Preservation of native species on public lands faces an uncertain future. Should our public lands should be used to subsidize private industry, no matter what the ecological costs?

One example of the ecological cost of ranching is the conflict between livestock and endangered Mexican gray wolves. The lobo was reintroduced to New Mexico and Arizona in 1998 after being driven to extinction in the wild. Under pressure from the livestock industry, wolves have been increasingly scapegoated for problems and, if trends don't change, could become extinct in the wild for the second time.

Join Governor Richardson in calling for the US Fish & Wildlife Service to put an end to this senseless wolf slaughter. Send a letter now!

Use or Abuse

The current state of our public lands show that logging, grazing and other resource consumptive uses have not benefited native biodiversity and healthy ecosystems. Perhaps we will learn how to use the land while sustaining native species and ecosystems. But we should admit that we have not successfully done this, on a landscape-wide scale, anyplace. It would be a prudent and reasonable goal to make preservation of biological diversity and ecosystem sustainability the primary function of public lands.

Our Pristine Wilderness

In every wilderness area, the Forest Service spends more on livestock management than they do on wilderness management.
Livestock Numbers on National Forest Lands
Wilderness or Feedlot?

Out of Balance

As a result of being consumed beyond their ability to renew themselves, plant and grass species are disappearing from our ranges. Cattle can denude land of vegetation causing greater soil erosion. Hooves compact soils resulting in reduced water infiltration. The destruction of vegetation exposes the ground to greater solar radiation increasing the evaporation of moisture, leaving those plants not eaten by cattle at increased risk of dying from lack of water.
Read about our riparian recovery efforts..