As to the grazing issue, I think it’s a case where ONRC is spread too thin. Other organizations have come into existence where we couldn’t cover everything. An example of that would be some of the groups which have developed around the Siskiyou resources because of the tremendous biodiversity there. Headwaters in Ashland, similar to the Oregon Natural Desert Association, has raised more consciousness in recent years than I think ONRC has in regard to grazing, desert, and riparian issues. Cow Cops was in many ways like a lot of things we’ve done. I won’t say it was a flash in the pan–it called public attention to the issue. It made the ranchers just incredibly paranoid because when it was first proposed, they heard about it in the media and envisioned hordes [of people] from the Willamette Valley were going to walk all over the lands and tattle on every cow that was there. I don’t want to say that was a short lived effort–it [just] isn’t being pursued as it was at that time. I think it’s something that could be re-energized. I think the value of it was calling attention to the fact that cattle were beating up the land. In one way it’s how you spin [the message] and market it.
For years we’ve gone out and told the agency “There’s cows here. They say, “Yeah, we know” and the guy who is grazing the cows gets a little slap on the wrist. It is part of the custom and culture that the agency gets more upset when trees are being stolen than when grass is being stolen. It seems like an endless cat and mouse game, not a game I forever want to play–having to chase cows and the ranchers turning them out again the next year. I think the Oregon Natural Desert Association’s Clean Stream Initiative, which was unsuccessful, probably did more in terms of getting signatures to get a measure on the ballot.
Because it represented legislation?
Yes, because it provided a solution to get the cattle off. I attribute its failure to the public’s perception to give these guys [ranchers] another chance. They weren’t aware that we’d been giving them a chance, in my memory, for 20 years. In the public’s consciousness, it was like “We’ve just learned about the problem, and so isn’t it reasonable to give them another chance?” As much as anything that’s why I feel it wasn’t successful, but I feel at some point that the public will see the incredible benefits of wildlife that occur in areas where cattle are removed from the streams. Again, it’s penny wise and pound foolish to do anything else.
