From the plush office in Portland, environmental nonprofits Oregon Natural Desert Association (ONDA), the Audubon Society of Portland, and Defenders of Wildlife, are trying to dictate land management in Eastern Oregon.

It’s no wonder residents of eight Eastern Oregon counties have voted to join the “Greater Idaho” movement. Their goal is to break lose of this Metro run state, and be recognized that their livelihood is needed to sustain Metro.

ONDA attorney, Mac Lacy, has made his career with his eyes on eastern Oregon’s public lands, wilderness and imperiled species. Recently his aim is protecting Oregon’s vast sagebrush landscape for the sage grouse.

Representing ONDA, Lacy’s latest effort is to chase ranchers from rangeland by filing a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against grazing on 13 Oregon pastures.

The case is against BLM and Cahill Ranches to accelerate a 2015 Oregon Greater Sage- Grose Record of Decision/Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment (ARPMA), a conservation plan for Research Natural Areas (RNAs) that prohibits grazing in 13 pastures to allow for research on the sage grouse.

That plan identified 15 pastures to be closed to grazing for research with a two-year notice. Two have been vacated, and it calls for 39 miles of fencing. ARPMA was developed during the Obama administration then dropped from a revised version enacted by the Trump administration. However, a federal court reinstated it in 2019, which the environmental groups are pursuing.

U.S. District Judge Michael Simon released an opinion and order on March 29 saying the environmental plaintiffs haven’t shown that turning cattle out on the pastures will cause irreparable harm to sage grouse or to rangeland research.

ONDA and Attorney Lacy didn’t stop at the 13 pastures in the conservation plan.

Judge Simon’s opinion states, “Moreover, closure of the four pastures containing RNAs set for grazing in April would enjoin grazing on significant portions of land not designated as an RNA by the 2015 ARMPA. Because fencing has not yet been installed, Plaintiffs propose that the Court order Defendants to close the entire pastures that contain the key RNAs. The total acreage of the key RNAs 21,779 acres. The total acreage of the pastures containing the RNAs is 197,867 acres. Thus, Plaintiffs ask the Court to close 176,088 acres of pasture not designated as key RNAs under the 2015 ARMPA.”

Ranchers are asking, what is more detrimental to the sage grouse, co- habitat with cattle or fences?

The BLM attorney argued that it must follow bureaucratic processes before halting grazing and building the necessary fences to keep cattle out. Fences aren’t an environmentally friendly way to close pastures and it impacts wildlife and plant species so BLM is studying alternative methods. BLM has not identified any data that would be lost or not collected if the closures don’t happen on schedule. So why is ONDA so impatient?

US Agricultural Research Service rangeland scientists David Ganskopp (now retired) and Chad Boyd studied cattle grazing patterns on sagebrush communities. They found that cattle first preferred to graze on perennial grass growing between sagebrush plants where the sage- grouse nest and feed. They concluded that ranchers could preserve grouse habitat by monitoring grass available.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

The livestock industry is the best suited for eastern Oregon’s rough land and weather conditions. It’s where most of Oregon’s cattle are raised with and estimated production value of $493 million, ranked as Oregon’s second highest agricultural commodity. Ranchers have united to form Oregon Country Beef cooperative to emphasize stewardship of the land that enables them to brand their beef as a specialized “natural” commodity. Limiting pasture land will have consequences.

Why did Lacy and ONDA file the injunction when they knew they were exceeding the ARMPA?

This is a tactic in search of a liberal judge, and they weren’t counting on Judge Simon calling them out. Inflation could be worse if our food supply is threatened. Judicial races do make a difference.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2022-04-03 10:15:55

Last Update: 2022-04-03 14:52:18