[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 138 (Monday, September 30, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1843-E1844]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       EXTEND GRAZING PRIVILEGES

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BARBARA CUBIN

                               of wyoming

                    in the house of representatives

                      Saturday, September 28, 1996

  Mrs. CUBIN. Mr. Speaker, Jackson Hole, WY is one of the most 
beautiful and unique areas of our Nation. Over 3 million visitors per 
year come to hike, camp, ski, and sightsee amidst the grandeur of the 
Teton range and the winding Snake River in Grand Teton National Park 
and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem beyond. Many wildlife species 
such as moose, bear, eagles, and trumpeter swan make the valley their 
home, while the largest elk herd in the lower 48 States annually 
migrates through it to winter on the wildlife refuge at its southern 
end.
  While much of the valley is protected for perpetuity in Federal 
ownership, some of the most valuable wildlife habitat, migration 
routes, and scenic vistas remain in private ownership as working 
ranchlands. Conservation groups in Jackson Hole and around the country 
have worked for years to help protect these ranches from development, 
through the use of scenic easements and other means, and are to be 
commended for their good work.
  Unfortunately, we now face a situation where some of the most scenic 
and valuable ranchlands adjacent to the park could be forced to sell 
and subdivide. In 1950 the law establishing Grand Teton National Park 
allowed local grazing permittees whose livestock had historically used 
the new park lands for summer range to continue that grazing for the 
life of the permittees' designed heirs. As a result, 14,000 acres were 
set aside, irrigated,

[[Page E1844]]

and fenced by the part for the benefit of these permit holders who, in 
turn, paid grazing fees at the required rate.
  Since that time, development pressures have grown enormously. One of 
those permit holders has already sold his ranch, which became a major 
subdivision of middle-class houses. Meanwhile real estate prices 
continue to skyrocket, and intense development pressure has focused on 
the remaining permit holders.
  In June of this year, a dear friend of mine, Mary Mead, died in a 
tragic accident doing what she loved best: working on her cherished 
ranch. Mary was the designated heir to her family's grazing permit on 
the Grand Teton National Park. Legally, with Mary's death the grazing 
permit would be terminated. However, without this permit the Mead 
family, along with former U.S. Senator Cliff Hansen--father of Mary--
would no longer be able to maintain their cattle operation and ranch. 
Without the park's summer range on which all of their cattle depend, 
the family would almost certainly be forced to sell their livestock and 
the ranch, which would in all likelihood be immediately subdivided and 
developed. This tragic loss would not only destroy open space and 
scenic vistas but could also adversely impact wildlife habitat and 
migration patterns as well as the integrity of the park's greater 
ecosystem.
  For these reasons, the family has requested consideration of an 
extension of their grazing privilege. In return, they are committed to 
working with the National Park Service and others to actively exploring 
options to preserve their ranchlands. I, too, am dedicated to 
maintaining the highly valuable open space and ranching culture in this 
vicinity of the park. An extension of grazing privileges would allow 
time to explore a network of relationships and avoid the indiscriminate 
development that will occur on these pastoral lands.
  I am eager to work during the remainder of this year and in the 105th 
Congress with my colleagues both here in the House and the Senate, 
along with Grand Teton National Park Superintendent Jack Neckles and 
others in the local community, to bring a resolution to this unique 
situation.

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