With every ranch that goes,
something else is lost

By Greg Lakes, editor
Headwaters News
Oct. 9, 2002

Western ranchers are often in the headlines, and they're often on the receiving end of bad news.

In 1970, there were 2 million ranches in the West; last year, there were barely 1 million and the number was still falling. The amount of U.S. beef exported has increased over the past 20 years, but that's been offset by an equal increase in imports.

In 1980, Americans ate an average of $355 worth of beef each year; last year, the average was $200.

The result has been a big gap in the middle of spectrum: Huge corporate ranches and big feedlots are profitable, and operations that run less than 100 head are considered hobbies and the owner probably has a day job.

What's missing are the average-size, traditionally Western operations of a few hundred head and a decent living for the family.

Some sell out to rich out-of-staters and others subdivide. Some are pushed under by environmental regulations -- the endangered species act is arguably the most hated, but tighter rules on grazing public land have forced cutbacks in many states.

Last month, a federal appellate court limited grazing in Idaho's Owyhee Canyons, though it stopped short of eliminating grazing on 68 allotments as environmentalists' lawsuit asked.

Forest Service officials imposed limits on grazing on Colorado forests in June to protect the range from damage worsened by drought, and closed most allotments in New Mexico to keep cattle from congregating in stream bottoms.

Some environmental groups have turned to buying grazing leases to get the cattle off. Santa Fe-based Forest Guardians just acquired a 644-acre tract and now controls rights on 2,637 acres in New Mexico. Arizona's Grand Canyon Trust has quietly been buying grazing rights for about three years and has retired about 325,000 acres of range on the Colorado Plateau.

The boldest plan was last April, when a coalition of groups proposed that Congress allot $3.3 billion to buy ranchers' grazing allotments at about double the current market rate. The plan stirred excitement and suspicion but no real change yet.

But for every rancher that sells out or subdivides, something is lost. Once-public access is unlikely under the wealthy, new out-of-state owner. Vistas and open space disappear behind new subdivisions, particularly on the fringes of the West's sprawling communities.

And as Roger Coupal writes above, winter habitat and a quantifiable piece of the state economy may be sacrificed for ranchettes.

In mid-July, a Spokesman-Review's editorial made the point about farmers burning their grass fields. It's a dirty and potentially harmful practice, but the alternative may well be worse:

"There probably won't be field burning on the Rathdrum prairie 10 years from now -- nor grass growing. In place of the vast green carpet of grass, mint and rolling sprinklers will be subdivisions with names like Prairie View, Prairie Haven and Bluegrass Estate.

The dozen or so days of smoke will be replaced by car exhaust pumped onto state Highway 41 and Post Falls arterials, treated sewage drained into the Spokane River, and the unrelieved vistas of suburban sprawl. ..."

Have an opinion? Join the discussion in this week's forum.

Or click here to view all our forums.