A federal judge has prohibited logging on private property owned by a timber company due to the possibility of harm to threatened marbled murrelets.

U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken has issued a preliminary injunction against the harvest of a 50-acre parcel owned by Roseburg Forest Products and its Scott Timber subsidiary.

The tract was once part of Oregon’s Elliott State Forest until the timber companies bought the property in 2014, to the alarm of environmental groups.

Three nonprofits — Cascadia Wildlands, Center for Biological Diversity and the Audubon Society of Portland — filed a lawsuit seeking to block logging on the parcel, arguing it was occupied by marbled murrelets and harvest would violate the Endangered Species Act.

The property, known as the Benson Snake Unit, is important to the species for life-cycle behaviors beyond just nesting, said Dan Kruse, attorney for the environmental plaintiffs, during oral arguments last month.

“Fragmentation has significant impacts on marbled murrelets,” he said.

The timber companies countered that they’d hired an internationally known consulting firm to specifically pick a logging site that wasn’t occupied by the birds, which will be out to sea when the harvest occurs.

“They don’t have the facts or the evidence to show there will be death or injury to the marbled murrelet,” said Dominic Carollo, attorney for the timber defendants.

In her ruling, Aiken said the two sides have offered competing versions of the facts.

“Since both plaintiffs and defendants make compelling arguments, the issue here, as with many environmental cases, boils down to which scientific approach is best,” she said.

While the timber companies relied on newer data to determine that marbled murrelets don’t occupy the site, the environmental groups’ protocol showing the site is occupied is “widely accepted within the scientific community,” Aiken said.

At this point, though, Aiken said she doesn’t have to decide which method is better.

It’s enough that the environmental groups have raised serious questions about the presence of marbled murrelets and shown the bird would suffer irreparable injury from logging, she said.

“If the project proceeds, marbled murrelets will not be able to nest in the clear-cut parcel for nearly a century while the forest regrows,” said Aiken.

Tuesdays

Hazelnut growers in the Eugene, Ore., area are still cleaning up damage from a nearly instantaneous flash freeze that snapped limbs, split trunks and uprooted some trees.

“We had a lot of breakage,” said Jared Henderson, who grows hazelnuts in the River Road area north of Eugene.

Older, larger trees were particularly hard hit as ice accumulated on limbs and the weight bent them past the breaking point. Henderson said his younger, more limber trees fared better.

The ice arrived as part of a winter storm that draped much of Oregon with snow beginning Dec. 14. In Eugene, about 110 miles south of Portland, it took the form of freezing rain and did horrendous damage throughout the area. About 15,000 customers lost electrical power as limbs snapped off and fell across utility lines. Some people were without electricity for up to four days, and area motels filled up with people who had no heat or no way to cook at home.

The ice damage was oddly localized. Springfield, next door to Eugene, had much less damage and only a couple hundred electrical outages. Henderson said his brother, who grows hazelnuts near Corvallis about 40 miles north, wasn’t hit as bad. “They got snow and we got ice,” Henderson said.

Henderson, who is president of the Lane County Farm Bureau, said he couldn’t place a dollar figure on the damage. “I wouldn’t know where to begin,” he said. The damage will include the labor cost of crews that would normally be pruning or training caneberries instead of cleaning up broken limbs, he said.

“It’s part of the business,” he said. “We’ve had it before and we’ll probably have it again.”

Dwayne Bush, a third-generation hazelnut grower, said his trees in the Fern Ridge area west of Eugene came out of the storm OK, but his orchard next to Henderson’s was heavily damaged.

He said trees he planted 16 and 17 years tended to lean to the south due to the sun’s position and a prevailing wind. The weight of ice sent them toppling into each other and “Dominoed down the row.”

But Bush said a freeze three years ago was worse. In that case, Bush and his crew trimmed the tops of trees, dug out dirt on the back sides, pulled them upright and backfilled the dirt. Of 4,000 to 5,000 trees that fell over, only a small percentage didn’t bounce back and survive, he said.

Ironically, the crop that year was one of the biggest he’s had.

“Filbert trees are pretty resilient,” he said, using the alternative name for hazelnuts.

Bush said he’s already started the same process this year.

PENDLETON, Ore. — For the second consecutive year, the Columbia Plateau Conservation Research Center is at risk of losing nearly half its annual funding from the federal government.

