That's because Dale Carlson learned that herder Enrique Marquez Banda made what amounts to just $2.30 an hour, not including room - a sheep wagon - and board. He said the news tugged at his heart, and he decided to help.
“It just isn't right that the guy is getting only a couple dollars an hour - I don't care what. It just isn't right,” Carlson said.
“We just thought it was a real good cause,” Jacobson said.
He's gotten a couple calls about the effort - and about others, too. Lately, a few more people have asked about creating charity accounts, and Jacobson said the economy probably has something to do with it. But he said the giving spirit of Missoula does, too.
Marquez said Carlson told him the news last week, and he was pleased. Carlson described Marquez's reaction like this: “I thought he was going to jump off his horse, he was so excited.”
Marquez, from Mexico, herds about 600 sheep as part of Missoula Parks and Recreation Department's weed control program. The department has a contract with local rancher John Stahl, who has a contract with Marquez.
A Wyoming-based organization called Mountain Plains Agricultural Service serves as the agent, said executive director Oralia Mercado. She said Marquez earns a keep that's typical of sheepherders in Montana, and she doesn't understand why someone would set up a fund for him.
“I think it's silly,” Mercado said.
She said the wages are based on surveys done by individual states. In Wyoming, for example, a sheepherder would make even less than one in Montana - $650 a month, plus room and board, Mercado said. In California, though, the monthly salary is $1,350, plus room and board, she said.
The company is one of many similar agencies and works with roughly 1,500 other people like Marquez, she said. The work is harsh, and while the pay is low, it's also “normal for that occupation.”
“That's why no American will do it. That's why we have to bring workers from outside the United States,” Mercado said.
But Carlson, who hikes Missoula's open spaces and worked with weeds in the past, said the labor has value. Missoula has a duty to control noxious weeds, and that's what Marquez is trying to do with all those sheep, he said. And in the end, Missoulians get a more beautiful mountain.
Carlson trekked up Mount Jumbo to visit with Marquez and see the sheep in action, and he lauded the program.
“I can testify to the fact that the sheep are doing their job,” he said.
And he wants Marquez to get a square deal while sheepherding, so he's telling his friends to contribute money to the sheepherder and they're telling their friends.
People who want to donate can do so by writing a check referencing the sheepherder account and dropping it off at one of the Gateway Community Federal Credit Union locations: 3624 Brooks Ave. or 2300 Great Northern Way. Call Gateway at 728-4475.
Reporter Keila Szpaller can be reached at 523-5262 or at keila.szpaller@missoulian.com.
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