Why Welfare Rancher's get a bad Reputation as they Abuse the BLM

JoseCuervo

JoseCuervo

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I was talking to Ithica at Moosie's house last week, for the BBQ, and we ended up discussing Welfare Ranchers for just a minute. And we kind talked about how maybe the ones we are exposed to in Owyhee County, Idaho may actually not be representative of the ones elsewhere in the West. But the ones here, sure are difficult to deal with.....

They definitely feel like the BLM is the enemy. Do you really think they want to move their cattle when some college graduate tells them their grass is gone???
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You might cringe a little if you work for the Bureau of Land Management and receive a transfer to Owyhee County, Idaho.

You'd probably want to bring a case of Pepto Bismol, because a bout of heartburn is guaranteed if you run into Sheriff Gary Aman.

Aman's found it pretty good political currency to challenge the BLM. He's let it be known that the agency is persona non grata in the wild and wooly 7,600 acres of Owyhee County, much of it public land, that he patrols.

Carrying the anti-BLM banner for the sagebrush rebels is helpful for Aman, who's got a droll personality and none of the swagger of his predecessor.

He's still trying to fill the big boots of legendary lawman Tim Nettleton, who caught murderer Claude Dallas in the outback of Owyhee County. Dallas shot dead two game wardens.

Nettleton was the only Democrat who could get elected in Owyhee County and did for more than two decades until he retired in 1996. Not much for small talk, he carried a pea shooter .38 special for years and raced his souped-up Camaro across the county, from Murphy to Marsing, with a blue light flashing on the dashboard.

To blow up his own image, Aman issued a "no trespass" policy to the BLM in 2000, a pronouncement as flammable as cheatgrass on a July afternoon.

He told the BLM to give him at least two days notice when agency officials planned to cross private property to view allotments. He also insisted BLM officials get permission in advance from landowners.

"I don't foresee any problems as long as the BLM adheres to the terms of the agreement," he said at the time. "They expect ranchers to obey the law. I expect the same of them."

Aman received grudging cooperation from the agency. He's even made some money for Owyhee County by charging the BLM to patrol public land.

Aman is running for re-election this year on his record as a fiscal conservative (inmate meals at the jail he runs cost the county $1.20 each) and on his anti-BLM rhetoric. It's pure catnip for the sagebrush rebels who drive pickup trucks with "bye, bye BLM" bumperstickers and find it annoying to interact with tenderfoot range conservationists.

Aman gets lots of good press in the local newspaper, the Owyhee Avalanche, which is owned by his older brother, Joe Aman. Joe, in not so subtle fashion, has used the newspaper as his bully pulpit for the anti-federal sentiment that foments in outposts like Grandview and Bruneau.

He's also the newspaper's editor and a pretty boisterous supporter of his brother. The stories that run about the sheriff's department are gushing for the most part. His little brother can't do much wrong, so why not re-lect him in November and we'll keep the BLM on the run?

For the sheriff and the sagebrush rebels in Owyhee County, having a brother with a printing press has been a pretty good arrangement.
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I think the overgrazing welfare ranchers we have in Idaho, especially Owyhee County, are probably the worst in the West. But more than 50% of all BLM everywhere is in poor condition due to overgrazing, so they can't be very good anywhere.
 
Nemont, Sorry. I'm sure there are exceptions but, overall, if 50% plus of BLM is in poor condition due to overgrazing it must be a pervasive problem. Maybe there are pockets of BLM where all the grazed land is in good condition. In fact, I suspect there are. But I'm looking at the big picture, and it's real dismal.

From what I know of you thru this board I'm sure you're a very responsible grazer.
 
From what I know of you thru this board I'm sure you're a very responsible grazer
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Well Ithaca I don't graze on anything other then the salad bar and the all you can eat Lutefisk buffet. :D

That being said do you think the prolonged drought has anything to do with some of the land being in poor condition? Also in Idaho it is apparently a different story with some allotment holders living hundred of miles from their allotments. Here the BLM, indian land, school trust, Rail Road and private deeded land are checkerboard in a lot of places. This means that to effectively graze you most likely must treat the deeded and other the same. So to say all grazing allotees, everywhere, are using bad land management practices is incorrect.

Now if you say that those having the grazing allotments have an unfair advantage over those who have to graze deeded pastures only, that is an entirely different argument.

Nemont

[ 07-20-2004, 14:25: Message edited by: Nemont ]
 
EG,

The cattlemen and lawmen I know out here do not hate the BLM. I can't thing of a time that it was discussed to charge BLM trespass fees.

