Dear HCN,
Buried within the text of
Peter Aleshire’s informative story on the Southwest Center for
Biological Diversity is a quote from Kieran Suckling which
describes the country where the Malpai Group works as “not a
national forest allotment” and “mostly private land with
low-elevation grassland” (HCN, 3/30/98).
On his
one and (as far as I know) only trip to the Malpai Borderlands
region, Suckling spent most of his day looking at a national forest
allotment that lies at an elevation range of between 5,000 and
6,800 feet. Indeed, with the notable exception of the Gray Ranch,
most of the ranches involved with the Malpai Group include high
percentages of public land within their
boundaries.
I was with Kieran Suckling during his
entire visit and I believe he knew where he was. Perhaps it just
didn’t fit his paradigm of a “ruined forest.” Kind of makes me
wonder a little about his other “facts.”
Bill
McDonald
Douglas,
Arizona
The writer is a
rancher with the Malpai Borderlands
Group.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Does Suckling know where he is?.
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