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Show Agencies Chart Plans To Deal With Drought Federal, state and private range management professionals met last week in Salt Lake City to discuss the impacts Utah's growing drought situation is having on rangelandsd and discuss ways to lessen these impacts if the situation continues. The meeting was hosted by Bureau Bu-reau of Land Management, and was attended by representatives of the Forest Service, Soil Conservation Service, State Derpartment of Agriculture, State Department of Natural Resources, State Lands and Forestry, Division of Wildlife Resources, Re-sources, Utah State University Extension Ex-tension Services, Utah Cattlemens Association, Utah Farm Bureau and Utah Wool Growers Assn. Each organization presented equally bleak data on forage conditions, condi-tions, soil moisture, precipitation and ground water reserves. "Everyone agreed that Utah is facing fac-ing a serious problem, even if summer rains are average," stated James M. Parker, Utah BLM director. direc-tor. Mark Peterson of the Soil Conservation Con-servation Service said ground-water recharge has been deficient in Utah for the past four years. Of particular concern are the Uintah Basin, where soil moisture is only 10-percent of average, and eastern Utah where soil moisture averages only 10-percent 10-percent of average. "Some permittees have already taken their livestock off the public lands on a volunteer basis," stated Ken Boyer, range conservationist for BLM. "If conditions don't soon improve, livestock grazing will have to be reduced even more. It doesn't look good," Boyer stated. Not only is there concern about lack of forage for livestock, but wildlife is also impacted. Of particular concern are the bison in the Henry Mountains, and elk populations pop-ulations in the eastern part of the state. "Elk populations have been increasing in-creasing over the past few years, as have the bison numbers. If the situation sit-uation doesn't change, we could lose some big game or their habitat will deteriorate," Boyer stated. In addition, springs and water sources are drying up in areas hit hardest by the drought, intensifying the situation. BLM, Forest Service and Utah State Lands officials have been notifying no-tifying livestock operators that reductions, re-ductions, below the current voluntary volun-tary levels, may be needed later in the grazing season if the situation doesn't improve. Industry representatives noted that many operators are moving stock out of state to find additional forage, purchasing additional hay and looking for pasture to rent or lease. They also called for reduced wildlife numbers during this critical period, pointing out that in many areas, reducing livestock alone will not properly protect the rangeland nor insure winter survival of the herds. "We cannot continue to drop livestock numbers without similar reduction in commercial big game," stated Booth Wallentine, executive vice president of the Utah Farm Bureau. "Big game numbers have skyrocketed in recent years, particularly elk, on BLM lands," he said. See Drought Page 2 DROUGHT (Continued From Page 1) Edison Stephens, State Department Depart-ment of Agriculture, discussed steps being taken to declare some counties disaster areas and outlined assistance available for those affected by such a designation. The group concluded that the situation would be at its worst this fall and winter, when time comes to turn livestock on the lower, and therefore drier winter ranges. The group expressed concern that the number of animals on the range might have to be further reduced before moving to those winter ranges. The group will meet again in September to review the situation and determine if further action is necessary. Agencies represented at the meeting included BLM, Forest Service, State Department of Agriculture, Agri-culture, State Department of Natural Natu-ral Resources, State Lands and Forestry, State Wildlife Resources, Utah State University Extension Service, Utah Cattlemens Assn., Utah Farm Bureau, and Utah Wool Growers. |