Heroes have always come with the West. When Indians blocked homesteaders, the cavalry came. When cattle barons closed the open range, President Cleveland reopened it with the Unlawful Enclosures Act of 1885. When aridity slowed settlement, the Bureau of Reclamation built dams. When Western forests succumbed to flames and cutting, Gifford Pinchot’s Forest Service pledged […]
Karl Hess Jr.
Posted inMay 1, 1995: Land grants under the microscope
If rain doesn’t fall, the money will
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Drought returned to the West last summer, with a little help from the federal government. Ranchers from Oregon to New Mexico – their herds grown too abundant as a result of a well-intentioned drought relief program – let grass-starved cows and sheep strip parched rangelands bare. The emergency feed program, run […]
Posted inNovember 1, 1993: Sunbelt confrontation
Babbitt inherited a mess; his plan will make it worse
The authors argue that Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt’s Rangeland Reform ’94 proposal will do more harm than good. To read this article, download this HCN issue in PDF format. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Babbitt inherited a mess; his plan will make it worse.