Wallowa County denies rail corridor grazing proposal
By Tracy Christopher on Friday, April 3rd, 2026 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
ENTERPRISE — During a special meeting on April 1, 2026, the Wallowa County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to deny AMD#2026-001, a proposal to establish a priority grazing area along the Wallowa Union Railroad Authority (WURA) corridor. The amendment, submitted by Alicia Zinni on behalf of 8 other landowners, aimed to modify the county’s Transportation System Plan (TSP) for land between Wallowa and Joseph.
Key Reasons for Denial
The Commissioners cited several legal and procedural failures as the basis for their decision:
- Lack of Ownership Support: The property is owned by WURA, not the county. Commissioner Hayward noted that since WURA is the sole landowner, the application needed to be submitted by them or their representative.
- Safety and Usage Conflicts: Commissioner Lisa Collier stated that reestablishing freight and “dinner train” services remain active goals. She argued that introducing livestock and ranchers into this mix would not be safe.
- Failure to Compromise: Commissioner Hayward pointed out that while the 2001 TSP suggests a compromise between trail use and leasing land back to owners, this amendment did not represent such a balance.
- Inadequate Analysis: The Board found the proposal lacked a thorough analysis of impacts and failed to include all stakeholder agencies.
Commissioner Mike Hayward’s Findings
Commissioner Hayward detailed the legal criteria used to reach the decision:
“The Board of Commissioners finds that this application was not authorized or submitted by the owner of the property… Article Two would indicate that an application needs to be either submitted by the landowner or a representative of the landowner”.
“The Board of Commissioners find that the proposal lacks adequate analysis of impact, WURA participation, or required inclusion of all stakeholder agencies, and therefore does not serve the purpose and intent of the local planning process”.
“Transportation planning may require some compromises be made to work for everyone at this point, there is no compromise solution being suggested”.
Commissioner Lisa Collier’s Statement
Commissioner Collier emphasized that the amendment contradicted the “highest and best use” of the land. Her statement included:
“The WURA rail is not in ‘abandoned’ status, therefore it is my belief that WURA has the say for what the goals and uses of their rail line and property are. I will go further to state that I do not believe we should be accepting requests that involve WURA property unless… the applicant is WURA itself or… the applicant has written support of WURA”.
Next Steps
The Board will formally adopt these findings on April 15, 2026. Following that adoption, a 21-day period will open for any potential appeals to the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA).
