Cooperative Extension Service Communications and Technology Department 3354 1000 E. University Ave. Laramie, WY 82071 (307) 766-2540 • fax (307) 766-3998 • www.uwyo.edu

 

For Immediate Release

 

Contact: Robert Waggener, Editor

Phone: (307) 766-3571

E-mail: robertw@uwyo.edu

 

Date: Feb. 21, 2007

 

Cooperative range monitoring fosters trust in western Wyoming

            Western Wyoming ranchers who hold permits to graze livestock on federal lands say their relationship with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has gone from contentious to cooperative.

            This new sense of goodwill, according to the ranchers, stems from a monitoring program spearheaded by the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service (UW CES). Livestock producers and personnel from the two federal agencies voluntarily participate.

            “It all came about as a result of friction between the grazing permittees and the USFS,” said Eric Peterson, an area extension educator for Sublette, Teton and Lincoln counties.

            Peterson helped produce a new bulletin and DVD to help permittees and managers of public lands implement cooperative rangeland monitoring programs. More than 1,500 copies of the bulletin, Implementing a Cooperative Permittee Monitoring Program, and 600 DVDs have been distributed throughout the western United States.

            The bulletin is available at http://www.uwyo.edu/CES/PUBS/B1169.pdf.

            Copies of B-1169 and/or the DVD can also be ordered free of charge from Peterson at (307) 367-4380 or eric@uwyo.edu.

            Peterson says ranchers are learning more about the range resource and how to care for it.          Subsequently, some permit holders have found they are able to keep their livestock on the federal allotments longer, and their cattle and sheep are in better shape when they return to winter pastures, according to ranchers.

             “We get along better with the USFS since we started the cooperative permittee monitoring. We also have a lot more knowledge about the range resource and how to care for it,” said Wayne Jensen, who raises cattle near Boulder. “That’s allowing us to keep our cattle up there longer, and they are in better shape when they come out.”

            Another Boulder-area rancher, Joel Bousman, said, “Since we started the joint monitoring programs, our working relationship with the Forest Service and BLM improved dramatically.”

            Bousman, president of the Silver Creek Grazing Association, added, “With the help of UW CES, we got out on the grazing allotments and started monitoring based on sound science using quantitative, long-term trend data, not someone’s opinion.”

            Before joint monitoring started in 1996, federal land managers dictated the standards, and there was little communication with the ranchers. Agency folks agree this led to a contentious relationship, but that changed when the two sides accepted an offer from UW CES to sit down at one table.

            “Before we got involved in this program, the USFS and BLM range specialists were the ‘experts’ on the grass and the resources. There was not a lot of cooperation with the ranchers,” said Barb Franklin, a range specialist with the USFS in Pinedale.

            “At the time, we had some very intelligent, well-educated people who knew about rangelands. The problem is they weren’t communicating. Fortunately, we’ve all gotten a lot smarter in recent years. We recognize everyone has expertise and knowledge we need to share,” Franklin said. “It’s a matter of everyone looking at the same piece of real estate together and discussing resource concerns and ways to improve that resource together.”

            Concerning prior friction between grazing permittees and the USFS, Peterson said, “At the time, findings by the agency concerning the level of grazing were made without the involvement of the permittees, and a federal report expressing concern about stream sedimentation and erosion placed blame on livestock grazing.”

            When the permittees saw the report, it upset them because they didn’t think the findings were accurate, said Peterson, who noted follow-up studies determined the problems outlined in the initial report were based on issues beyond the control of the grazing permit holders.

            The two sides agreed to launch a long-term volunteer program, and the success has encouraged other grazing associations in Wyoming and the West to follow suit, Peterson said. In Sublette County, Wyoming, alone, there is now joint monitoring of 300,000-plus acres of federal lands involving nearly 15,000 cattle and 3,800 sheep.

            “With the assistance of CES,” Peterson said, “the grazing associations and agencies have gotten together to develop programs to monitor such things as cattle use and the trends in range and stream bank conditions. After 10 years, they have developed objectives for the rangeland, and they have evaluated the grazing strategies. It has resulted in documented stewardship of the rangelands.”

            Just as important, Peterson added, “We’ve gone from a situation of contentiousness and animosity to one where we have a great working relationship between the parties. They are tied together by this volunteer program. They are working together to enhance the stewardship of the public lands.”

            Bousman said, “It’s critical that the entire process be done jointly and voluntarily. That way everyone is on the same page, and they are all seeing the same thing at the same time. This builds trust, and trust goes a long way toward having a good, working relationship between federal agencies and the stakeholders of the land.”

            Pinedale cattle rancher Albert Sommers agreed.

             “Cooperative range monitoring with the USFS is a good way to resolve conflicts and look at problems together,” Sommers said. “The agency folks previously dictated a certain standard, and you never went out together to do things like measure grass. This volunteer program fosters more trust.”

            Some might argue such a program leads to a situation of the fox (in this case the grazing permit holders) guarding the henhouse (the federal lands).

                “All the monitoring is based on sound data provided by the ranchers, hydrologists, range and soil specialists, botanists, fisheries and wildlife biologists and others,” Franklin said. “You can argue politics, but you can’t argue with scientific data.”

            Peterson said members of the public, including environmental groups, are welcome to join the parties when they take to the field for monitoring sessions and workshops.

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