Hayden Ballard & Chris Heaton - Grazing on National Monuments

Cowboy Stories

Today I visited with Hayden Ballard and Chris Heaton. We discussed the issues that come along with trying to make a living running cattle on federal lands. We spent the majority of our time talking about why ranchers care about the policies associated with national monuments and how they directly affect them. We talked about the abuse of the Antiquities Act that the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Bears Ears National Monument, and the Grand Canyon National Monument were created under. Hayden and Chris were both great people to visit with about these issues. They are both 6th generation ranchers, they both have skin in the game, and they are both passionate about preserving the ranching and cowboy way of life.