Interviews with Oregon Environmentalists: Continuing the Dialogue

1. Peter Bloome, Ph.D. “It’s Your Oregon” Interviews with Oregon Environmentalists: Continuing the Dialogue Working on Common Ground

2. This project mirrors a 2002 study: “Building a Dialogue between Oregon Agriculture and the Conservation Community” Karen Lewotsky, Ph. D., J.D. The original study involved interviews with Oregon farmers and ranches concerning their environmental challenges, their thoughts about environmentalists, and the possibility of working constructively with environmentalists. Copies of the earlier study report are available upon request and at www.oeconline.org/our-work/food-and-farms.

3. Working on Common Ground Questions for this study mirrored those of the earlier study. • What do you see as the greatest environmental challenges facing Oregon? • Of these, which are related to agriculture? • How can agriculturalists help in addressing these challenges? • What does it take for you to be able to work with agriculturalists? With the agricultural community? • As you imagine these relationships, what concerns you about working with agriculturalists?

4. Interviews were held with 12 leaders of environmental organizations in Oregon and 7 Oregon agricultural producers who are also conservationists. Working on Common Ground

5. Working on Common Ground In the interviews with the environmentalists, two overarching themes seemed to constantly shape the responses. They were: • The importance of the economic viability of farms and ranches. “We all – all of us – have to do all we can to make agriculture more economically viable.” • The power and the challenges of collaborative approaches to addressing differences between environmentalists and agriculturalists.

6. Working on Common Ground Among the environmentalists: • There was some discomfort with the label of “environmentalist.” • There was reluctance to speak of agriculturalists as “other.” • Both communities are seen as diverse, making it hard to generalize.

7. Working on Common Ground What do you see as the greatest environmental challenges facing Oregon? • Climate change (global warming) • Increasing population • Land use planning • Forest conditions • Wildlife habitat • Water quality and quantity • Public land issues • Government and politics • Rural/urban divide

8. Working on Common Ground Climate Change “Climate change is challenging because it is the least well addressed manifestation of human impact on the planet, it is cumulative and growing, unpredictable in its effects and it is not yet here, so most of us don’t have a healthy appreciation of the many forms its consequences may take. And there is a healthy skepticism in the general public.”

9. Working on Common Ground Land Use Planning • Land use planning affects water quality, air quality, community goals, transportation, habitat protection, and numerous other areas. How we build our towns is as important as keeping towns off the land. “It is sobering to visit other states that do not have land use protection.”

10. Working on Common Ground Forest Conditions Challenging forest conditions mentioned included changing ownership patterns, encroachment of small diameter trees, build-up of ladder fuel, wildfires, and impacts on watershed health.

11. Working on Common Ground Wildlife Habitat Wildlife habitat challenges mentioned included invasive species, habitat fragmentation and loss, aquatic species, salmonid recovery, loss of diversity, and decline in species.

12. Working on Common Ground Public Land Issues Interviewees pointed out that forest condition and wildlife habitat issues also pertain to public land where livestock grazing continues to be a contentious issue.

13. Working on Common Ground Water Quality and Quantity Water quality and quantity were identified as major challenges as well as rivers and river restoration. “Water in all its aspects.” “Oregon needs to reset. Oregon and its water are in a race that can’t be won on any time line or dollar figure unless we change the system through which we address the issues.”

14. Working on Common Ground Government and Politics Mistrust of government was mentioned as a major environmental challenge. “Some of our biggest environmental challenges are political problems.”

15. Working on Common Ground The Role of Litigation Two interviewees discussed the need for better understanding of the role of litigation. One sees it as a tool of last resort. He hopes to minimize its importance, have it become less of a lightening rod, and not be seen as such a personal attack tool. The other defends litigation as a proper tool, pointing out that the courts are one of the three branches of government and deserving of respect, that agricultural interests do not hesitate to use litigation, and that collaboration is often only possible when there is a perception of risk, including juridical risk.

