Committee drafts revisions on park haying and grazing ordinance

Editor's note: This version corrects that the committee approved a draft, not an an ordinance, and that the committee is not officially created until the ordinance is changed. It also corrects that the draft goes to the park board first.

The Hill County Park Board's Grazing and Haying Committee Monday approved a draft with changes to the ordinance on haying and grazing on Beaver Creek Park including removing a restriction saying people who hay on the park cannot re-sell that hay.

Hill County Commissioner and committee member Diane McLean told the rest of the committee that requiring all hay cut on the park be for individual use only and cannot be resold is not enforceable and should be stricken from the ordinance.

She said she also spoke to the Hill County Attorney's Office regarding this matter, and they concluded that the park board would be unable to enforce any law around what happens to the hay after it leaves the park.

Hill County Park Board proposed replacing its long-standing Grazing Committee, which oversaw grazing in the park, with the Grazing and Haying Committee.

McLean said Tuesday that with the grazing committee is bound by the ordinance, so creating a new committee needs to be included ordinance revision merging the previous Grazing Committee Ordinance and the Haying Policies.

A primary source of funding for Beaver Creek Park has long been leasing grazing allotments to cattle ranchers between Labor Day and Jan. 1, with the exact duration and number of cattle allowed set each year depending on conditions on the park.

Another source of revenue has been selling the harvest of hay on the park.

During its meeting Monday, the committee reviewed several other items on its agenda, but focused on reviewing the ordinance covering haying and grazing, revising its language and sending the draft to the Hill County Park Board for approval, then to the Hill County Attorney Office for review.

If the haying and grazing ordinance draft is approved by the park board, it will go it to the Hill County Commission for approval as a county ordinance.

In the changes to the ordinance, the committee also made a change for grazing allotments that all notifications of non-use must be sent by July 1. Anyone who is not using their allotments must notify the park board by July 1 and all vacant allotments will be divided among other grazers in the assigned area or allotted to new grazers.

Park Superintendent Chad Edgar brought a few of the reflective cattle ear tags that the park board has discussed in past meetings. He said the tags have a reflective strip so cattle may be more visual to motorists, which could help prevent crashes.

"Anything we can do to make the cows more visible," he said.

He added that the tags are $2.10 each.

The park board is considering requiring cattle grazing on the park have the reflective tags, but the committee did not add that to the ordinance.

Edgar said that this past year was the first year that he has decided to send one bill for grazing fees out in December. In the past, he said, he has sent out two bills, one in October and one in December.

Committee member Lou Hagener said sending one bill in December is better, reducing the amount of work.

The committee also amended an item under the Fees and Penalty section of the ordinance. Under penalties, the ordinance says that 1.5 percent penalty per month will be imposed on any fees not paid within 60 days from the final billing date. The ordinance previously said the fees would be imposed in 30 days.

Edgar said Beaver Creek Park's revenue is up, grossing approximately $91,000 so far this fiscal year, which includes the land management fund.

He said $19,000 has gone into the Land Management Fund since last year.

Hagener said Montana State University-Northern professor Tom Welch has made an offer to map Beaver Creek Park.

He asked the committee to prioritize a list including various parts of the park such as cattle guards, cabin sites and constructed roads. The prioritized lists will be collected and reviewed to see what features should be included on the map when it is created, he said.

Edgar said creating the map is not yet a priority.

"We are not ready for a map," Edgar said. "But it is good to know where everything is."

Hagener said that, since December, Northern Associate Professor Terri Hildebrand has secured additional grants and has her students working on additional grant applications to fund monitoring studies of water quality and vegetation.

He added that he should be able to have a draft of a memorandum of understanding prepared for the next meeting that would show a plan of organization to prevent conflict between agencies monitoring Beaver Creek Park.

"It is a pretty messy document right now," he said.

McLean said Tuesday the document would help Montana State University; Beaver Creek Park; Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and the state Natural Resource Conservation Service understand all the expectations of what the monitoring is going to include, the reason why there is monitoring and what the data will be used for.