Is This Any Surprise?

<a href="http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/10/05/news/state/30-feds.txt" >Feds consider grazing ban in fire area</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>The thousands of cattle that ordinarily graze on federal and private land south of Big Timber should not be there next year, because they'd be too hard on the land as it rebounds from the big Derby Mountain fire, a federal report says.<br />n<br />nIts recommendation to suspend grazing until 2008 has consequences for rancher Terry Terland, but on Wednesday, the grazing outlook was secondary to concerns more immediate. Terland was at a corral, tending cattle burned by the fire that began with lightning Aug. 22 and spread across 207,000 acres of forest and range, 60 percent of it owned privately. The fire, which destroyed 26 homes, continues to smolder.</blockquote><br />n<br />nI will say they cannot stop people from grazing their cattle on private land. That is the landowners choice. The only catch here is usually any disaster aid for recovery from the fire usually comes with the provision that you can only receive the money if you agree not to graze the land for one to two years. That was the way it worked around here on our big fire a few years ago. That's why I did without any of the Federal aid. I would not tie my hands that way. But, I did not get completely burned out like some of these people did. <br />n<br />nThis is a tough thing for these ranchers. Accept aid and not graze their land, or graze their land and get no aid. Damn tough choice. The real weird thing here is <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/10/04/news/state/20-tips.txt">stated in an article </a> a few days ago.<br />n<br />n<blockquote>"If you're grazing animals, if you can make it through the first year, this fire will give you more forage than you had before," he said.<br />n<br />nLance Vermeire, a range ecologist, supported that observation with statistics from a study in which he took part. The results showed that grazing up to 50 percent of the forage from previously burned plots has no more effect on the next year's grass production than keeping stock off the plot entirely.<br />n<br />nProducers can expect a shift in the dominant species of grasses, he said, but from a cattle or sheep producer's standpoint, the changes are generally favorable.<br />n<br />nBut can producers put their cattle on burned pastures next May? Vermeire said moisture will play a key role in that decision. He suggested waiting until June or July, when spring moisture will be better known.<br />n<br />n"I'm very comfortable if you graze 50 percent in June and July, you'll be all right," he said.<br />n<br />nUnfortunately, Vermeire's findings do not match the no-grazing requirements of some federal emergency assistance programs. </blockquote><br />n<br />nSo, an expert in Range management disagrees with the Federal Requirements. Is this any surprise. Federal Government=No Common Sense. That's the way the United States operates.<br />n<br />n<strong>Common sense is the genius of humanity. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe</strong>