Oregon Spotted Frog Hearing

Last week a hearing was heard in a Oregon Federal Court in which the request for an injunction to modify water flow at Central Oregon reservoirs to benefit the Oregon spotted frog was denied. Oregon Farm Bureau’s Public Policy Council Mary Anne Nash shares
Nash: “We had a really good turn out from the agricultural community. WE’ve estimated probably somewhere around 150 to 200 farmers showed up. They created two overflow court rooms and were able to broadcast the feed in there so everybody was able to watch what was going on. All of the attorneys made their presentations. The attorneys are all sides did a really great job at their presentations but the judge realized how many people came out and how many people’s livelihoods were at state. Started from from the beginning, saying that she was not incline to grant the injunction and told both parties to tailor their arguments accordingly — so that set the tone for the rest of the argument. WaterWatch presented their case. Bureau of Reclamation and the irrigation districts rebutted. There was a lot of good discussion about the work that has been undertaken in basin. A lot of the science surrounding frog needs and life cycles; and really good discussion of all the work that has already been done in the basin and all of the commitments that have already been made to protect the frog. I thought it went really, really well. The judge is going to issue a written opinion and that will have a little more details of her findings, but it is a really positive first step of this piece and a really good recognition of the years of hard work that has been done in the basin.”