Pahsimeroi Valley 1

Pahsimeroi Valley 1

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Yesterday we looked at a meeting between public land permittees and government land managers in the Pahsimeroi Valley And heard from Forest Service range specialist Bryce Jones. Today Rancher Roy Hoffman Junior says the biggest improvement on his allotment was the development of stock water locations to keep cows from congregating in riparian zones. “We have put in 16,000 feet of pipe. Moved the water troughs off of the road so they are not as visible to the public and we have put in about 3 miles of riparian spring fences.” Idaho State Department of Agriculture range specialist Tyler Hamilton says collaboration has helped teach users and managers on the role everybody must play to keep the range productive and sustainable. “We want to collaborate with our federal partners. They have the responsibility of managing the lands. I have the responsibility of making sure that they are managed at their fullest to support the state. That’s where the collaboration comes into play with partners. It cannot happen without partners coming together and people starting to come to the table to talk about what the issues are, how can we change them and what do we have to do to get to those points that we want to get to.” Forest Ranger Jones says it is a process that must include all opinions. “There’s some accomplishments and a lot of work that permittees have put in for range improvement with managing public land or being permitted to graze livestock on public land. It is public land so you can get a group out that thanks a lot similarly and you can come up with a lot of great ideas but flipping that there is going to be a group in the middle and flipping that there may be a group on the other side that may not want any permitted livestock at all so the process ensures that we include all of those other opinions, ideas and thoughts.” For the past several years permittees have had cow numbers and time on the allotments reduced, a trend they expect to see changed as collaboration solutions improve overall range health.
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