Utah Cattlemen Cry Foul Over
BLM, Ecos’ Anti-Grazing Deal

SALT LAKE CITY —(AP)— A ranchers’ group has vowed to go to court to prevent further reductions in livestock grazing in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

A decision on four grazing permits is to be handed down April 1.

The Canyon Country Ranchers Association said it will sue in federal court if the Bureau of Land Management reduces grazing rights on the 1.7 million-acre monument in southern Utah.

The 80 ranchers from southern Utah and northern Arizona contend the BLM violated federal law by making a deal with the conservation group Grand Canyon Trust aimed at eliminating grazing in the monument.

``The BLM is clearly biased to achieve the trust's purposes,'' said Mark Habbeshaw, a spokesman for the ranchers.

Last summer, the Flagstaff, Ariz.-based trust paid ranchers $1.5 million to give up their grazing permits on 325,000 acres.

Bill Hedden, the trust's Moab office director, denies any illegal collusion with the BLM to end all grazing.

``We are not planning to throw ranchers wholesale off their land,'' he said. ``We couldn't if we wanted to.''

Habbeshaw said the BLM wants to impose the environmental restrictions of a full-fledged national park, making it difficult for ranchers to keep grazing permits.

``It's very subtle,'' Habbeshaw said. ``But when a landlord isn't comfortable with you, they can apply pressures to let you know.''

BLM officials deny a coordinated policy to eliminate livestock from Grand Staircase-Escalante.

``There will always be grazing in the monument,'' said Dave Wolf, the monument's assistant manager for planning. ``That doesn't mean it will continue in every area, in every way, and at the same levels it has always occurred.''

When a rancher relinquishes his grazing permit — in this case with the financial backing of the trust — the BLM re-evaluates whether grazing is the best use of the land.

``There are times when adjustments are made,'' Wolf said. ``There are no conspiracies or secret deals, but there will be changes in the future.''

Hedden said the ranchers’ group is doing cattle growers a disservice. If the trust's market approach, which Hedden said has saved some financially troubled ranching operations, fails, more litigious environmental groups will get involved.

(Editor’s note: Sounds familiar. "Make him an offer he can’t refuse" — "Don" Vito Corleone. These days, more people are held up with a briefcase than with a violin case.)