To paint all grazing allotees with this broad brush seems extremely unfair and short sighted. The guy who is in charge of the BLM and his range specialists all sit down and break bread with us. They even come out on their day off to help with harvest and branding when they can.

Nemont
 
"That being said do you think the prolonged drought has anything to do with some of the land being in poor condition?"

No, it had been overgrazed and was in poor condition long before the drought started. It does have a lot to do with much of the S. Idaho BLM being in a semi-arid climate where there's less than 12" of moisture a year. Same problem in NV. Not enough moisture and very marginal grazing land to start with.
 
I really don't eat that stuff. I was just making a little joke. Never could aquire a taste for the stuff. There are many, many people of Norwegian descent in this area and they have Lutefisk and Lefse suppers. I have been to a few and ended up eating the ham sandwiches.

Nemont

[ 07-20-2004, 16:09: Message edited by: Nemont ]
 
"And we kind talked about how maybe the ones we are exposed to in Owyhee County, Idaho may actually not be representative of the ones elsewhere in the West. But the ones here, sure are difficult to deal with..... "


Elkgunner ,In what way have you been exposed to the ranchers in Owyhee County?
Is that in a personal manner? Or from what you think you know and what Jon Marvel wants you to think?
Do you think it could be your attitude?

We have hunted ,hiked,rode motorcycles and ATV's in alot of that country and we have always been treated with respect by any rancher we have come in contact with .

We have been invited into there house for lunch, been told and shown where some good bucks hang out, have been welcomed back to hunt there land .
None of these people knew us yet they were all willing to offer help.


One time I had the chance to sit down with a rancher and his wife and ask questions about Jon Marvel and the BLM .
There are indeed two sides to every story and this one is no different.
What stuck with me was how these folk's showed more respect for the people that are trying to run them out then you , Ithaca,and your Jon Marvel types have shown them and many posters on this forum.
Many of these ranchers are willing to do whats being asked of them but your buddy Marvel doesnt play the game like that and you know it.

Something else that doenst make alot of sense is how Steve and I have been treated so well by many rancher's ,when we by no means look like we live in the area and many time could pass for teva wearing treehugger's yet we have always been treated with respect.
If you are having a problim with the ranchers in Owyhee County maybe its time for an attitude adjustment.
If you treat them as you and Ithaca do many of the posters here that dont agree with you it's no wonder you find them hard to deal with.
 
Rocky Dog.... I was spitting soda all over my monitor.... :D Could you imagine the rolling on the floor in the house after the greenhorns from Calif drove off to go shoot does out of the hay fields????

MD Asked:
Elkgunner ,In what way have you been exposed to the ranchers in Owyhee County?
Is that in a personal manner?
Click to expand...
Well, there was one rancher who caught me with his daughter and an empty 12pack on the seat of my Ford PU at the Jordan Valley Rodeo....
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Damn, she looked hot in her Wranglers... :cool: And pretty good out of them....
And I think she liked the way I treated her....

Or did you not mean like that????

Did you really mean to ask about the Summers I spent working on a ranch up on Reynolds Creek? Or were you meaning about when I go pick up a new herd bull every year down at Grand View? Or are you talking about the dozen mule deer I have shot on a ranch along the Oregon border? Or the other ranch where I have killed 5 antelope??? Or are you wondering about the two brothers who bring Keystone to our Elk camp every year, and drink my good beer??? :rolleyes:

MD, you can call BS on me for lots of things, if you could figure out which ones I don't care about, but don't waste your time calling BS on me and Owyhee County.... :cool:
 
Originally posted by Nemont:
EG,

The cattlemen and lawmen I know out here do not hate the BLM. I can't thing of a time that it was discussed to charge BLM trespass fees.

To paint all grazing allotees with this broad brush seems extremely unfair and short sighted. The guy who is in charge of the BLM and his range specialists all sit down and break bread with us. They even come out on their day off to help with harvest and branding when they can.

Nemont
Click to expand...
Nemont,

I think I may agree with you, and that is why I prefaced this with the observations of how the guys in Owyhee County may not be representative of the rest of the West. Owyhee County is still fightig the Sagebrush Rebellion.... :rolleyes:
 
Rockydog,I take it that question was for me?

I do tell people where I was born and raised.
I have no reason to be ashamed of it.
 
Well said Deb....
I have found the ranchers I have dealt with as a whole, are very nice and to the point people. I have noticed though, the hardest ones to deal with are those that don't live on the land they own and seem to think every one is out to abuse them or want some thing personal from them for what they own.
 
ElkCheese,

Which part did you think was "well said"? She was pretty much off base on everything she wrote, or were you not bright enough to see that?
 
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