Show ranchman comments on 1938 grazing rules yen nev rules aro arc contrary to 0 o intent of tn lor grazing law if put into anto operation will betard d U oi 01 vinal tar caiti Ca iii editors Ed tors note the new grazing rules drawn up by the deparis department of th tha interior and accepted after great ol 01 position opposition by delegates of ten western states at a graling crazing confere conference nce in washington n C last week plad ig the small adjacent to the f fanner r living lut but who had hac not used lt it digs ra prior to 0 o 1934 in the last class thus turning tile the range over to largo large outside cattle api ap an 1 I l sheep had used it grov growers grovers ers because they ix before forc roused considerable ire anion among citizens of the te 1 I western states in i which the public domain is located sir mr allied in th the e following article explains the background of of the ane taylor grazin grazing g act and the effect of the new ru ruling ling 01 tile the uintah basin and the west as a whole 4 by horace L allred the new grazing grazin regulations aich which were accepted by cle delegate legates from ten western states in washington D C last week giving first range rights to operators who live I 1 adjacent to the range ail ai a i il 1 l who had used it before second to operators who have prior use and third to the small farner farmer who needs need it the most that is the operator who is dependent on tile the range by living adjacent to it will have very serious effects on the ui uintah fall basin and all small rural communities if it is allowed to become a permanent law TN tho new ruling is exactly opposite to the taylor grazing act and something must be done about it rig right it now in n order to the situ atlo alibi some explanation is necessary along about the turn of the century it became apparent to everyone co icer ned that tile the ranges of tile the west and more especially s ally tile the summer ranges that make up our water sheds were being badly baffey overgrazed over grazed our western mountains were bein being g destroyed by erosion and the result hg shortage of feed rado rade r ado the livestock business very unprofitable forests created the immediate outcome was the creation of our national forests and the forest service under the tha department of agriculture was set up to control razing grazing within these parts the pla p ai a i i being to allot available forage to those owning farms an aej 1 ranches in the valleys nearest the forests in the state slate of utah there are some benj ten of these regulated forest areas leach each administered by a supervisor i and a staff of rangers there are also regional offices throughout the west where problems that aej aliw 0 ire arc thrashed out during the past thirty years tile the forest service lias has rebuilt the mountain ranges and have doubled a and aid id even trebled their livestock carrying capacity thus they have stabilized to a marked degree the livestock business si niico ice the creation of the forests when a young man acquired a few acres of farm land and a few head of sheep or cattle he was given a proportional right to graze his stock on the forest and many of our successful farmers got of thell their start through the help of the furest forest regulations regulating the forest range was an excellent idea but it carried far enough it took care of only the summer range leaving two thirds of federally owned land unco uncontrolled strolled with bad results livestock operators who were not granted forest privileges for all or part of their stock began to use what was naturally I 1 spring fall and winter vinter range duri during ig the summer this un seasonal use of the range as well vell as badly overstocked over stocked seasonal use soon began to destroy the ranges and again the livestock business bu for the small adjacent nt grower who could not compete with the largo large operator who could move from place to place became very unprofitable and small rural communities built around small ranches all but died out with the livestock farmer cry lor for control when the causes of this rural tragedy were realized there was a cry for federal control of all federally owned lands of which there were some acres in ten western states of this amount nevada contains 50 acres and utah the agitation in which all of us played a part resulted in the taylor grazi grazing ig act which was passed by congress on june 1934 and one of its purposes was to control grazing of livestock on that part of the public domain coming coning under this act which was limited to acres in order to show how the taylor grazing act is being mis adamin admin under the 1938 rulings accepted in washington D C last week I 1 quote from the act and an explanation of the act written by the secretary of the interior section 3 of the act reads as f follows I 1 ow I 1 shat that the secretary of the in perlor is hereby authorized to issue or cause to be issued permits to graze livestock on such grazing districts to such bona fide settlers residents and other stock owners ow aers as under his rules a and nd regulations regulation are entitled to participate in the tha use of the range upon payment annually ol of reasonable fees in each ca case s e to be fixed or determined from time to time provided that grazing permits shall be issued only oily to citizens of the united states or to those who have fileo the necessary declarations of intention to become such as required by the naturalization laws and to groups associations or corporations authorized to co induct conduct business under the laws of the state in which the grazing district I 1 is s located preference shall be given in the insua issuance nce of grazing permits to those within or near a district nv who ho are a 1 down downers e r 8 engaged in the livestock business bona fide occupants or settlers or owners for water or water rights as may be necessary to permit tile the proper use of lands water or water rights owned occupied or loaec 3 by them A section in a pamphlet anti entitled tied explanation of the taylor graz i ng ig law reads as follows 4 preferences to grazing privileges within districts preference Pre ferenc is to be given in the issuance of grazing permits to those within or near ar a district who are land owners c e imaged in the livestock business boi bona fide occupants or settlers or owners of water or water rights after a permit has been issued its renewal may not be refused for the purpose of allowing a preference application if the is complying with all rules and regulation is of the secretary of the interior where such refusal will impair the value of a livestock unit that has been pledged by the as security for a loan the number of livestock which such way may laya within a district mav bu I 1 in reasel 0 reduced however in the discretion of the secretary of the interior each preference will be rnea measured by the amou abou it of grazing which is necessary for the permit applicant to make proper use ot of the lands water or water rights owned occupied or leased by him until july 1 1935 no preference is to be given in the issuance of such permits to any owner mccu pait pa it or settler whose rights were acquired between january 1 1934 and december 31 1934 after the allow allowance anCL of the references preferences hereinbefore heren before provided for or persons recognized and acknowledged by the secretary of the he interior as enjoys ig the use of the he public range at the time of its inclusion nc lusion within a district will be given aven a preference in the balance of the