Once again, the president’s 2017 budget calls for terminating one of two research programs at the station, which would cut $901,000 and eliminate three scientist positions.

The Columbia Plateau Conservation Research Center operates under the Agricultural Research Service, the primary research arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The facility is located on Tubbs Ranch Road north of Pendleton, and shares a building with the Columbia Basin Agricultural Research Center — though they are two separate programs.

Experiments conducted at the station provide data to improve farming practices for dryland crops, especially winter wheat, which accounts for more than $436 million and 2,600 local jobs throughout the Columbia Basin, according to Oregon State University.

Yet the President’s budget would ax research programs at Pendleton looking into tillage methods that conserve moisture and reduce soil erosion, in order to shift money to what have been identified as higher priorities within the Agricultural Research Service. The same cutbacks were proposed in 2016, before growers and Oregon congressional leaders successfully lobbied to keep the station’s funding intact.

Dan Long, station director, said there’s been no appropriation yet for 2017, though in the meantime the center has been asked to curtail its spending by 50 percent.

“It could very well be a repeat of last year, where we remain intact again,” Long said.

If not, significant budget cuts are in line at both Pendleton and the Agricultural Research Station in Corvallis. The president’s budget for the ARS calls for diverting more than $13 million from ongoing research across the country to fund higher priority environmental stewardship projects, such as adapting crops to climate change.

Soil scientists Steward Wuest and Hero Gollany, as well as hydrologist John Williams, would all be affected by cuts at the Pendleton station, though Long said all three would be given different jobs within the agency.

Nathan Rea, of H.T. Rea Farming Corporation in Milton-Freewater, serves as chairman of the liaison committee for the ARS station. He said the committee is reaching out to Oregon congressional delegates, including Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden, Jeff Merkley and Republican Rep. Greg Walden, all of whom backed fully funding the station a year ago.

In addition, Rea said they are working directly with scientists at the station to promote the work they do, and benefit to area farmers.

“Telling that story is where we need to do a better job at the national level, and with local growers as well,” Rea said.

Speaking from experience, Rea said growers have benefited from the station’s research into reduced-till farming, with an emphasis on soil water retention and improving efficiency.

“There’s a lot more direct seeding, and minimum tillage,” Rea said. “We’re entering a new world with our precision agriculture.”

Representatives for Sen. Wyden and Rep. Walden could not be reached Monday. A representative for Sen. Merkley said he knows the Pendleton ARS station is critical to Eastern Oregon, and will keep fighting for the funding it needs.

Pendleton Grain Growers announced Dec. 16 it has sold its fuel division to Mid Columbia Producers, another neighboring farmer-owned cooperative based in Moro.

The deal, effective immediately, comes just two weeks after PGG dealt its propane assets to Morrow County Grain Growers. Terms were not disclosed for either transaction.

PGG is in the process of dissolving after the co-op experienced massive financial losses in recent years. Tim Hawkins, chairman of the PGG Board of Directors, said the co-op was looking for a local buyer to take on fuel services that would continue to serve the region.

“As a fellow local co-op, we feel Mid Columbia Producers is the right partner for our customers and members,” Hawkins said in a statement.

Jeff Kaser, Mid Columbia manager, said they look forward to servicing PGG fuel accounts. PGG fuel cards will continue to be honored by PGG and Mid Columbia Producers through March 31. “We are thrilled to expand the fuel offerings we currently provide, both to our existing members and to potential customers throughout the communities we serve,” Kaser said.

Friday’s sale includes all of PGG’s existing fuel inventory, trucks and operating assets. Mid Columbia is expected to retain all four PGG employees in the fuel division. As of Friday, PGG members can begin signing up to use Mid Columbia fuel cards beyond March 31.

Mid Columbia Producers formed in 1988, and operates grain elevators in Morrow, Gilliam, Wasco and Sherman counties in Oregon, and Klickitat County in Washington.

PGG’s grain division, including upcountry elevators and the McNary Terminal, also sold earlier this year to United Grain Corporation. It remains unclear how much equity will be returned to members after the co-op dissolution is finished.

Rick Jacobson, PGG general manager, was not available for comment.

Fridays

A “Fill Your Pantry” event scheduled for Salem in January allows families and individuals to buy in bulk from a dozen local food producers and stock up on beans, winter squash, storage vegetables, meat and other items.

