The ranchers maintain fences and water wells. Even the grazing itself, ranchers claim, will reduce the dangers of range fire. You just don't want to create a giant timber box sitting out here in the middle of the sandhills which will happen if you don't allow cattle or any other type of ruminant to graze it. Fire is a part of life here. There was a scare this last spring when a lightening fire raced across 5,000 acres of grasslands and stopped after burning another 200 acres of the pines.
Ranchers hate the grass fires.
In their world, you might as well be burning money. Fire destroys valuable livestock feed. It can endanger the cattle and the family home. When anyone for the Forest Service says the fire can be good for the land because it rejuvenates the prairie, ranchers shake their head in disbelief. Such a basic debate over what's best for the land illustrates the difficult balance the Forest Service must make when considering the future of this land.