Cattlemen meet at Ritzville to discuss DOE letters

Almost 100 farmers, ranchers and landowners crowded a meeting room in Ritzville Jan. 6 to discuss letters received from the state Department of Ecology.

This meeting follows a similar one in Colfax hosted by the Whitman Conservation District when DOE officials attended. No DOE representatives attended the Ritzville meeting which was sponsored by the Washington Cattlemen’s Association.

Walter Riley, a rancher in the southern part of Whitman County and president of the Whitman Conservation District, said there was a principal message of the meeting.

“There are other ways of taking care of the water situation other than fencing,” Riley said.

“My hope is if we can get everybody together and not bend into them (DOE),” he said. “People are bending into them and taking their money.”

Riley is referring to the money offered by DOE programs for fencing off streams and installing water troughs for livestock.

Area farmer David Lange, who also attended the Ritzville session, said there was a legal aspect to the meeting’s message as well.

“We really want to see them changing the ‘potential to pollute’ verbiage and would like our representatives in Olympia to help us with that,” Lange said.

“The speakers also encouraged landowners to be documenting everything,” he said. “It’s very encouraging because a lot of us are on the same page.”

Rep. Susan Fagan, R-Pullman, was also among the crowd at the meeting.

She said she believed the main message for the crowd was upland and riparian management and that landowners must document activities on their land.

“It’s all about data with DOE,” she said.

They advised landowners to manage riparians well and document all activities, Fagan said.

“Landowners are always interested in managing land well,” Fagan said. “If they’re not managing it well they won’t have an income.”

She said she also knows that the farmers are “all true conservationists.”

Fagan criticized the letters that DOE sent to some landowners.

“DOE should be giving specifics about the site, not saying there is a ‘potential to pollute,’” she said. “Landowners couldn’t determine what DOE wants changed.”

“This is an ongoing battle,” Fagan said.

Fagan also believes that this could develop into a legal battle and said that landowners are raising money for a potential legal challenge.

“We have to hold DOE’s feet to the fire,” she said. “If the agency is sending out letters that aren’t clear, saying ‘potential to pollute,’ it’s confusing landowners. Landowners are busy. They have jobs to do.”