It Amazes me that after speaking with Travis Fletcher at the September meeting, the USFS told us face to face that NEPA has not been completed on these Grazing Allotments…. Yet look at the outright lies being told by Stevens County Cattlemens ASS. Claiming they have been done…. There allottments should be TERMINATED for telling these types of fairytales. If Grazing allotments didnt open until June 1st according to their own statements…. why were their cows out in May???
Each permit, or allotment, has also been through a rigorous National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) review before cattle can be turned out on the allotment. The NEPA addresses such issues as recreational use of the land, water quality issues and other items of potential concern.
“Cattlemen follow agency-approved grazing plans”…. NOOOOTTTTTTTT
The start of the 2017 grazing season on the Colville National Forest (CNF) started June 1, allowing ranchers with grazing agreements to turn out their cattle on various portions, or allotments, of the forest. Now that the season has begun, the Stevens County Cattlemen’s Association feels it is important to clarify the misinformation about cattle grazing on federal land and remind the public what requirements ranchers must meet during the grazing season.
For instance, although wolves may be present in some areas of the CNF, cattlemen do not automatically have wolf information, like collar data, available to them as part of their grazing lease. While the grazing agreement between a ranch and the CNF does include many details, it does not include wolf information. In addition, the summer grazing plan must be approved by CNF staff that oversee a variety of specifics, including where salt blocks and water tanks can be placed, pasture rotation, fencing, road access and other matters.
Each permit, or allotment, has also been through a rigorous National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) review before cattle can be turned out on the allotment. The NEPA addresses such issues as recreational use of the land, water quality issues and other items of potential concern.
“Our ranchers are working with grazing professionals in order to develop their grazing plan for the season and these plans must be approved by the federal agency before cattle are turned out,” said SCCA President Justin Hedrick. “We know the public doesn’t understand how many regulations the cattleman has to meet in order to graze that land. Our ranchers on public lands are responsible, diligent and under federal supervision.”
In addition, ranchers are not required to sign agreements with state agencies , like the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, in addition to their agreement with the CNF.
By working with the federal government to provide seasonal grazing on the CNF, local ranch families are helping to reduce fuel loads for wildfires while paying their grazing fees and contributing to the local economy.
“We are proud of the job our ranch families do on the CNF. We enjoy and appreciate having federal lands in our area and we want to ensure they stay healthy and available for public use,” said Hedrick. “We believe the multi-purpose designation of the CNF is a benefit to our area and our ranch families help ensure that goal is met.”
Source: Grazing starts on Colville National Forest | Stevens County Cattlemen’s Association
Comments
Federal budgets that cut BLM and Forest Service funding, reduce that capacity of those agencies to monitor the sometimes common exceeding of AUM (Animal Unit Months – a unit being one cow and one calf equivalent) on public land grazing lease allotments.
This issue of overgrazing, along with the costs imposed by grazing’s and leasing’s effect on costs of other programs – invariably increasing all management of habitat, wild species and plant communities, water quality & erosion (and remember that pretty much all of our watersheds depend upon pure water protected in its entirety only on public lands).
When economists assess total costs without exteriorization (meaning not including a cost), the result shows extreme subsidy – grazing lessees pay far less than the actual cost to the ecosystem, the taxpaying citizens, and the world.
Additionally, because private landowners also offer grazing and local govt assessors of the costs of land owned by grazers, public lands are leased at far lower prices than market value of land used and affected by grazing.. I’m out of touch with it these days, so here’s a pretty good series of articles on computing leasing values for those who lease to cattlemen.:
http://onpasture.com/2015/02/16/pasture-rental-and-use-rates-animal-units-and-profit-sharing/
You’ll notice that the authors speak of “educated” cattle, who have learned to eat a wider variety of forbs and grasses. I don’t think that large commercial interests do much of this, nor are those who ranch largely using public lands. National Forest lands are summer season, and grazers often shift in winter to lower or less productive BLM lands here in the west.
You have to remember that wolves are locked into denning from spring, and move to rendezvous meadowlike places in summer for water and sight lines necessary to protect and oversee pups by other members of the family pack. Wolves radiate out from these places where the children are, and d not tend to hunt in the big packs so shown by famous and videos for this period.
The native peoples referred to the 13 actual moon cycles in the year (as did preindustrial Euros – remember “fortnight?” meaning fourteen-night – the time between full or no moon. Weeks are seven nights, exactly the time it takes between 1/2 moon and either of these) for calendars. Almost all have a 28 day – more accurate – month named “The Moon When The Wolves Run Together.” It tends to be November, when the young are finally strong enough to keep up for long distances and learn from elders.
So introducing cattle to the six months of spring, summer, and early fall, ARE, as predator scientist Rob Wielgus said, dumping cattle on top of pups, whenever cattle are put on the last wild natural landscapes humans have left for most of life on earth.
The Doc spoke more specifically about trucking in cattle where and when a wolf family was most immobilized by the tiny denned pups and the mother who necessarily feeds them milk, unable to travel,and eat herself needing a lot of nutrition carried to her by the others each day.
Humans, not seeing this hunger, tend to discount and forget such necessity. The only way we’re going to see change, is when humans ALL look at the real hunger, and the narrow options of the wolf. Mortality stats are always far more severe than humans can imagine, and family mortality does deeply affect wolves.