Home Opinion Editorials Work with, not against

Work with, not against

Written by Baker City Herald Editorial Board May 14, 2009 05:55 am

For many Baker County ranchers, the ability to graze their livestock on public lands is essential to their business.

It’s natural, then, that ranchers get nervous when they think their grazing privileges are in jeopardy.

But livestock owners will fare better if they maintain a cordial relationship with the BLM and other land-managing agencies rather than an antagonistic one.

Which is why we were troubled by some of the comments that Pat Larson, a range management consultant from La Grande, made during a BLM public meeting last week in Baker City.

Larson accused BLM of making cursory examinations of grazing allotments and then exaggerating the effect livestock are having. Larson contends BLM officials make “guesses,” but she gave no definitive proof.

Larson also said BLM is reducing grazing levels “over the whole Northeast region.”

Yet a BLM official said that out of 400 allotments that the agency has studied in the region, it has limited grazing on just eight.

Ranchers and their consultants should scrutinize BLM’s conclusions about the effects of grazing, and challenge those conclusions when there is persuasive evidence that there are flaws in the BLM’s findings.

But we don’t believe ranchers and their allies have anything to gain by making harsh statements when they don’t present facts to back up the claims.