Welfare and warfare on the range
Posted: Friday, April 8, 2016 1:00 am
UYLESS BLACK
... In the 1920s, Mom and Dad .. to .. southeast .. New Mexico where they .. eked out a meager existence on the .. high plains ... Dad .. met the land payments, made sure our larder was full, and kept his creditors at bay ...
During the homesteading years, western public rangelands were often overgrazed ... Congress passed the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, which led to the creation of grazing districts in which grazing use was apportioned and regulated ...
Federal law requires that 50 percent of all grazing revenue, for both BLM and USFS, goes into range rehabilitation and improvement funds. Activities that can be funded include, but are not limited to, constructing fences to contain livestock, installing water tanks, building impoundments to improve access to water for livestock, and seeding to improve vegetation and forage. Half of these funds are designated for use in the district, region, or national forest from which they were generated. The remaining half is designated for use as directed by the secretary. Counties receive between 12.5 percent and 50 percent and the balance, between 25 percent and 37.5 percent, gets returned to the U.S. Treasury ...
This land is not your land. It is my land and the land of other taxpayers. And it will be the land of many generations who come after us. If you wish your independence, then pay your back rent, and kindly remove yourself from this land. Move your cattle to a privately owned pasture, one that charges several times more than you currently pay the government ...
http://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_65f94c96-676a-53bd-993b-26741520ef23.html