58 



STATEMENT OF LARRY NELSON, PRESIDENT, SOUTH DAKOTA 

 PUBLIC LANDS COUNCIL 



Mr. Nelson. Thank you, Senator Pressler, for inviting me as 

 president of the South Dakota Public Lands Council to this hear- 

 ing. 



We represent ranchers who have permits on BLM land, Black 

 Hills National Forest, Custer National Forest, and Nebraska Na- 

 tional Forest here in South Dakota, the Nebraska National Forest 

 being the National Grasslands. 



The 251 permittees in the Black Hills National Forest appreciate 

 being able to run livestock on the forest, and they need their per- 

 mits to help make their ranching operations economically viable. 



The consequences of reduced livestock grazing in the Black Hills 

 would include increased risk of fire due to unutilized forage build- 

 up, reduced vigor of the plant community due to lack of grazing 

 pressure, and economic loss directly to the rancher and to the com- 

 munity in which he lives. 



We feel that grazing management and timber management in 

 the Black Hills are interdependent. Without timber harvest, the 

 understory plants are eventually choked out, leaving very little 

 forage for livestock or wildlife. Good timber management opens up 

 the canopy, increases forage available for livestock and wildlife, 

 and facilitates better livestock distribution. It also promotes good 

 water management, which is essential for domestic ranch use, live- 

 stock, and wildlife. 



So therefore, we hope the forest plan would maintain and, wher- 

 ever possible, increase the available forage for livestock. 



Just a bit on grazing fees, and I realize that the grazing fees situ- 

 ation is not going to be settled here in the Black Hills National 

 Forest Plan, but there's been a lot of controversy over what grazing 

 fees should be. And they need to be reasonable. They need to be 

 predictable so that ranchers can maintain long-term financing. 

 We've seen good cattle prices here in the last few years, but a 

 number of forecasts are indicating that we're in an increasing 

 cattle supply and the prices are going to trend downward. And 

 that's going to affect the rancher's ability to pay. And the bottom 

 line on fees is that for every dollar the fees go up is a dollar the 

 rancher doesn't have to spend in the local economy. 



On wilderness, we do not favor wilderness designation basically 

 for two reasons as it relates to livestock grazing in the Black Hills. 

 In the Black Hills, without timber management, as has been point- 

 ed out, Ponderosa Pine becomes the dominant species, choking out 

 the understory and leaves very little forage for livestock or wildlife. 

 It also restricts the ability of the rancher to use modern tools to 

 maintain fences and water developments and to use motorized ve- 

 hicles to reach improvements, check livestock, put out salt and 

 minerals, and so forth. In addition, no new improvements can be 

 made that would help facilitate better livestock use of an area. 

 This combination of potential decreased forage available for live- 

 stock use and increased operating costs due to these management 

 limitations would make it very difficult for ranchers over the long 

 term to continue to operate in any wilderness area. And in some 



