Garfield County ranchers concerned about BLM plan
Oct 29, 2023, 10:21 AM | Updated: 10:26 am
TROPIC, Garfield County — It was another day of working cattle at the Sweetwater Ranch in Garfield County, much like the thousands of days before. But lately, things just feel different.
It’s enough to worry even a rugged cowboy like Derrel Spencer.
“I am scared. I don’t know. We could lose everything. We stand right now to lose up to 4000 AUMs. You’re talking $1.2 million for what we would lose,” Spencer said.
An AUM is an Animal Unit Month, a measurement used to determine sustainable grazing on pastureland. Spencer runs his cattle on public land in the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument using grazing rights he paid for.
However, there’s a chance his grazing rights, and those of other ranchers, could be dramatically reduced if a new resource management plan is put into place by the Bureau of Land Management.
“We are not welfare ranchers. We buy these grazing rights to turn out on these public lands,” Spencer said. “You wonder why these ranchers are so passionate and willing to fight over these? Because everything they have, every bit of money, every inheritance, everything they have, every savings is tied up in these. You take that away and it kills us. Wipes us out.”
Spencer’s concerns are shared by many ranchers in the area.
It’s part of why Garfield County leaders decided to hold a meeting with residents at Bryce Valley High School in Tropic on Wednesday evening.
The Bureau of Land Management has held several public meetings discussing the resource management plan, but Garfield County Commissioner Leland Pollock feels residents still have a lot of concerns that aren’t being addressed.
“I went to the BLM public information meeting in Escalante, and there were a lot of locals there asking questions, and the BLM just wasn’t answering them. It was more of a science fair with displays set up and cards set up and you have to come and scan a QR code. We just wanted to have a meeting where anybody with a question can get an answer,” Pollock said. “We are the forgotten voices and it is time that we are heard.”
More than 400 people packed the auditorium. A panel of Garfield County leaders explained the four different resource management plans the BLM has come up with. The impacts of each plan were discussed.
There’s much more to Alex Cabrero‘s story. Please read more at KSLTV.com.
