05/20/08 A Deal Is A Deal

A Deal Is A Deal. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. I was always taught growing up that if you made a deal with someone, you honored that deal since without your word, you had nothing. A number of farmers in Southern Oregon are finding out that that isn't always the case. Oregon's Congressman Greg Walden is currently trying to make sure that the government is living up to their word. WALDEN: Cattle ranchers are being choked off by the Cascade-Siskiyou as a result of it being declared a monument during the Clinton administration and we knew that would probably happen. This bill that's moving forward was supposed to include a buyout that the cattlemen had agreed to that would include both private and public funding. Walden says the public funding part of the bill was dropped at the last minute. WALDEN: And I just thing a deal should be a deal on that and that they shouldn't get the wilderness until the cattle ranchers are taken care of. They've been a good partner in this process. Congressman Walden will be introducing legislation that makes sure that everyone is taken care of in this process. The ranchers are quite willing to let the government take over the area but need to be compensated. WALDEN: The deal is they got the federal government to pay $300 per aum and the environmental community would put up $200 and I said "put up the $200." Let's see it and then we'll move forward and they still haven't put together their contracts yet on the private part. And then turns out there are forced in the Senate that don't want the public sector part. And then if you are the rancher, you are left with $200 dollars an aum when promised $500. I just don't think that is fair. He says if the environmental groups are willing to step up and pay the full amount that would be fine. Walden say there aren't many farmers involved in the issue. WALDEN: I think there are 5 or 6 permittees up on the mountain so we are not talking that many people. It's a total of about $2-million dollars from the federal government was what was planned. But I guess it was the principal of the thing. I just think that where I was raised in Eastern Oregon a handshake was as good as a contract but I've learned in Washington DC, you'd best get it in writing if you want the outcome you were promised. The Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument was created in 2000 and includes some 52-thousand acres of Southern Oregon's Jackson County. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.