Middle Ground Sought In Grazing Conflict

An environmental group which has tangled with ranchers for state grazing leases on Monday asked the state Department of Lands for a new category of lease especially geared toward protecting streamside areas.

It may create a middle ground in a heated issue.

Hailey architect Jon Marvel and the Idaho Watersheds Project have competed with southern Idaho ranchers on a handful of grazing allotments. The group contends the stockmen allow their herds to ruin grazing lands and streams.

The Watersheds Project outbid some ranchers at conflict auctions. But the state Land Board has sided with the cattlemen, requiring applicants for a lease to file a grazing plan.

The environmentalists are calling for a new category of use for school endowment lands, to be called “habitat conservation leases.”

“These leases would exist to protect and restore fish and wildlife habitat, to help recover damaged riparian and watershed areas, and to raise the returns to the school endowment fund of Idaho,” said a press release issued late Monday.