The extent of a wildfire is typically expressed in acres or square miles, but Matt McElligott considers a different measurement.

Miles.

And specifically, the miles of fence damaged or destroyed.

Those figures define one of the most significant, and most expensive, effects of the barrage of blazes that scorched more than 1.3 million acres in Eastern Oregon this summer, said McElligott, a Baker County cattle rancher and president of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association.

“Fencing is going to be the largest expense in my view,” McElligott said on Oct. 7.

Fires, which included the 294,000-acre Durkee Fire, in Baker and Malheur counties, the 133,000-acre Cow Valley Fire in northern Malheur County, and the 54,000-acre Badlands Complex in Baker County, burned hundreds of miles of fence, McElligott said.

The average cost to replace a single mile of range fence is $15,000, he said.

And that’s assuming that a contractor can be found to do the work, and that posts and barbed wire are available, something McElligott said is hardly assured given the extent of the fires not only in Oregon but across the West.

Fires cause obvious damage, such as charring wooden posts.

But McElligott said other effects aren’t so conspicuous.

Heat can cause wire to lose its tensile strength, requiring that it be replaced, he said.

The effort to replace fences is under way in some places, said Sarah Sherman, manager for the Bureau of Land Management’s Baker Field Office.

Sherman said on Oct. 9 that the agency, which manages most of the hundreds of thousands of acres of public land that burned in Baker and Malheur counties this summer, is preparing to solicit bids to replace fencing on BLM cattle grazing allotments.

Sherman agreed with McElligott that the extent of the damage involves hundreds of miles of fence.

The Durkee Fire, for instance, burned portions of 63 grazing allotments, and the Badlands Complex affected 19 allotments.

Sherman said BLM will pay to replace or repair fences that are on public land and are in the agency’s inventory of range improvements.

Landowners are responsible for fences on their property, but both Sherman and McElligott said financial assistance is available through federal programs.

Sherman said she hopes BLM will sign contracts for fence work within three to six months.

“We are trying to be quick in our response,” she said.

The need isn’t immediate due to another major effect of the fires.

Cattle won’t be able to return to public grazing allotments during 2025, but grazing, with potential reductions on the number of animals and the length of the grazing season, should resume in the burned areas in 2026, Sherman said.

The “rest period” from grazing will be longest in places where the BLM needs to spray herbicide to thwart cheatgrass and other noxious weeds, which tend to thrive after fires, or spread seed to supplement the natural recovery of grasses and shrubs, Sherman said.

“We don’t want to extend the rest period unless we absolutely have to,” she said.

But even the loss of a single year of grazing on public land constitutes a major detriment to ranchers whose operations depend on using public range every year, McElligott said.

Nor is that the extent of the loss.

In the Durkee Fire, cattle were grazing on 22 allotments when lightning sparked the blaze on July 17. The fire also burned parts of 19 allotments where grazing would have started Sept. 16.

The Badlands Complex burned three allotments where cattle were grazing, and three others where animals would have been turned out around Aug. 1.

Sherman said BLM officials will strive to give affected ranchers options to minimize the effect.

The agency might, for instance, allow ranchers to graze cattle on portions of allotments that weren’t burned, although the number of animals allowed, and the length of the grazing season, could be reduced from the usual numbers.

“There is some flexibility,” she said. “We obviously want healthy landscapes for wildlife and for grazing.”

Ready for rain

Both McElligott and Sherman said rain this fall could accelerate the recovery of burned areas.

The first half of October was dry, with above average temperatures each of the first 15 days of the month, but the first major autumn storm arrived on Oct. 16, bringing widespread rain and much cooler temperatures.

McElligott said he’s hoping for a relatively gentle rain. Downpours, by contrast, could cause even more damage through mudslides, since the scorched ground lacks vegetation to slow the flow of water and roots to stabilize the soil.

Light rain, by contrast, could spur the regrowth of growth and give newly seeded areas a boost.

“Time is very critical,” McElligott said. “If we can get seed in the ground, if the ground will take it, it might get a good start this fall and have a head start in the spring.”

The restoration campaign started almost as soon as the ground had cooled, Sherman said.

The BLM scheduled a meeting with ranchers who have permits for allotments in the Durkee and Badlands Complex fires on Sept. 23. A meeting for ranchers affected by the Cow Valley Fire happened Oct. 7.

The purpose of the meetings was to talk with ranchers and learn their most pressing needs, including fences, Sherman said.

On Oct. 3, BLM officials signed a rehabilitation plan for the Badlands Complex Fire.

The agency plans to spray herbicide to control cheatgrass and medusahead, invasive grasses that can quickly suppress the native grasses that are valuable forage for cattle and for wildlife. The plan calls for aerial spraying of herbicide on about 9,000 acres this fall.

Other planned work includes spreading grass and shrub seed, both by air and ground, and repairing or replacing about 30 miles of fence.

The reseeding plan includes aerial seeding on 2,200 acres and drill (ground) seeding of 900 acres. The seed mix will include native grasses such as bluebunch wheatgrass and Idaho fescue, as well as sagebrush.

Sherman said BLM employees are working on rehab plans for the Durkee and Cow Valley Fires, both of which were much larger than the Badlands Complex.

Vital industry

McElligott said the 2024 wildfires have caused unprecedented harm to Oregon’s beef cattle industry.

Unlike some previous fire seasons, including 2020 when a series of blazes over Labor Day weekend destroyed hundreds of homes west of the Cascades, this year’s fires were disproportionately in grazing lands east of the mountains.

McElligott said ranchers are still assessing how many cattle were killed by fires or suffered potentially long-term injuries.

He pointed out that cattle and calves rank as Oregon’s second most valuable agricultural commodity, with estimated sales in 2022 of $795 million, according to the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

Only greenhouse and nursery crops were more lucrative, with sales of $1.2 billion.

The cattle industry is a “big economic driver for Oregon,” McElligott said.

The state’s beef cattle inventory in 2022 was about 1.25 million head, according to the agriculture department.

McElligott said he has been generally pleased with the response from the federal and state governments. He credited U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, who represents the Second Congressional District, which covers all of the state east of the Cascades, and senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and their staffs for striving to make federal aid available.

Meetings involving government and industry officials, as well as ranchers, started in August, while many blazes were still burning, McElligott said.

“Trying to get big government to move is difficult, but I think it’s come together pretty good,” he said. “There is help out there.”

The federal Farm Service Agency, which has offices in each county in Northeastern Oregon, is the clearinghouse for most of the financial aid program.

McElligott said he spoke with Merkley on Oct. 4.

“He’s committed to keeping the pressure on” to ensure aid is available to ranchers affected by fires, McElligott said.

He said he doesn’t believe that any ranchers will lose their operations due to the fires, although some might choose to retire earlier than they had planned.

On the positive side of the ledger, cattle prices remain high, continuing the trend of the past two years.

“Western producers have seen phenomenal fall sale prices, with some calves selling for over $3 per (hundredweight),” AgWest Farm Credit reported in its industry update on Oct. 9.

“If we can get seed in the ground, if the ground will take it, it might get a good start this fall and have a head start in the spring.”

— Matt McElligott, president, Oregon Cattlemen’s Association