The Sheep Business

This note published at the Durango Herald (and that would be Durango in Colorado, USA) talks about the Basques that migrated to this area of America to earn their bread as sheepherders.

Here you have it:

Sheer sheep

Europeans still tend to flocks in Colo. high country

August 11, 2006
By Gregory Moore | Herald Outdoors Editor

Tending sheep in the high country is a tradition as old as any in the high country.

And for generations, sheepherders came from the Basque country in Europe to watch over the flocks as they grazed in alpine meadows, like those found near the top of Engineer Pass, at 12,800 feet above sea level.

"My father came over in 1947," said Ernie Etchart, one of a group of sheep ranchers gathered near the top of the pass on a chilly first day of August for the annual Sheep Day open house.

"He tended sheep right over in the Wetterhorn area," Etchart added, indicating one of the tallest peaks standing clear of a hundred others, just to the east of the pass. "He even climbed Uncompahgre Peak."

Etchart's father passed on more than the ranching tradition to his son, whose flocks work their way up to treeline and beyond in the summer, then spend winters in the warmer desert country west of Montrose.

And while Etchart, like most of the sheep ranchers, doesn't stay full time with his flocks - today's shepherds come from Mexico and South America - he doesn't miss a chance to get into the high country, bringing supplies and checking on his charges.

"It's one of the reasons I do what I do," he said, pointing out at the scenery. "What more can you ask for?"

Etchart's family was with him on Engineer Pass. His wife, Chris, was serving cups of hot chili and cookies to curious tourists out of a small tent, a welcome shelter when the squalls of freezing rain rolled over the pass.

Hannah, 12, and Nathan, 9, were asking folks to sign a guest register and were showing off a beautiful 8-month-old border collie pup on a leash.

Edna Mason, the lone U.S. Forest Service employee in the agency's Lake City office, has helped organize the event for eight years. And while she was dressed in her official USFS green jacket and was prepared to answer some tough questions from visitors about the impacts of sheep grazing in the alpine environment, it was clear she also was among friends and family.

"Sheep grazing in these areas is sustainable," said Mason, who has worked with the sheep ranchers for a large part of her career. "The sheep are really light on the land."

That contradicts what many people think, Mason knows. And she's quick to add that she used to feel the same way. For the most part, she added, people have a perception that sheep are much tougher on the land than cattle.

"The (grazing) allotments are so large, the sheep only have to go over an area once. And sheep graze uphill, where cattle like to go downhill and sit in the riparian areas. I've spent years in this country. I truly believe the areas that we graze are in better shape than the ones we don't."

But there was a sense of irony in the chilly air of Engineer Pass as well. Because an industry that has battled so long for acceptance from the public may not, due to economic factors, live to enjoy it.

"It's all going to depend on economics, whether we'll see these flocks up here in the coming years," Mason said.

Dominic Inda, a member of another ranching family with roots in the Basque country, was not as diplomatic.

"My dad and my uncle, who are partners, came from Spain in 1963," he said. "I used to say that I would like to do this for the rest of my lifetime, but not anymore. With the prices the way they are - and all the expenses - they don't even out.

"It's a great tradition, and it's been in my family for a long time, but it's dying off."

For those who do not know it, Durango in Colorado gets its name from the town of Durango located in the Basque province of Bizkaia, Euskal Herria. There is also a Durango (both a state and a city) in Mexico. These towns bear witness to the Basques diaspora influence in America.

I strongly recommend that you read the book "The Good Oak" by Mattin Etxart if you wish to learn more about the Basques in the US west.

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