[Baynative]

Ping

(Apologies for not retyping the comment to eliminate the hieroglyphics)

[Baynative]

Ranchers are hard-pressed to find grazing land. One-third of 600,000 acres burned in the Okanogan, Tunk Block and North Star fires in 2015 was caused by agency backburning, Okanogan County Commissioner Jim DeTro has said.

Ranches in several parts of the county lost private timber, grazing grounds, hay, barns and equipment to agency backburning that ranchers opposed.

Kuchenbuch, her husband, Casey, and her father, Rod Haeberle, fought a fire alongside firefighters on their ranch last summer and begged them not to backburn 1,000 acres of their private land.

The agency did it anyway to protect homes but destroyed Haeberle Ranch timber, miles of fencing, the family's mountain cabin and a set of corrals.

"We were told afterward that there is no restitution for our losses," Kuchenbuch said.