Posted on 10/05/2015 2:47:36 PM PDT by george76
Two allotments delayed pending more studies. A coalition of environmental groups have forced public land managers to delay a grazing permit decision on Canyons of the Ancients National Monument.
Grand Canyon Trust, Western Watershed Project, Wild Earth Guardians, National Resource Defense Council, Wildlands Defense, the Sierra Club and Durango-based Great Old Broads for Wilderness collectively filed a 27-page protest against the proposed Flodine and Yellow Jacket grazing allotments on the monument ... they want the two allotments permanently closed to grazing
...
The groups challenged a recent decision plan by the BLM to issue 10-year terms for the allotments, located in southwest Montezuma County.
In response, monument managers agreed last month to repeal their plan to issue the permits at this time.
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The land has not been grazed since 2005, but objectors claim it has not been long enough for a full recovery.
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“You sat right here and said the process was moving forward,” said commissioner Keenan Ertel when told of the news.
Since 2013, the county has been pushing for the two allotments to be re-opened for grazing.
“We have not had much compromise from federal agencies,” said commissioner Larry Don Suckla. “If you think you will be sued, I say stand behind your work and decisions.”
The BLM announced in December 2013 that the allotments would be opened up for local cattle ranchers, and an application process began.
Interest has been high for the allotments, reported BLM range specialist Mike Jensen, with 14 ranchers interested so far.
But they will have to wait.
(Excerpt) Read more at durangoherald.com ...
I thought they had tired of grass ...
never mind
Funny. All this angst and high paid experts and prognosticating. I wonder when someone will simply get out a pair of wirecutters and render the whole thing moot?
Well, there you go. These issues in the West are much more complicated than most will admit. One of the strangest things for me when I moved to Southern Arizona was that the ranchers were not very conservative down there, sometimes outright liberal, and were quick to use the government for personal gain. I will now don my flame-retardant suit, but my view of this was based on personal observation. I’m not sure if it is the same mindset up there at the Canyons of the Ancients.
I seen the same in other western states where ranchers were very likely to vote for the folks that could get them the most government money.
There are at least 14 ranchers interested in the 2 allotments for about 150 cows. These lands have been used for grazing since the 1800s.
“Great Old Broads For Wilderness”??? This is a legitimate group? LOL
Look at anything Alan Savory advocates about grazing. If they do not graze it it will deteriorate. Also, it will become a fire hazard, but of course, when it burns, they will blame it on climate change.
I bet if there were feral horses out there they could stay.
A few lonely, single, bored, trust funders that sit on each others committees - to make it look like there are many of them.
***The land has not been grazed since 2005,***
It is probably grown up real well. A lightning strike and wild fire can clean it up real well like it almost did Mesa Verde a few decades ago.
They love fires.
““Great Old Broads For Wilderness”??? This is a legitimate group? LOL”
Subaru driving, Boulder Cat Ladies. They’ve got ‘I’m for Bernie’ stickers beside the Obama stickers and rainbow stickers all over their cars. Oh, I forgot the ‘Cattitude’ stickers in the back window.
BLM closes the allotment. It comes under the management of an environmental group. The environmentalist org then leases grass grazing to ranchers. Ranchers sell “grass fed beef”.
Tim DeChristopher tried a similar scam : then found guilty of fraud and violation of the U.S. Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act, following a four-day trial .. in a federal court in Salt Lake City for defrauding the U.S. government by posing as a bidder ..
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/27/us-green-activist-sentence-idUSTRE76Q0FU20110727
“...ranchers were very likely to vote for the folks that could get them the most government money.”
Why do you think that all of the farmers across the midwest are democrats?
At 60,000 acres, the Matador, which The Nature Conservancy has owned since 2000, is the largest private ranch in the region. [Montana]
the Conservancy is working with its ranching neighbors to operate a grass bank
Some folks, Veseth says, are still sore over the creation of the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge along the Missouri River in the 1970s. The designation of the nearby Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument in 2001 also rankled some ranchers, who feared that they would be shut out of grazing rights on public land, an important component in running an economically viable grazing operation. The legal push by several environmental groups to protect the sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act raises plenty of hackles
Working from a model established in the 1990s on a former Conservancy property in southern New Mexico and Arizona, the organization has established a grass bank on the Matador.
Here’s how it works. The Matador has a lot of grass but no cattle. The neighboring ranchers have a lot of cattle but not always enough grass to last the year. If ranchers commit to adjusting the way they manage their own properties, the Conservancy gives them a substantial break on the cost of grazing leases at the Matador.
http://web.archive.org/web/20141230042352/http://magazine.nature.org/features/ranching-rebooted.xml
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The Nature Conservancy has struck a deal to preserve the historic 60,000-acre Matador Ranch in north-central Montana, described as one of the last and largest mixed-grass prairie landscapes in North America.
The deal includes a Nature Conservancy purchase of 14,400 acres and purchase of 16,600 acres by Roundup cattle rancher Ned Tranel. The remainder of the ranch is government land under lease.
In the complex agreement signed last week, the Conservancy bought the 31,000 acres of deeded land
After attaching a perpetual conservation easement that forbids development and subdivision, the Conservancy immediately sold 16,600 acres to Tranel, who will graze cattle on his portion and lease grazing rights on the Conservancy’s portion.
Tranel also will maintain the Matador’s leases on the adjacent 29,000 acres of state and Bureau of Land Management land.
The Nature Conservancy had wanted the property since it was put up for sale in the summer of 1998, but it couldn’t afford to buy all 31,000 acres.
http://www.djc.com/news/enviro/11003051.html?id=11003051&printmode=true
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Half of Matador Ranch is on state and BLM land and ranchers can pay the Nature Conservancy to graze cattle there.
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