Timber Oligarchs Transform Into Beef Barons in Harney County and the Oregon High Desert

[L. Coyote]

Timber Oligarchs Transform Into Beef Barons in Harney County and the Oregon High Desert
by Katie Fite

... The Williams’ operation is only one of a large number of immensely subsidized wealthy public lands welfare ranchers that are increasingly common in Harney County, Malheur County and the rest of the West. Rich ranchers now wield immense power over western public lands. Ammon Bundy is not only defending their god-given right to reap immense profits from the public domain – unshackled by repressive BLM regulations – he wants to hand Our land over to these folks. .....

The timber mogul’s vacation retreat Ranch has been “paying its own way” — by sucking in large government subsidies over the years – on top of the near-free public lands grazing fees.

Projects related to perpetuating high levels of grazing have been subsidized by the federal government and other agencies – first under the guise of watersheds and redband trout protections in the 1990s, and now it appears sage-grouse.

In 2007, the Seattle Times reported on taxpayer welfare and Roaring Springs allowing grazing on Malheur Refuge:

“The government will spend about $300,000 over the next five years on such things as fencing to control cattle and fish passage improvements. Roaring Springs will contribute labor, equipment and supplies worth about $50,000. The nearby Malheur National Wildlife Refuge will allow Roaring Springs some grazing space to take pressure off the recovering creeks”.

Flash forward to today’s bottomless pit of sage-grouse slush funds. The Capital Press, an Ag weekly, reports on one such tax dollar infusion:

“SDA chief Tom Vilsack has announced a $211 million boost to the Sage Grouse Initiative. Oregon ranchers say greater sage grouse collaboration with federal agencies is paying off”.

Roaring Springs Manager Davies touts the federal government shoveling immense subsidies to destroy woody vegetation into the hands of public lands welfare ranchers – under the guise of sage-grouse habitat projects. So does the president-elect of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, stating “funding and expertise from NRCS has proven to be a “fantastic partnership …

[center]



SUWA ‏@SouthernUTWild
The history and law behind Utah's bid to gain federal #publiclands https://shar.es/1hoPG0 via @sltrib #utpol
Here's the lowdown on Rep Bishop's disastrous #PublicLands Initiative: http://bit.ly/1ZC17C0 #utpol
Federal lands fight comes to St. George http://bit.ly/1S2gaEp via @SpectrumNews
The Larger, but Quieter Than Bundy, Push to Take Over Federal Land http://nyti.ms/1JDqWzz #utpol
The occupation in Oregon is lawless — and pointless http://wpo.st/QF_11 #KeepItPublic



Wulalowe ‏@Wulalowe
Keep Idaho's #PublicLands in Public Hands! - Say "Yes" to Idaho's Public Lands http://www.keepitpublicidaho.org/ #KeepItPublic

High Country News ‏@highcountrynews
The folly of “taking back” the West http://bit.ly/1nlhJT0



PRB New Mexico ‏@PRBnewmexico
Westerners call on future presidents to protect our #publiclands as national monuments. #MonumentsForAll


Friends of NV Wild ‏@friendsofnvwild
New poll shows Nevadans believe in protecting our #publiclands. More in @lasvegassun: http://bit.ly/1J1ehGu


Public Lands ‏@OurPublicLands
The #Oregonstandoff is face of #publiclands takeover attempts. Say 'No!' @nwf @NMWildlife http://bit.ly/1UCApYq


Conservation Voters ‏@CV4ID
Western voters weigh in, national #publiclands are an economic boon to our states.

[Octafish]

1. Generations of Greedheads raised to think they're entitled to get government hand outs.

No wonder conservatives hate welfare for poor people. They fear helping others who actually need it will expose their own hypocrisy.

[bhikkhu]

2. Hyperbole, easily misunderstood by anyone who hasn't lived in Eastern Oregon

The BLM and the FWS have been very progressive in improving land and water management practices over the last few decades, and the local resource-based businesses have largely been very cooperative. Decades of mismanagement up to the 70's had caused a great of harm, and it has been costly in many ways turning that around, but worthwhile.

Modern practices are largely working well, and your average rancher, farmer, or logger in the Pacific Northwest is well educated and well-intentioned, abides by the laws and regulations, and has some respect for government programs and public lands.

As for oligarches and barons...one would read the article and imagine Burns to be a haven for the 1%. Ever been there? The whole region is generally impoverished, and the resource-based economies around here have been stagnant (another word for stable) for a very long time. Nobody I know of has any expectation of getting rich, only the same hopes of most people - surviving to retirement.

Very few here have any sympathy for the yokels at the bird sanctuary.

[Bluenorthwest]

3. Words of Wovoka, a mystic elder of the Paiute tribe about the land...

You ask me to plow the ground. Shall I take a knife and tear my mother's bosom ? Then when I die she will not take me to her bosom to rest.

You ask me to dig for stones ! Shall I dig under her skin for her bones ? Then when I die I cannot enter her body to be born again.

You ask me to cut grass and make hay and sell it, and be rich like white men, but how dare I cut my mother's hair.

I want my people to stay with me here. All the dead men will come to life again. Their spirits will come to their bodies again. We must wait here in the homes of our fathers and be ready to meet them in the bosom of our mother.

Wovoka - Paiute