Jan. 15–An Eastern Oregon lawmaker is floating a bill he hopes would stave off strict federal regulations on cattle grazing in order to protect habitat for the greater sage grouse.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials have until 2015 to decide whether the sage grouse should be listed under the endangered species act, if the bird gets that designation it could have serious effects in Eastern Oregon where ranchers rely on public lands for grazing.
Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario, likens the threat of federal action to the listing of the spotted owl, which upended Oregon’s timber industry.
“I really can’t express how damaging this could be to two-thirds of our state other than to point out what we’ve endured with our timber and lumber businesses,” Bentz said.
He’s so concerned, he’s willing to utter the “tax.”
His bill would assess a tax on birdseed and salt feed for cattle that would provide dedicated funding to state-directed habitat restoration for the grouse and other non-game birds.
The tax wouldn’t raise much money, $2 million a year from birdseed and roughly $400,000 per year from cattle feed. But the funding would show the federal government that Oregon is serious about protecting the grouse and, Bentz hopes, keep the bird from being listed as endangered.
“The goal for me wasn’t the money, it was the message,” Bentz said.
The idea for a wild bird habitat tax dates to 2009 and the Audobon Society of Portland and the Oregon chapter of the Wildlife Society have been trying to pass it since.
Bentz’s bill adds a new twist, dedicating 50 percent of the birdseed tax to sage grouse protection. It also broadens privacy rules on grazing agreements that ranchers enter into with the government.
Sage grouse are large ground-dwelling birds who range throughout 11 western states. Invasive species, particularly juniper, and fires are considered the major causes of their decline in Oregon.
Neither threat can be resolved with regulations, so funding fire suppression and invasive species intervention is key.
Stephen Kafoury, a lobbyist for the Wildlife Society, said finding dedicated funding for habitat protection is important if the state wants to prevent the loss of birds such as the grouse, the spotted owl, the snowy plover or the marbled murrelet.
“A couple of these have been listed and one is in danger of being listed. And I think it’s really important for Oregon to get ahead of this curve because there’s going to be more,” Kafoury said.
Because the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife relies heavily on hunting and fishing licenses and tag sales, regulators spend much of their time on game animals.
“We want to help get the agency oriented towards non-game species and habitat more than it has in the past,” Kafoury said.
Tax votes require a three-fifths majority in the Oregon House and Senate, meaning any tax vote requires bipartisan support. And given the short timeline for this year’s month-long legislative session and the added pressure of election year politics, putting together the votes won’t be easy.
But if Bentz can find favor with environmentalists and ranchers, he could build a coalition that to pass the bill. So far the going has been rough.
“I went to a number of my own constituents,” Bentz said. “and they were very unenthusiastic with any word that starts with “t” and ends with “x.” This has been a challenge.”
If federal officials step in to save the grouse Bentz said ranchers would have to go through extensive layers of bureaucracy to gain access to the millions of federally owned acres in Eastern Oregon.
It could also hamper the growth of the solar and wind energy industries that are burgeoning east of the Cascades.
The broad environmental and economic impact of declining sage grouse populations led Gov. John Kitzhaber to convene a group called “SageCon” in 2012.
“The sage grouse issue demonstrates, in an urgent way, how the health of wild bird populations is connected to the health of rural communities and our statewide economy,” Kitzhaber said in an email. “It’s important not just to Eastern Oregon but to all Oregonians who value renewable energy, healthy habitat, and being proactive in the face of the Endangered Species Act.”
— Christian Gaston