A Cowfree 21st Century
This page was last updated on August 31, 2011 .

This page is dedicated to the proposition that the commercial production of domestic livestock is no longer an appropriate use of the public lands that make up America's Natural Heritage. Articles, papers, links, and other information in support of A Cowfree 21st Century for the public lands are posted here. 

Note: The Cowfree Posting Date (cfp) is given where the actual date of the linked material was not readily apparent.

Contents

• Cow-free Wilderness in Jeopardy. Sierra Club, August, 2011
• Public Lands Ranching: The Scourge of Wildlife. Mike Hudak. January 5, 2009
• Cattle Grazing on Federal Public Lands Contributes to Global Warming. Mike Hudak. Nov. 1, 2008
• Rangeland Exclosures of Northeastern Oregon: Stories They Tell (1936�2004). Charles Grier Johnson, Jr. General Technical Report PNW-GTR-724. August 2007
• Updating the Animal Unit Month. John G. Carter. Revised March 17, 2008.
• Dutch Henry Falls, Moses Coulee, Washington. A nature preserve owned by The Nature Conservancy. April, 2007.
  RealPlayer     Google/Flash     MySpace/Flash     Photo Essay
• Pintler Creek Unit, Joseph Creek Wildlife Area, Washington. April 2007.
  RealPlayer   Google/Flash   Photo index with Narrative    Slides
• Desert or Pasture? Cattle and the American Southwest. A 2002 documentary by Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity.     RealPlayer     Media Player     Google/Flash
  
• Western Turf Wars: The Politics of Public Lands Ranching By Mike Hudak
  • Under the hood of public rangeland management: a book review of "Western Turf Wars"
• The report is in: Cattle are the biggest source of global warming, producing more greenhouse gases than cars!
  • Livestock�s long shadow: Environmental issues and options. By H. Steinfeld, P. Gerber, T. Wassenaar, V. Castel, M. Rosales, C. de Haan - 2006, 390 pp. A FAO report
• Watershed Conditions: Uinta Wilderness, Utah (West Fork Black�s Fork, East Fork Black�s Fork, Lake Fork. Middle Fork Beaver Creek, Burnt Fork).  Dr. John Carter. October 30, 2006
  • Appendix 1 (maps)
  • Appendix 2 (photos)
  • Appendix 3 (data)

• Watershed Conditions: Uinta Wilderness, Utah (West Fork Black�s Fork, East Fork Black�s Fork, Lake Fork. Middle Fork Beaver Creek, Burnt Fork).  Dr. John Carter. October 30, 2006

• You've Come a Long Way, Cowboy: Ten Truths & Trends in the New American West. Sonoran Institute. September 29, 2006

• Western Public Lands Grazing: The True Costs - A slideshow of grazing issues and impacts. Sierra Club. 2006

• Videos by Mike Hudak: During 2003 and 2004 Mike Hudak interviewed grassroots activists and former government personnel about the management of livestock on public lands in the United States. The videos are based on those interviews

  • Livestock�s Role in the Decline of the Desert Tortoise Steve Johnson
  • Ranching Politics in Academia. Robert Amundson
  • Holistic Management of Rangelands�Consequences for Avian Species. Clait E. Braun
  • Incredibly Low Grazing Fees On Federal Public Lands. Len Carpenter
  • Governmental Inflexibility of Managing Grazing During Drought. Len Carpenter
  • The Future of Ranching on Western Public Lands. Patrick Diehl
  • Cattle Removal Allows Bruneau River�s Environmental Recovery. Bob Phillips
  • Land Management Deficiencies of the U.S. Forest Service. Ray Neiwert
  • Pro-Ranching Social Pressure on Forest Service Employees. Bill Worf
  • Changes by G. W. Bush Administration in BLM Management Martha Hahn
  • Political Interference at BLM Results in Unsound Grazing Management Doug Troutman
  • Political Pressure on Forest Service Employees Don Oman
  • Animal Damage Control. Renee Galeano-Popp
  • Livestock Grazing Damages Pine Creek Basin. Bill Worf
  • Holistic Resource Management. Steve Gallizioli
  • The Gunnison Basin Gunnison Sage-Grouse Working Group. Clait E. Braun
  • Cattle Grazing Disrupts Natural Fire in Western Forests. Leon Fager
  • Livestock�s Role in Spreading Weeds and Pinion-Juniper. Steve Monsen
  • Livestock Grazing at Trout Creek (Sawtooth National Forest, ID). Don Oman
  • BLM's Management of Livestock. Doug Troutman
  • Livestock Grazing in the Black Hills. Charmaine White Face (Zumila Wobaga)
  • The Economics of Public Lands Ranching. Doug Barber
  • Interaction of Cattle and Burned Rangeland. Jim Prunty
  • The Campaign to Protect the Golden Trout Wilderness, Todd Shuman
  • Forest Service Politics, Renee Galeano-Popp
  •  The Influence of Idaho Watersheds Project on BLM, Martha Hahn
  •  Politics in Public Lands Management, Steve Gallizioli
  • The Montana Conflict Between Cattle and Bison, Ralph Maughan
  • Livestock Management on the Twin Falls Ranger District, Don Oman
  • Genesis of RangeNet, Larry Walker (Google/Flash version)
  • Soil Erosion at South Parker Creek, Bill Worf

