A Freeloader's Range War

Clive Bundy's "war" to protect his cattle illegally grazing on our public lands selfishly ignores the fact that all of us enjoy access to these lands - not just Mr. Bundy - which requires that they be managed responsibly.  No individual, company, or industry should be allowed to trample these lands, and as most readers of my blog know, my preference is to minimize our impact on wildlands.   Most ranchers grazing their cattle on public lands pay a fee like any business that profits from the destruction of our lands, yet Clive Bundy stopped paying his fee in 1993 while over 900 of his cattle mowed down vegetation and eroded stream beds on over 150 square miles of desert habitat. 

Mr. Bundy has been profiting from his illegal destruction of public lands for nearly two decades.  I  do not agree with every decision the Bureau of Land Management makes regarding our wildlands, but I don't believe that anarchy and rule breaking will lead to a better outcome.   Others that enjoy access to our public lands abide by the rules - from things as seemingly trivial as packing out their trash, to applying for permits to hold large events, or enjoying off-road vehicle recreation on designated roads or areas.  If everyone that enjoyed access to our lands was allowed to do whatever they wanted, there would be a true tragedy of the commons.  Our public lands are under enough stress as it is; we don't need people like Mr. Bundy staking an oversized claim to something we all own and must share.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How Many Plants Species in the Desert?

Would you expect that California's desert hosts gives the redwood forest a run for its money when it comes to plant biodiversity?  It's easy to take the desert for granted when all you want to do is zoom through it on the highway and get to your destination. But you are passing by an amazing and biologically diverse ecosystem.  There are at least 2,450 native plant species found in California's desert, according to a great article by Chris Clarke on desert life , posted at KCET. If you want to learn more about our amazing deserts, join Desert Biodiversity, a new organization dedicated to exploring, respecting and defending the deserts.
Read more

Mowing Vegetation as Mitigation: Trump Administration Practice Goes Unchallenged

Image
The Trump administration is again touting the practice of mowing thousands of acres of desert vegetation as environmentally-responsible, despite a preponderance of evidence to the contrary.  The draft environmental review of the Yellow Pine Solar project in southern Nevada claims that vegetation mowing - as opposed to bulldozing - will yield positive outcomes that are highly doubtful.   This positive framing of the construction practice misleads the public and decisionmakers and ignores decades of scientific research regarding the impacts of mechanized disturbance on desert wildlands.  According to the draft environmental review: "Mowing is becoming the standard on large site-type ROWs to prevent permanent impairment of public lands (as mandated by FLPMA) and in lieu of off-site mitigation... Mowing methods are designed to help preserve soils, biological soil crusts, soil seed banks, native perennial vegetation diversity and structure, and cacti and yucca species, and t...
Read more

Unlikely Allies: Trump Administration Joins Enviros to Plan Solar Project on Prime Tortoise Habitat

Image
The Trump Administration this month released an assessment that concludes that a solar developer can crush and mow vegetation across several square miles of prime desert tortoise habitat, and still consider those lands as viable habitat for the species.  The silence of some national-level environmental groups regarding the unconventional and unscientific conclusion appears to signal their comfort taking risks with a species already facing significant peril, as well as these groups' inability to champion more sustainable locations to generate clean energy in Nevada. The biological opinion released by the Trump Administration constitutes the official position of the Fish and Wildlife Service regarding the impacts of the proposed Gemini Solar project; its curious willingness to declare heavily disturbed lands as viable tortoise habitat was necessary for the project's approval because the project would be built on lands that have been identified as a vital habitat linkage sustai...
Read more