Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor

Awhile back I posted news on an organization of environmentalists that bought land in southern Utah to graze, the purpose being to control and lessen grazing by livestock on public lands.

Today’s Deseret News has published an article on the grazing permits, which are being viewed as a threat to ranchers in the area. A judge has upheld the permits, which were challenged by ranchers.

The battle revolves around the purchase of three large grazing permits in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by Canyonlands Grazing Corp., an affiliate of the preservationist Grand Canyon Trust. The permits, sold by ranchers in 2000 and 2001, concern the Clark Bench, Last Chance and Big Bowns Bench grazing allotments.
Together, they cover 303,000 acres and rights to graze about 775 cattle. If the BLM approves, conservationists would reduce that amount to about 150 cattle.

With the decision, cattle grazing can be sharply reduced in some areas and ended in others, said Bill Hedden, the Moab-based executive director of Grand Canyon Trust and president of Canyonlands Grazing Corp.
The object, he said in a telephone interview, is to improve “the health of the land.” Where reductions in grazing are supported by the BLM, the groups support it. Meanwhile, he noted, the groups have purchased two large ranches separate from this, where they are investing millions of dollars and grazing cattle.

It’s an interesting strategy. Environmentalists see this a victory to public lands preservation. Ranchers see this as a means to ending their livelihoods.