• Do Cows Matter? Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge: Before and After. Dr. Steven G. Herman. 2004

• A Cautionary Tale: Rogue ranchers threaten Western trout water. Ted Williams. June 2006 (in Fly Rod & Reel Magazine)

• Sacred Cows. Ted Williams. March, 2006 (in Audubon)

• Free High Resolution Public Domain Images from RangeBiome.org

• Wasting the West: How Welfare Ranchers and Their Livestock Are Damaging Public Land. emagazine.com

• Investigation into the Decline of Populations of the Lesser Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus Ridgway) in Southeastern New Mexico. John Loy Hunt. December 17, 2005

• Progress Report: Grazing Effects Monitoring in the Golden Trout Wilderness. Hugh Safford March 22, 2005 (PDF) 

• Sagebrush: A Sea Fragmented into Lakes, Ponds, and Puddles. Bruce Welch. 2005

• Livestock Exclusion and Below Ground Ecosystem Responses in Riparian Meadows of Eastern Oregon.  Kauffman et.al., 2004 

• Before & After Grazing: A Diorama (includes high resolution images suitable for downloading to print posters). Maricopa Audubon Society

• BLM Grazing Program Evaluation: Oregon & Washington - 1989

• The Gallizioli Papers (Posted Nov. 2004)

  • Effects of Livestock Grazing on Wildlife. by Steve Gallizioli, February 3, 1979
  • Overgrazing on Desert Bighorn Ranges. by Steve Gallizioli, 1977 (PDF)
  • Overgrazing: More Deadly Than Any Hunter   By Steve Gallizioli, October 1977
  • Impacts of Livestock on Southwestern Wildlife. by Steve Gallizioli, March 13, 1977
  • Livestock vs. Wildlife. by Steve Gallizioli, March 1976

• GRAZING OUT OF CONTROL Failed Grazing Management on the National Forests of New Mexico and Arizona, 1999-2003. Forest Guardians. November 2004. (PDF)

• South Warner Wilderness. by Bill Worf. (July 29, 2001)

• Commercial Livestock Grazing in Grand Teton National Park. by Robin Smith (June 2004)

• Grazing Use On Public Lands in Owyhee County, Idaho Ada County Fish and Game League And Idaho Bird Hunters (April 2004) (PDF)

• Riparian Songbird Abundance a Decade After Cattle Removal on Hart Mountain and Sheldon National Wildlife Refuges. PSW-GTR-191. 2004. (final proof)

• Core Sampling of Selected High Cold Desert Region Wetlands in the Sweetwater River Drainage. Raymond V. Corning, August 28, 2002

• OUR Western Public Lands (video collection: online, CD/DVD, cable TV))

• "Cowzilla and the Wild Things" (RealVideo 8 minutes) [Dial-up] [Broadband] (November, 2003)

• Radical Self-Lobotomy, Larry Walker, September 29, 2003

• Kent's Open Range Archive

• There is No Federal "Open Range" 8/31/03

• Ecological effects of ranching: A six-point critique. BioScience (August, 2003)

• Economic Value of Golden Trout Fishing in the Golden Trout Wilderness, California. A Report for California Trout. March 21, 2003

• Livestock Grazing and the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan: A Conservation Perspective. Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection. May 2001

• Impacts of nineteenth century grazing at Capitol Reef National Park as determined through packrat midden analysis. Great Basin Naturalist. 1997

• Livestock, Degraded Ecosystems and Biodiversity. by John Carter for Western Watersheds Project. November 15, 2002

• Dislodging the Sacred Cow: Tools to Fight Ranching. Forest Guardians

  • Dislodging the Sacred Cow: A summary of ongoing and past litigation. Forest Guardians

