BAKER CITY, Ore. 鈥� In a normal year, the grass is mostly dry in the summer. The mountains look yellow with some spots of green, lots of sagebrush and some short trees bunched together.
Standing in her front yard, Amanda Smull points to hills where the lightning hit and sparked a fire on July 17.
鈥淵ou can see [fire] retardant lines on the hill over there,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he fire was so hot and fast that it just blew through those retardant lines. There really was nothing that they could do.鈥�
Just over a week after the fire, she and her husband, Jared, a fifth generation rancher, hop on their truck and start driving up a winding dirt road that loops around the Rye Valley 鈥� roughly 20 miles west of Baker City.
Amanda, who hadn鈥檛 been up the range grounds since the fire blazed through points to the sagebrush and the junipers. They鈥檙e scorched and the mountains are black.
鈥淭here鈥檚 just not a blade of grass left out there,鈥� she says.
The fire has displaced and killed a still unaccounted number of cattle. The Smulls lost at least five cows and nine calves, some are still missing on the range. There鈥檚 also a handful they鈥檝e managed to put in a corral, they鈥檙e too badly injured and will likely end up in a sale yard.
This couple鈥檚 challenges are reflected on ranches across Eastern Oregon. Where cattle have survived, some ranchers will have to spend more to keep their cattle fed or sell some of their cows 鈥� because there鈥檚 nowhere to put them. As the fires smolder, many ranchers have been left figuring out what to do next, as they face devastation to public and private lands that most have never seen before, at least in recent memory.
Uncertainty and tough decisions
The Smulls graze some 200 head of cattle on private and federal lands they lease in the valley, usually from early spring until fall. But those rangelands have burned bare, so their cows and calves are back home on the meadows 鈥� where they normally spend the winter months.
Strong winds and lots of dry grass carried the through nearly 295,000 acres of range in Baker and Malheur counties 鈥� making it one of the largest wildfires in Oregon so far this season. That fire eventually merged with the , which had burned some 133,000 acres a few days prior.
Jared Smull, who grew up in Eastern Oregon, says they鈥檙e used to some fire, but nothing like this.
鈥淭his scale, we鈥檝e never seen around here. It鈥檚 nuts,鈥� he says.
But there鈥檚 another problem. The fires have burned a combination of private and federal lands, burning miles of wooden fencing, and scorching the grass their cattle and other wildlife eat. That has left many ranchers figuring out how to find enough feed, including the Smull鈥檚.
鈥淚 mean you can just look around,鈥� Amanda Smull says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing left and we don鈥檛 even know what next spring will look like. It probably depends on the severity of the burns.鈥�
Buying feed while the pasture recovers might not be sustainable, and it鈥檚 not just buying hay for the summer. Jared Smull figures in the winter months alone he鈥檒l go through 400 tons of hay to feed his cows, which could cost as much as $60,000.
鈥淐an you afford two years of losses before your banker says, 鈥楴o, you鈥檙e done, you鈥檙e selling your cows and getting flush鈥�? And then you don鈥檛 have anything and it takes a long time to rebuild,鈥� Jared says.
Amanda adds they will likely receive compensation from insurance, but it won鈥檛 replace what they鈥檝e lost.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not like having your barn or house burned down and then getting money to rebuild a house,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t is just different, in that you can鈥檛 replace those exact cows that you lost the genetics that you鈥檝e worked so hard for over the years.鈥�
That uncertainty is already forcing some ranchers to make tough decisions.
Some 40 miles out from the Idaho border, Lee Wright IV is just about done unloading a truck of hay at his Eastern Oregon feedlot. He hops off his tractor and walks over to a barn to get some shade and looks to the distance 鈥� to black mountains usually covered with grass and peppered with sage brush.
鈥淚鈥檝e been looking at black ground for so long now that it almost looks normal. I mean, it kind of makes you have a sick feeling in your stomach,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not supposed to burn the whole country. We鈥檙e supposed to have little fires.鈥�
The Durkee Fire went through almost all 20,000 acres of his range grounds. He was forced to trail some 600 cattle on horseback off the mountains and then load them on trailers headed back to his feedlot.
Keeping his cattle fed will be more expensive now. He plans to send the calves to a separate feedlot to relieve some of the stress on the nursing cows, and he already has some pastures lined up for his cattle. But that won鈥檛 be enough.
鈥淚鈥檒l have to sell some cows,鈥� he says.鈥� I won鈥檛 have enough grass next year to keep them all.鈥�
Rangelands could take a while to recover
Native grasses might come back on their own, but it might also take a while before they do.
鈥淚 mean it鈥檚 black, and that takes quite a bit of time depending on what the seed bank was and how much moisture we get over winter and in the spring,鈥� said Whitney Rohner, the executive director of the Baker County Soil and Water Conservation District. 鈥淚t鈥檚 too early to tell just exactly what the range of land loss is right now.鈥�
Rohner said it鈥檚 likely her office, along with federal and state partners, will have to intervene and re-seed some areas before other invasive grasses take root. But that takes a lot of resources and funding. Rohner said because so much land has burned, she鈥檚 not confident they will be able to rehabilitate all of it.
Whitney Rohner, executive director of the Baker County Soil and Water Conservation District.Anna Lueck / OPB鈥淚t鈥檚 not going to be possible for us to go in and re-seed absolutely everything. It just won鈥檛 be,鈥� she said.
As for federal range grounds, it could take up to two years until the Bureau of Land Management determines the land can be grazed again, according to Larisa Bogardus, a public affairs specialist for the BLM鈥檚 Vale district bureau office.
鈥淎reas burned by wildland fire, including those subsequently rehabilitated, will be rested from grazing one full year and through a second growing season at a minimum, or until monitoring data or professional judgment indicate that health and vigor of desired vegetation has recovered to levels adequate to support and protect upland function,鈥� Bogardus told OPB in a statement.
Several Oregon lawmakers have already reached out to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for aid. Gov. Tina Kotek on July 31 asking the agency to declare a disaster for several counties fighting wildfires, which would make ranchers and farmers eligible for federal emergency loans.
鈥淥ur communities look to us for leadership and action in times of need,鈥� Kotek wrote. 鈥淭he timely review and approval of our request will provide critical support to the affected farmers and ranchers, helping them recover and rebuild.鈥�
Kotek also asked Vilsack to coordinate with the U.S. Forest Service to allow more flexibility around where and when ranchers can graze their cattle while the rangelands recover.
鈥淭his may include flexibility in grazing schedules, modifications to grazing permit conditions, and the use of alternative lands for immediate grazing needs,鈥� Kotek wrote. 鈥淥regon鈥檚 livestock ranchers are stewards of the lands, and temporary grazing permits may provide relief and support as the landscape recovers from the devastating fires.鈥�
A handful of farm groups, including the, have already put together relief funds for ranchers, and other farmers from across the state have even started to truck in bales of hay for ranchers left with nothing.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been really incredible to see people that maybe don鈥檛 even know who鈥檚 ground they鈥檙e on, helping move livestock and hauling water and supplies for volunteers,鈥� she said.
Lee Wright agrees, 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 not only ranchers, the farmers 鈥� I mean we鈥檙e all hand in hand,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey grow the feed that we feed the cows and we grow the meat that sits on the farmer鈥檚 table at night and we鈥檙e kind of helping one another out.鈥�
But wildfire season is not over yet. Other fires still burn across Eastern Oregon, and there could be more hot, dry days ahead.
Tracking Durkee and Cow Valley fires and Badland Complex
Copyright 2024 Oregon Public Broadcasting