Re: Blue Sailboat

For all practical purposes there has been no " containment " of the cattle which are supposed to be grazing only in the Round Mountain grazing allotment area as evidenced by ongoing sightings ( by myself and others ) of these wandering cattle in the Deep Creek Canyon in various places and all along the hills on the northside of Deep Creek in USFS and BLM lands. This has been the case since they started grazing the cattle again ealier this winter after many years of no grazing since the Willow Fire damage. The USFS says they want to know when the cattle are in their lands, and the BLM person involved with the grazing allotments ( which includes the Round Mountains allotment ) told me to let him know also. I think both of these agencies should be contacted ( they will contact the rancher ) so the scope of the problem is know by them.

To me if the rancher can't keep the cattle in the allotment, then there should be no allotment issued. Its pointless to just keep chasing the cattle around in places they are not supposed to be. The illegal moto riders who cut the cattle fences are a big part of this problem for sure. It appears to me at this time that there seems to be this merry go round of, the cows get out, the rancher is told about it, he goes and gets them ( supposedly ), and then the same thing is repeated, over and over. Well all I can do is take photos and report the errant cattle when I see them. In my opinion its more appropriate and practical for visitors in the area to just report the errant cattle directly to the agency ( the BLM ) who the cattle rancher has the grazing allotment permit with.

The USFS person involved with USFS grazing allotments said that they stopped all of their allotments because the ranchers in the USFS areas were not keeping their cattle in the allotment areas. To me the BLM should do the same regarding their allotments. Its unfortunate that illegal riders cut fences but I also don't know how often this rancher actually checks the perimeter fences of the allotment. However these cattle should not be trampling all over public lands where they are not supposed to be, especially in the Deep Creek area.

I hope the relevant agencies get a handle on this but I don't have much hope that they will. When this Round Mountains allotment was operational back before the Willow Fire the problems were the same, the cattle always get out and wander, especially seeking the water and forage down at Deep Creek. I would guess its going to be and ongoing problem.