Monument Buyout Legislation Introduced
By Alan Panebaker, Ashland Daily Tidings
September 7, 2006

Legislation introduced Wednesday by Sens. Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden may designate 23,000 acres of wilderness south of Ashland and move toward removing cattle from the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.

Smith, R-Ore., proposed a potential buyout at the end of June that would compensate ranchers for their grazing leases in the monument. In August, Wyden, D-Ore., joined Smith with an intent to introduce the legislation as part of a bill that would protect 128,000 acres of wilderness on Mount Hood and in the Columbia Gorge. The bill also would grant Wild and Scenic River protections to more than 80 additional miles of rivers in Oregon.

For ranchers and environmentalists, a struggle that has lasted decades may be winding down.

"It's the cheapest way out for the taxpayers," said Bob Miller, one of the affected ranchers and public lands committee chairman for the Jackson County Stockman's Association. "This is a compromise to solve a problem. None of the ranchers want to sell out."

Miller admits some people don't like to see cows in the mountains, and if society does not want them up there, they may leave.

The buyout could impact 17 ranchers whose cattle graze on 100,000 acres in and around the monument. The grazing lease buyout will not remove cattle from the monument unless ranchers agree to it. If the bill makes its way through the Senate and House of Representatives, ranchers like Miller may receive $300 per animal unit monthly — the amount of forage used for one cow and one calf for a month.

Ranchers currently pay $1.56 per AUM. Miller said the low amount they pay for the current lease started as a way for the government to utilize its land and create a tax base for the surrounding communities. He said those who call these ranchers "welfare ranchers" don't understand the history of the leases.

He said the ranchers aren't getting a fair buyout value even with the extra money environmentalists are raising to add to the government fund.

Dave Willis, Chair of the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council, agrees with Miller that a buyout would be cheaper than a lawsuit. Willis has worked with the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council since 1983.

"It's a much less expensive way to solve the problem than continued wrangling in the court," he said.

After Smith and Wyden's introduction, the bill still needs to get through the Senate, and Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, will also have to support it for it to survive.

Wyden said the bill will protect the biologically diverse crossroads of the Cascade, Klamath and Siskiyou ecoregions.

"This Siskiyou wilderness area will protect a truly unique ecosystem and key wildlife corridor, while ensuring a square deal for area ranchers," Wyden said in a prepared statement Wednesday.

In 2000, President Clinton established the 52,947-acre Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. The area is home to three endemic fish species, including the long-isolated redband trout, is winter habitat for deer and contains old growth habitat crucial to the threatened Northern spotted owl and other bird species.

In 2001, the Bureau of Land Management (who administers the monument) started work on a grazing study. Assistant Monument Manager Howard Hunter said the BLM will work toward final results this winter in the study of the impacts of livestock grazing on the ecosystem. Hunter said the results of the study will be interesting regardless of whether an eventual buyout happens.

"It's science. It's interesting stuff," Hunter said. "We would definitely want to complete the grazing study."

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