The event is organized by Friends of Family Farmers and duplicates what the organization says was a successful effort last month in Portland, where it was held for the second time. This marks the first time it’s been done in Salem.

Buyers can review products and place orders on-line from Jan. 8-22 at www.friendsoffamilyfarmers.org/eaters/fyp/. Pickup is scheduled Jan. 28 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Marion-Polk Food Share building, 1600 Salem Industrial Drive NE, in Salem. In addition to pre-ordering online, customers can buy during the event as well. Buyers with Oregon Trail SNAP benefit cards can use them to purchase food.

Erinn Criswell, urban organizer for Friends of Family Farmers, said buying in bulk from local producers supports them, saves consumers money and ensures “access to local, healthy products all winter long.”

The Fill Your Pantry event in Portland in November had online sales of $36,000, and vendors sold $14,000 worth of food during the pickup time, according to Friends of Family Farmers. Total purchases nearly doubled the 2015 event.

Portland buyers last month bought $14,667 worth of vegetables; $10,794 of meat and spent $5,610 for grains and beans. Customers also bought fruit, nuts, honey and preserved food.

Capital Bureau

SALEM — An audit released Thursday by the Secretary of State’s Office calls on the state’s Water Resources Department to improve its long-term planning and management of Oregon’s water supply.

The department is responsible for allocating water rights, enforcing the state’s water laws and other aspects of water management. It’s overseen by a citizen commission.

Noting that the state’s water problems are positioned to worsen, the secretary of state’s findings say the department could do more to “sustain current and future water needs,” protect groundwater, and collect and analyze information about the state’s water.

The audit comes on the heels of the governor’s 2015 county drought declarations and state efforts to prioritize water issues in their wake.

A legislative drought task force recently identified gaps in the state’s systems and resources for preventing and responding to drought.

While the water resources department gathers a lot of information about water supply, the department hasn’t been able to analyze all of it, the audit found.

For example, the department’s water availability models are based on decades-old data, although the department has 17 years’ worth of information about streamflow measurement collected after 1987.

In other areas of water management, such as water use reporting, the department lacks data altogether, the audit found.

“Only about 20 percent of water rights holders are required to report how much water they use to (the water resources department),” the audit states.

Agricultural users — who account for up to 85 percent of the state’s water use — aren’t required to report how much they use. As a result, the department lacks “a clear understanding of how much water is actually being used,” the audit states.

Additionally, the department has focused more on collecting data on surface water than groundwater, demand for which is growing.

The audit also recommended the department adopt an overarching plan to set long-term water goals, and improve communication and how it manages its workload.

Finally, the audit noted that planning is key to managing the state’s water in the long run.

“There is growing pressure on Oregon’s water system,” the audit states. “The state relies on snowpack and rainwater for its water system, and it is unclear how climate change will affect future precipitation patterns and water availability.”

The department’s director, Thomas Byler, generally agreed with the audit’s findings in a letter to Mary Wenger, the interim director of the secretary of state’s audits division.

In many areas, Byler noted, the department had limited funding to enact all of the recommended changes, although they have already made some strides — such as using technology to improve internal communications and gathering feedback from the state’s watermasters on how water use measurement could be improved.

Byler said that the state’s 2012 Integrated Water Resources Strategy “provides a long-term blueprint” for helping the state meet its current and future instream and out-of-stream water needs, but that the department intended to set out more detailed goals to align with the broader strategy.

Thursdays

Bear Cupboard Food Pantry seeks donations

SALEM — Capital Press Publisher Mike O’Brien is retiring Jan. 3 after a 46-year newspaper career.

O’Brien joined Capital Press as general manager in 1997, and was promoted to publisher in 2007.

“It has been the high point of my career to serve as publisher of Capital Press. It has been truly inspiring to work with such a talented and dedicated staff my thanks to them and the ag community that supports Capital Press,” O’Brien said. “I leave knowing the paper is in good hands with owners who are more concerned with how well we can do it rather than how cheap we can do it.”

O’Brien began his newspaper career in 1970 as a district manager at the San Francisco Chronicle. He was appointed circulation manager at the Daily Tidings in Ashland, Ore., in 1979 moved to Albany to be circulation manager at the Democrat-Herald in 1979. In 1985 he returned to Ashland as publisher of the Daily Tidings.

