• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Utah ranchers join the fight against radical enviro's

leanin' H

Well-known member
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The Utah Farm Bureau Federation has joined the fight against a lawsuit it warns would increase the cost of grazing permits and slow down permit approval.

The group joined 11 other Western farm bureaus that want to intervene in the lawsuit.

The Utah farm bureau says the suit threatens the economic viability of nearly 1,600 sheep and cattle ranchers with grazing permits in Utah.

The case in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is led by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Western Watersheds Project.

The groups want the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service to raise grazing fees to accurately reflect the administrative and environmental costs associated with grazing on public lands.
 

mrj

Well-known member
More people need to be challenging these ecofreako's! Best of luck, and may you get honest judges/juries.

No one has more to gain from protecting/conserving the natural environmen than ranchers.

No one puts more into caring for their land than the good stewards of the land among ranchers.

No one gets more organizational and/or personal gain from filing nuisance lawsuits than so called 'environmental' organizations which are little more than terrorists against law abiding citizens doing their best to produce food for the world AND maintain wildlife habitat in the process.

leanin' H, if you have the information, I would like to see it, and skeptics NEED to see it, re. REAL costs to 'public lands ranchers' above and beyond costs of the leases. I've heard some of it from time to time, but most people either do not know, or do not WANT to know that there are real additional costs to you/others in that position.

mrj
 

leanin' H

Well-known member
I don't have exact numbers and I know they differ from area to area but here's what I do know. Permittee's are responsible for miles and miles of fence. In our area that means canyons and ledges and lots of snow damage every spring. My cousin's allotment is in the neighborhood of 50 by 20 miles and has lots of division fences to keep cattle in seperate pastures. While we occasionally get a roll of wire or a trough from the government, the vast majority of the material and all the labor is supplied by the permittee. Water developements, gates, ect. can sure add up. What the anti-public-grazing crowd forgets is the need for winter feed which requires irrigation to put it up. If we payed 25 bucks a month per pair for the summer and fall, there wouldnt be a cow left to run the next year. Cattle are a neccesary part of fire control and a healthy habitat. Ranchers have been here for 5 and 6 and more generations running cattle on the same land that was open range and "settled" by their ancestors. The water was homesteaded and the surronding range is useless without the water. Do western public grazers pay less than someone on private might? Sure! But this beautiful and sacred land that we are stewards over is as much a part of us as any land behind a private property sign. We pay to use it as the government has seen fit to charge for the right. If it was an easy way to get rich, why arent there more trying to do it? Every person in America gets subsidies! If you own a home or a business or have children or a multitude of other things, you get a break at tax time. IT IS EXACTLY THE SAME THING!
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
leanin' H said:
I don't have exact numbers and I know they differ from area to area but here's what I do know. Permittee's are responsible for miles and miles of fence. In our area that means canyons and ledges and lots of snow damage every spring. My cousin's allotment is in the neighborhood of 50 by 20 miles and has lots of division fences to keep cattle in seperate pastures. While we occasionally get a roll of wire or a trough from the government, the vast majority of the material and all the labor is supplied by the permittee. Water developements, gates, ect. can sure add up. What the anti-public-grazing crowd forgets is the need for winter feed which requires irrigation to put it up. If we payed 25 bucks a month per pair for the summer and fall, there wouldnt be a cow left to run the next year.

Ranchers are bidding/paying $25-$30+ per AUM up here-on private and tribal lease pasture-with the same requirements for care of the pasture/fence/water development-- and some of those leases are just year to year or for 2-3 year periods...

Last Indian lease I tried to get was $30 an AUM- and you needed to pay for it to be totally fenced off (no fence existing) from the major grazing allotment (several thousand head it was in)- and dig out/improve the springs.....
And EQIP/government would not pay for any of the cost since it would be considered a new outside perimeter fence...
 

Horseless

Well-known member
When discussing fees, one must not forget the fact that you must own deeded land in order to have the grazing rights (BLM). If you have purchased land that has the rights attached you would have paid for those rights. The rights are attached to deeded land. Your estate will be taxed on that higher value also.
Our defense, when they take away grazing rights, they are taking private property. My deeds have it spelled out.
 
Top