Dick Pace - Part 1

Cowboy Stories

Dick and Becky Pace are from Teasdale, UT. I really enjoyed visiting with both of them. In part 1 of my interview with them, Dick talks about the history behind the livestock permits in Capital Reef National Park. Dick's dad and Dell LeFevre went to Washington D.C. after the parks designation in 1971 to meet with senators. They were discussing what would happen to the ranchers and the cattle that were now within the park boundary. After some debate, they settled on giving the ranchers within the park boundary life+the life of their heir. This meant that anyone who ran cattle in the park boundary could continue to run cattle there for the rest of their life, and for the life of their first heirs. They refer to this as being grandfathered in. After that decision was made, the park came back and offered all of the permittees $52/AUM. Some sold but the the Pace family and the Taylor family didn't. However, three years ago, the Wildlife Federation bought out the Pace family. As of today, the Taylors are the only family still running cattle on the park.