Fighting fire to protect cattle, land, structures and people is an uncertain and scary circumstance, but that’s exactly where the Thomas family found themselves on July 11. The Cow Valley Fire was started by suspected arson on their private land in Ironside, Ore., which is on the state’s eastern side. Thomas Cattle Company raises cattle in both Oregon and Idaho and has dealt with fires on both ranches this year.
“Our team there, as well as neighboring farmers and ranchers and Rangeland Fire Protection Agency (RFPA) members jumped in immediately to begin helping work to build fire lines to slow the fire and protect our cattle and structures,” says Elizabeth Thomas. “As the fire grew in scope and size, more resources were allotted through state and federal agencies.”
Thomas and her husband, Seth; Seth’s brother, Logan; Logan’s wife, Kristin, and their children are all part of Thomas Cattle Company, and have a long history of ranching in the West.
“Ranchers know their land and their cattle and are best suited to protect them in a scenario such as this,” Thomas says. “They can be efficient and quick in doing so due to their knowledge of the land ahead and what makes the most sense to move their cattle to a safe location as quickly as possible. Due to our team being there and, on-the-ground quickly, they were able to be ahead of the fire and move all of our cattle to safety.”
The Cow Valley fire grew to more than 133,000 acres and is considered contained. In addition, lightning started the Durkee Fire on July 17, and burned nearly 295,000 acres, which after several weeks has also reached containment.
The Thomases are thankful they didn’t lose any cattle, yet both fires burnt significant portions of their grazing lands.
“We were fortunate to not lose any cattle, structures, outbuildings or homes, although the Durkee Fire did come within half a mile of one of the ranch homes,” Thomas explains.
The West consists of millions of acres of public land, which is owned by federal and state government. Multi-generational families like the Thomases have been managing and caring for these lands for decades as permit holders, and the impact of the fires will be felt for years.
“Most of the land that our cattle and the cattle of ranchers across this region graze on is land that cannot be used for other purposes like farming due to the rocky, sagebrush, hard-to-reach terrain that it exists upon,” Thomas explains. “Wildfire that affects grazing lands is not something that affects agriculture producers for one year. The aftermath of this will be felt for three to five years following this. Some ranchers in this area have lost all of their grazing lands for this summer and into fall.”
What happens now?
“The most immediate concern for us is locating alternate pastures nearby so that we can move the displaced cattle there and hopefully not have to transport them by truck to new locations,” Thomas says. “Seth has worked with neighbors and other local ranchers and landowners to secure pasture so that we are able to do this. Our daughter, Adeline, Seth and our team have been working to fix fence, fix water troughs and work on these pastures in preparation to move displaced cattle to these new grazing grounds.”
The Thomas family, along with other ranchers whose grazing lands burnt, will see significant impacts on their operations.
“For federal lands, grazing on these lands will be closed for two years or more, depending upon how the land and grass recuperates following the fire,” Thomas says. “The displacement of our cattle on these burnt grazing grounds will cause more expenses for our operation in additional rent on leased grounds and, if needed, purchases of hay to feed through needed times of year.”
Thomas says they will face the future one day at a time.
“While the fires have created significant challenges for so many ranchers in Eastern Oregon and Idaho, the communities and ranchers are coming together to help each other out and come back from the devastation,” Thomas says. “Our approach at TCC will be to solve the problems that lay ahead of us one at a time, while keeping an eye forward on how we can pivot to meet the needs of our cattle on this ranch and find creative ways to keep feed ahead of them. We were fortunate to not lose cattle in this fire, and while the grazing land is an unfortunate loss that we now have to account and plan for, it could have been much worse, and we are grateful to our team in Ironside, our neighbors and friends that jumped in to help where they could.”
