Colorado Amendments Draw Ire,
Concern Of State’s Stockmen

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. —(AP)— Colorado ranchers say the recent passage of Amendments 14 and 16 provides an example of the urban majority determining what is best for the rural minority.

Amendment 14 bans the use of certain types of traps, while Amendment 16 makes changes in the State Land Board. Both amendments, approved by voters on Nov. 5, will cost the livestock industry money, said ranchers meeting recently at the Colorado Cattlemen's Association winter conference.

"I think if the people who worked to get this amendment passed were held accountable and had to repay ranchers who lost livestock to scavengers, they may have looked at the issue differently," said one rancher during a discussion of Amendment 14.

The nearly $2 billion beef industry accounts for more than half of Colorado's agriculture business. The association represents more than 3000 of the state's estimated 10,000 cattle ranchers.

"In the time of my dad, you didn't have time to go to a meeting," said Tom Deakins, president of the Arvada-based organization and a rancher from Craig. "Now you can't afford not to spend time doing that. The strike of the pen can put you out of business."

Amendment 14 bans the taking of wildlife with leghold traps, instant kill body-gripping traps or poison. Images of wild animals caught in traps were used in advertising to promote passage of the amendment.

"But when you find a live calf or live sheep with the back end eaten off, that's not a pretty sight either," Deakins said.

Amendment 16 was neither endorsed nor opposed by the Cattlemen's Association.

Some ranchers applauded mandated changes to the structure of the State Land Board's commissioners. But others voiced concern about the future of the public lands. Before the election, the board's mandate was to maximize revenue from public lands, usually done by leasing them for grazing.

But the amendment dictates that the board work to produce reasonable and consistent income, meaning some land will most likely be set aside as open space or preservation purposes.

State Agriculture Commissioner Tom Kourlis is trying to calm farmers' and ranchers' worries about the amendments.

Kourlis said the anti-trapping amendment won't be enforced until the governor signs it into law and the legislature writes the amendment's requirements into law.

Kourlis said ranchers can still use leg-hold traps without fear of prosecution until sometime during the next legislative session.

Kourlis also said ranchers needn't fear the land-board amendment.

"The governor does not intend to kick agriculture off state lands," Kourlis said. Rather, the amendment was required to keep the lands from being sold to developers along the Front Range, he said.

Other concerns were the "anti-agriculture flavor" in the nation's laws and rules.

Kourlis said agriculture must improve communication so voters support fair rules for agriculture.

He noted that 30 years ago, many people had at least one relative living on a farm or ranch, while today few have those ties because only about one percent of the population makes a living from farming and ranching.

Kourlis also said a recent Department of Agriculture poll showed that the public, even along the Front Range, trusts farmers and ranchers more than environmentalists, the government or the media.

"People don't want to hurt agriculture," Kourlis said. "They just don't know much about us anymore."