In the Battle for the American West, the Cowboys Are Losing

Jim Carlton

Ranchers who rely on public land to raise their cattle say they have shrinking access to wide open spaces, grass and water because of an array of regulations. Over the last four decades, the number of cows grazing on public lands has dropped by nearly half. In some cases, government officials curb grazing to protect natural resources from damage caused by cattle, and create preserves for threatened species. In others, officials close land to ranchers to give more access to the public for hiking and other activities which fuel the fast-growing recreation industry. As frustrations peaked, in extreme instances, some cowboys have taken up arms against the government for what they say are overly restrictive policies. Ranchers took over a National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in 2016; before that, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy mounted a standoff with federal officials. Since 1979, when the environmental movement kicked into gear, the number of ranchers permitted on Bureau of Land Management-owned lands fell from about 22,000 with 12 million permitted livestock, mostly cows, to 18,000 ranchers with about seven million livestock, according to the most recent government estimates, from 2016. The number of ranchers and cows on public lands continued to drop even as cattle prices stabilized and rose. Environmental groups opposed to this type of grazing are glad to see ranching decline on public lands. They say Western ranchers have long taken advantage of a system that gave them access to publicly owned land at cut-rate prices...MORE