16. Working on Common Ground The Rural/ Urban Divide One environmentalist identified the rural/urban divide as the state’s greatest environmental challenge. He sees political, social, and life style dimensions that make it a challenge for Oregonians to come together on natural resource, environmental, and public lands issues. And he worries that the divide will make these issues more difficult as the state’s population continues to climb.

17. Working on Common Ground Of these challenges, which are related to agriculture? The environmentalists mentioned that: • All are related in some way • Agriculture involves major land uses as varied as input-intensive monoculture and grazing land protective of native vegetation • Agriculture is a major player in water issues – 70-90% of the diversions and with direct impacts on the state’s rivers

18. Working on Common Ground How can agriculturalists help in addressing these challenges? • The environmentalists suggested: • things agriculturalists can do • things they can avoid, and • things they can work toward.

19. Working on Common Ground Things agriculturalists can do: • Work to strengthen Oregon’s farm and ranch economy • Acknowledge and talk about the issues • Be creative and innovative in embracing change and shaping it to meet needs • Initiate contact – reach out - with environmentalists/ conservationists • Engage in the on-going conversations – i.e., watershed councils, etc. • Support a greater flow of information between the communities • Share information about where movement is possible • Recognize that the issues are not simple and should not be treated as simple • Take risks in order to move issues to resolution

20. Working on Common Ground Things agriculturalists can avoid: • Stereotyping • Statements that irritate • “Cheap shots” in public settings • Intractable positions that make movement impossible • Silence about agricultural bad actors • Denial about situations that are not right

21. Working on Common Ground Things that agriculturalist can work on: • New kinds of markets – sustainable, certified, organic, ecosystem services • Support for the land trust movement and grazing permit retirements • Important roles for farms and ranches in energy transition.

22. Working on Common Ground Three major challenges 1. Land use laws that provide an unearned windfall for a few landowners at the expense of all others 2. Regulatory systems designed to keep bad things from happening that are now keeping good things from happening 3. Antiquated water laws that can not meet the requirements of the future

23. Working on Common Ground Agriculturalists and environmentalists could work toward: • A “value recapture charge” as urban boundaries expand • A regulatory default of “yes” for restoration projects • New markets and approaches to honor historic water rights while conserving and allocating for future needs

24. Working on Common Ground Look for Common Ground • Invasive species • ORV and ATV impacts • Wilderness conservation values • Watershed restoration • Renewable energy incentives

25. Working on Common Ground What does it take to work constructively with Agriculturalists? • Patience – understanding – empathy – respect – realism • Listen and learn – keep an open mind – struggle with the complexity of the issues • Build relationships one at a time • Support early adopters – use farmer-to-farmer and demonstration methods • Work with education and service providers

26. Working on Common Ground Some Issues are Difficult • Pesticides - water allocation - public lands use Challenges • Getting people to the table • Acknowledging the issue • Making the commitment to produce a different result

27. Working on Common Ground Working with organizations • The major agricultural organizations as more resistant to change than farmers and ranchers • Resistance to change may be a characteristic of all organizations • Environmental organizations also need to embrace change

28. Working on Common Ground “We have to slaughter some sacred cows and some of them have to be ours.” “The environmental community can now come out of defense mode and think about the new vision that is proactive and positive. Who can we sit down with to talk about moving forward? That will require some compromise on our part to come to resolution on key issues. We will see a transition in the environmental community moving out of a conflict mode to a collaborative mode.”

29. Working on Common Ground Working with Agricultural Organizations “You start with key people in the organization. It takes work of another order of magnitude to forge a relationship with the governing body of the organization. Any organization has a lot of institutional membership pressures on it so it can’t move as agilely as you can move in one-on-one conversation. That said, organizations often offer the opportunity to have some dialogue and exchange. Those opportunities come on the strength of individual relationships with key people. Even with some hostile feelings there is the opportunity to address misperceptions. Misperceptions are sort of uncanny and in the absence of dialogue they get reinforced.”

