Buffalo Owner Wins BLM Permit
To Graze Mostly Unfenced Area

FAIRPLAY, Colo. —(AP)— A rancher has won the latest round in the range war, gaining approval from the Bureau of Land Management to let as many as 339 buffalo roam on 4300 acres near Elevenmile Canyon Reservoir.

Residents of the area, called the ``Big Pasture,'' have opposed the plan because they are worried about the unpredictable 2000-pound animals and Colorado's historic ``fence out'' law, which requires them to build fences to keep the animals off their property.

The recent decision came down in favor of Monte Downare, whose family has raised cattle and buffalo in the area for three generations.

In the past, he's said buffalo tend to avoid confrontations with humans.

``The pasture they're in, there's really no vehicle access, so people won't be walking in there,'' he said earlier. ``And if they do, the buffalo will move away from them. They're not going to come to them.''

``Someone is going to get killed. Not hurt, killed, by one of these buffalo,'' said Roberta Norman, who along with her husband, John, led the fight against the buffalo permit.

The BLM is requiring Downare to install two warning signs and improve some perimeter fences in addition to a new stretch of fence intended to keep buffalo out of a damaged riparian area.

``Several issues, including concerns over the current health of the land, concerns regarding the safety of authorizing buffalo grazing on public land and questions over the adequacy of existing fences to contain buffalo were identified,'' BLM field office manager Levi Deike wrote in his decision.

Citing a recently completed environmental assessment, however, the agency determined that buffalo will be gentler on the land than cattle and that threats to human safety are minimal.

But rather than issue a traditional 10-year permit, the agency granted Downare only five years before another review and indicated that the buffalo will be closely monitored by federal, state and local authorities.

``Failure of the existing fences may result in BLM taking further action, including, among other things, modification of the permit's terms and conditions, suspension or even cancellation of the permit, depending upon the circumstances,'' Deike wrote.

Part of the concern stems from the checkerboard pattern of ownership of the Big Pasture, a 17,000-acre enclosure that includes 4285 acres of BLM land, Downare's own 7100 acres, 3120 acres of state land and 2340 acres of property owned by other private land holders — with little of it fenced off.

``I feel sorry for these landowners in the Big Pasture who will not be able to bring their families onto their own property and be safe, unless they want to build a buffalo fence,'' Norman said.