craigdailypress.com

On one side of the room, Brown's Park ranchers and residents gathered in their coveralls and flannel hats. On the other side, U.S. Fish and Wildlife employees stood in their tan, embroidered shirts. Their views on a proposal to expand Brown's Park National Wildlife Refuge were as divided as the room and their dress.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service held an open house Tuesday at City Hall to hear opinions on the proposed 6,000 acre expansion of the refuge.

Brown's Park residents attended to express their concerns about the expansion.

Rancher Wright Dickinson is adamantly opposed to the expansion and was the most vocal in his opposition. The Dickinson's lease Bureau of Land Management (BLM) property for cattle graze and that is the property that's in contention. The grazing rights to the land in question were purchased 30 years ago.

"That land is critical to my operation," Dickinson said. "In my year round operation and the way I rotate my cattle, I depend on that piece of ground."

Dickinson said he would like to see a partnership between himself and the USFWS so that both parties would benefit.

"If we would design a plan, we could get some value out of the land," Dickinson said. "It could be a win-win situation."

Moffat County Rancher Dean Gent agreed that the land, and the animals that use it, could benefit from continued grazing.

"If you don't graze this land properly, in 10 years it will be sterile," Gent said. "Then it is just prime for a fire."

Brown's Park National Wildlife Refuge manager, Mike Bryant, said there is an opportunity to use grazing as a conservation tool and that the Dickinsons were good stewards of the land, but it wasn't possible to guarantee grazing rights.

He said a short-term agreement would most likely be worked out to continue grazing.

Those who came to express their opinions didn't hide their feelings for the government or the movement to gain control of land in western Moffat County.

"It sticks in my craw," Dickinson said. "You're stealing it, guys. What you're doing now to the agricultural people is the same thing you did to the Indians in the 18th century."

Bryant said the main reason for expanding the refuge was to make the boundary more evident andpatrolling more efficient.

"It means less fence that I would have to maintain with refuge budget," Bryant said.

Brown's Park resident Gary Rowly was blunt with U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials. He said the expansion was only a selfish attempt to gain more control.

"All you're doing is trying to show your authority," Rowly said. "I just think that all of the land agencies seem to forget that these are public lands."

Rowly went on to say the USFWS wasn't doing a good job of managing the land they had and couldn't understand why they should take more.

"There were more geese and ducks back when there were crops, before it was a refuge," Rowly said. "You guys have more than you can manage now. You guys spend too much time managing people and not enough time managing wildlife. After all, it is a wildlife refuge."

Jeff Comstock, Moffat County natural resources analyst, said the county opposed the expansion, but was still unsure of how U.S. Fish and Wildlife regulations for the new area of the refuge would effect the county and its residents. He said changes would be more evident after the management plan was released.

"I think we still don't know a lot of the answers to the questions," Comstock said. "The county is definitely opposed to it, but we are going to have to wait and see until the management plan comes out."

After a 30-day comment period, an Environmental Assessment will be developed to evaluate the proposed transfer of land from the BLM to USFWS. Comment on the current proposal will be accepted for the next 30 days.

Written comments can be directed to: Mike Bryant, Refuge Manager, Brown's Park NWR, 1318 Highway 318, Maybell, CO, 81640; or John Esperance, Fish and Wildlife Biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, attn: Realty

PO Box 25486, DFC Denver, CO 80225.

The environmental assessment is expected to be released in January.