Dear HCN,
How crazy have we become?
Brent Israelsen writes in the May 24th HCN about ranchers wanting a
new $8 million dam on the Escalante River to supply water to raise
cattle feed in arid southern Utah.
With a surplus
of meat in the United States, it is time for livestock producers to
look for other options. When it takes 1.6 million gallons of water
to grow one acre of alfalfa, it would be good to look at better
land uses. Cheap land and cheap water have led to misuse of
millions of acres of Western lands. Escalante, Utah, should be
welcoming newcomers of different backgrounds to diversify their
economy.
Robert
Fanning
Spearfish, South Dakota
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline How crazy?.
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