30. Working on Common Ground What concerns you about working with Agriculturalists? • That it will be a waste of resources and time • That the agriculturalists working with them will be negatively impacted • That there will be conflicts with other environmental groups • That the need to find new ways forward will outstrip the capacity to create them

31. Working on Common Ground Resources and Time “There must be real understanding of the commonality and what is expected. You must be clear and careful about the language being used.” “It takes so much time to build up trust and then it doesn’t happen because of any number of things that can go wrong and that reinforces the problems we have in working together.”

32. Working on Common Ground Negative Impacts for Cooperators “This is an understandable concern; it takes people who are willing to take some risks in terms of community understanding in order to build understanding in the larger community.”

33. Working on Common Ground Conflicts with other Environmental Groups • Different missions and goals • “Drive-by environmentalism” • Balancing the desire to reach agreement with the need to remain true to values and mission • Possible incentives to not collaborate

34. Working on Common Ground The Capacity to Create New Ways Forward • Issues can appear to be intractable • Issues can be locked-up in the legislature • The pace of change is increasing • Agriculture has developed a limited capacity to embrace and shape change.

35. Working on Common Ground Interviews with Producers – Environmental Challenges • Getting Oregonians to work with people on the land • An anti-environment national government and negative impacts of the global food system • Water quality and quantity • Population growth • Reconciling the purpose and use of public lands

36. Working on Common Ground The producers spoke of the need to … “get every Oregonian to understand that they are part of the environmental issues that we face and that each of us is accountable.” “have high environmental quality and high quality environmental experiences with increasing population.” “reinvent the natural resource industries in ways that raise the value of the natural resources themselves.”

37. Working on Common Ground The producers spoke of their frustrations. • the reluctance of surrounding farmers to change and keep the land in agricultural use • struggling with a history of mistaken policies while seeking a new way forward • the uncertainties of new regulations and the supply of essential labor • competing against the system created by government policy • attempts to eliminate all commercial activities on public lands including grazing • gridlock in regulatory decision-making processes • the challenges of exercising leadership in the industry

38. Working on Common Ground The producers are serving in organizations, on boards and commissions and in collaborative efforts. They see dialogue and collaboration as both difficult and powerful.

39. Working on Common Ground “It takes a great deal of time, it takes patience, and it is slow and unwieldy. Sometimes you can reach consensus and sometimes you can’t. It feels like people who want to obstruct the process have all the leverage – and they do.” “Given that, we have opportunities here. Collaborative groups are possible. There is always an answer in the room beside the preconceived notions you come in with. I think we have opportunities to figure out solutions that everyone can live with – not solutions that make us totally happy, but solutions we can all live with.”

40. Working on Common Ground “You need an objective understanding of the folks who don’t agree with you. Agriculture has generally not done a good job of that. I’m not sure why.” “It has always worked for me to sit down together and look for solution.”

41. Working on Common Ground The Case for Optimism “Just as environmentalists are reaching out to agriculture, agriculturalists are reaching out to environmentalists because increasingly they have more in common and that has to continue.”

42. Working on Common Ground Conclusions of the Interviewer • It was an honor and privilege to interview these 19 leaders • All the interviews were candid and open • Much has changed since the 2002 study • Distinctions seem to be falling away • Time is a scarce resource making collaboration more difficult

43. Working on Common Ground The Capacity to Collaborate - in finding innovative ways forward Personal – Community – Agency – Organizational

44. Working on Common Ground An Unmet Need There is a clear need for an organization to speak for the most rapidly growing segment of agriculture – the “Values-Added” segment. Local – organic – sustainable – certified – “farm-to-school” – “farm-to-hospital”

45. Working on Common Ground Focusing on what may be Possible • What are you doing that will make possible things you can’t imagine now? • Focusing on the good things that may result • Using difference as a resource

46. Working on Common Ground If a strong, trusting and resilient relationship was created between the agricultural and environmental communities – what might that make possible for Oregon’s farms and ranches, its rural economy and its environment?