Mike Fox, retired Attorney

Mike Fox is a retired attorney whose life journey has taken him from Texas to Vietnam to Eugene, and ultimately to the high desert of Eastern Oregon.

His path to the region began somewhat unexpectedly when in October 2011, while staying at the Frenchglen Hotel with his wife and friends, he spotted "a derelict house that had a for sale sign" next door. As Mike understands it, this abandoned building, which had been "a B&B back in the 90's,"  started as a building on the historic P Ranch. The one-story part of it was built around 1890, to which "a two story house was dragged from Blitzen down P Hill and stitched to the one story portion" in the 1930s.

On their drive home, Mike's wife suggested they purchase the house as a second home, which they did. The home required extensive remodeling, part of which occurred during the devastating Miller Homestead Fire of 2012. "We wondered if the investment would burn up" during the fire, he recalls, though the property and Frenchglen survived. The purchase of the home, and the fire, are events that would fundamentally reshape Mike's connection to the land and community. 

Mike brings to Frenchglen a distinguished background in law and public service. While practicing law in Eugene for 30 years he also served for 25 years on the Eugene Symphony board and as an elected member of the School District 4J board from 1992-2005. His decision to put down some roots in this remote southeast Oregon community in 2012 marked a significant shift from his urban professional life. 

As "city slickers from the west side," Mike and his wife faced uncertainties about how they would integrate into a community "populated by people who had been there for generations." However, Mike quickly became engaged in local affairs, particularly through his involvement with the Frenchglen Rangeland Fire Protection Association (RFPA). Rancher and new friend Gary Miller invited him to join the group just as it was beginning, and Mike soon found himself taking on leadership roles. "I think I originally became involved because I was a warm body," he modestly reflects, though his legal expertise would prove invaluable to the organization.

One of Mike's significant contributions came in negotiating the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the RFPAs and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Describing the initial draft from federal officials, he recalls, "I couldn't understand a single word in the document, as it was written in impenetrable bureaucratese. Furthermore, it didn’t do what I felt it should do – treat RFPAs as integral partners in the fighting of wildfires."

After attending a RFPA Annual Summit with the division between the RFPA volunteers and the federal employees in attendance simmering, Mike recognized that the MOU “couldn't just be an agreement between Frenchglen and BLM, it was going to have to be an agreement that other RFPAs could use. I'd become friends with Bob Skinner, Jordan Valley RFPA President and President of Oregon Cattlemen's Association at the time, a very respected, truly fine individual. Bob got a bunch of people together from the RFPAs, by his intervention we got consensus that I could be the spokesman to write this [MOU] for RFPAs".

“I had let the BLM know that the current MOU was unacceptable, and that they would be hearing from me. I drafted what I considered to be an acceptable MOU and sent it off to them, saying, in effect, ‘This is what we’re willing to sign.’ Well, they took that as an opening salvo, and rightly, and assigned Shane Theall to work with me to create a document that would serve all RFPAs. Shane and I started talking. We butted heads yelled at each other in a highly professional manner working on this document," he recounts, saying “Shane is a great guy, highly intelligent, and a man of good faith. I really enjoyed negotiating with Shane.”

During this time the Harney County Wildfire Collaborative was forming as well. While skeptical at first, Mike and other ranchers began participating. "Gary [Miller] was invited and so I came along as an observer. Originally, Gary and I thought things weren't going well, as  this was all going along parallel to Shane and me working together. However, after several meetings, things started to get straightened out. 

“At Collaborative meetings, I was being my usual obstreperous self, leading Jeff [Rose, BLM District Manager at the time] to say to me, ‘Mike, you're not an observer, you're a member.’  Since then I've been more active and feel comfortable representing rancher's interests.” Mike jokes that even though he’s not a rancher, he's on his way at age 78 to earning his “Junior Buckaroo Badge.”. He figures he’s on his way to achieving that goal, having vaccinated 180 calves at a branding a couple of years ago.

Today, Mike divides his time between Frenchglen, where he spends about a quarter to a third of his time, and Prineville, where he relocated in 2021 from Eugene. He appreciates the "blue collar and ag nature" of his new communities while pursuing his personal interests in fly fishing, hiking, and raptor observation.