I have a question for anyone around the Burns, Oregon area
The squatters want to return the land to ranchers, miners and loggers. I have never been Southeastern Oregon, but have been to Eastern Washington and Northeastern Oregon and didn't notice a lot of trees. Are there enough trees in the area for logging and what would you mine around there.
= new reply since forum marked as read
and some mixed forest here and there in the mountains
As the saying goes, a rancher in the midwest calculates how many cows per acre his land can support, while a rancher out here calculates how many acres per cow he will need. High desert is inherently fragile land, and Malheur lake being in a basin makes that even more so; degrade the land in summer and the soil washes down into the lake. Next year, no soil, no plants, and a polluted lake. The early ranchers learned that the hard way, and most of the current generation (especially the successful ones) are well-educated in land management and soil and water conservation.
The early settlement in the 1870's was a minor gold rush. Mining is very difficult to do without destroying water quality, which again is even more difficult to manage in a closed basin.
