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Grazing could muck up Carrizo stewardship plan

BY STACEY SHEPARD, Californian staff writer
e-mail: sshepard@bakersfield.com | Friday, Sep 14 2007 9:35 PM

Last Updated: Friday, Sep 14 2007 9:38 PM

Work is under way again on a stewardship plan for the Carrizo Plain National Monument following the suicide of the monument's former manager Marlene Braun in May 2005.

The renewed planning effort has been positive and gone smoothly so far, according to those involved. But that could change as the group drafting the plan tackles the most controversial issue -- livestock grazing.

"It's the gorilla in the room," said Irv McMillan, a San Luis Obispo County cattle rancher opposed to livestock grazing on the monument.

The monument, a 250,000-acre expanse on the border of Kern and San Luis Obispo counties, was designated in 2001 for its significance as the last remnant of a grassland ecosystem that once covered the Central Valley. The intent was to preserve the area as a refuge for endangered species that have lost their habitat to development in Bakersfield, Fresno and elsewhere in the valley. It is managed by the Bureau of Land Management, along with the Nature Conservancy and California Department of Fish and Game.

Whether cattle help or hurt protection of habitat for critters like the San Joaquin kit fox, the giant kangaroo rat and pronghorn antelope has been a divisive issue in the monument's future.

For decades, the land had been leased by the federal government to local cattle ranchers. Grazing has been considerably scaled back in recent years, and limited grazing is now used as a tool to weed out non-native grasses that aren't conducive to endemic species, according to BLM officials.

Cattle ranchers have advocated the monument remain open to this type of use.

"Certainly (local cattle ranchers) want to keep it and graze it," said Carl Twisselman, a cattle rancher who does not graze on the monument but represents grazing interests on an advisory committee for the monument's management plan.

"They can run more cattle and it's efficient," he said, adding that about seven area ranchers use the monument for grazing land.

Others support limited grazing because it's part of the area's historical legacy.

"I think it's part of the history here," said Neil Havlik, chairman of the advisory committee and natural resources manager for the city of San Luis Obispo.

But grazing opponents feel it has no benefit to the native plants and animals that should be the first priority for future management of the monument.

Environmental groups and conservationists argue that cattle compete with the native species for grasses. Animals like the giant kangaroo rat store grainery from the grasses in good years to make it through bad years. When cattle are allowed to eat that forage, the native animals suffer.

"I understand completely why the grazers want to graze out there," McMillan said. "It's rich soil and you get lush green grass and they're just like me. I can't hardly stand the idea that you can't go out there and graze it. But it's public land, and the problem is they're going to have to manage that for the endemic species."

Braun, the former monument manager who killed herself, shared this approach.

The initial monument management plan she helped draft proposed to further limit grazing.

But she felt those limitations were slowly whittled away by her BLM supervisors.

In suicide notes, Braun indicated that she killed herself in protest of what she saw as a pro-grazing stance from higher-ups in the agency.

So where does BLM stand on the grazing issue?

Under federal law, BLM must allow grazing on public land it manages unless it can show compelling reason to ban it.

And the science is still out on whether grazing is beneficial, said Steve Larson, assistant field manager for resources at BLM's Bakersfield office.

BLM is in the process of analyzing nearly a decade worth of data to determine the effects of grazing on the monument's native plants and animals, said Johna Hurl, the monument's current manager. The results of this analysis will be used to guide the creation of the management plan.

"It is for the benefit of the species that we use (grazing)," Hurl said. "As we go through the planning process, we will be evaluating the use of these tools."