Ranchers and environmentalists go to bat for El Dorado grasslands

Ed Borba's hat, mustache, oversized belt buckle and boots suggest a rancher. The bumper sticker on his truck completes the picture. It reads, "Eat Beef: The West Wasn't Won on Salad." The cattleman's West, though, hasn't been won definitively. Borba and others in El Dorado County are fighting to preserve the ranching way of life and its contribution to the local economy. The struggle is against development pressures, and they've found allies among the environmentalists who have often been the enemies of ranchers. "Ed took a chance and picked up a phone and called me," said Jamie Beutler, chairwoman of the California Democratic Party's Rural Caucus and an environmental advocate. Republican rancher and Democratic environmentalist have come together this time to try to preserve grasslands – for grazing and for wildlife...more