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Ranchers headed for last roundup? photo by Jim Craven Retired brand inspector Harvey Hagedorn will sell his ranch and cattle near Montague, Calif., after decades in ranching. Environmental pressures, low beef prices and development are forcing more and more ranchers out of the business. Economy, environment take bite out of grazing By Melissa Martin of the Mail Tribune As winter's first snow fell on the Siskiyou Mountains, rancher Bob Miller of Montague, Calif., saddled his horse and rode up Soda Mountain to rescue a stranded calf. "We've all had heck getting the cattle out of the ranges," Miller said. "It was so dry, the cattle scattered. Until the storm came, some of these cattle were still up at 4,000 feet. We've been riding all week trying to get them out of the snow." Miller is the fourth generation to run cattle on Soda Mountain. His great-grandfather, Henry Miller, grazed 100 head of cattle on federal lands in the summer, rounding them up in the fall just as his son and grandson did. But now his descendant is one of a handful of remaining ranchers with grazing permits in the Siskiyou Mountains. The ranchers are being pushed out by environmental pressures, low beef prices and a growing number of homes built next to public lands. "It's becoming increasingly harder and more expensive to use the government grazing lands," Miller said. At age 59, he is the oldest Bureau of Land Management grazing permit holder on Soda Mountain. "As they reduce the number of cattle on the allotments, the remaining permittees have to pick up more maintenance," he said. "There is the cost of turning the cattle out in the spring, salting them, riding and checking on them, repairing fences and rounding them up in the fall." In the 1970s, there were 1,440 cattle grazing on Soda Mountain in the summer, compared to 484 cattle this year, according to Tom Jacobs, range management specialist for the BLM. The numbers reflect a downward spiral across the 13 Western states. In 1994 there were 12,000 ranchers grazing 8.2 million cattle on BLM lands, compared to 21,000 ranchers with 15 million cattle in the late 1940s, Jacobs said. "We've reduced our permits by about 35 percent since the 1970s," he said. Around Hyatt Lake, for example, cows were getting in the campgrounds and on the beaches and causing conflicts with campers, hikers and boaters. But fewer cattle grazing the Siskiyou Mountains means fewer ranchers to share the burden of maintaining the rangelands. Ranchers are responsible for the hundreds of miles of fencing as well as keeping cows away from creeks, trails and private gardens. "We're losing people with the skills and the ability to run the cattle," said Bill Drewien, president of the Jackson County Cattlemen's Association. Jeanette Williams agreed. She is the range specialist for the Rogue River National Forest, working with 32 ranchers who share 24 grazing permits between Fish Lake and Howard Prairie and in the Applegate. "I'm seeing a lot of ranchers in their 70s and 80s, and there is nobody to take over the ranch when they retire," said Williams. "Their kids are not interested in taking over the operations at all." Ranchers pay the federal government $1.35 per animal unit -- a cow and her calf -- per month (AUM) to graze cattle on public lands, Jacobs said. For Harvey Hagedorn, a second-generation Shasta Valley rancher, the federal grazing fees cost him nearly $4,000 a year. The costs are forcing him to sell part of his ranch and cattle, Hagedorn said. There are hidden costs as well, Williams said. "Yes, ranchers pay the government $1.35 per animal, per month, but it's costing some of these guys $22 an AUM just to run out there," Williams said. "The ranchers have fuel expenses and repeated trips. If you ask any of them, they'd prefer to rent a pasture in the valley and feed the cows." Ranchers depend on grazing permits to reduce the feeding costs of their herds, said Drewien. "If you lose your lease on federal lands, you have to lease private lands -- which are hard to find -- reduce your herd or go out of business," Drewien said. As grazing continues to be phased out, the rancher's struggle for survival will be even greater, Drewien said. Already, ranchers are working against a sluggish beef market, partly caused by the country's main producers buying cows raised in Australia, Canada and Mexico. "It's almost like we are exporting the cattle industry to the foreign companies," Drewien said. Beef prices are up slightly this year, with an average calf bringing in about 90 cents a pound, according to Cindy Havice of the Rogue Valley Livestock Auction. Yet in the peak years of the early 1990s, a yearling would fetch $1.10 per pound, she said. The changes from a ranching tradition of grazing cattle on public lands goes unnoticed by most people, Drewien said. "The consumer is disconnected from the rancher. They buy their food at the grocery store and for the most part, the urban dwellers have lost contact with rural America." As Bob Miller of Montague rescues snowbound calves this week, he wonders if it could be one of his last trips up Soda Mountain. He also fears the day that consumers will no longer be able to find American beef in the grocery stores. "The American food supply is becoming less self-sufficient," Miller said. "We're being driven to dependence on imported food that doesn't have the quality standards of the American product." 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