Dear HCN,
As a former resident of
Boise, Idaho, and having hiked, camped and hunted extensively for
many years in the arid areas that are targeted by the Idaho
Watersheds Project, in particular, southeast Oregon, southwest
Idaho and northern Nevada, I agree 100 percent with their agenda.
Get those *#@??*&^ cows OFF the public land! And, if necessary,
get those ranchers OFF the public land, period. They have ruined
it.
My wife and I have seen it all: sage grouse
habitat utterly trashed; remote streams that are so filthy one
wouldn’t dare bathe in them, let alone eat a fish caught in their
foul waters; trampled, flattened areas large enough for 10 football
stadiums. My favorite is the expression on a varmint hunter’s face
when I suggested he ought to be shooting the COWS, not the coyotes,
as the former are the real varmints.
However, one
point was not made in your article. When state Sen. Laird Noh
accuses Jon Marvel of trading one use of the land that can be
“environmentally compatible” (cattle grazing) for another use “that
will lead to ranchettes, pavement, and subdivisions, all of which
can’t be reversed,” he reveals his apparent ignorance of the fact
that, for the most part, the land in question could never support a
subdivision, let alone 10 football stadiums, because of its
essential remoteness, and perhaps more importantly, the lack of
sufficient water, a precious substance which is universally
considered absolutely necessary for any pretense of multiple
housing developments.
Some rural Western land may
be more suitable, unfortunately, for ranchettes. Likewise, some may
be more suitable for grazing livestock, if it were managed
honestly, properly, and ecologically. The Owyhee country of
southwest Idaho and bordering Nevada and Oregon is not suitable for
either. What continues to amaze those of us who oppose such
irresponsible and destructive use is that the ranching residents,
some of whom have been there for generations, have not figured that
out yet!
Warren E.
Watson
Santa Fe, New Mexico
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Ranchers, get off public land.
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