Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story.
JON MARVEL: “I want to destabilize the system we’ve got now, where 20 percent of ranchers in Idaho use public lands they’ve degraded or destroyed. I think my response is reasonable – I’m reacting to large-scale abuse by a tiny group of people.
“The mythology that’s grown up around ranching is a frozen world, a violent subculture, really, based on threats and intimidation. I think of myself as a truth-sayer, and what can be gained from hearing the truth is a lifting of the yoke of that oppression.
“Ranching won’t end even if public-land ranching does. But opening up the permitting process will bring back competition and protect our land from abuse. It’s time to bring (ranchers) down a few notches.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline ‘My response is reasonable’.
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