Grazing on federal land under threat because of drought, can no longer support wildlife and livestock

There's not much anyone can tell Barry Sorensen about Idaho's Big Desert that he doesn't know. Sorensen, 72, and his brother have been running cattle in this sere landscape all their lives, and they've weathered every calamity man and nature have thrown at them — until this drought came along. Sitting recently in a rustic cabin where he spends many months looking after his cattle, Sorensen's voice was tinged with defeat. "To be honest with you," he said, "I think our way of life is pretty much going to be over in 10 years." Years-long drought has pummeled millions of acres of federal rangeland in the West into dust, leaving a devastating swath from the Rockies to the Pacific. Add to that climate change, invasive plants and wildfire seasons that are longer and more severe, and conditions have reached a breaking point in many Western regions. The land can no longer support both livestock and wildlife. "All these issues — it's changing the landscape of the West, dramatically," said Ken Wixom, who grazes 4,000 ewes and lambs on BLM land in the Snake River Plain. For public lands ranchers like him who depend on federal acreage to sustain their animals, the mood ranges from brooding to surrender. The situation was spelled out in stark terms in two recent letters from the federal Bureau of Land Management. They told the ranchers what they already knew: Unless something changes, the days of business as usual on the 154 million acres of federal grazing land are over. This drought-stressed range in Idaho can no longer sustain livestock, the letter warned. Better plan to reduce herd numbers by at least 30% for the spring turnout. "I knew it was coming," said Sorensen, squinting as the afternoon sun poured through a window. Livestock shares the range with wildlife, including the greater sage grouse, a species dependent on sagebrush and native grasslands to survive. The grouse population has plummeted by 93% in the last 50 years, and its habitat has shrunk to one-quarter of its former 240,000-square-mile range. If the federal government grants endangered species protection to the grouse sometime next year, ranching on federal land will be cut back even more, federal officials say. In some regions, public lands ranching might end altogether. Climate change has altered weather patterns so much that vegetation in some regions is transforming from abundant sagebrush, grass and forbs to a new landscape of weeds and cheat grass — fast-burning fuels that propel wildfire and destroy rangeland. In southern New Mexico, the transformation has gone one step further — from sagebrush to weeds to sand-blown desert — and biologists say the pattern is likely to be repeated across the West. If that happens, the economics of cattle ranching will unravel...more 

The L.A. Times article by Julie Cart goes on to "debate" grazing fees, the impact of grazing on the ecosystem and the potential impact of a sage grouse listing.  However, of interest to me is the juxtaposition of two ranchers and their attitude towards all this.  Right now I'm hearing both sides when I talk to ranchers.  The article also covers sheep rancher Ken Wixom this way: 

Ranchers have responded by opposing efforts to list the grouse as endangered. This spring, Wixom, the sheep rancher, met with officials in Washington, D.C., to discuss the sage grouse. His advice to fellow ranchers is to stop complaining and start fighting. "If you are in a fistfight, the last thing you want to do is start crying," Wixom said, leaning against the cab of his pickup. "If we come out here and say, "We're doomed,' they are just going to hit you harder."

"I think our way of life is pretty much going to be over in 10 years" said rancher Sorensen, and the article closes with him:


"If land management agencies truly take science into account, the Forest Service and the BLM will have to greatly reduce grazing in ways we haven't seen before," said Travis Bruner, the organization's executive director. "A lot of ranchers will probably see it as a game changer." Sorensen does. "I think it's inevitable" that the sage grouse will eventually push cattle off the range, he said. When that happens, it will trigger a cascade of ruinous changes to an ecosystem that has adapted to livestock, he said. "All of this ground is going to go to hell. There won't be any cattle to eat the grass. That grass will burn. Then there will be no sage grouse left."

This leaves me wondering:  Is the demise of livestock grazing on federal land inevitable?  Will the  stand and fight approach carry the day?  If not will it at least slow the hammer aimed at ranchers?  And finally, what would be the effect on the resource and the economy of permanently removing livestock from all public lands?  Would appreciate your comments or thoughts on any of this.  If you don't want to comment here please send me an email at mscowboy@gmail.com