EPA Official Pitches Agency
As Agriculture's Friend, Ally

(Editor's note: Isn't it considered improper these days to blow smoke indoors?)

RIVERTON, Wyo. —(AP)— Wyoming farmers and ranchers should consider the Environmental Protection Agency as more of a friend than a foe, because the agency has the same sorts of goals as agriculture producers, an EPA official said here last week.

``I truly believe the EPA and most farmers and ranchers want the same thing — healthy land and water,'' Doris Sanders, the agriculture group leader for region 8 of the EPA, told those attending an agriculture forum this week.

Sanders, who grew up on a ranch near Clearmont, remembers her father practicing conservation methods before environmental concerns were a common discussion topic.

``I agree with what most people say about agriculture — that farmers and ranchers are the original protectors of the land,'' she said.

Production agriculture and environmental protection, or stewardship, can happen together, she said.

Education is a key to avoiding conflicts between the two, Sanders said.

Sanders said she and Bill Yellowtail, the EPA regional administrator, are ``working to educate the EPA staff about how to work with agriculture'' and how the EPA and production agriculture can coincide.

``The United States is still the world's breadbasket,'' Sanders said, ``with the best farmers and ranchers in the world. Now, you're being asked to factor the environment in as a routine part of your management plan.''

She mentioned the clean water action plan, which is designed to protect water by voluntary actions with flexible implementation procedures.

But Ron Micheli, director of the Wyoming Department of Agriculture, said the clean water action plan is not voluntary.

He noted that when Wyoming chose to not participate in the unified watershed plan, the state lost money appropriated by the federal government. He said another plan from the Forest Service says a specific amount of roadways will be closed every year.

``What's voluntary about that?'' Micheli asked.