• Response of Vegetation and Breeding Birds to the Removal of Cattle on the San Pedro River, Arizona (U.S.A.). David Krueper, Jonathan Bart, and Terrell D. Rich. Conservation Biology, Pages 607�615, Volume 17, No. 2, April 2003

• The Delicate Balance of Dragonflies Watersheds Messenger, Spring 2003

• Trouble in Paradise: Livestock Grazing in Hawaii Watersheds Messenger, Spring 2003

• ONDA submits comments on proposed rulemaking for BLM's grazing administration regulations. April 16, 2003

• ONDA submits comments on the Crooked River National Grasslands Vegetation and Livestock Grazing plan. March 5, 2003

• The Cry of the Wolf in the West Watersheds Messenger, Spring 2003

• Seeps, Springs and Riparian Zones of Selected Public Land Regions, Volume 4 Post Season Grazing Report: A Fourth Year Update Cassia, Oneida, Power, and Twin Falls Counties, Idaho. Western Watersheds Project, 2002

• Survey Of Middle Fork Beaver Creek and West Fork Blacks Fork: Uinta Wilderness, Utah. Dr. John Carter, 7/8/02

• Livestock Grazing Contributes to Fire Hazard Watersheds Messenger, Summer 2002

• Economics 101: Ranching is a Losing Proposition Watersheds Messenger, Summer 2002

• The Truth About Land Use in the United States Watersheds Messenger, Summer 2002

• Subsidized Federal Grazing Won't Prevent Sprawl Watersheds Messenger, Summer 2002

• Home on the Holistic Range Watersheds Messenger, Summer 2002

• Public Lands Ranching: Welfare State in the West.  Watersheds Messenger, Spring 2002

• Biological Treasures of Mount Harrison Live on the Edge Watersheds Messenger, Spring 2002

• Watershed Restoration Requires Beaver Restoration Watersheds Messenger, Spring 2002

• Saving the Sagebrush Steppe from Our Footprints Watersheds Messenger, Spring 2002

• Co-Opted by Cowboys Watersheds Messenger, Winter 2001

• Our Mismanged Public Lands Watersheds Messenger, Winter 2001

• Bison, Not Cattle, Belong in the West. Watersheds Messenger, Summer 2001

• Camping (and Coping) With cow Poop. Watersheds Messenger, Summer 2001

• Defining the Management of Our Public Lands Watersheds Messenger, Summer 2001

• Public Lands Ranching: What Price Obstinence? Watersheds Messenger, Summer 2001

• Livestock Spoil the Native Diversity on America's Public Lands. Watersheds Messenger, Fall, 2001

• Ranchers to Public-Lands Managers: See No Evil, Speak No Evil. Watersheds Messenger, Fall, 2001

• Notes from the Understory: Monitoring Idaho's Public Lands. Watersheds Messenger, Fall, 2001

• Plants in Peril: Hard Times for Blue Elderberries. Watersheds Messenger, Fall, 2001

• A Range is Not a Home Where Yellowstone's Buffalo Roam. Watersheds Messenger, Fall, 2001

• A Cow Battlefield on the Big Lost. Watersheds Messenger, Fall, 2000

• Our Public Lands Dressed in Brown. Watersheds Messenger, Fall 2000

• Citizen Groups Sue Forest Service Over Grazing Fee. February 25, 2003

  • The Forest Service Western Grazing Fee: Frequently Asked Questions

• Cattle grazing and the loss of biodiversity in the East Bay. 2003

  • EBRPD Grazing Policy Violations Report. January 20, 2003

• Livestock Grazing and the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. May 2001

• Livestock Threat to Aplomados (PDF) from Forest Guardians Critical Habitat Petition, 9/30/02

• THE DONUT DIET: The Too-Good-to-Be-True Claims of Holistic Management. George Wuerthner. cfp 1/6/03

• The Current Status of Soil Structure Degradation in Queensland Cropping Soils. D. McGarry, G. Sharp, S.G. Bray. 1999

• Grazing Intensity and the Diversity of Grasshoppers, Butterflies and Trap-Nesting Bees and Wasps. Andreas Kruess and Teja Tscharntke. 2002

• Ranchers in the West should call it quits. Arizona Daily Sun, 12/08/02

• Study Finds Full Cost of Federal Grazing Program May Exceed $500 Million October 2002

  • Assessing the Full Cost of the federal Grazing Program (PDF)

