...When the west was settled, the Federal Government encouraged development. The pioneers grazed their livestock in the mountains and homesteaded the valleys as it was necessary to live on and prove up on what a homesteader wished to gain title to. As development increased, grazing privileges were awarded based on priority. These documented privileges became known as grazing permits. They are bought and sold as real property. Since the mountains, for the most part, were never homesteaded, it remains under federal control, a fee is assessed, based on an economic formula, for the privilege to graze. The fee is not set by ranchers. In my opinion, it is too low.
If
the majority of the people want livestock grazing banned from all
public land, it will happen, but not without consequences. Livestock
will then graze on private range and farmland; competing with barley
grown for beer, feed for cows to produce milk, wheat, beans, potatoes,
corn, etc.
If the alternative
is to get rid of all livestock, beef and lamb now consumed will have to
be replaced by pasta, bread and veggies and there won’t be enough to go
around. If livestock are gone ranchers will be compelled to compete for
your jobs and we will get more than our share because we know how to
work...
...Several years ago, a neighboring elderly
couple were burning weeds in their backyard. A wind came up and the
fire got out of control. Neighbors came, one with a road grader, but
were unable to control it. With the contemplation that it would soon be a
major wildfire as it rapidly spread in three directions toward vast BLM
and Forest Lands, all who had been trying to contain it looked on with
helpless horror.
As the fire
crossed the fence on to our ranch property, the flames became smaller
and soon died out. Why? The terrain and vegetation were the same on both
sides of the fence. Cattle and sheep had grazed on our side of the
fence and eaten the top of the grass. The flames from the shorter grass
now could not attain adequate height to spread.
This
was before cell phones, but, oh, that a camera had been on hand. I wish
every Idahoan, Reven every American, could have seen what we witnessed
that day. Visual proof that livestock grazing retards wildfires.
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