Idaho grazing debate sparks ESA rancor

The endangered species debate in Idaho has long been complicated by another longstanding issue — public-lands grazing. Environmentalists have never been wild about the way some ranchers treat the public lands they grazed on. But over the past two decades in Idaho, spurred especially by the rise of environmental watchdog Western Watersheds Project, the disagreements between the two have taken on new heat. Grazing opponents and advocates have made it clear how they view each other. “It comes from a lot of things,” said Katie Fite, WWP’s biodiversity director, speaking recently about her view that ranchers feel entitled to public resources. “It comes from who are really the sixth-generation ranchers: displaced Confederate soldiers, hating the federal government from day one.” “How can our outfit be the bad guy all the time, and these others never are?” rancher Ted Hoffman bemoaned during a recent interview. It’s hard to find common ground by this point. Steve Damele argues that his ranch and the public land he grazes near Mountain Home winters 600 elk and thousands of deer. He’s working with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation on some habitat improvements, currently focused on what grasses thrive in a test plot. It all could become subdivisions if he and other ranchers are kicked off, he said...read more