grazing privileges legs of that Ji district strict such preference will be measured by tile the abou amou it of the permit applicants past use of such range section two of the act reads powers of the secretary of the interior the secretary of the interior is empo empowers werd to do any and all thin thins things s necessary for the protection administration regulation tio i and improvement of such grazing districts as may be created including among other things power to regulate their occue occupancy ancy and use to preserve the land and its resources from destruction destruct i n or unnecessary injury i and to provide for the orderly use improvement and development of the public range rules and regulations the secretary of the interior i is s authorized zed to make rules and regulations and establish a suitable service to carry out the purposes of the act rehabilitation i of ranges the secretary is authorized to study erosion and flood control and perform form such work as is necessary to rehabilitate public land areas subject to the provisions of the act penalty any willful violation of the act or of the rules and regulations ions after actual notice thereof is punishable by a fine of not more than grazing districts by authority of his power under the taylor grazing law as quoted above one of the things the secretary of the interior saw fit to go was to divide the public domain into grazing districts and to appoint what he termed advisory so ry boards utah has eight grazing districts and eight advisory boards one of the functions of these boards is to recommend rules for the handling of livestock within the distri districts ts which is I 1 believe a good idea providing all are fair another unction function of the boards is to recommend to the departie it wh hall be allowed to use these ranges the length of time each operator shall use them and what he shall I 1 pay these boards are made up of an equal number of sheep and cattle owners and are elected by the stock owners within each district for a term of three years one third of the board el elznic stcl J each year i the act was passed in in 1934 there were several se veril million head of stock running the tha ranges and no one had any information on who had the right to stay 0 or r who must leave the only se isi ble thing to do was to go at the job of acquiring this information slowly and accurately while the information was being assembled asem bled it was necessary to set up ip i temporary arrangement and ill operators were give i a free license licens during 1934 and the divisi divi i n of grazing went about its job 01 of gathering data on the carrying capacity of the range and de what operators were to be grante I 1 ra ige privileges meetings were advertised and held all over the west for the purpose of talking over with the stock men the best methods to pursue and after numerous meetings had been held in different states and a number of grazing districts had bee i established a conference of all advisory boards and interested stockmen stoc kmen of the ten western states was held at which time the director of grazing reported the progress of administering the taylor i I 1 grazing act and sought in for further handling handing of it applicants divided into classes the director of grazing explained at this meeting that it was still necessary to continue grant ing ng ghazi grazing ig privileges under a temporary permit plan but that it t was also necessary to make some progress toward determining i n i ng who would eventually be the users of the range lie he s suggested ug that hat the applicants for use of the range be into classes as follows i class 1 livestock owners with I 1 commensurate or adjacent property living within or near the district all a i 1 having had a reasonable prior use of the range i class 2 operators havin having prior use not owning adjacent property class 3 those living within or near the district engaged i ii n i the livestock business owning commensurate property but without prior use of the range for temporary purposes the classes were approved with the understanding that in 1936 class 3 i n 1 which most uintah basin farmers are placed would move up to class 2 large outside operators who have used the range before and class 2 would move down to class 3 at a ne eting ting in which all ten western states were represented held in january of 1936 these classes were changed as agreed upon but not without co opposition from the large arge operators at this meeting the director of grazing again stated that we were not ready tor for permanent permits and asked for approval of a further temporary setup stating that when permanent permits were Is issued the ranges must be adamini administered according accordi accord ng ig to the taylor law and not under authority given to the secretary of the interior whose idea the grazing boards are 1938 rules submitted in october 1937 a grazing conference for utah districts was held in salt lake city similar meetings had been held ii i n i each of the ten western states for the purpose of submitting for the consideration of the advisory boards a set of grazing rules for 1938 8 and an future years yeam the new rules reversed the stand taken by the division of grazi grazing ig at former meetings and put back into class 3 all bona fide residents living w within athin or near a district engaged in the livestock I 1 business wid aid owning dependent ie ranch property who had not used the range at the time specified by the boards of the various rious districts the division of grazing and the Z interior who drew up the rules offered no explanation i for their change in attitude toward the small reside resident 1 t operator and their failure to keep keep their promise were the rules almost forced upon the delegates at the he washington conference last week if these regulations are let stand then the no value vig tia will vi very soon be placed on 95 ot of the farms in the uintah basin and th gates of opportunity closed to our young men who would try to help themselves were it possible the new rules give a monopoly of the range to those who destroyed it and aid a id made necessary the pi i cn law for control c congress 0 agress sized th the fannu op operators ir acors need when that boby made the taylor grazing act law apy attempted attempt od to correct the aiu sivo sive practices that ha 1 l put the firmer farmer out of business and erased communities from the map ahn enacted legislation that w 1 I give the communities a chance chaice cha ice to rebuild but when the secretary i i of the interior set up advisory adviss y boards made up mostly or oi I large rac operators using the range and askel them who should ta bs allowed range privileges you all know what their answer would be 1 I as a member of the advisory advisor board of district eight ar an a representative senta onta tive of a part of the jve 1 e stork interests ii i I the basin would like to know what you are arc going to do about it you people who w ath ah assured water supply are going to double your average reduction production of livestock feed you who jhc an expected to pay back to an oiher bureau of the government sum of for the moon lake project in the next 40 years you who have boys growing up that would like to have a fair break what are you gong going to do about it in my opinion these rules and regulations are contrary to the meaning and intent of the taylor grazing act a aid ad id if allowed to operate will oo do more to retard the progress and development of the uintah basin than can be offset by all that we can do in other lines |