
ing to the River Democracy Act, in-
cluding congressional communica-
tions related to the hearing.
No determinations regarding the
FOIA requests have yet been made
by the Forest Service, the Bureau of
Land Management or their govern-
ment overseers — the USDA and
Interior Department — even though
legally mandated deadlines have
passed, the complaint said.
In light of the “months-long de-
lay” and “lack of communication,”
the plaintiff believes the govern-
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