This is for the Idaho ranchers (or any other ranchers that graze public land). I just read the article in the latest issue of the Capital Press. As usual, many good articles. One in particular caught my eye.

Idaho ranchers are (proposed) getting their AUM fees raised (greedily) to over $10 per AUM. (An AUM is a bull or a cow and calf grazing for one month.) Most of the ranchers repair fences, fix water availability in the national forest and basically babysit the land.

All the “gubmint” has to do is sit there, act all puffed up with their self-importance and collect their money. Sounds like typical government protocol to me. Greed personified.

Here is my proposition: I think the ranchers with all their wonderful cows, calves and bulls should turn the tables.

First, cattle make great trails and work the ground, they eat a lot and trample a bunch of crap that grows on the land. By “crap,” I mean brush, inedible fodder and all sorts of stuff that grows. In other words, they make the land passable on foot or horseback or maybe by ATV, however you check your cattle.

So, with that said, I think the ranchers (en mass) should gather their forces and friends, and calculate how many acres their cattle are using, then charge the controlling agency a corresponding amount of the AUMs for wildfire control and land care (retroactively?).

The ranchers have been taking it in the shorts since 1992 and the gubmint has been raking them over the coals with charges and regulations and requirements and taking their money. It is time all that garbage stopped. The cattle and ranchers are doing a good service for the land and they have gotten pounded with all the gubmint rules and greed. Plus the ranchers have to contend with all the environuts who want all the cattle gone.

The shoe is on the wrong foot and I think the ranchers need to get together and go after the controlling agency. How about make the agencies’ life hell instead of the other way around?

I am old enough to have watched the Sagebrush Rebellion and the horrible fight Wayne Hage had to put up with to just survive. (and as far as I know, his lawsuit has not been paid, yet).

The gubmint acts like the second coming and they are wrong. I heard it said that the reason the gubmint gets away with so much is because they are not afraid of us. With all this trash they are spouting, it seems to me they need to be put in their place. They probably act that way because their mamas didn’t paddle their butts when they needed it.

It would seem that many (not all) of the powers that be have gotten pretty arrogant and need to be taken to the woodshed. So, for the Idaho ranchers and any other ranchers who graze public land, sic ‘em!

Sincerely,

Ann Hathaway

Old horsewoman, ex outfitter and

General fire brand

White City, Ore.