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Forest Service plans will reduce sheep grazing
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KETCHUM — The U.S. Forest Service plans to reduce the number of acres available for sheep grazing in the Sawtooth National Forest, according to a draft environmental impact statement.
Ranchers said they are just beginning to review the 320-page document, which would also change the management of four sheep grazing allotments on the land.
The grazing allotments, which cover 147,200 acres, include habitat for mountain goats, threatened bull trout and federally reintroduced wolves. Three ranchers are allowed to graze up to 7,500 ewes and lambs on the land, and they must pay $1.35 for every five ewes that graze there.
The new proposal, released last week, would close 30,500 acres. It would allow managers to change the number of sheep permitted on the allotments to ensure the land will meet future resource goals.
Sawtooth National Recreation Area Ranger Sara Baldwin said that the Forest Service would continue to listen to all those interested in the issue. Public comments will be accepted until May 10.
“We believe that our proposed action addresses many natural resource issues found on these allotments,” Baldwin said. “We also believe that the proposed actions reflect many of the concerns that we have heard from the public.”
Ranchers have been grazing sheep in the central Idaho mountains for more than a century. But the practice has been complicated in recent years by heavy recreational use, pressures for a natural environment and the reintroduction of wolves.
“We try to stay out of sight and out of mind,” said John Faulkner, a Gooding rancher.
That is getting harder to do, he said.
If adopted, the plan will go into effect in 2005.
Edition Date: 03-31-2004
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KETCHUM — The U.S. Forest Service plans to reduce the number of acres available for sheep grazing in the Sawtooth National Forest, according to a draft environmental impact statement.
Ranchers said they are just beginning to review the 320-page document, which would also change the management of four sheep grazing allotments on the land.
The grazing allotments, which cover 147,200 acres, include habitat for mountain goats, threatened bull trout and federally reintroduced wolves. Three ranchers are allowed to graze up to 7,500 ewes and lambs on the land, and they must pay $1.35 for every five ewes that graze there.
The new proposal, released last week, would close 30,500 acres. It would allow managers to change the number of sheep permitted on the allotments to ensure the land will meet future resource goals.
Sawtooth National Recreation Area Ranger Sara Baldwin said that the Forest Service would continue to listen to all those interested in the issue. Public comments will be accepted until May 10.
“We believe that our proposed action addresses many natural resource issues found on these allotments,” Baldwin said. “We also believe that the proposed actions reflect many of the concerns that we have heard from the public.”
Ranchers have been grazing sheep in the central Idaho mountains for more than a century. But the practice has been complicated in recent years by heavy recreational use, pressures for a natural environment and the reintroduction of wolves.
“We try to stay out of sight and out of mind,” said John Faulkner, a Gooding rancher.
That is getting harder to do, he said.
If adopted, the plan will go into effect in 2005.
Edition Date: 03-31-2004
