Crook County residents speak, leaders reject proposed recreation area

After hearing plenty of opposing testimony from a packed audience, Crook County commissioners voted Thursday night to not support Oregon Wild’s proposal for a 312,000-acre national recreation area in the Ochoco National Forest.

About 600 residents packed the county fairgrounds to make sure their voices were heard on the issue.

Some residents were asking their county leaders to let the citizens vote on the issue and others urged officials to leave the forest the way it is.

The proposal by the conservation group Oregon Wild would limit the use of motorized vehicles in the area and could impact private lands in the forest.

Most of the land is managed by the U.S. Forest Service and about 28,000 acrs by the BLM. Oregon Wild said that would not change, though the “agencies would be required to make the road system more friendly to fish, wildlife and watershed values, including “where suitable, to convert unnecessary roads to trails.”.

“The use of motorized vehicles … would be limited to roads designated for such use,” the group said. It also said the area would be maintained “as a destination for traditional, non-motorized recreation.”

The proposal also would establish the 9,000-acre Lookout Mountain Wilderness Area and a 14,800-acre wilderness on the North Fork Crooked River, while the Bridge Creek Wilderness would be expanded to 1,900 acres.

Ranchers said Thursday night they worry the plan would limit water rights and put timber companies at a disadvantage.

For Craig Woodward, who has private land bounded by the forest, the proposed could affect his business.

“My biggest issue in the beginning was, we have no need for one more layer of bureaucracy over top of these lands, where now it’s very hard for the Forest Service to even manage them for forest health,” Woodward said.

Oregon Wild said the proposal is about providing a future for recreation in the Ochoco National Forest and not to hurt ranchers in any way.

“There is a lot of misinformation about this proposal — it’s very misunderstood,” said representative Sarah Cuddy. “This proposal doesn’t affect grazing. We still will fight fires, we will still cut timber, it doesn’t restrict public access.”

But many residents didn’t like what they’ve learned so far about the proposal.

“This is a lose-lose situation,” one audience member said. “It’s a loss for us in the county, it’s a loss for the state.”

Crook County Judge Mike McCabe sad the commissioners were informed of this plan five months ago but wanted to hear both sides of the proposal and from the residents who would be affected.

McCabe echoed what residents were saying about too much government oversight — a more high-profile issue amid the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge earlier this month by a group accusing the government of overreach.

“Sixty percent, almost, of Crook County is federal and state ground,” McCabe said.

Commissioners plan to submit a letter of opposition on Feb. 3 to Oregon’s congressional leaders in Washington, D.C.

The Prineville City Council also will take up the recreation area proposal at its regular meeting next Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., which has been moved to the same venue due to a possibly large crowd, Carey Foster Hall at the Crook County Fairgrounds.