WWPBlog

Western Watersheds Project monitors the conditions of Current Creek in the Owyhees of southwestern Idaho.

In early October members of Western Watersheds Project visited the Pass Creek Allotment of the Lost River Range. We were accompanied by the district Ranger and “Rangeland management specialist” for the allotment.

At every stop we were met with a new apology for what in any other realm of public property would be considered criminal vandalism. In Copper Basin on a tour we had taken earlier the solution was “better management next time”. This time at Pass Creek, the highlighted theme was “but it is on an upward trend”.

Setting the Mood

Before ascending into the range we were taken to where a wolf had been killed for feeding on cattle.

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Welfare ranchers and their political representatives in the West are looking to lasso more federal fire dollars to line ranchers’ pockets . After trashing out watersheds, desertifying much of the West, and spreading combustible cheatgrass throughout the landscape, the public land livestock industry is moving to pass what Rocky Barker suggests might as well be called the “global warming compensation program“. Having lost Larry Craig to one of the more colorful expressions of a self-indulgent and delusional good ol’ boy mentality, a staple of Idaho politics, Congressman Mike Simpson hopes to take hold the reigns and continue Craig’s legacy of looting the public domain. Barker :

Making the role previously lead by Sen. Larry Craig, Simpson urged increased funding for collecting sagebrush and other rangeland plant seeds to help the burned area heal. But taking the side of ranchers led by Idaho Republican Rep. Bert Brackett, he urged the funding not be limited to native seeds.

Simpson also followed Brackett’s lead by asking the committee chairmen to fund a pilot program to study the use of livestock grazing for fuel reduction on rangelands. He also wants cattle allowed back into burned areas as early as next spring instead of after 2 years, which is the usual prescription.

Range ecologists reject these broad approaches that clearly favor ranchers. Cattle grazing breaks up the soil and contributes to the spread of cheatgrass

How sweet it is to be a welfare rancher in the West ! While grazing on public land, these guys pay a fraction of what private ranchers pay for feed - the justification being assumed risk on public lands. But the “risk” is covered on both ends. It’s a reduced rate plus the swindled compensation when anything happens. Now, the public pays for welfare ranchers to inflate catastrophic fire risk by spreading cheat and contributing to an industry that puts more global warming emissions in the atmosphere than transportation.

According to a new report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalent – 18 percent – than transport. It is also a major source of land and water degradation.

Simpson hopes to rebuild wildlife obstructing fences and more, replant with wildlife denuding non-native grasses, and restock lands recently scorched long before they’ve had a chance to heal. All so a few well-to-do livestock producers on public land can continue to evade the real world and avoid the line that Katrina victims continue to wait in.

The Star-Tribune has published a story about a particular algae that is spreading in streams around Wyoming. The algae can have a negative effect on fish populations.

Lower the volume on your computer before checking out :

Algae appears in more streams

George Wuerthner has written an excellent opinion piece published in NewWest about one of the many consequences of livestock production in the United States. Global Warming, Western Ranching, and the Bovine Curtain brings you compelling information about one of the most effective ways that anyone can change their behavior to reduce their contribution to global warming emissions ~ Stop eating beef.