Cattlemen plot strategy to fight Calif. grazing regulations

A cattle group is gearing up to fight a California water board’s plan to regulate livestock grazing near rivers and streams. The California Cattlemen’s Association plans to meet with the State Water Resources Control Board and with other farm groups in the coming weeks and will conduct ranch tours to educate water board members in early April, according to a CCA newsletter. The state’s largest ranchers’ organization will join other groups such as the California Farm Bureau Federation in an attempt to fight the grazing regulations, which the state could propose later this year. “We’re very much opposed to this grazing regulatory project,” said Kirk Wilbur, the CCA’s director of government relations. “We’re not trying to mold it in any way. Our goal is to put an end to it.” The state water board asserts its proposed Grazing Regulatory Action Project would enhance the environmental benefits from grazing while addressing its impacts on water quality. Such impacts could include sediment loading and the introduction of bacteria and nutrients to streams and wetlands as well as trampling of stream banks and vegetation that’s important for maintaining water temperature, state officials have said...more