After the fire

LINCOLN COUNTY--In the aftermath of the Whitney Fire that burned over 130,000 acres and impacted nearly 40 ranches in Lincoln County, community members and agency heads discussed potential needs at a meeting last Monday.

The meeting held at Stockland Livestock in Davenport was coordinated by Sen. Judy Warnick and Rep. Tom Dent. Dent was unable to attend the meeting designed to discuss land use issues due to becoming ill with the Coronavirus. He is expected to make a full recovery.

Sen. Warnick led the discussion that included Washington Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz and state Fish and Wildlife Director Kelly Susewind.

While some attendees said they felt the communication between local fire departments and state agencies like the Dept. of Natural Resources had improved in recent years, there were concerns about a lack of resources.

“We need funds to help upgrade our buildings,” said cattleman Chase Hubbard. “We have a fire station here in Lincoln County that had to take down the walls for the bathroom just to make room for the fire engine.”

Franz said supporting local fire districts is critical and she is aware that there are some communities with “only one or no fire engines” and getting support to those districts is “critical.”

Sue Lani Madsen, a local rancher and fire district volunteer, said ensuring that state and federal agencies will let their employees leave to help fight fires needs to become a common policy.

“The average age in rural counties is higher than other areas, which means our volunteer fire fighters are older. The largest employer in our county is often a state or federal agency. We need help, but we have experienced situations where state and federal employees were not allowed to leave work in order to help,” Madsen said.

Franz and Susewind said both agencies have employees who have earned their “red card”, or the training necessary to work on a state fire crew and will revisit the issue within their departments.

In addition to ensuring there are enough fire fighters available, attendees expressed concerns about state land management.

“There were 40,000 acres that burnt at the Swanson Lake fire a few years ago and when we have fires like that, any habitat the state is hoping to preserve is gone,” said Lincoln County Cattlemen’s Association President Matt Schenider. “We need grazing to help fight these fires.”

Hubbard said he is also opposed to public land management policies that prohibit grazing for two years after a fire.

“To get kicked off of a grazing permit for two seasons, that’s a death sentence for us,” Hubbard said.

WDFW grazing policy

One attendee asked about a proposed change to grazing policies on Fish and Wildlife lands. The agency owns over a million acres of land on the state and allows grazing on some parcels in central Washington to help improve habitat conditions. However, a proposal before the state Fish and Wildlife Commission this weekend would prioritize wolves over livestock on a fish and wildlife department permit by removing the cows if non-lethal wolf deterrents didn’t work.

“Wolves have to be a priority for us, but we are going to allow grazing. We will use aggressive non-lethal deterrents and moving the cows will be a last resort,” Susewind said.

Madsen, who owns a specialized grazing service that uses goats to manage forage, said she has long argued that the grazing rights cattlemen are currently paying for should be considered a service.

“Ranchers need to be paid for the grazing services that they provide. We have had a prescriptive grazing business since 2002 where we are paid for our services. We can’t expect ranchers to provide the services they do that benefit the land on such thin margins,” Madsen noted.

Sen. Warnick encouraged attendees to contact legislators and agencies about the issues that matter to them.

“You need to have your voices heard,” she said. “I am ten times more interested in listening to you than any lobbyist. We need you to be vocal.”