get them cows off that streamside....

[Guest guest]

Environmentalists and ranchers alike are getting excited about a bill

that would have the federal government pay ranchers to give up their

rights to graze cattle and sheep on public lands in the West. The

legislation, soon to be introduced in Congress by Rep. Christopher

Shays (R-Conn.), calls for grazing allotments to be permanently

retired after the feds buy them up. The idea behind the bill comes

from veteran environmental activist Andy Kerr and his new project,

the Oregon-based National Public Lands Grazing Campaign. Kerr wants

to get cattle off public lands, where they harm streamside areas,

trigger erosion, threaten endangered species, and cause other

problems -- but he wants to do it without driving ranchers into

bankruptcy. Kerr argues that the buyout plan would pay for itself

because the current grazing program is a money-loser for the

government, and the damage that cattle inflict on public lands costs

taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars per year.

 

straight to the source: Salt Lake Tribune, Brent Israelsen, 09 Sep 03

<http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=1477>

 

from the Grist archives: Cattle prod -- why we need to push

livestock off public lands, in Soapbox