As Easterners, many of the problems of public lands in the West go right over our heads. I guess it’s a NIMBY thing. You know, Not In My Back Yard. Since the issue isn’t in our backyard, we give it little thought. We should.
The federal government, especially the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), institutes policies that are decimating the herds of wild horses and burros in the West. Since 1971, the BLM has “removed” 270,000 wild horses and burros from federal lands and taken away 20 million acres of their range. That leaves just 37,000 animals remaining, but another 12,000 are slated to be “removed” in 2010. The preferred way of rounding up these majestic beasts is to chase them with helicopters – freaking them out in the process and separating mothers from offspring.
Bison are another victim of government interference, this time mainly the State of Montana is the culprit. There is a well-spread myth that the Yellowstone bison – if they wander out of the National Park – will spread brucellosis to cattle. The problem with that argument is that there has never been a documented case of that happening. Never. And the cattle in surrounding areas are all vaccinated against brucellosis anyway. That still hasn’t stopped State of Montana-hired riflemen from slaughtering 6,631 Yellowstone bison since the winter of 1985-’86, including 1,616 in ’07-’08.
So what is really behind all this genocide of certain species? You guessed it – Western ranchers and the cattle industry.
There are 31,000 ranchers in the West who are utilizing 260 million acres of federal land (yes, you and I own it) to graze their cattle. And they pay a pittance for the opportunity. The cost is just $1.92 per Animal Unit Month (AUM). An AUM is defined as a cow and calf or 5 sheep or a horse. In other words, a cattleman pays $23.04 per year to graze a cow and her growing calf. No wonder it costs $52 million more per year in administrative costs than is collected in fees.
Cattle are not easy on the federal lands. They overgraze the land, leaving behind the undesirable weeds. They trample vegetation and compact the soil, causing erosion and soil loss. They foul streams and wetlands with fecal matter. With the BLM issuing 7.8 million AUM’s a year and the US Forest Service another 6 million AUM’s, you can imagine the impact of nearly 20 million non-native cattle on the environment.
There’s another cost. Each cow produces 600 liters per day of methane. That releases the yearly CO2 equivalent of burning 418 million gallons of gas or 19,263 railroad cars of coal. Yikes!
So what is the bottom line? Western cattlemen feel that it is their right to have nearly exclusive use of federal lands for their benefit. Wild horses and burros and bison be damned. And so the powerful cattlemen lobbyists pressure Western Senators and Congressmen and Governors to make sure that these animals don’t consume feed that they feel is for their cattle. The same mentality leads to the shooting of coyotes, wolves, mountain lions, etc. in the name of protecting their precious cattle.
Something is wrong here!
- Mountain Man and City Girl