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Property rights on minds of Ore. cattlemen
By TAM MOORE Oregon Staff Writer
cappress@charter.net
REDMOND, Ore. – The themes of property rights
and limits on government intrusion in private
business were decades old, but the issues were
new as the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association set
policy for 2004 in the concluding sessions of
their annual convention.
After two years of bitterness over federal
wildlands firefighting policy that seems to
ignore use of local landowners and their
employees, OCA enlisted banquet speaker Rep.
Greg Walden, R-Ore., to intercede with the
U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
Walden this week put the cattlemen’s proposal
for local wildlands response teams, trained to
federal standards, before BLM Director
Kathleen Clarke.
“Many of our rural communities rely upon
volunteer firefighting to protect their homes,
so it only makes sense to extend this concept
to fighting fires on federal lands,” Walden
said in a Nov. 18 telephone call with Clarke.
Here’s a summary of other OCA policy
positions, taken from resolutions passed at
their Nov. 8 business meeting:
• Property rights – OCA adopted one resolution
urging the Oregon Legislature adopt a law
compensating property owners who have land
values diminished by government action;
another resolution supports an initiative
petition seeking to put a takings measure on
the November 2004 statewide ballot. Cattlemen
also expressed general support for laws
limiting government exercise of eminent
domain, the condemning of property for utility
and road rights-of- way.
• OSU – Following up on Oregon State
University’s pledge earlier this year to
retain the Department of Rangeland Resources,
cattlemen created a task force to monitor
actions of an advisory committee to the dean
of agriculture as it looks at future research
and teaching directions for the department.
• Source verification – OCA voted to find a
way to verify the source of all calves born in
Oregon in hopes of increasing value of animals
when the federal country of origin labeling
law takes effect in September 2004.
• Ag water quality – The cattlemen joined with
Water for Life in opposing Oregon Department
of Agriculture efforts to include references
to regulatory statutes in locally developed
agricultural water quality plans.
• Water rights ownership – OCA again supported
a Water for Life effort to tie water rights,
including those held through irrigation
districts, to landowners. The 2003 Legislature
couldn’t agree on a similar bill.
• Wolves – Members voted to stand ready,
through their legal fund, to sue over federal
and state policy if it allows gray wolves to
remain in the state, and to bring suit against
the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission for
continuing to leave the wolf on the state
endangered species list when it is not
resident in the state.
Tam Moore is based in Medford, Ore. His email
address is cappress@charter.net.
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