To protect spawning salmon, cattle on four allotments
in Oregon’s Wallowa-Whitman National Forest have been shifted away
from streams. The Forest Service reacted to a federal appeals court
injunction that banned all grazing, logging and road building in
parts of the Wallowa-Whitman and Umatilla national forests. The
appeals court had found that the Forest Service failed to consult
with the National Marine Fisheries Service, the agency charged with
recovering salmon (HCN, 8/8/94). “For cattlemen, the injunction is
the last straw,” says Mack Birkmaier, president of the Oregon
Cattlemen’s Association and one of the ranchers who may lose access
to the forest. David Bayles, public lands director for the Pacific
Rivers Council, hoped for more action. “They are pulling out cows
only where there are adult Chinook spawning directly in front of
cows,” he says. In all, 16,000 cattle and 4,000 sheep graze on the
two forests; about 1,500 cattle on the Wallowa-Whitman were
shifted, but the Forest Service says it won’t shift any cattle on
the Umatilla. Bayles says his group may go back to court to force
more sweeping changes. “They’re doing what they’ve always done –
making decisions behind closed doors.” Forest Service spokesman
Thom Corcoran denies the charge. He says his agency planned to move
the cows off the allotments long before the injunction, partly as a
result of extensive consultation with the Fisheries Service. At
this point, he adds, the agency doesn’t know how grazing and other
activities will be affected next
year.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Cattle kicked off salmon range.
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