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Show March 1970 UTAH Page 5 FARM BUREAU NEWS Mecham Testimony Earns Praise From Sen. Bennett Wallace F. Bennett, today praised testimony presented befoe the Public Land Law Review Commission by a Department of Commerce spokesman, Utahn L. Ralph Mecham, who urged greater consideration of the high degree of economic dependence of many areas of the country on Federal land policy. Mr. Mecham, a former administrative assistant to Sen. Bennett of and now Federal the Four Corners Regional Commission, asked the Land Commission to recommend to Congress that regional economic impact analyses be required before public land policies are adopted. Mr. Mecham stated that because Federal lands are heavily concentrated In certain regions of the nation. Federal land policy changes which may cause only a ripple nationally can be either catastrophic or a tremendous blessing to the dependent regions.11 Sen. Bennett noted, Utah as a whole certainly, Is such an area as Ralph described In his testimony. Our state's land Is actually more than 70 per cent owned by the Federal government, so policies affecting public land obviously have great significance for Utah." The Senator said, The need for careful evaluation of the Impact of a change In Federal land policy was well illustrated In the Johnson Administration's decision to ln- Sen. R-Ut- ah, an JUST HEARD OUR IWHR?S CHURCH IS 5TA6IN& A THF .'RUMMAKSALE...! Firb J Gotta get home rRON ? A .M' - TO HIDE M'OTHER r WSSBSJ! Salt Lake County officers pause for a photo during a session devoted to classifying members according to major occupation. Seen from left are, Quentin Ereksen, Murray; Steve Stefanoff, Riverton; Arion Ereksen, vice president; Elmo Hamilton, president; Orion Newbold, South Jordan; LaRue Hamilton, Women's Chairman; Dennis Young Farmers and Ranchers chairman. Mc-Doug- al, crease grazing fees. The eleventh-hodecision by the Johnson Administration just before It left office spelled virtual economic disaster for some livestock owners If it were allowed to be fully Implemented. The Nixon Administration, fortunately, took ur view late last year In announcing suspension of further Implementation of the grazing fee far-sight- ed schedule until completion later this year of a study now underway by the Public Land Law RevlewCommis-slo- n, Sen. Bennett said. The increases proposed by the Johnson Administration call for Increased grazing fee rates averaging 250 per cent on Forest Service lands and 375 per cent on Bureau of Land Management lands over a period. Sen. Bennett said, Ralph illustrated the mutual dependence of a land policy favorable to local residents, and the desirability of reversing the migration from rural areas to our already overburdened urban centers. For example, he. states, It 10-ye- a school group visiting the larm, and he was them how fast he could climb the silo. . . . showing Well, there vai ar m mm would make little sense for the Federal Government to aid declining regions on the one hand and to impoverish them on the other through overly restrictive public land administration." The Senator noted that Mr. Mecham also recommended that envir onmental Impact analyses accompany the economic studies by stating that protection of the enand economic developvironment ment are mutually interdependent and complementary objectives. However, the answer is not to abandon growth but to redirect lt. 0jCTr3 Ifli THE PUBLIC PANTSi BOYCOTTS ARE WRONG whether by right-wingroups interfering with the sale of Polish hams whether by protectionist groups interfering with the sale of products legally imported from foreign countries whether by New Left groups and union organizers interfering with the sale of domestic farm products. They are wrong because they violate the basic right of consumers to choose what they as individuals wish to buy or not buy. g BOYCOTTS ABE DOUBLY WHONG if they are attempted to be enforced as in the case of California table grapes by intimidation of cusand other forms of tomers, by harrassment of store employees, by violence. fire-bombin- g |