Liza Jane McAlister

Rancher, The 6 Ranch

Wallowa County

8/21/2021

Liza Jane McAlister defies most stereotypes of cattle ranchers. She is the fourth generation to raise cattle on her family ranch, The 6 Ranch, a legacy she secured after buying the land from her family. Wearing denim and a radiant smile, Liza Jane shared with Semester in the West her passion for the land and her aim to preserve Western traditions while ranching. It’s clear as she speaks that she has a deep connection to the animals she cares for, “I make their life super good; my cows are happy cows.”

In addition to the full-time job of maintaining the ranch, Liza Jane has worked to add stream meanders and complexity back to the section of the Wallowa River that runs through her property in partnership with the Grande Ronde Model Watershed and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW). Inspired by her neighbor Doug McDaniel’s re-meandering work upstream of her property, Liza Jane completed two separate projects on the river to recreate side channels and deep pools for fish habitat. She chose to graze her cattle along the riparian area of the second project, a controversial decision due to cows’ tendency to degrade stream habitat. According to Liza Jane, without using grazing as a management technique invasive reed canary grass crowds the stream bank and becomes “a nasty-ass monoculture that’s ten feet tall”. ODFW did not initially allow her to graze here due to the grass’s ability to stabilize stream banks, but Liza Jane insisted grazing rights be included for the re-meandering project to continue. ODFW agreed to Liza Jane’s terms and her hard work came to fruition. These days, she keeps her eyes peeled for salmon returning to her stretch of the Wallowa.

By: Claire Warncke

Photo credit: Elio Van Gorden