Grazing Injunction Worries Eastern Oregon Ranchers

Livestock ranchers in Grant County Monday responded to a request by environmentalists to temporarily halt grazing in the Malheur National Forest.

The group of 17 ranchers say if the court agrees to the injunction, they may be driven out of business.

The Oregon Natural Desert Association and two other environmental groups filed for a preliminary injunction in April – to stop grazing on eight locations.

Central Oregon correspondent Ethan Lindsey reports.


The unemployment rate in Grant County, in eastern Oregon, is just under 14 percent.

Cattle ranchers there say keeping them off public lands will make the situation even worse.

Under federal law, western cattle ranchers can pay to let their livestock roam and feed on public lands and national forests.

Andy Kerr is the director of the National Public Lands Grazing Campaign.

Andy Kerr: “The rates are so subsidized by the taxpayers, that it costs a rancher less to feed a cow on public lands for a month than it costs me to feed my cat.”

Another anti-grazing group, the Oregon Natural Desert Association says grazing in Grant County hurts wild steelhead in the John Day River.

The fish species is currently listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Last year, the group successfully blocked grazing from two locations in the eastern Oregon country – a judge ruled that the livestock could permanently damage fish restoration efforts.

Brent Fenty is the executive director.

Brent Fenty: “Unfortunately after many years of encouraging what we thought would be better management, that didn’t occur, we were forced to hold the Forest Service accountable to enforce federal law."

The ranchers have filed a lawsuit themselves.

They contend that their cattle and livestock don’t harm the wild steelhead restoration efforts.

And furthermore, the ranchers say government researchers are using the wrong science to determine the impact of grazing.

If nothing is resolved, a judge is expected to rule on the injunction in June.

Comments

May 5, 2009
10:12 a.m.
I did not hear this news article on OPB this morning. What played at 8:00 and 10:00 AM was an article sympathetic to the ranchers involved in which rancher Holliday was quoted, although his allotments have not been affected by the lawsuits. Environmental spokespeople like those in the article above were not quoted in the article that aired. What's up with that? Additionally, the article above says "Another anti-grazing group, the Oregon Natural Desert Association. . . ." ONDA is not an "anti-grazing group." ONDA is concerned about destructive ranching practices that occur on public lands--your lands. They are concerned about protecting threatened species like steelhead and bull trout from the damage to their habitat caused by livestock on the Malheur National Forest and on other public lands in eastern Oregon and the west. -Chris

— Posted by Christopher

June 14, 2009
10:02 a.m.
All you people do is protest EVERYTHING because you all have ONE goal. That's SOCIALISM! You Anarchists don't care about anything, really, only OPEN BORDERS & Chaos, that will lead straight to Neo-Marxism. Your ONLY goal is to use the: Cloward-Piven Strategy & the Saul Alinsky 'Rules for Radicals' to gain a means to an end. . You HATE the Founding Father's because it's not Anarchist/Socialist/Marxist/Communist. You want America to be what Western Europe WAS, and is trying desparately to GET OUT OF. Did'nt you notice that the very recent Voting in Western Europe went 'Right-Wing'. They are SICK of Socialism and Marxism and they WANT OUT OF IT. They want Capitalism! And Obama has been repeatedly WARNED by China and other Countries to STOP DRAGGING the U.S. down into Socialism, it DOES NOT WORK. You also want a Mugabe type regimn that HATE's White Caucasians. Many of you HATE your own race. You would destroy your own race, because You Think It's So Way Kewl Man! Many of you pathetic Anarchists that use the Environment as an Excuse to push your Socialist Agenda don't even go camping where the so called Destroyed River Banks are. Your too busy in the cities where your from. Those areas have been farmed and ranched for 150 years and they are still just fine. If the Salmon are way too low, it's because of another reason, because when you let nature take care of itself, it regenerates itself. You people just want the Ranchers driven out of business that way ALL those Ranchlands can be bought and turned into BOXY SUBDIVISIONS. Special Interest La Raza stuff there. I really hope that IF any of you actually go regularly to the water's edge to camp that you rolled right straight into Sh** because that's exactly what you Enviro-Anarcho's are, Sh** You don't care about the Elderly that live all around that region that enjoy the lack of massive Development and Subdivisions. You want them destroyed. Every single one of you want to see White America Destroyed. Just like South Africa, that's what you want. You believe in OPEN BORDERS, ALL of you Anarchists. Where will YOU go when you are Elderly, White and unable to FIT IN to a Multicultural America that HATES YOU? They won't care that you were an Anarchist when you were younger...How stupid are you? I grew up in the streets of Los Angeles. East Los Angeles & South Central Los Angeles. I KNOW how things REALLY are. I know all about your goals and what you do. Anyone that wants to REALLY know what these Clowns are REALLY all after and what they are all about go here: http://www.bergonia.org/ They admire people like the Black Panthers and Black Liberation Theologists. They are Sick Puppies indeed. Most of them are from Very, Very Wealthy WHITE families and will gain thru Inheritance. They are having alot of fun slumin' it for awhile. That's the one's they LOVE to employ 'Rules for Radicals' and Cloward-Piven Strategy.

— Posted by enviroanarchozmustgo


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