Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Understanding the ‘New’ West: Whither the Public Lands?

It doesn’t matter if you’re a logger, rancher, environmentalist, agency employee, local resident, or someone else with a strong feeling about public land, the past twenty to thirty years can’t be called terribly progressive. For many, in fact, we may be farther away from Stegner’s vision than ever. And as we tip over the top of the bell-shaped curve of the so-called ‘New West’ and enter a period dominated by 21st century anxieties, such as climate change, high fuel prices, water shortages and food security, how we view our public lands will be crucially important. The first step, however, is to actually leave the 20th century behind. This observation struck me a few weeks ago while attending a conference in Boise, organized by the Idaho Chapter of the Society for Range Management (SRM). Titled a “Western Congress on Rangelands,” the two-day event featured hopeful stories of collaboration, wildlife/cattle coexistence, and innovative management by speakers from the ranching, academic, and agency communities. The overall tone, however, was surprisingly “retro.” With a sinking heart, I learned that a handful of anti-grazing activists are still stoking the ‘range wars’ that dominated the 1980s and 1990s. I listened gloomily to the defensive tone of presenters as they catalogued an all-too familiar landscape of litigation, appeals, bureaucratic inertia, and political gridlock...read more

2 comments:

Brett said...

Why are these people disppointed about the fact that the issues will not go away? It was silly to think they would just evaporate.

Truth be told, the Cattle Free Crowd is just that, and they are no less zealous than they were during the Babbitt years. On the flip side, the Sagers are just as fired up as they ever were. It is no secret what my perspective is on this matter.

How, exactly, are we supposed to compromise with people who see the proper role of the public lands as nothing but a giant wildlife preserve? This vision is completely out of phase with the way that these lands were organized at the turn of last century. Such a reogranization plan would be the biggest, most controversial move since homesteading and the removal of the natives from their land.

Come to think of it, James Watt had a "compromise" for this problem, but it seemed nobody wanted to play ball.

Frank DuBois said...

Brett, please email me, thanks.
flankcinch@hotmail.com