What makes an Okanogan rancher?

Earlier this month, the Seattle Times ran an article about wolves, ranchers, and one dead cow in Okanogan County, and I wondered how folks out in Seattle and the "west side" see ranchers in places like my home in the Okanogan valley. I've worked with farmers and ranchers in eastern Washington  for over 30 years and have a lot of friends who call Okanogan County their home. And even with that, I continue to learn more about what the "ranching community" means here.

The thing about ranching, ranchers, and grazing in Okanogan County is that just about the whole community is connected to it.

I once worked with a group of 10 or so ranchers to develop an Okanogan County livestock processing service so ranchers could sell their animals locally and more easily through the custom exempt process.  I assumed I was dealing with Ranchers with a capital R: huge herds on equally large allotments. Big business. Imagine my surprise when I realized that most of these ranchers had 5-30 sheep, cattle, or goats on small acreages. But these were no hobby ranchers: they needed the income from their animals to support their families, and they were important to our local economy.

While some ranchers have more than 400 head, there are a bunch of other families like those I worked with who only have 3 goats, 10 cattle, 15 sheep or few horses. They are still Okanogan ranchers. Heck, even if you don't have animals yourself, you probably have an uncle, neighbor or friend who does. And if only for a weekend, everyone here is connected to their heritage during the Omak Stampede and Rodeo! 

A lot of grazing occurs on privately owned pastures and rangeland, and most people have a lot of pride in following proper grazing principles with their herds, however big they are. They use rotational grazing, cross fencing, and off stream water developments to be good stewards of their herd and the land they love. Some of the larger ranchers have bigger herds and have public lands allotments to provide the forage that enables them to make ends meet. Many come from generations of ranchers and have a whole lot of knowledge about proper grazing, grass, and what it takes to stay viable as a rancher in Okanogan County.

Before coming to work for Conservation Northwest, I worked with the Resource Conservation and Development Council to help fund and organize a grazing lands monitoring workshop that six Okanogan ranchers attended for three days at a personal expense of $500 each (no small change for many rural families). They learned to monitor rangeland health, adding to their own deep knowledge of their land scientific tools like photo points, grass clippings and insect counts. 

I don't think a lot of people in western Washington realize that most ranchers over here are working hard to do the right thing in their grazing operations. Now this includes the return of  wolves to our valleys. Sure, the wolves’ return has created concern, worry, and nervousness about this new "unknown" within our ranching community, but there are effective tools, knowledge, and techniques to moderate the interactions between wolves and grazing. I think our Okanogan ranchers are an adaptable group and can and will want to meet the challenge. 

That’s what Conservation Northwest is working to help happen.  Let's bring in knowledge, facts, information, and personal stories from ranchers, biologists and communities that have been through this already and are making it work. We plan to host a movie later this summer that highlights how important predators are to our forest health. We are helping to build fences to alleviate tension and allow grazing on permitted allotments where necessary.  Like anything new, we need to get through the uninformed stage to a more informed stage, so we can support the return of a long missing heritage back into the culture of our communities and ecosystems.  It is a challenge, but also a great opportunity, one that I think the "ranching community" as a whole can meet.