Crook County rancher weighs in on hot-button issues

When it comes to the Hammonds –the Harney County father and son sent to prison for the second time for an arson conviction stemming from field burning — NewsChannel 21 has yet to find a rancher who thinks their sentence is fair.

“They’ve served their time once. I don’t think they should have to serve it again,” Doug Breese, president of the Crook and Wheeler Counties Chapter of the Oregon Farm Bureau, said Wednesday.

But broader land management questions sparked by an armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge can make for more mixed answers, although Breese put it pretty simply.

“Graze it, log it or watch it burn,” he said.

Breese said his family has worked the lands of Crook County for more than 100 years. He raises cattle for beef and also sells calves.

And in a county where more than 50 percent of the land is publicly owned, he said he pays the Forest Service about $450 a year in grazing permits to use federal land.

Although Breese said he gets along with state and federal authorities most of the time, that doesn’t mean he agrees with their management or ideas.

“BLM is trying to get rid of cows for sage grouse,” Breese said.

There’s been lots of talk over the last year about that bird — and what many called a victory for ranchers: Federal authorities recently declined to list the sage grouse as endangered.

In Central Oregon, there’s another critter making farmers nervous: a lawsuit to protect the Oregon spotted frog and its habitat.

At a Madras town hall meeting on Monday, several farmers and a water manager told Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., that less water for irrigation would be devastating.

Back in Prineville, Breese said he just hopes the spotlight will give them all a greater voice.

He referred to “people who think they are doing good by preserving everything,” and in his view, “that’s not the right way to do it.”

As for the occupation of the refuge by Ammon Bundy and his followers, Breese said he doesn’t agree with their actions.

“I happen to think they’re silly,” Breese said. “They are not going to do any good, and they’re going to get in trouble.”

NewsChannel 21 reached out Wednesday to local BLM, Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife managers, as well as the Oregon Natural Desert Association, but either didn’t hear back or was told spokespeople declined to comment.