• Public Lands Ranchers: Heading for the Last Roundup? VegNews, October 2002

• Voluntary Buyout Proposed to 26,000 Public Lands Ranchers Watersheds Messenger, Summer 2002

  • Hooved Locusts and Bovine Bulldozers: An Ecologist's View of Public Lands in the West

  • Economics 101: Ranching is a Losing Proposition

  • Welfare Ranching Set for September Publication

  • Subsidized Federal Grazing Won't Prevent Sprawl

  • Livestock Grazing Contributes to Fire Hazard

  • Home on the Holistic Range

• "NATIVE GRASSLAND HEALTH, USE, and LACK OF SCIENCE CONCERNING LIVESTOCK INTERACTIONS: An example from BLM California", 74 reasons why BLM's environmental grazing documents are inadequate. Craig Dremann, Spring 1998

• Environmental Protections Being Gutted by Ranchers' Allies in Congress. Martin Taylor, 7/26/02

• Grazing Administration Responsibilities on the Santa Fe National Forest (internal letter by David M. Stewart, Director of Rangeland Management, Southwestern Region, USDA Forest Service. June 2002)

• Public Rangelands Without Cows? Rangelands, August 2000  

• "Safe for Cows" and other Excerpts from the Works of Aldo Leopold (cfp 6/16/02)

• Do No Harm. Larry Walker 6/7/02

• Public Lands Ranching: Welfare State in the West. Watersheds Messenger, Spring 2002

• Stewardship or Rhetoric? Kirsten Stade, 4/22/02

• Impact of Grazing on 153 Species of Southwestern Birds. Larry Walker April 2002

• Cryptobiotic Crust in the Sonoran Desert

• An educational tool about cattle grazing. The Cactus Wren-dition, Spring 2002

• RangeNet's Photo Album of Western Public Lands Grazing. 8 new "pages" added, Jan-Mar, 2002

• Papers by Raymond V. Corning (March, 2002) 

  • Diminished Sweetwater River Flows From the High Cold Desert Region of Wyoming (February 13, 2002) now in HTML & PDF

  • The linked Stream Stressors - Water Fluctuation, Sedimentation, and Erosion 

• An Assault on Biodiversity in the Name of Wildlands & Habitat Preservation Greg Schneider. February 25, 2002

• Maintaining Bovine Readiness at Fort Hood: Clearing the Way for Cattle on Texas Public Lands. The Touchstone. Nov/Dec 2001

• National Public Lands Grazing Campaign

• Conservation Management of America's Public Lands: An Assessment and Recommendations for Progress 25 Years After FLPMA

• Sierra Club Glen Canyon Group Calls for End to Public Lands Ranching in Seven Southern Utah Counties. press release. 8/23/01

• Agents of Change: Cattle and Sheep Grazing. CP-LUHNA. 12/13/2000

• The Internalization of Degraded Streams as Normal. Suzanne C. Fouty. cfp:7/2/01

• Our Federal Public Lands: Wildlife Habitat or Cattle Pasture? Satya, June 2001 (917 words)

• BLM Grazing Statistics: 1947 - 2000. Western Watersheds Project, Inc. June 2001

• Our public lands: Wildlife habitat or cattle pasture? Mike Hudak. Spring 2001 (499 words)

• Livestock Grazing Has Nearly Destroyed Western Arid Lands. John Carter. 6/1/01.

• Topsoil and Civilization. Tom Dale & Vernon Gill Carter. 1955

• Sage Grouse Strut Their Stuff. Smithsonian Magazine. June 2001

• What is killing Montana's fish and polluting your water supply? Livestock Overgrazing Riparian Areas. Stephen Butt, updated April 2001

• Where the buffalo roam, again: Humans are disappearing from Great Plains as bison and other wildlife return San Francisco Chronicle, 4/22/01

• Seventy of Arizona's 116 State Threatened or Endangered Species Have Cattle Grazing as a Causal Factor in Their Imperilment. Robert Witzeman, March 2001

• Extreme Pleasures of East Bay Regional Cow Parks. Greg Schneider, March 2001

• Yellowstone: Held hostage by cheeseburgers. Bruce Gourley, 2001

• Our Federal Public Lands: For ranchers or wildlife? Mike Hudak, March 2001

• Statement from George Wuerthner Concerning the Arguments in opposition to the End Commercial Livestock Grazing Initiative. George Wuerthner, 3/19/01 

• End Commercial Grazing on Federal Public Land -- An Argument. Todd Shuman, March 2001

