SALMON - Ranchers who graze their cattle on public lands have mixed feelings about a proposal from environmental groups that could lead to the government buying out grazing permits.
"They'll probably have some takers," said Tendoy rancher R.J. Smith, of the push to convince Congress to pass legislation allowing the government to buy and retire grazing permits from ranchers who want to sell them. "But you have to look at what it's going to do. It's going to put cattle down on private property. They'll be on the riverbanks year-round where there are endangered fish."
Smith said, cutting back on livestock numbers would be another economic blow to Lemhi County, where 30,000 head of cattle graze on public land.
Andy Kerr, director of the National Public Lands Campaign, the group that mailed letters last week to 26,000 federal grazing permittees informing them of the buyout proposal, sees permit buyouts as a win-win solution. Ranchers, who are increasingly restricted by environmental regulations, high operating costs and low cattle prices, could see the buyout as an attractive offer.
"This is voluntary," Kerr said. "Even if a rancher doesn't want to take it now, they may want to take that option later."
If enacted, the buyout plan would pay ranchers $175 per animal unit month (AUM). That means a rancher who runs 300 cow-calf pairs on public lands for five months could sell his permit for $262,500.
"It's coming and it's not going to let up; this is public land," Kerr said. "We have the stick. Now we want a carrot."
Smith, however, believes this is just one more step engineered by the Wildlands Project, a broad-based environmental effort to move entire communities out of the Rockies so that carnivores and other wide-ranging wildlife can roam freely.
Kerr denies any ties to the Wildlands Project. He said, though, that the Wildlands Project, headed by Earth First! founder Dave Foreman, is one of 88 environmental groups that has signed on to the proposed permit buyout. Also among them is the Hailey-based Western Watersheds Project.
Kerr, who led the spotted owl campaign through appeals, litigation and the listing of the spotted owl as endangered in Oregon, said public land grazing has degraded the ecosystem and is costing taxpayers $500,000,000 a year. Endangered species such as wolves, salmon, grizzlies and the proposed sage grouse listing combined with the Clean Water Act and other environmental laws, are making it increasingly difficult to operate on public lands, Kerr said.
Salmon banker Tom Nelson believes buyouts could be a good thing for some ranchers.
"In some cases, they ought to take it and run," said Nelson. "There are some allotments that are very difficult and expensive to operate. And in a number of cases, it would allow ranchers to retire."
Nelson said the emergence of wolves decreases the viability of running cattle on open range.
Salmon rancher Jay Wiley, one of several ranchers who run their cattle on the Diamond Moose Allotment where the Jureano Pack dens each summer, said the voluntary buyout sounds OK to him.
"I just think it's a good option to have for the guys that are tired of fighting it," he said. "It might help some of the smaller operations buy more land or change their operations."
Ranchers who sold their public land grazing rights would have to alter their operations significantly, Nelson said. Though leasing private land for grazing costs less, said Nelson, there isn't much of it available.
Ranchers might be able to afford to run fewer cattle on private land because it would be less work, they'd have fewer losses to predators, and their calves would be heavier, Wiley said.
Kerr said the buyout plan won't work without ranchers' support.
"If those that are interested in a buyout don't let their leadership know, then this isn't going to happen," Kerr said.
Lemhi and Custer counties reporter Candace Burns can be
reached through the Post Register at 542-6757, or via e-mail at
mwimborne@idahonews.com.
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