He has assumed leadership roles within the newspaper industry and the Northwest ag community. He serves on the board of directors of Oregon AgLink. In 1996, while at the Daily Tidings, he served as president of the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association. During his tenure, O’Brien supervised many large projects, including a major renovation of the Capital Press building in 2000. He also presided over big changes in the way Capital Press reaches and serves its readers.

“Under Mike’s leadership, the Capital Press has expanded its digital presence and elevated the level of reporting, becoming the premier ag publication in the Northwest,” John Perry, chief operating officer of EO Media Group, the parent company of the Capital Press, said. “He has accomplished this in good economic times and others that tested our mettle. We wish Mike all the best in retirement. He’s earned it.”

Perry will assume the publisher’s duties on an interim basis.

BANDON -- Everyone is invited to the Langlois Caroling Party from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 21, inside the toasty Langlois Public Library. There will be cookies and hot mulled cider and song sheets will be provided. The singing will be…

SOUTH COAST - The Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) has announced its grant awards for 2016, giving away over $123,150 throughout Coos and Curry counties. One of the nonprofits include the Coquille Indian Tribe at $30,000. According to a press release,…

SALEM — Port of Portland Executive Director Bill Wyatt told participants at the 76th annual meeting of the Oregon Seed Growers League in Salem on Dec. 12 that he is disappointed by the failure of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but is optimistic the new administration will be trade-friendly.

“I am disappointed about the TPP, but I don’t think that is going to be the last chapter in that story,” Wyatt said.

The TPP, a trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim countries, has been all but abandoned in recent months after failing to generate congressional support. It also is opposed by President-elect Donald Trump.

Still, Wyatt said: “If you look at some of the folks who are going to be involved (in the Trump administration), these are thoughtful global players. I do have some optimism on that front.”

Wyatt’s presentation was a highlight of the first day of the two-day meeting that drew upwards of 500 participants.

In addition to talking about the potential effects of the Trump administration on trade and transportation, Wyatt touched on issues affecting the Port of Portland’s abilities to attract a new container shipping company, and spoke on conditions that led to the demise of the South Korean shipping line Hanjin.

Hanjin, once the third biggest trans-Pacific shipper, and one of the last container shipping lines to call on Portland, filed for bankruptcy protection Aug. 31 and is now in liquidation.

Wyatt said much of Hanjin’s demise can be traced to an oversupply of container shippers competing for limited demand, adding that at least some of the oversupply is a result of a reliance on ship building in countries such as China, Japan and South Korea.

When ship orders expire, these countries tend to offer shipping companies huge discounts on new ships in an attempt to preserve jobs and income, Wyatt said, and many companies accept.

“We have had way too many ocean carriers, and they have done what happens in a world with unlimited supply and limited demand,” Wyatt said. “They have pretty much killed themselves.”

Wyatt also noted that ship builders are constructing container ships to handle huge volumes, and that the average container capacity today is 7,500 twenty-foot equivalent units, or 1,000 TEUs greater than the Port of Portland is equipped to handle, both because of crane size and the channel depth of the Columbia River.

That limitation, he noted, is part of the challenge of attracting a new shipping line to call on Portland’s Terminal Six.

“Having said all of that,” he said, “we have pretty good business in Portland. We have reasonable cargo available at a reasonable price.

“I feel good, actually, about the quality of business that is available here,” he said.

Wyatt noted that Port of Portland officials are working daily on attracting new container service to Portland.

On another positive note, Wyatt said the new administration “seems focused on transportation infrastructure,” which could benefit efforts in Oregon to improve the state’s transportation infrastructure.

“Let’s take advantage of the energy that I think we are going to be seeing in the nation’s capital to leverage that in the state of Oregon,” Wyatt said.

He noted that Washington, California and Idaho are spending considerable sums on transportation infrastructure, leaving Oregon alone among West Coast states not doing so.

“It has been a long time since we spent new money on transportation infrastructure here in this state,” Wyatt said, “and all of our neighbors are doing it, including Idaho.

“Idaho will spend more new dollars on transportation infrastructure next year than we will, and this is a state about 20 percent our size,” he said.

New director faces tough budget, more decision-making power

By Mateusz Perkowski

Capital Press

SALEM — The Oregon Department of Agriculture’s new director, Alexis Taylor, got some sound advice at a recent legislative hearing.

“We very rarely hear complaints about the Department of Agriculture, so please don’t screw it up,” said Sen. Brian Boquist, R-Dallas.

