County mulls change that would require fencing on open range

YAKIMA, Wash. -- It comes down to this: Who builds the fences?

The Yakima County commissioners on Tuesday will consider switching about 80,000 acres of open range land in the southeast corner of the county to "stock-restricted" land. The move would make cattle producers responsible for keeping their livestock on their own property.

It's driven by a request from residents of the expansive, rural land just north of Klickitat County and west of Benton County. They say roving cattle are eating their crops, damaging their lawns, and in some cases even threatening their families.

"I wasn't the only one, and my neighbor wasn't the only one, who was having trouble with livestock," Jim Sharpe told the commissioners last week when they first took up the matter.

In practical terms, what Sharpe and his neighbors are asking for is a shift in responsibility and liability. Instead of them having to build fences to keep cattle off their own property, it would fall to cattle producers to build fences to keep cattle on theirs.

Sharpe, who gathered signatures of his neighbors for a petition to the commissioners, said he was first spurred to action when his neighbor Ken Stowell's elderly parents were trapped in their car by about 20 angry bulls.

The bulls did more than $10,000 in property damage, not to mention the threat they posed, Stowell told the commissioners. He recalled calling the sheriff's office only to be stymied by their lack of authority in the matter.

"They said, 'I'm sorry, Mr. Stowell. It's open range, and the owners are not responsible for any damage,'" Stowell said.

Cattle producers who spoke before the commissioners believe incidents like that are the fault of just a few irresponsible ranchers. Even on open range land most cattle raisers keep track of their herds, said Angelo Menning, a rancher who spoke on behalf of Toppenish Livestock. This would be just another burden for a local industry that already feels it's been pushed to the margins, he said.

"Public safety is an important issue," he said. "But the cattle industry in Yakima County is probably one of the best kept economic secrets we have. It's big."

Jack Field, executive director of the Washington Cattlemen's Association, said he hopes the commissioners consider that when they make their decision.

"If there's an issue, maybe they can take a look at developing some kind of mechanism to give individuals the opportunity to recover some of their expenses while still maintaining the range designation," he said.

Making it a stock-restricted area wouldn't solve the problem, anyway, he said. It would just shift the liability to the cattle ranchers, who have long been able to count on free range land in that wide-open part of the county.

"Even in stock-restricted areas, livestock get out," he said. "That's just part of this game."

Testimony at last Tuesday's meeting was mostly from those supporting the change. The commissioners wanted to hear more from both sides, so they continued the public hearing to this Tuesday.

"This is turning into a more complex question than it appeared when it was first brought to our attention," Commissioner Rand Elliott said.

If you go

What: continued public hearing on proposed expansion of stock-restricted area

When: 10:30 a.m. Tuesday

Where: Yakima City Council chambers, City Hall, 129 N. Second St.