Ranchers fear Forest Service taking their grazing

Ranchers in Okanogan County, Wash., believe the USFS is trying to take away rights to graze cattle on federal land. A county commissioner says more of the same might be happening in the West. AddThis Sharing Buttons Share to Google BookmarkShare to FacebookShare to TwitterShare to PrintShare to More Dan Wheat Capital Press Published on March 24, 2017 10:18AM Calves on winter feedings grounds on a ranch in Okanogan County, Wash., last March. Ranchers are concerned the U.S. Forest Service is trying to curtail their summer grazing this year. Dan Wheat/Capital Press Calves on winter feedings grounds on a ranch in Okanogan County, Wash., last March. Ranchers are concerned the U.S. Forest Service is trying to curtail their summer grazing this year. Buy this photo Cattle on winter feeding at a ranch in northern Okanogan County, Wash., last March. Ranchers are concerned this year about losing summer grazing on federal lands. Dan Wheat/Capital Press Cattle on winter feeding at a ranch in northern Okanogan County, Wash., last March. Ranchers are concerned this year about losing summer grazing on federal lands. Buy this photo OKANOGAN, Wash. — An Okanogan County commissioner says the U.S. Forest Service has taken an aggressive stance to restrict cattle grazing in Okanogan County that may be part of a larger effort to do so throughout the West before former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue is confirmed as U.S. Agriculture Secretary. The USFS issued non-compliance letters to 25 of 41 grazing allotment holders in the Tonasket Ranger District, roughly the northern third, of Okanogan County in January and February, County Commissioner Jim DeTro says. U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., says the USFS violated it’s own policies and he sent a letter to the USFS chief because local officials were unresponsive. The non-compliance letters allege over grazing, use of riparian areas and stream sedimentation aimed at restricting grazing on thousands of acres of USFS grazing allotments that have been grazed by ranchers for decades, DeTro said. “One rancher has run cattle on federal allotments since 1936 and never had so much as a note in his file. Then bang this year he gets a registered letter of noncompliance with no prior communication. It’s like the Gestapo moved in,” DeTro said. Another rancher got a non-compliance letter alleging over grazing last year who said he couldn’t have over grazed because he had sold his cows and had no cows on the allotment, DeTro said. Last season, a USFS range tech threatened to bring in federal marshals and have a rancher arrested if he didn’t have his cattle off an allotment on time, he said.