Your Private property rights are being threatened!

As a private property owner, I'm very concerned when cows illegally trespass on my property and cause damage. I’m also concerned by a complete lack of responsibility by the U.S. Forest Service, which repeatedly has shrugged off the problem of cows drifting off national forest lands onto my property – year after year.


Tuolumne County is legally defined as a closed range, which means livestock are not allowed to "run at large" and it is the ranchers’ responsible to keep cattle off private property. Yet for the last 13 years I have had un-tended cows from the USFS range permittee trespass on my land for most of the season, causing damage to my personal property, to my meadow restoration efforts, and to habitat that is important for frogs and other wildlife. No cowboys were apparent at anytime while I was on site – just trespassing cows.


This last summer and fall I reported cattle trespass to the USFS and Sheriffs Department as I have at numerous other times, even thought the Forest Service refuses to help anyone except the cattle people. I made extensive comments in last year's USFS public comment period on grazing, and my comments were dismissed as not important to range management. In brief, grazing practices on the Stanislaus National Forest seem to be basically the same now as 100 years ago, when open range was the mode.



The closed range law makes it the ranchers’ responsibility to fence private property to keep the cattle off. But the Forest Service allows cows to come onto national forest lands close to my property and to many of your properties, as well. The Forest Service knows that no fence is in place to keep the cows on federal land. Yet Forest officials claim the trespass isn’t their responsibility.



In addition to the cattle trespass, there is the problem of the cattle ranchers coming onto private property. It seems to me that Tuolumne County politicians and the Forest Service are trying to force property owners to allow the cattle people the right to come on and off my property or your property anytime they want. In a recent article in the Union Democrat, a cattleman was quoted as saying “there's no trespassing in the mountains”



If your property rights are taken away and given to a special interest group like these ranchers, what's next? Do we want hunters, campers, mountain bikers, hikers, and Dirt Bike people being allowed to also use your property anytime they want?



Private property is an American right and needs to be protected.



We shouldn’t have someone’s cows allowed to trespass on our land. Local county officials and Forest Service officials need to step up and stop the trespass! But if they don’t hear from property owners like you, they will think the problem is only affecting my family and perhaps one or two others.



Your can make a difference by contacting the folks listed below and telling them bluntly and firmly exactly what you think about livestock trespassing from national forest lands onto private property.



They need to hear from you.



Below is the list of people who don’t appear to care about your private property rights – only the ranchers’ profits. Let them know what you think...



Stanislaus Forest Supervisor Susan Skalski sskalski@fs.fed.us

Kathy Hardy khardy@fs.fed.us

MiWok District Ranger Ann Denton adenton@fs.fed.us

Beth Martinez bethmartinez@fs.fed.us

Range Management Officer Sue Forbes sforbes@fs.fed.us

County Supervisor Paolo Maffei pmaffei@co.tuolumne.ca.us