Citizens tour closed grazing allotment

Two hundred concerned citizens turned out Saturday for the Grass Tour of the Argenta Allotment south of Battle Mountain that was closed for grazing earlier this year by the Bureau of Land Management’s District Manager Doug Furtado. The collection of ranchers, citizens and elected representatives was taken on a tour that showed thousands of acres of tall, green grass and listened to a report from Bob Schweigert of Intermountain Range Consultants, who said the range was in good shape and fully capable of supporting cattle. “The BLM likes to say all this green grass is not forage, but recovery,” Schweigert told the assembly. “I’m here to tell you it is not recovery, it is recovered.” The Grass Tour was organized by Elko attorney and Elko County Commissioner Grant Gerber and former rancher and state assemblyman John Carpenter, who also is a candidate for Elko County Commissioner. They are trying to get Furtado to reverse his decision to close the mountain allotment to grazing. “We were so pleased with the great support from our wonderful friends,” Lynn Tomera said. “Thank you all.” The 340,000-acre allotment, which is 56 percent private property, is grazed by the extended Tomera and Filippini families. The closure has left them all scrambling for alternative pasture and facing financial ruin. Furtado says the closure was necessary in response to the drought of the past three years. The ranchers point out he made his decision last winter and that the rains over the past four months have ended the drought and the range is in good condition...more