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Park board wants grazing rules review

A plan to work on revising regulations governing cattle grazing on Beaver Creek Park was shifted to reviewing and reconciling suggestions from a former Bureau of Land Management employee before bringing the topic back to the Hill County Park Board.

Park Superintendent Chad Edgar suggested he meet with retired BLM employee Lou Hagener, who had drafted suggested regulations on grazing on the park, and bring the results of that discussion back to the board.

"Yeah, we're looking at another month, but I think we're looking at another month regardless, " Edgar said.

The board has discussed upgrading the regulations on cattle grazing — the single top revenue-generator for the park — for more than a year.

Part of the suggested revisions from the park's grazing committee met with opposition from some of the Hill County Commission in 2010, with Commissioner Kathy Bessette saying the regulations appear to favor ranchers who live near the park and exclude others.

After the board approved the changes in a split vote in June 2010, the commission never took action on approving the changes as a county ordinance.

After the lack of follow through on changes in the grazing — and other park regulations — was raised earlier this year, the board suggested going back through the grazing and other regulations to codify the park procedures.

Monday, Park Board Chair Steve Mariani suggested the board start going through the proposed grazing regulations, comparing them to the suggested regulations proposed by Hagener, and working to come up with a final set of regulations to have reviewed by the county attorney, voted on by the board and submitted to the commission for its approval..

Board members Larry Kinsella, Lou Lucke and Mike Wendland, also chair of the Hill County Commission, agreed that some of the issues covered in Hagener's proposed regulations seem to already be covered in the other proposal.

After another discussion of the issue, Mariani and the other board members agreed that more review might be a good idea first.

Edgar said he believes there are issues in the park grazing, covered in the proposal submitted to the board, that Hagener may not understand, and that there are parts of Hagener's proposal he doesn't understand.

"I really need to meet with you, " he told Hagener.

Hagener agreed to go through the proposals with Edgar.

"I think what Chad proposes is a good idea, absolutely, " he said.

 

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