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A Hill County commissioner took issue with parts of a new grazing policy for Beaver Creek Park during a meeting of the Hill County Park Board Monday.
Commissioner Kathy Bessette said the commission believes two parts of the draft policies approved in a split vote by the board at its June meeting give the perception that the board is catering to ranchers in the Bear's Paw Mountains who already graze their cattle on the park.
"We just don't feel that we can support some of the things that were brought forward from the grazing committee," she told the board. "Basically, what it does is it won't let any new people in the park." Steve Mariani, chair of the park board said the new policies are an attempt to put the rules and regulations in writing for the first time. Any way the board sets the regulations, someone is going to see it as unfair, he added.
"So I just want to know how we fix this," he said. "I know it's certainly not perfect." Mariani also suggested the procedure be tried for a year and revisited next May.
"We have to put this in writing … and you can't win," he added.
Ranchers pay to let their cattle graze on the park between Labor Day and the first of the next year. The number of cattle allowed to graze is set each year depending on the conditions of the park.
The park is divided into three sections, and the producers with grazing allotments are spread out between the different sections.
Bessette said she only was speaking for herself, but she opposed the policy.
Board member Mel Gomke said his opinion already is on the record.
"I voted against the whole damn thing," he said.
Commissioners Mike Anderson and Mike Wendland did not say during Monday's meeting if they opposed or supported the proposed procedures.
Bessette said the contentious issues are how cattle would be brought on the park and how new allotments would be split between existing ranchers and ranchers previously without grazing allotments. The procedures could limit who could use the park for grazing, she said.
"Now it's in black and white, and it looks bad. I have to represent all of Hill County," Bessette said.
"We had complaints about this in our office … ," she added later. "We Have had phone calls. We have had people coming in. People don't like it." Mariani said the board has approved the procedure and it will be implemented this fall.
"For now, we've got to try this. I don't know anything else we can do," he said. "As imperfect as it is, we probably need to see, and we will have a new grazer." Commission Chair Mike Wendland said the policy has not yet been set by the commission.
The county commission does not have to approve the recommendation of the board, he said.
Bessette said the commission will have to draft a proposed ordinance and hold a public hearing before voting on the issue.
The po l i cy the boar d approved in June splits new allotments, such as those available when someone reduces the number of cattle grazing at the park. Twenty-five percent goes to new grazers, and the remaining 75 percent is split among existing grazers.
The policy requires that cattle be trailed onto the park rather than being trucked in and unloaded.
"I have a problem with that because I think it eliminates anybody who lives more than a mile off of the park," Bessette said. "I don't want to bring my cattle out to the park, but if somebody 20 miles away wants to graze on the park, they can't because they've got to truck them there." Park Superintendent Chad Edgar said that was set in the policy to help manage the resources of the park.
"It's for management of the grass, not to isolate any ranchers from using the park," Edgar said.
He said if cattle are brought in to a certain location, they tend to locate there and graze in that region. If they are dropped off by truck at the entrance to the park, the cattle tend to remain in the lower areas where they were dropped off, and other areas are not grazed, he said.
Bessette said even if the cattle are trucked in, park management still could specify where they have to be dropped off. That would allow people throughout the county to use the grazing, she said.
Edgar said people from out of the area still could do that under the new policy. Some existing grazers already have to get permission from landowners bordering the park to bring their cattle in.
Bessette said she also has a problem with giving a larger percentage of new allotments to existing grazers instead of to new grazers.
Part of the idea was to help ranchers who already have allotments build or rebuild their allotments, including for people who had reduced the number of cattle they were grazing in the past, Mariani said. He added that because each section has seven to 10 existing ranchers grazing their cattle, the 75-percent portion will be split among several producers.
"I know on the surface it sounds rotten, like its unfair, but when 10 guys are splitting 75 (percent) and one guy is getting 25 (percent) it changes it a little bit," he said.
If more than one new grazer were approved per section the 25-percent portion would be split among them.
Bo a rd memb e r La r r y Kinsella said it is an attempt to manage limited resources.
There are only so many cattle that can be allowed to graze, and the way the system has worked people can't enlarge their herd or bring on a new herd.
"I can't expand mine at all.
I'm stuck at 100 head for the rest of my life … ," he said.
"People are going to complain no matter what you do. I mean, there's only so much gravy you can give out."
Grazing fees accounted for more than one-third of the total budget for Beaver Creek Park in 2009-10, with county tax revenues a miniscule portion of that budget. Only one-twentieth of one mill in taxes goes to the operation of the park.
Some major components of the park's funding are:
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