New group improves grazing opportunities

A new organization in the Ashley Valley is looking to highlight the longstanding role of many ranchers in environmental conservation. Grazing for Wildlife has been formed to work with government entities on grazing projects that benefit all grazing animals using U.S. Forest Service or BLM lands, said Mitch Hacking, a cattleman and leader of the group. “Cattlemen and sportsmen have to come to realize that they have a lot of the same goals and that working together benefits all,” Hacking said. Hacking organized Grazing for Wildlife in hopes of providing education and finding ways to improve range lands in the area. One of the first concerns involved 60 or so watering ponds, located on the range study allotment north of Vernal, that were in need of repairs. The group identified different ways to fix up the ponds, and the best way to fund such projects. “Funding these work projects quickly became our first and foremost problem,” Hacking said...more