Lester Hatch, who is the ranch manager and base property lease holder of The Nature Conservancy's 45 Ranch in remote Owyhee County, Idaho has been charged with cattle trespass by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
According to sources within the BLM and The Nature Conservancy, Hatch has admitted to grazing over 100 cows and calves for more than two months on the 65,000 acre 45 allotment on the South Fork of the Owyhee River near the Nevada border without authority to do so from the BLM. The cattle in question are in addition to the cattle which are permitted to graze year round on the allotment from the 240 acre base property. The 45 allotment is one of the very few allotments in Idaho which has year round livestock use.
Sources say the ranch manager has agreed to pay a trespass fine and reimburse the BLM for aerial reconnaissance flights and other staff time spent confirming the trespass. IWP does not have the exact amount of the fine. It is also known the Owyhee Resource Area Manager, Daryl Albiston, met with Idaho Nature Conservancy's executive director, Guy Bonnivier, to discuss the two month trespass.
Perhaps, The Nature Conservancy will pause and reconsider its chosen effort to always work with ranchers for "sustainable" grazing no matter what the cost now that its own ranch manager has chosen to cheat the American people and been caught for his trouble!