Ranchers Fight for Grazing in Sage Grouse Battle

Jim Patterson, a Gooding area rancher, said he’d love to see sage grouse populations make a comeback. Patterson said he hopes for a compromise in managing the bird in southern Idaho — one on which environmentalists and those with grazing interests can agree. But grazing has gotten an undeserved “black eye,” he said. While ranchers sacrifice nights and weekends to work on the issue, environmentalists are paid full-time to rail against them, he said. “We’re an easy target, too. We want to see them (sage grouse) back, but it has to be the right way.” Patterson was one of many at a Tuesday open house to comment on several sage grouse conservation plans proposed by federal agencies. The room was dominated by ranchers. That’s been the trend as the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service tour Idaho, gathering comments, said BLM spokeswoman Jessica Gardetto. While grazing is one of the top concerns in Idaho, federal biologists don’t consider it a top threat. A federal study said primary threats to the bird in Idaho are fire, invasive species and human development. Jared Brackett, president of the Idaho Cattleman’s Association, said he and his organization support a plan by Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s task force. That plan doesn’t change many existing grazing rules. If done properly, grazing can improve habitat by reducing wildfire fuel, Brackett said. “In Idaho, we have been very proactive,” he said. “On my allotment, we already turn water troughs off in certain areas in the spring so they don’t disturb the lekking (mating) process.” Environmentalists “are not out for the best interest of the bird,” Brackett said. “They are out for no livestock grazing. The bird is just the tool of the moment.” Not so, said Katie Fite, biodiversity director of the Western Watersheds Project’s southern Idaho office in Boise. Reached by phone Tuesday night, Fite said Otter’s plan is “abysmal.”...more