Ranchers, Forest Service Talk About Toughened Grazing Rules

They invited the forest supervisor. They invited congressional aides. And they invited friends.

But the ranchers who run cattle on the Gooding allotment on public land north of Fairfield wanted to tell Sawtooth National Forest Supervisor Bill LeVere their concerns behind closed doors.

The ranchers met with Forest Service officials Wednesday to complete discussions of their annual operating plan for the public land grazing allotment. They had invited LeVere and Mike Matthews, U.S. Sen. Larry Craig’s field representative, to hear their concerns, and invited friends for moral support.

With heightened sensitivity over grazing issues since LeVere’s March 5 announcement of tougher enforcement of grazing permit violations, the ranchers “wanted to hear it from the ranger’s boss,” LeVere said.

Ranchers wanted clarification on the issue of grazing along streams that are habitat for species of concern or federally listed threatened or endangered species. Bull trout, under consideration for listing as an endangered species, are found in streams in the upper end of the Boise River drainage, which includes the Gooding allotment.