Life on the Range: Idaho SGI Rancher Jared Bracket is Steward of Cattle & Sage Grouse
“This is as good as it gets. We’re quite proud of it. Unless you have something to hide, there’s nothing to be scared of. Because in the end, the resource will show what’s there,” Brackett says.
Las Vegas Sun: Rancher Duane Coombs Writes About Role of Private Lands in Sage Grouse Conservation
January 3, 2014
BLM-Idaho Nominates Burley Landscape Sage Grouse Habitat Restoration Project
January 13, 2014
Life on the Range Story and related video by Steve Steubner for the Idaho Rangeland Resources Commission
Jared Brackett raises black angus cattle in a very remote area known as the Antelope Springs Allotment, southwest of Twin Falls. He grazes 600 cow-calf pairs on 50,000 acres of federal, state and private land in the allotment. You might say that Brackett ranches in a fish bowl because he manages his cattle alongside premium habitat for sage-grouse, a candidate species for listing under Endangered Species Act. The Bureau of Land Management is under court order to manage the area with tight controls to protect sage-grouse habitat.
But Brackett, the incoming president of the Idaho Cattle Association, doesn’t worry too much about that because Antelope Springs has plenty of feed and habitat for cattle and wildlife, he says.
“This is as good as it gets. We’re quite proud of it. Unless you have something to hide, there’s nothing to be scared of. Because in the end, the resource will show what’s there,” Brackett says.
More Information about Life on the Range:
Life on the Range is an educational project that showcases stories about the ever-changing landscape of ranching, multiple-use management, entrepreneurial spirit, family and stewardship on Idaho’s rangelands.
The heart-warming stories provide a rare glimpse of how our neighbors in rural Idaho work every day to improve the earth and touch people’s lives in positive ways.
Life on the Range is sponsored by the Idaho Rangeland Resource Commission. If you have a story idea that you’d like us to cover or comments about the project, please send us an email.
