Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife already manages about a million acres of publicly owned lands statewide. Now, the agency is trying to use recent wildfires as an excuse to regulate more land use, and potentially increase its land holdings.
Last week, the agency called for sage-grouse to be listed as an “endangered” species. It will be collecting public comment on the idea through Dec. 30.
According to agency South-Central Regional Director Mike Livingston, this year’s fires have destroyed sage-grouse habitat and the state needs to step in to protect the bird population.
Eastern Washington residents, indeed residents across the entire state, shouldn’t fall for this tactic, which is really an effort to control how we use our private property and how we recreate on our public lands.
Calling recent fires in Spokane, Whitman, Lincoln, Okanogan, Douglas and Franklin counties a “devastating setback to recovery of sage-grouse populations,” Livingston fails to tell the public what such a change would mean for rural residents. And the executive summary and its supporting documents don’t tell you either.
But you won’t have to guess very hard.
According to the agency’s sage grouse review documents, the fires are just the final straw, so-to-speak. The real problem is farming and development.
Page 9 of the agency’s “Periodic Status Review for the Greater Sage-grouse” says the loss of habitat for sage grouse is “often caused by conversion to cropland or development.” Even in our agriculturally zoned areas, the review document says that our already limited rural development densities “likely exceed the tolerance of sage-grouse.”
Meaning, if the bird is listed as endangered, the state will look to the Growth Management Act to force rural counties to take more farmland out of production and designate it as sage-grouse habitat. In addition, our local governments will be forced to “consult” with the agency on prioritizing habitats. Leaving us little say in how our land will be designated.
But there’s more.
The agency claims power transmission lines negatively affect sage-grouse. The document points to two radio-collared birds being found dead near power lines as the basis for its claim.
That’s right – just two birds.
For the record, the state tracked the birds via the GPS collars from Lincoln County to Douglas County. (I wonder how much taxpayers spent for the agency to monitor two birds.)
Then there’s the issue of solar farm projects, like the one near Lind, in rural Adams County. The agency claims solar projects will reduce sage-grouse habitat and require additional power lines. You guessed it – those projects will also face more government oversight to protect sage-grouse.
And what about livestock grazing? Well, the agency’s report claims grazing reduces grass cover for sage-grouse nests and leads to more depredations. Yet, it fails to note that some of the fire-ravaged land was already in grazing, and therefore, already part of the sage-grouse habitat equation.
Oh yeah, the report also says fencing of grazing areas and providing water for livestock also leads to bird deaths. The fencing, because sage-grouse sometimes fly into a wire or a fence post, and the water, because of “concentrating livestock.”
Despite claiming there’s a need now to list sage-grouse as an endangered species, the agency acknowledges it won’t know the “full impacts” of this year’s fires until next year. So, this is potentially just another premature “trust us, we’re from the government” charade designed to rein in rural lifestyle and freedom.
Those of us who grew up, live, work and recreate in rural Eastern Washington have seen fires devour large tracts of dry grass, sagebrush and wheat fields before. We’ve seen burnt sage shrub back in full growth a year or two later. And we’ve seen destroyed wheat fields replanted and back in production by the next season.
This year’s fire devastation will pass, too.
Don’t let state Fish and Wildlife employees use last month’s fires as an excuse to control more of our rural way of life and our local land use. Review the sage-grouse plan, then email your comments before Dec. 30 to [email protected].
– Roger Harnack is the publisher of Free Press Publishing. Email him at [email protected].
Roger Harnack is owner/publisher of Free Press Publishing. An award-winning journalist, photographer, editor and publisher who grew up in Eastern Washington, he's one of only two Washington state journalists ever to receive the international Golden Quill for editorial/commentary writing. Roger is committed to preserving local media, and along with it, a local voice for Eastern Washington.
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