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Show ; McKay hails panel vote j to stop grazing fee hike 3 ''-ji Coc.fnwm.ifl Itunn : fcXi sjlJ Houc panel a xi s:i with ranchers and picx ho rats tw( and 4- tj ar vxj" lodiy u ra it uaaaimoualy piod j. 3 :J to ilip down Rriiin ft lirt proposrvl by the L-;ti Lad M.m;irment ( 3U1 id Forest Servic. 3 .vo. McKay co-sponorei j j i liit would stop 1 q trn a yearly 23'o graiir. nj K.trps hoidir.jf thrra it the r rtc! fevfl for or. yrr V!i.Th 1. 1?TS. 'lUd a EiSu- fiJed. McKay tii ' L2rriicd coats would a ipicr:'jT boost meal and i rei pncei to th coriiumrr rr- I" irrL IT-ir.r ran-her off public lands or out of business completely. "This is a Rood move," McKay said. The bill should be enacted early next year and fee schedules that reflect realm market conditions." The llah IVmocrat said the vote of the House subcommittee subcom-mittee on public lands of our western ranelands have been ravaged by drought, so the timing of this proposal wis way off. The plan disregards disre-gards market factors in the industry and ignores fairness and workability. And it (roes squarely against recommendation recommen-dation of HLM's own panel of experts. The proposal doesn't reflect practical information of experience. McKay explained federal proposals would put fres with parity with those charged by private land owners. "I'fg-Ring "I'fg-Ring federal fees strictly on private range rates is ludicrous." ludi-crous." McKay continued, "when you realize that the federal rangeland usually provide pro-vide poorer forage. And private pri-vate land values are driven up by many things that have nothing to do with grazing. A land speculator can thrive in that kind of a situation, but a stockman certainly can't. After Aft-er all, it's not the land that ! the commodity here - it's the renewable forage on the land." McKay said he will tackle the forage problem next year with a "major pie of legislation" legisla-tion" - the McKay Rangeland Rehabilitation Act. He explained ex-plained the act would require more effective management of rangeland calling on recent advances in technology and agronomy to improve dimin-tshing dimin-tshing forage on public lands. |