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hatrack

(59,387 posts)
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 11:41 PM Jun 2014

BLM Warning Western Ranchers That Drought May Mean The End Of Grazing Rights As They Know Them

EDIT

"All these issues — it's changing the landscape of the West, dramatically," said Ken Wixom, who grazes 4,000 ewes and lambs on BLM land in the Snake River Plain. For public lands ranchers like him who depend on federal acreage to sustain their animals, the mood ranges from brooding to surrender.

The situation was spelled out in stark terms in two recent letters from the federal Bureau of Land Management. They told the ranchers what they already knew: Unless something changes, the days of business as usual on the 154 million acres of federal grazing land are over. This drought-stressed range in Idaho can no longer sustain livestock, the letter warned. Better plan to reduce herd numbers by at least 30% for the spring turnout. "I knew it was coming," said Sorensen, squinting as the afternoon sun poured through a window.

Sorensen's grazing allotment is so compromised that he was forced to make multiple adjustments. He waited 2 1/2 weeks longer than usual before turning out his cows and calves on BLM pastures, and then released only half his herd. The rest he kept on his ranch, feeding them hay from his own fields. Conditions could easily grow worse.

Livestock shares the range with wildlife, including the greater sage grouse, a species dependent on sagebrush and native grasslands to survive. The grouse population has plummeted by 93% in the last 50 years, and its habitat has shrunk to one-quarter of its former 240,000-square-mile range. If the federal government grants endangered species protection to the grouse sometime next year, ranching on federal land will be cut back even more, federal officials say. In some regions, public lands ranching might end altogether.

EDIT

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-drought-grazing-20140616-story.html#page=1

6 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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BLM Warning Western Ranchers That Drought May Mean The End Of Grazing Rights As They Know Them (Original Post) hatrack Jun 2014 OP
Just drove the Central Valley in California. oldandhappy Jun 2014 #1
These farmers and ranchers should know what harm they are doing to the land. It has been a jwirr Jun 2014 #2
I am a farmer and a rancher Tumbulu Jun 2014 #3
I am the daughter of a farmer. I know what you are saying but when the farmers in the OP are jwirr Jun 2014 #4
Good points all Tumbulu Jun 2014 #5
Yes, I am very worried about this drought. I think it is so scary because we do not know if this is jwirr Jun 2014 #6

oldandhappy

(6,719 posts)
1. Just drove the Central Valley in California.
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 11:46 PM
Jun 2014

There is no water. Camped along the Kings River, normally filled with boats. People were wading. The river was ankle deep. Other rivers and streams were completely dry. There is no water. Farmers and ranchers can scream all they want to about congress and water allotments. There is no water.

jwirr

(39,215 posts)
2. These farmers and ranchers should know what harm they are doing to the land. It has been a
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 11:53 PM
Jun 2014

well known practice in farming for centuries. You cannot overgraze your land.

Tumbulu

(6,267 posts)
3. I am a farmer and a rancher
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 12:15 AM
Jun 2014

and overgrazing is not some given. I sure saw lots of it in the true Southwest (Arizona), but in N CA I do not see it. Grazing is important for the soils. And farming...well, where would your food and clothing come from if we did not do this?

Some years we have abundant rainfall, others, not. Most of us have had to make radial changes this year to keep our animals alive and farm crops that will cover the soil with only water until mid summer. My wells are due to go dry by July. There is just no water .... Livestock is going to auction, livestock guardian dogs have no flocks to guard, the rescue organizations for these breeds seem terribly stretched.....it is a very hard and sad time for us. Please do not criticize hard working people without cause.

jwirr

(39,215 posts)
4. I am the daughter of a farmer. I know what you are saying but when the farmers in the OP are
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 12:33 AM
Jun 2014

complaining about the government trying to protect the land they watch over for all of us then I think they need to remember that if they destroy the land it is not going to repair itself just like that. Cutting back on grazing until this drought is over will help maintain the land so that it can be used again when the rains come.

And yes we do get out food from farms and this needs to be dealt with and maybe it will mean changing the way and where we grow our foods and even the way we eat.

When I was working on a reservation in the west the Natives told me one of their legends passed down over the generations was that the prairies experience droughts every so many years and that even if farms are established they will have to deal with it because we cannot change it. I think this drought that we are seeing all across the southwest is the extreme of what they were talking about. It does not seem to be ending any time soon.

Tumbulu

(6,267 posts)
5. Good points all
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 01:17 AM
Jun 2014

the challenge is that each farm /farmer is a being. Not some interchangeable widgit. We cannot just pick up and move willy nilly as the rains come and go. Nomadic people move their livestock to capture the rainy areas.....and quite a few big livestock operations move their cattle and bees in that manner.

But row crops...that is another matter. This is a most sobering drought.

jwirr

(39,215 posts)
6. Yes, I am very worried about this drought. I think it is so scary because we do not know if this is
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 12:44 PM
Jun 2014

the new normal. The bread basket may get a lot smaller. And food may be much harder to get. If this is part of the climate change the farmers you are talking about are going to need help to relocate or such.

This is not new to me because my father was a small farmer in Iowa in the early 50s. The government was not helping these small farmers because the theory was bigger, better and more. Policies favored larger farmers. My father went broke in the 50s in the same way that all of you are facing now - at least those of you who are effected by the drought. The small farmers ended up leaving the farm for whatever means that had to make a living. I think that was one of our big mistakes in the past. But of course the big farmer would not agree with me.

However, my point is that we need to help the farmers threatened by climate today find better ways to farm under those conditions. Unfortunately, our big ag colleges are still focused on bigger, better and more.

I am encouraged by President Obama's focus on finding out what is killing the bees. About time. We have bees on our acreage but last year we and all our neighbors lost their bees. We are trying to start over.

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