04/11/05 Work out your differences

04/11/05 Work out your differences

The Oregon Cattlemen's Association and the Oregon Natural Desert Association are on totally opposite sides of an issue. And they now find themselves having to resolve differences through a court order. Pat Larsen is the scientific advisor for the O.C.A. She gives background into the case that worked its way to a federal court judge, a case brought by the Oregon Natural Desert Association against the Malheur National Forest and U.S. Forest Service claiming the forest had been overgrazed, and that fish habitat had been degraded. LARSEN: And they essentially were asking the court to rule that when the Forest gives a permittee operating instructions from year to year that that was a final agency action, which required the Forest to open that up to conducting a N.E.P.A analysis, and allow Oregon Natural Desert to submit what ought to be done, and they were also asking that the judge halt grazing on the forest for twenty to thirty years because of this devastation that was going on against the environment. And the judge ruled against that, that he wouldn't do it. Instead, what the judge ordered was that the parties, including the intervening Oregon Cattlemen's Association, work out a stipulated order. Now granted a final order has not been made, but from Larsen's, and the O.C.A.'s point of view, Judge Robert Jones basically ruled from the bench in favor of the Forest Service and ranchers. LARSEN: He suggested that O.N.D.A. could continue to litigate these little technical questions forever, and all that does is cause everybody a lot of money spent in a courtroom, where we could simply sit down and discuss the differences and perhaps resolve the issues for them through discussion. Let it again be noted that the Oregon Cattlemen's Association and Oregon Natural Desert Association are not just on completely different sides of the issue, but hold very different philosophical points of view. In fact, the O.C.A. and other land use organizations expect lawsuits like the Malheur County case to continue to be filed in the courts. However, the ruling in this particular matter could have some sweeping benefits for ranchers not just in Oregon, but in the West as well. Details on that are discussed in our next program.
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