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Show Grazing Meeting Set For County "How Critical is Grazing of the Monument to Individual Ranchers and to the General Economy of Kane and Garfield Counties ? " Thi s is the question which Utah State University Extension is addressing in its economic study of the Grand Staircasq - Escalante National Monument. Meetings are set for Thursday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. at Bryce Valley High School in Tropic; Friday, Jan. 21 at 10 a.m. at the Kanab City Library; and in Escalante at 7 that evening at the old high school home ec room. Dr. Bruce Godfrey, USU Farm Management Extension Specialist will facilitate discussions and answer questions. The study will evaluate bothe benefits and disadvantages (costs) of the designation and management of the monument on three major groups: agriculturallivestock grazing, gra-zing, tourism, and outfitters. Many of the agricultural producers produ-cers in both counties will be affected. affec-ted. Individual producers who run cattle on the monument will be receiving a letter and survey within two weeks. Included in the letter will be permit information that USU obtained from the Bureau of Land Management such as number of AUMs and season of use. The meetings are open to permittees per-mittees and to other interested parties. par-ties. Anyone who has bought or sold permits within the monument in the past 10 years can help by providing the following information: informa-tion: permit name and number, number of AUMs, and the price of the permit. Any information received re-ceived will be kept confidential in order to protect individual businesses. busi-nesses. County Commissioners in both Garfield and Kane Counties are supporting sup-porting the survey. |