MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
We'll note the amount of land burned in American wildfires this year is now more than 5 million acres. That is well above the 10-year average. And almost 40% of that land is in one state - Oregon. It has been mostly in remote areas, affecting the livelihoods of farmers and ranchers. Oregon Public Broadcasting's April Ehrlich went out with one ranching family trying to save their cows as a fire was headed straight toward them.
(SOUNDBITE OF COWBELL DINGING)
APRIL EHRLICH, BYLINE: At a market in Tygh Valley, Whitney Nogle is on a brief lunch break from the Grasshopper fire, burning just east of Mount Hood in Wasco County. For the last few days, she and her family have been wrangling their cows from public lands, which are now on fire.
WHITNEY NOGLE: There's about 150 total up there. We do everything on horseback with dogs. We're old-school cowboys.
EHRLICH: The Nogles live in Sherman County, but they have a couple of grazing leases on these state and federal lands. That means they can set their cows out to wander across dozens of acres and feed on grasses.
(SOUNDBITE OF COW MOOING)
EHRLICH: So far, Whitney Nogle and her family have caught about two-thirds of their cattle. They've got them penned on a plot of grassland near Tygh Valley.
W NOGLE: So this is where we're gathering the cattle. There's a pond right over the hill, so we can put them in there to defend them if the fire comes.
EHRLICH: Whitney's dad, Pat Nogle, says they've got some people scouting for the remaining cows. There are still a couple of dozen left.
PAT NOGLE: You go to areas at the time of day you think they're going to be at water holes, cricks.
EHRLICH: To do this work, the Nogles have brought horses, a slew of dogs and two all-terrain vehicles called side-by-sides.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO CHATTER)
EHRLICH: The Nogles and their friends huddle around a firefighter radio listening for updates, and they're checking online wildfire maps showing the fire's perimeter inching closer to them. At one point, Whitney hears a mooing sound in the distance.
W NOGLE: I just heard it.
JESSIE FIELDS: Yeah.
JC CABRAL: Heard what?
FIELDS: There's cows.
W NOGLE: Cows right there (ph).
EHRLICH: Without another word, everyone flees to their horses and side-by-sides, including Whitney's husband, JC Cabral. We pass by a firefighter crew with chainsaws, cutting down small trees, but no cows.
CABRAL: Did you hear a cow or a chainsaw?
W NOGLE: I swear it was a cow.
EHRLICH: It's been a long few weeks. They started July helping their friends fight fire on private rangelands closer to home. Now those same friends are helping the Nogles. Over the course of the day, more friends show up. For the most part, this day is spent hanging around and chatting, sharing stories and ribbing each other. But then the winds shift and the sky turns a dark orange. Planes and helicopters fly above. Cows start howling in distress.
(SOUNDBITE OF COW MOOING)
EHRLICH: The fire is getting closer. There are still cattle out there, but they found as many as they can find for today.
P NOGLE: We'll have to defend what we got. I mean, that's why we've been getting up early in the morning, trying to get what we can. And it's an impossible task to get them all.
EHRLICH: A few hours later, the winds shift again, and the sky changes back to a dull gray. People start to head home to rest for the night, except Pat. He finds a pillow and a blanket to sleep in his truck, close to his cows. He says they're his livelihood, but they're also more than just that.
P NOGLE: You do have insurance on them, but no one wants to see him get burnt up. That isn't what we raise them for.
EHRLICH: Pat has lost a cow and a calf to fire before. That's what brings him out here now.
Would there ever be a point when you're like, I just got to get out of here?
P NOGLE: No. There's a pond over there.
EHRLICH: Even at 73 years old, he will wait here next to his cows, even as the flames appear over the hill's edge.
KELLY: That was OPB's April Ehrlich, reporting from Tygh Valley, Oregon.
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