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Show Questions For Mike Noel Dear Editor, In your January 17 article entitled "Kane, Garfield Cattlemen Challenge EA's by GSENM", Mr. Mike Noel omitted omit-ted the most important fact: The permittees on the Clark Bench and Willow Gulch allotments in the GSENM willingly sold their permits to the Grand Canyon Trust. As part of the deal, BLM agreed to retire livestock grazing graz-ing on the two allotments. When I contacted the Grand Canyon Trust to confirm this, they wrote back, "The ranchers have already been compensated by the Trust. We have legal documents doc-uments that will require them to repay us if these plan amendments amend-ments fail." Why would Mr. Noel, who professes to be a friend of ranchers, ranch-ers, oppose these plan amendments amend-ments and force the ranchers to pay back the money? Public lands ranching is hard enough without a former bureaucrat sticking his nose into ranchers, business. 4 This issue isn't going to go away. On January 28, the GSENM issued another Environmental Assessment (EA) regarding retiring livestock live-stock grazing on the Big Bowns Bench Allotment and part of the Last Chance Allotment. And in 2003 the GSENM will evaluate closing the Moody Allotment and part of the Headwaters Allotment. --- In all these cases, local ranch ers willingly sold their grazing permits to the Grand Canyon Trust. The Trust bought the permits per-mits on the condition that BLM would retire the livestock grazing. graz-ing. So far, the GSENM has prepared four EA's regarding retiring livestock grazing. (The first EA retired livestock grazing graz-ing in the Escalante River canyons and was signed in March 1999.) The total negative impact on the local economy of retiring grazing in the Escalante canyons, Clark Bench, Willow Gulch, Big Bowns Bench, and part of Last Chance is only $1,706 per year. The $1,706 is the portion of the permit fees on these allotments that BLM had been giving to the local Grazing Advisory Board, who then disbursed dis-bursed it to local ranchers for range improvement and maintenance mainte-nance projects, using a 4060 matching funds formula. The positive economic impact of retiring grazing in these allotments has been more than $1.1 million cash paid to the ranchers by the Grand Canyon Trust. The ranchers have used the money in various ways: to pay off debt, expand their operations, or retire. These are all honorable choices. The 12802 EA says the permittee per-mittee on the Willow Gulch Allotment will continue to graze the same number of cattle in another aYea of Garfield County. The permittee on Last Chance will continue to graze the same number of cattle in Sevier County. The permittee on Clark Bench may continue grazing the same number of cattle in another anoth-er area of Kane County. The permittee on Big Bowns Bench will move his cattle to the part of Last Chance that will not be closed, where he will be able to graze more than twice as many cattle as on Big Bowns Bench. Not only do these ranchers have the right to sell their grazing graz-ing permits in the GSENM, they plan to continue ranching. So what is Mr. Noel's problem? I'm not looking forward to life under a dictator if he gets elected elect-ed to the State House of Representatives. Sincerely, Victoria Woodard Escalante |