Dear HCN,
I’m writing in response
to the article “Zero-Cow initiative splits Sierra Club” (HCN,
2/26/01: ‘Zero-Cow’ initiative splits Sierra Club). Before I left
New Mexico to pursue a graduate degree, I worked for several
academic, nongovernmental, and federal entities as a field
biologist. This work took me all over the Southwest, and to my
ecological eye, the damage caused by livestock grazing is nearly
omnipresent. I’ve seen the muddy downcut streams, lined only with
salt cedar, Russian olive, and cow pies. I’ve seen the mesquite
dune fields of southern New Mexico, which were described by early
railroad surveyors as having lush grass at the end of the 1800s.
I’ve cored ponderosas in the Jemez Mountains and seen doghair pines
decades old, the result of inadvertent fire suppression when cows
ate the grass which had historically burned and thinned these
stands. I’ve seen fences designed to keep livestock out of a public
nature preserve cut, and salt licks placed in the sensitive
riparian areas. Finally, I’ve surveyed the scientific literature
for data on the effect of livestock grazing on wildlife and seen
that for the majority of species, there is simply no information on
the results of this large-scale, uncontrolled experiment we are
conducting on 90 percent of Western public
lands.
When I left the Southwest, I felt entirely
hostile to the Western livestock industry. I still feel that
grazing on public lands is, in general, indefensible on ecological,
economic and political grounds.
However, on a
return trip last June, I went hiking with a friend in Canones
Creek, near Abiquiu, N.M. The banks and canyon bottom were lush
with willows, mertensia, columbines and native clematis. Along the
creek we saw an American dipper and a Mexican spotted owl. Rio
Grande cutthroat were numerous in the cold, clear water. Also there
were a couple of dozen cattle. But the stream was just fine,
beautiful.
Back at the trailhead, we encountered
the rancher in a dusty early-’80s sedan. He was an older Hispanic
man, whose name I can’t remember. We conferred about the stream,
how nice it was down at the bottom of the canyon. He asked after
his cattle, and was on his way to account for them himself. It was
an entirely pleasant conversation. This was a man who cared about
his animals, who took the time to check them, and I feel sure that
his oversight was in part responsible for the preservation of this
stream.
This article pointed out a valuable
distinction, one which I learned myself on this hike: The grazers
of northern New Mexico do not deserve to be painted with the same
brush as most “welfare cowboys.”
Norm
Douglas
Durham, North
Carolina
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Not all grazers are ‘welfare cowboys’.
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