Download Too Many Homes on the Range: The Impacts of Rural Sprawl on Ranching and Habitat (3,881 K PDF)

To some, the rangelands of Central and Eastern Oregon are empty and inert, save for some sagebrush and dust. To others, the rangelands offer us a landscape of life we rarely encounter.

These lands host family ranches that may stretch for tens of thousands of acres. Some ranches, like the Lucky Creek Ranch in Crook County, were originally homesteads. Beverly Wolverton's grandfather started the ranch in 1913. Bev and her husband, Tom, are still there.

These lands are also home to important plant and animal species, such as elk, mule deer and pronghorn antelope. These lands give us a glimpse of a different kind of natural beauty, one with echoes from the past. They are fragile lands, despite their seeming hardiness. What is changing for the people, plants and animals that depend on these lands?

Introduction and Project Purpose

When President George W. Bush was Governor of Texas, his Task Force on Conservation concluded that the fragmentation of family-owned farms and ranches posed the greatest single threat to wildlife habitat and the long-term viability of agriculture in Texas.

Oregon faces a similar challenge, as rural sprawl—the increasing fragmentation and conversion of ranches into ranchettes and vacation homes—threatens both our ranching economy and our ecosystems.

Two years ago, 1000 Friends of Oregon began by listening to ranchers, environmental organizations, state and federal agencies, academics, land trusts, and other experts to identify rural development patterns and areas of importance for habitat. We conducted a series of interviews in central and eastern Oregon, visiting with ranchers and talking with environmentalists. We analyzed the available data to see what was actually happening on the land.

In April 2004, we convened a group of ranchers, leaders of environmental organizations, and policymakers in Prineville, home to Central Oregon's largest ranching community. The purpose of the Prineville Roundtable was to provide an opportunity to share experiences, concerns, and ideas for collaboration - a day for discussion. As one participant noted, the Prineville Roundtable achieved something that had never happened: convening leaders to talk about the sustainability of ranching from all perspectives - economic, environmental, and social.

One recommendation made at the Prineville Roundtable was to bring these rural issues to urban Oregon. And so in May 2004, 1000 Friends sponsored a forum in Portland in May 2004, co-hosted by the Oregon Department of Agriculture and Defenders of Wildlife.

Speakers at the forum included: Rick Gustafson, past chair of the Oregon Board of Agriculture; Dr. Richard Knight, Professor of Wildlife Conservation at Colorado State University; Bev Sparrowk, Drew's Valley Ranch; Jim Wood, Aspen Valley Ranch; John Lillicrop, rancher and board member of the Oregon Rangeland Trust, Dr. Erik Fritzell, OSU Associate Dean; Richard Bradbury Jr., 78 Bar Ranch; Becky Hyde, Yainix Ranch; James Honey, Sustainable Northwest; Jon Jinings, Department of Land Conservation and Development; Jim Johnson, Oregon Department of Agriculture; Fort Klamath Rancher Susan McAuliffe; Steve Buttrick, The Nature Conservancy.

While the controversy and science surrounding the environmental impacts of grazing continues, this project is based on the premise that unfettered rural sprawl damages both ranching and the environment. Therefore, 1000 Friends did not to look at, or take sides on, grazing practices. Rather, the goal of this project was to identify places where agriculture and conservation groups can agree on strategies to protect and minimize the loss of ranchlands and related habitat to rural residential development.

Download Too Many Homes on the Range: The Impacts of Rural Sprawl on Ranching and Habitat (3,881 K PDF)

"Across the West, estimates are that, over the next generation, between 50 percent and 75 percent of all ranches will change ownership, many to nontraditional ranch uses." —Charles Wilkinson, Christian Science Monitor, July 29, 2002