Presidential Declaration Trouble

Presidential Declaration Trouble

Presidential Declaration Trouble. I’m Greg Martin with Lacy Gray for Colorado Ag Today.

GRAY: President Obama has designated three new national monuments and one of those is causing the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association some heartache.

MARTIN: It seems that the 21,000 acres along the Arkansas River, known as Browns Canyon is an area that includes grazing and water rights for cattle producers in Chaffee County and they are afraid they might lose them due to the new designation.

GRAY: The CCA has been working with both Senator Bennet and Governor Hickenlooper to ensuring that grazing would continue without changes or restrictions. A change could cause cattle producers to lose their livelihood. There are a number of points that the CCA is working to make sure get included and/or clarified.

MARTIN: One of those is motorized access must continue to be allowed for permit administration, range improvements, and water maintenance. Another is for explicit language that must be written into the designation that allows sheep and cattle producers to trail their livestock to and from federal grazing allotments through portions of the designated area.

GRAY: Also weeds and weed control must also be addressed in the rules of implementation, particularly in headwaters areas. Language must be included in the designation implementation to ensure that changes in the numbers of authorized livestock are based on facts, and not the whim of individual land managers. And water rights must be expressly recognized in wilderness acts that further codify states’ water laws.

And that’s Colorado Ag Today. I’m Greg Martin, thanks for listening on the Ag Information Network of the West.

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