Different practices for different users?
Right side is cow grazing area, the left is Horse Management area. If you click on the photo a couple of times you will get a image large enough to see the detail.
Except for the little vacation the Army gave me in 65 till 69 I have lived my life in the West and I do love it. During that time (rapidly coming on 2/3 of a century) I have always marveled at the arrogance the BLM has exhibited in its one, no three, sided management of the west. Three sided I say, because the management has been prioritized for the livestock and resource extractors while giving us, the public, who owns the land, nothing but lip service when they say they are just applying multiple abuse or I mean, multiple use in their management practices.
My Granddad’s raised cows and ranched all their lives, My Dad ranched for a while, my uncles had ranches. I worked for all of them at one time or another as a kid so I am not taking a swipe at Cattlemen out of ignorance for their plight. I know how hard it is to make it ranching in the West. Still some do well generation after generation for various reasons, usually it has to do with, those who succeed are just a little brighter than the rest. They tend to manage their range for the bad years, keeping a little grass in reserve, so to speak. Some will tell you can’t take grass to the bank , but the fact is you can’t feed cows, deer, elk , sage grouse or wild horses on bare dirt.
I am sure there are people in the BLM who also know how to manage land for the tough times but I feel they are not the ones making the final decisions. Since the BLM is the steward of our vast public lands in the West and the keepers of what makes the West great, they should be making decisions to benefit all of the land and not just be the Bureau of Livestock and Mining.
The BLM is very good at explaining the need to move Wild Horses or the reasons the Sage Grouse are an endangered species or why the Antelope population is half of what it was 20 years ago. They explain this by telling us that the habitat is in poor shape. It is pretty handy to blame, too many horses, wildfire, not enough rain and the need for energy independence for the plight of the land they manage. The BLM is supposed to work for all of us and most of the good folks employed there do a good job with the marching orders they get. But there are some who see grass and water set aside for species other than cows as a place to move cows so the dim wits that can’t manage their range can struggle thru a couple of more years. Of course what they fail to mention is that when the wildlife, Sage Grouse,Wild Horses and real ranchers are gone there is no reason not to have more gas leases, more coal shale, more oil drilling for the likes of BP and more graze it to the dirt, cow allotments. What the BLM really needs is to pull their heads out of their collective ass and keep all of the range in good shape.
Sadly those same dim wits and resource extractors have enough political clout to manage the BLM for us. Yep THEY, are running it for us, it always comes back to US and what we are willing to do for ourselves and our land.
If you care about wildlife, the open spaces of the west or wild horses you have a good chance to make your feelings known officially to the BLM in the next week or so.
If you care about any of this go to this link, read the info and make a comment about how you want to see our land managed in the future.
http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/newsroom/2010/june/NR_06_03_2010.html
If you don’t care or don’t think you can do anything just go back to watching TV and grumbling about what THEY did or did not do.
Thanks for reading this far. Maybe you will help save what is left of the west.
Jess
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Sadly, the time has come for the citizens of the United States to take back controll of our federal lands which have been so poorly mis-managed by the BLM which has blatently taken the posture that these lands and the wild inhabitants present are theirs and the special commercial interest groups to use, remove, and disposed of at their discretion. Under this present arrogant attitude demonstrated by what has become The Federal Bureau of Mis-Management, the time has come for all Americans to stand together and demand, vehemently, the end to this senseless destruction of our cherished national treasures.
Fabulous post, Jess. You cover it all and very well. I will be sharing this and will most certainly make my voice heard ON THE RECORD for the BLM Strategy Development Document.
For readers: YOUR VOICE goes on the record, the public record, when you submit your comments to this progress by AUGUST 2, 2010. By law, the BLM MUST consider your voice when you speak ON THE RECORD. Please click the link here and go speak your piece:
COMMENT on BLM Strategy Planning
Jess, hope that link works, it isn’t showing as a clickable link in the body of your post so thought this might help….
Type your co“In 1971, Congress passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, which said: ‘It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death; and to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands.’
The Herd Areas (HAs) were created by guesswork. Then the HAs were cut by flimsy excuses like ‘horses are too hard to manage there.’ In many of those areas we now have mining and other interests. Now horses are being shoved off the crumbs we left them, with no factual data and against the intent of the 1971 Act. The concept of ‘Appropriate Management Levels‘ is based on hot air.”
mment here.
I do agree and appreciate your comments. Lets keep spreading the word.
Jess