• Save Our Public Lands - End Public Lands Grazing: A Declaration from the RangeNet 2000 Symposium

  • Reno Grazing Conference Launches National Campaign to End Public Lands Grazing

• Why the Sierra Club Should Adopt a Policy Opposing Commercial Livestock Grazing on Public Lands. Canyon Echo, May-June, 2000

• The Bureau of Land Management Has Failed to Implement the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of October 21, 1976: in "An Open Letter to the Sierra Club Board of Directors in support of a "Zero-Cud" Conservation Policy", Larry Walker, July 16, 1999

• Commercial Livestock Production on Federal Public Lands: Environmental Destruction at Taxpayer Expense. by Mike Hudak, June 29, 2000

• Livestock Industry Myths. George Wuerthner, 1999

• Review and Analysis of Cattle Grazing Effects in the Arid West, With Implications for BLM Grazing Management in Southern Utah. Allison Jones. February, 2001 

• Cows 'R' Us, Mooing Into the Millennium. Jon Marvel. 4/19/2000

• Cash Cows: The Giveaway of the West. Mercury News November 1999 Note: Mercury News redesigned their website in May 2002 with considerable degradation to this report. The linked page is just one of the sections of the original report, with links to other surviving sections at the bottom of that page.

• Livestock Harmless? A Checklist. George Wuerthner. 2000

• Are Cows Just Domestic Bison? George Wuerthner. 2000

• Deficiencies of Sierra Club Policy Code 10.5 “Grazing On The Public Lands” (Adopted September 12, 1992) and Arguments for the Adoption of a Provision Opposing the Grazing of Domestic Livestock on Federal Public Lands. by Michael J. Hudak, February 27, 2000

• Pronghorns losing out to cattle. The Arizona Republic. 3/23/01

• RangeNet 2000 Symposium. 11/28-29/2000. (includes RealAudio tapes of presentations).

• Livestock Assistance Program: Farm Services Agency Hands Out $237 Million in 1990's to Cattle Ranchers While Conservation Programs Languish Due to Lack of Funds. Forest Guardians. 1/15/00

• Yellowstone Held Hostage by Million-dollar Cheeseburgers! Bruce Gourley. 1/8/2001

• The Cowboy and His Cow. Edward Abbey. April 1985

• The City Slicker's Guide to Welfare Ranching in Colorado. New West Research. December 2000

• Conquest of the Land Through 7,000 Years. Dr. W. C. Lowdermilk 1953 rev. 1975

• As Grazing Permits Expire, Window of Opportunity for Range Reform Opens. National Wildlife Federation, 1999

• U.S. subsidies prop up cattle grazing in West: Do funds reward the rich and promote damage to the land? Knight Ridder Newspapers November 28, 1999

• The Hall of Shame. New West Research October 1999

• Chewing up the landscape: Overgrazing is tied to border desertification. Arizona Daily Star 1/31/99

• The Taxpayer's Guide to Subsidized Ranching in the Southwest. Researched and written by Patricia Wolff. Produced by the Center for Biological Diversity and New West Research September 1999

• Photo Tour of Sacramento Allotment, in the Lincoln National Forest, New Mexico. Southwest Center for Biological Diversity, July 23, 1999

• Wolf Restoration A Success? George Wuerthner, July 19, 1999.

• Sage Grouse Losing Ground Across the West. Cascadia Times, July 1999

• "Winning the War for the West" Critiqued by Mike Hudak, June 1999

• Project Grouse, Discussion Bits, RangeNet, ongoing

• Betrayal of an Endangered Species: Status and Management of the Southwestern willow flycatcher. Southwest Center for Biological Diversity, 5/26/98

• PROTECTION AND CONSERVATION OF SOUTHWEST NATIVE TROUT. Southwest Forest Alliance, 1998

• HEAD 'EM UP MOVE 'EM OUT A Six Part Series on Cattle Grazing in the West..., Cascadia Times, February-March 1999 (Note: This entire series is now online and previous viewing problems that caused Netscape browsers to crash have been cured.)

• Survey of livestock influences on stream and riparian ecosystems in the western United States. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 1999

• Environmental Group Attacks Banking Loans to Public Land Ranchers, Forest Guardians, 6/1/99

• Head ‘em up, move ‘em out. (text file of lead article) Cascadia Times, February-March 1999

• Waste of The West: Public Lands Ranching. Lynn Jacobs 1991 (now online)

• Red Butte Canyon Research Natural Area: A Rare Undisturbed Watershed in Northern Utah. 5/4/97 Field Trip with Dr. Robert Ohmart. A Range Watch video production, 1997

• Livestock Liabilities: Impacts of Comercial Livestock Livestock Grazing On Your Public Lands. A Range Watch video production, 1996

• Threats to endangered species quantified. Oregon Conifer, Mar/Apr 1999.  (A Cowfree note: This article indicates that grazing alone is as harmful as logging and mining combined. This is something that activists should keep in mind in their efforts to bring about reforms in the management of our public lands.)

