Jon Christensen does a great job in portraying one of
the biggest issues facing the conservation community in the West:
the constantly increasing pressure to develop and subdivide (HCN,
3/29/04: Who will take over the ranch?).
However, he
fails to address an important question raised about land trusts:
What will be the character of the preserved land? While open space
used for livestock grazing and “working forests” is better than
subdivisions, how much of the land trust conservation effort is
going into the preservation of the wild areas that are key to the
protection of the growing numbers of critically endangered species?
Moreover, he does not even mention another possible key
to the puzzle, which is quickly gaining support among both ranchers
and conservationists: the proposed “Voluntary Grazing Permit Buyout
Act.” If passed, this legislation would give public-land ranchers
who are ready and willing to permanently retire their allotments
approximately $2,000 for each cow they have grazing yearlong on
public lands. With the money from the voluntary buyout, ranchers
who truly want to preserve their land will be able to keep their
ranch, pay off their debts or diversify their business operations
to gain income from the ever-growing recreation market. This money
would go a long way toward making ends meet, until a friendly land
trust can afford to purchase a conservation easement that will
permanently protect their private land.
Billy
Stern
Santa Fe, New Mexico
The writer is grazing program coordinator for Forest Guardians.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The real solution: Buy ranchers out.
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