Eric Layer, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce,
R-N.M., said this week the congressman is working closely with ranchers
in New Mexico and the U.S. Forest Service in Washington, D.C., and
expects to make an important announcement in the near future, perhaps a
week or two.
“We’re working on it from every possible angle,” Layer said.
Also this week, a rancher whose cattle were ordered
removed from their Manzano Mountains grazing land by the Forest Service
this past summer, met with the federal agency’s range management
specialist who reinspected the grazing site.
The dispute can be attributed to a single source: the
drought. However, a more nuanced consideration would include how its
impact on federal grazing land is interpreted.
In June, Mountainair District Ranger Karen Lessard
ordered 21 ranches to remove livestock from grazing land allotments in
the Manzano Mountains, because of “severe drought conditions that for a
third straight year continue to limit livestock forage and plant
recovery.” The eviction notice took effect on July 30 and was to last at
least a year “following the return of average or above average annual
precipitation that produces seed in grasses and (other plants).”
The New Mexico Cattle Growers and individual ranchers
called the action arbitrary, unnecessary and economically punitive. Last
month, they began circulating a resolution objecting to the “arbitrary
non-scientific blanket removal order” to various governmental agencies,
including the Torrance County Commission, which adopted it unanimously.
The Lincoln County Commission has also approved the resolution, as has
the East Torrance, Edgewood and Upper Hondo soil and water conservation
districts. It is now under consideration by the board of the
Claunch-Pinto Soil and Water Conservation District in Mountainair.
Lincoln County Commissioner Mark Doth agreed that the
Forest Service’s “arbitrary and capricious action should be reviewed,
using science and fact.” The blanket removal of all cattle from the
grazing land significantly escalates the threat of a grass fire, he
said.
1 comment:
One newspaper in Albuquerque said the decision could not be appealed. But all decisions made at the level of a District Ranger can be appealed. The key here is if an appeal stays the decision to remove the livestock until all appeal routes are exhausted to the level of the Sec of Agriculture. By then the conditions on the ground may or may not have changed. Over use, or overgrazing should be described in the plans for these allotments. Politicians should refer to these plans, signed by the permittees, to determine if degradation to the grazing resource has occurred. Whether or not the drought is a causative factor is not a reason to not remove the livestock. Damage is damage no matter how it occurs, and it should never happen under proper stewardship of the land.
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