Flooding Fields for Waterfowl

Published February 16, 2022 at 6:33 AM MST

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Rachel Beaubien stands in a field that would normally be under a few inches of irrigation water and full of birds. She looks off to the right – behind her is a pickup truck and a cattle dog standing in its bed, looking at the camera. — Rachel Beaubien stands in a field that would normally be under a few inches of irrigation water and full of birds. “It’s scary we are getting more dry years. It changes the plants. The weeds come in a little easier, because weeds can grow anywhere, right? And, you know, the birds don't want to come hang out in a knapweed field, they want to come hang out in these meadows.”

Rachel Beaubien walks between some pretty divided worlds in her eastern Oregon community – and works hard to build bridges.

She was an employee of the BLM when armed militants occupied the nearby Malheur Wildlife Refuge in 2015. She’s also on the board of the local cattlewomen’s association and the watershed council.

She and her husband run a ranch outside of Burns and use flood irrigation to grow hay for their cows. This year, there’s not enough water in the Silvies River to flood her fields, or maintain wetland habitat for the thousands of birds that stop in the Malheur Basin each year to refuel on lengthy migrations North and South.

Rachel has navigated conflict in her community before – after the occupation she organized a BBQ and invited government employees, law enforcement and ranchers to come together and heal.

Can she do the same as her valley dries up?

A transcript of this episode is available.

Flooding Fields for Waterfowl

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