Livestock Grazing under Multiple-Use Policy

Abstract

My livestock operation is entirely dependent on the use of public lands. The cattle operation I have today is based upon lands homesteaded by my parents in 1879 and has been used continuously since that time as a home base for livestock that graze approximately nine months each year on public range managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service. In addition I have some public lands leased from the Utah State Land Board. The last few years this operation has been on a non-profit basis but I hope this condition will soon change. However, with this base property and the use of public range lands, my father and mother reared a large family, from which has sprung nearly 400 descendants. I mention this to indicate how important this ranching business is in the growth of a community, a state, and a nation. In order to appreciate the viewpoint of the livestock operator, we must remember the history of grazing. Prior to 1905 all of the forests were grazed without restriction, until 1934 all other public lands owned by the Federal Government were grazed without any control or regulation, and during this time the West was built, largely by the basic agricultural pursuits of