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KEEPING TRAILS OPEN...

Greg Mumm is the Executive Director of the Blue Ribbon Coalition and a long-time TLCA member. Send him e-mail at brgreg@sharetrails.org.

MAY/JUNE 2007

THE OPEN GATE

by Greg Mumm

I know that I have been pretty bullish lately about reaching across the aisles and developing partnerships with  other recreationists and the many multiple users of our public lands. It is because I don’t take this lightly. As grownups, we all know the quickest way to avoid contention and secure a likely friend is to listen to what is important to him or her and then give courtesy where you can.

In the first part of March this year, BlueRibbon Coalition, the Public Lands Council (associated with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association) and other national leaders met in Denver to discuss issues and solutions to recreation and grazers sharing public lands. I have to tell you, it was one of the most rewarding day and a half conferences I have ever been a part of. I am looking forward to some beneficial joint national initiatives to come from that meeting. More importantly, it seemed like the more we listened, discussed and worked to ferret out solutions, the more I realized that these are my kind of people.

As I listened, I heard tell of stories that sounded so much like our own that I could literally have taken out their name, inserted ours and retold the story and it would have been completely truthful. And that truth is, they fear they are only a generation or so away from being locked out of public lands and losing a vital part of their lives. They feel they are fighting to preserve their ability to make use of their grazing allotments on public lands in the same way we are fighting to preserve recreational access. They struggle to have enough attention in the agency budgets for their activities just as we struggle to have enough attention in the agency budgets for our activities.

Sound familiar? The truth is, in the same way we don’t want to make it any harder on them, they don’t want to make it any harder for us. Listening to them, what I heard were some pretty simple concerns that translate to some pretty simple things we can start with to be better recreationists.

Folks with grazing allotments are responsible for a lot of things that we don’t normally think about. For example, a gate casually left open that they needed shut to contain their stock in a certain area is frustrating for them. As you well know, animals can wander a long ways in a short time making it difficult to round them back up once the rancher figures out they have wandered. Often, an open gate allows their stock to get into areas that are not part of their allotment, making the grazer responsible in many other ways. A downed, damaged or cut fence can cause the same thing. Damage to other range improvements such as stock tanks can cause serious problems for a grazer if not discovered quickly. Tell someone when you see that. Pay attention to the gates you are using and it wouldn’t hurt to find out who the grazers are along your favorite trail. Find out how you can communicate with them and offer to give them a hand fixing things from time to time.

Sticking to trails is also important because that grass that gets damaged from off-trail excursions is one less mouthful of food right now and a lot harder to recover for next year. That is especially true in the middle of drought years that so many areas are suffering from. When you do encounter those animals, travel thoughtfully through without spooking them. If you are planning a big group outing or event, give that grazer a call and let them know ahead of time so they can adjust a bit if need be. A little communication goes a long way.

Think about the people trying to make a living and treat them as your friend.