That sentiment has been a running theme in meetings with state government officials during a recent stop in Salem, said Taylor, who was confirmed unanimously as ODA’s director by the Oregon Senate on Dec. 14.

The 2017 legislative session will begin soon after she takes office on Jan. 23, but after that, Taylor said her top priority would be visiting every county in the state to learn about the diversity of Oregon farms firsthand.

Taylor also said she’d be tackling a “core question” facing the state’s agriculture industry: “Who will be our next generation of farmers and ranchers?”

At the end of her tenure at USDA, Taylor oversaw the Farm Service Agency, the Risk Management Agency and the Foreign Agricultural Service, working on policy, budget and management issues. Overall, the three agencies have 14,000 employees worldwide.

“I really enjoy finding talent, helping to groom talent,” Taylor told Capital Press.

In the immediate future, though, Taylor doesn’t expect to make staffing changes at ODA.

She will need to rely on the experience of top staffers as the agency navigates the 2017 legislative session.

“Consistency is really important,” Taylor said.

ODA is at a tough juncture, as the agency is facing a cut to its general fund budget, which pays for programs such as predator control and weed biocontrol, among others.

Taylor is taking an optimistic view of the situation, noting that dealing with a constrained budget can prompt agencies to identify process efficiencies that save money.

“We can look at how we do things, why we do them a certain way,” she said.

The overall state budget turmoil is also likely to give Taylor greater decision-making power.

Gov. Kate Brown has a lot on her plate and probably won’t be inclined to micro-manage natural resource issues, said Katy Coba, the ODA’s former director and current chief of the state’s Department of Administrative Services.

“I expect the governor is not going to be giving a lot of detailed direction to Alexis,” Coba said.

The governor has also shifted her natural resources advisers into new positions, shrinking the natural resources team and likely leaving more power in the hands of ODA, she said.

“Agencies will have to step up a little more,” Coba said.

Oregon agriculture is facing several coexistence issues — between marijuana and hemp, between canola and related seed crops, between farmers who grow genetically engineered crops and those who produce crops organically and conventionally, she said.

There are a many key players in Oregon’s agriculture industry whom Taylor will be meeting at a time when the legislature is in full swing, she said.

“My advice to her, ‘Keep breathing,’” Coba said.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The National Weather Service forecast calls for snow in much of Oregon — a lot of it in some places.

The service issued a winter storm warning for Eastern Oregon, with 4 to 8 inches expected in Pendleton and Hermiston, and up to a foot in cities at higher elevations, such as John Day and Heppner.

Similar foot-deep totals are expected in Central Oregon, where snow was falling at Lava Butte early Wednesday. School districts in that region canceled classes and after-school activities.

Meanwhile, as much as 3 inches of snow is predicted to fall in the Portland metro area. Forecasters say the snow should start early Wednesday afternoon, complicating the ride home from work.

In the southern Willamette Valley, a mix of snow and freezing rain could make Eugene streets treacherous.

KEIZER, Ore. (AP) — In a public meeting that exposed deep concerns about global warming and deforestation, Oregon’s top elected state leaders on Tuesday postponed a decision on the proposed sale of the Elliott State Forest to a timber company, instead making a pitch for alternatives that would maintain public ownership of the state’s first public forest.

Speaker after speaker came from cities, towns and farms to pack the meeting room in the Keizer Community Center, north of Salem. They beseeched their leaders to reject the sale of the 82,500-acre forest in the Coastal Range to Lone Rock Timber Co. and its tribal partners.

They said a line must be drawn to preserve public lands, expressing fear that a Trump presidency would try to sell some of the lands to enrich a few, and that the next administration would also ignore the threat of global warming.

The sale of the forest was proposed because timber harvest revenues that go into a school fund have dropped in recent years.

“Teddy Roosevelt and people like our first forester, Francis Elliott, went to great efforts to preserve these last great tracts of unclaimed land for future generations of Americans to enjoy and recreate on. I did not think I would have to be here in 2016 to defend them,” Joseph Metzler, a retired Coast Guard rescue swimmer from Coos Bay, told the State Land Board.

Those in flannel outnumbered those wearing suits at the 3½-hour meeting attended by more than 200 people.

