Below are the scoping comments from the public on the issue of grazing authorization on public lands:
Bettyann Kolner
For me, there’s no denying the southwest is getting hotter and drier -human or natural cause? Who knows, but as a lifelong resident of the SW desert, I’m certain, in any event, we need to take into account the drought, farming practices, water usage and cattle allotments on our public lands. On Monroe Mountain, I’ve studied some of the effects of the current weather pattern on Aspen growth and recruitment and understory vegetation that has shade vs. no shade. I saw water sources fouled by cows, bare or harshly stubbled ground cover and suffering Aspen groves, often with only a few remaining “oldtimers”, offering little or no shade to a depleted and sick forest floor. In these areas, there is little or no diversity of grasses and forbs, native plants are being overtaken by noxious weeds.
The multi-use status of our public lands is being ignored while free rein is given to ranchers, hunters and vehicular recreationists. Pedestrians, bicyclists, or campers using tents were absent. […] It is not a right but a privilege to use our public lands, especially for profit. There seems to be little management that respects the land’s innate nature; not just as a resource to produce income, […] I hope you won’t stand by and let this mismanagement continue for another decade, allowing 10 year leases which don’t take into account the extreme changes in weather year to year.
Please adopt the Climate Conscious Alternative, offered by the Grand Canyon Trust, in its entirety, in the Draft EIS. It is important to take steps to reduce livestock in areas that are degraded by overgrazing. Also important is the requirement that you, the Forest Service, respond if the public reports livestock issues on Monroe Mtn. We, equal “owners”, want to be involved in managing/healing of our public lands, while looking forward to a healthier planet in the future.
Garn Barnson
I, Garn Barnson, a new permittee on the Monroe Mountain- Koosharem Allotment, am in full support of the southern Monroe Mountain allotments livestock grazing reauthorization. I have been involved in the cattle with my family since I was younger and have participated in any and all events and grazing seasons on the Monroe Mountain for over 10 years. I would like to see continued improvements, increased forage, set on and off dates, and better maintenance of roads. I agree that it is unnecessary to tag with forest tags since the cattle are already tagged with personal tags and branded, but if the forest service finds it necessary, I think the tags need to be provided by the forest service at their expense. I believe in logging to reduce tall, thick, and dead tree stands. The logging industry has taken a dramatic hit over the years and they too are part of our small community and local economy. It is necessary for the continued grazing of cattle on this allotment, to keep the mountain as well as our local economy thriving.
Margaret Allen
The Forest Service was established to manage timber and water sheds, not manage grazing rights. Grazing rights were already in effect and established. Grazing is our right and no one respects and appreciates the forest and range land more than the rancher does. We have the right to graze it. It’s our livelihood and how we take care of our families. We know what we are doing so let us do our job. The Forest Service needs to do their job, control the elk and preditors.
Stanton Gleave
My family has grazed livestock here since the 1880’s. These grazing allotments are tied to the ranches to make them profitable. Grazing rights, water rights, property rights, even right of ways are all rights and since this is a republic form of government and not a democracy, our rights are protected.
Our rights have been abused bad by the state because they won’t control predators. We lose between 300 and 700 lambs a year to cougars and coyotes. They have lost their deer herd and the only animal they can raise is elk. There was no elk on the Monroe Mt in 1970, now there is thousands and they have a big effect on our allotments.
When I was young in the 1950’s 60’s, 70’s, there was a big herd of deer, sage hens and pheasants to hunt, now our kids have nothing to hunt. Back then ranchers and people with common sense managed the land, they had a 100 dollar bounty on cougars and a 6 dollar bounty on coyotes and they were still a long way from extinct. They were just managed.
The forest was managed back then to logging, mining and lots more grazing. No fines. And plenty of jobs for people to work.
P.S. From the hippie movement of the 1960’s came these so called environmentalists or [ ], they are responsible for the fires in California, and here, and all the predators, no deer or pheasants, and even all the plastic that’s polluting rivers and the ocean because we couldn’t cut a tree down to make a paper back.
‘Jean Public’
get teh goddam cattle off our natinal land and let wild horses live there. this is national land owned by 330,000,000 americans. we dont want this land turned over to robber baron cattle ranchers. we want the wild horses and other natural wildlife and vegetaton to be presere on this land. we need nature. nature will save us. those cattle are in fact bringing on global warmnig. i see no reson to serve clive bundy a and his ilk from using our national lands the way they treat lands that done even belong to them. this policy of turning this national land into grazing land is totally unacceptable, it is wrong for our environment. it is wrong for our people. the far too close relationship that exists with usda being a poor choice to be in charge of our nationallands certainly shows up here. usda is all about exploiting the land. they show that in every actoin they take, from poisoning our soil so that it will not produce in 60 years from all this chemical killing to every farm conference calling for the extinction of every deer, bear, fox, coyote or any other living creature in existence. we need to get the usda out of managing our natoinal fores. they are exploiters par excellance and the us public gets nothing out of their land in the end. the usda gets it all and misspends it for their out of control budgets. this commetn is for the public record. stop this overexploitation of our national land belonging to 330,000,000 americans. this is not utah land. this is national land.
Feature image caption: Grazing on Monroe Mountain. Courtesy Faith Bernstein.
Go back to Grazing on Public Lands.