Mike ps Stay warm

Yet, over the last few years, as I have seen and understood how livestock destroyed some of our public lands AND as I came to realize my tax dollars a subsidizing this, I have searched for a campsite free of cow dung and had to chase cattle away from me when hiking and camping. I have completely changed my views. I see this as my education to the reality of how damaging many of American dreams are to the planet. You can classify me as a radical if you choose, but that only widens the gaps between us.

1. The land has changed. A lot. Climate change, drought, invasive species, recreational pressures, economics, habitat destruction elsewhere are making our pubic lands the last best places. Severe overgrazing in the late 1800s changed the landscape in ways that are still influential and the land itself hasn’t entirely recovered in some places. Check out lands near Las Cruces, Lordsburg, and Deming. Looks at some of the restoration taking place in southern Arizona. The equilibrium was unsettled then and continued disturbance keeps the ecosystems teetering on the threshold of collapse.

2. The law has changed. A lot. Environmental regulation increased as a result of better science and understanding and in response to the changes mentioned above. Lawsuits are only successful when they show a violation of the law, but it isn’t the enviros creating the laws. The agencies, charged with understanding and applying the science of management, have had to shift from the old ways (which, in fact, weren’t very sustainable) to new ways to manage the land. If livestock producers think this is extreme, it’s only because it’s different, and it bucks the old laissez faire style of the agency.

I would refer you to the GAO report on grazing (http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05869.pdf) and to http://www.mikehudak.com/Articles/CommercialLivestock000629.html.