Some school board representatives backed the sale, saying the $221 million it would fetch should go into the Common School Fund. Several speakers recommended that if the sale does not go forward, that the forest be removed from the Common School Fund portfolio so it would not suffer negative impacts with declining timber harvests.

Lone Rock, based in Roseburg, had said it was confident that it could turn a profit by extracting at least 35 million board feet per year from the forest while providing protections for older forests, streams, recreation opportunities and local jobs. The state has not logged nearly that amount in recent years, at least in part because of environmental protections and lawsuits.

“It is a sustainable harvest level based on the estimated 70-plus million board feet of forest growth each year,” Jake Gibbs, director of external affairs of Lone Rock Resources, told The Associated Press in an email.

After years of being profitable since 1997, net revenue from the forest fell from $5.8 million in 2012 to losses of $3.3 million in 2013 and $1.8 million in 2014, the Oregon Department of State Lands says. But 2015 saw gains. This year through 2019 are expected to be borderline.

People who came to testify before the board, composed of Gov. Kate Brown, State Treasurer Ted Wheeler and Secretary of State Jeanne P. Atkins, warned that no trespassing signs would go up and that the forest might be resold down the line. They said that a sale could embolden people like Ammon Bundy and his brother Ryan, who led the takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon last winter.

Grandmothers and even children were among those who took three seats at a time before the board to testify. Clapping was banned, so people showed silent support for comments that they liked by waving their hands in the air. Some of those who spoke against the deal said Native Americans should get much more than the small share the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians would obtain in the deal.

At the close of the meeting, Brown encouraged those attending to help find a solution.

“This is your opportunity, and I expect that you will work quickly, collaboratively and thoughtfully and hope that we can come up with another proposal that will maintain the Elliott in public ownership,” she said to a burst of applause.

She said she is proposing that the state use up to $100 million in bonding authority to pay into the Common School Fund and relieve the Elliott of part of its fiduciary responsibility for the fund.

The Department of State Lands said it will continue to work with the proposers of the purchase plan, including exploring the potential for additional partners, possibly involving public entities. The State Land Board instructed the department to provide an update on Feb. 14.

Local Lakes: Not much action out at our local lakes in recent weeks. Local angler Wes Nodine reported catching two nice cutthroat trout at the outlet on Floras Lake just south of Langlois last weekend. Wes told me he was…

The Harney Soil and Water Conservation District in Eastern Oregon hopes that new sage grouse regulations will be revised under the upcoming Trump administration.

To that end, the district has filed a lawsuit that seeks a court order requiring the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to reconsider the rules, which ranchers see as overly burdensome.

The BLM amended Oregon’s “resource management plan” for federal lands last year as part of a broader push to protect greater sage grouse habitat and prevent further declines in the bird’s population.

The agency unlawfully ignored a “rural community alternative” focused on preventing wildfire and invasive species — the greatest threat to sage grouse — developed by local BLM officials, scientists and ranchers, according to Harney SWCD’s complaint.

Instead, BLM adopted a plan that will likely cause grazing curtailments, the complaint said.

The rural community alternative was disregarded not for scientific reasons, but for expediency, which isn’t a valid reason to ignore the law, said Karen Budd-Falen, the district’s attorney.

“The BLM ignored it because they said they were under court deadlines (from a previous legal settlement) and didn’t have time,” she said.

Capital Press was unable to reach a spokesman for the Interior Department, which oversees BLM.

The amended regulations contain unrealistic grass height requirements for cattle to be allowed to graze, Budd-Falen said. “In a lot of areas, the grass doesn’t grow that high no matter what.”

BLM is also adopting a new method of monitoring rangeland health that will require re-training of agency employees, she said.

If resources aren’t sufficient to monitor certain regions with the new method, that will provide environmental groups with fodder for lawsuits to block grazing, Budd-Falen said.

Ranchers depend on grazing allotments on federal land, since they don’t have any ready alternatives for forage while the BLM calibrates its new monitoring strategy, she said. “These grazing allotments are part of these guys’ ranches.”

It would be more difficult for ranchers to build rangeland improvements due to restrictions on possible perches for predators that would hunt the sage grouse, she said.

In the best case scenario for the lawsuit, a judge would remand the amended plan to BLM, which would then incorporate recommendations in the rural community alternative that are less onerous to ranchers, Budd-Falen said.

“The Trump administration can’t predetermine a decision,” but it can re-start the process,” she said.

Tuesdays