• Oust the Cows!: Welfare Ranchers Abuse the Land. Southwest Center for Biological Diversity. cfp:12/03/98

• A Bioeconomic Analysis of Elk and Cattle Management Alternatives within the San Pedro Parks Wilderness Area, New Mexico. Dr. Brian Roach, University of California, Davis. November, 1995

• The Economic Importance of Federal Grazing to the Economies of the West.  Abstract: "...Dr. Power concludes that agriculture is not the mainstay of any of the Western states economies...ranching, despite its colorful association with the old West is not a dominant part of the contemporary Western economies...". Thomas Michael Power, University of Montana. Transcribed by Mark Garland and posted to the web by Forest Guardians, March 29, 1998. Mirrored by Southwest Center for Biological Diversity , September 18, 1998.

• Restoring a refuge: Cows depart, but can antelope recover? High Country News, November 24, 1997

• Dance with a cow, and the cow will lead. High Country News, April 15, 1996

• How the BLM killed a cow to save a canyon and stop the paperwork. High Country News, September 4, 1995

• A 77-year-old cow watcher from Arizona. High Country News, June 12, 1995

• Politics and threats keep cows on public land. High Country News, May 15, 1995

• A bitter rancher and a failed compromise. High Country News, April 03, 1995

• You say you want to cut government spending? Kick off cows. High Country News, March 20, 1995

• Forest Service may finally evaluate grazing. High Country News, January 23, 1995

• ...and invoked for salmon, against grazing. High Country News, August 8, 1994

• "Unranchers" reach for West's state lands. High Country News, July 25, 1994

• Don't try to improve grazing; abolish it! High Country News, June 13, 1994

• A Struggle for the Last Grass. High Country News, May 2, 1994

• Agency ends cattle grazing at Idaho refuges. High Country News, February 7, 1994

• Cows are evicted from Utah: Judge compared lush, ungrazed riparian area to heavily grazed allotment. High Country News, January 24, 1994

• Before the Cows: Eyewitness accounts of the West before the land was degraded by cattle. The Public Lands Grazing Activist, cfp:9/24/98

• The Rancher Subsidy: The West's fabled ranchers are in trouble. The damage done to the land by cattle has become a contentious environmental issue. The ranchers' greatest enemy, though, is the free market. The Atlantic Monthly, January 1996

• Good fences make good neighbors - but who ought to raise them? Kim Vacaria, 4/27/98

• FS Finally Following Biologists Advice Re Riparian Cattle: NM Legislators Shouldn't Interfere with Agreements to Remove Riparian Cattle. Albuquerque Journal, July 10, 1998

• Great Grazing Quotes. Forest Guardians, cfp:7/20/98

• Federal Range Policy: Reforming a Real Sacred Cow. Livestock are grazing an often destructive path across the West -- at discount rates. Johanna Wald, May, 1998

• Sage Creek Allotment Overview: Jerry Peak Wilderness Study Area, Idaho Watersheds Project, April 24, 1998

• Riparian Survey of Curlew National Grasslands, 1997

• Livestock Grazing and Water Quality: Grazing damages more river miles than any other source of non-industrial pollution in the West. Natural Resources Defense Center, cfp:5/31/98

• Cattle Grazing Threatens: Mearn's Quail - Scaled Quail - Masked Bobwhite Quail Western Gamebird Alliance, cfp:5/31/98

• The Fenceline Effect, Wolfsoul, January 1997

• Amphibious Cows, Wolfsoul, January 1997

• Cattle Grazing on Public Lands: The Hard Fought Battle in the Southwestern United States. Wolfsoul, October 1996

• Resource Consumption by Cattle on Public Lands: Do cattle over-consume resources? Wolfsoul, January 1997

• Losing Ground: Soil Erosion and Cattle, Wolfsoul, February 1997

• Desert, by Calfin Kattle: Desertification of the Arid West, Wolfsoul, February 1997

• What's Really Going On at Malheur NWR? It Depends On Who You Talk To. Wolfsoul, February 1997

• The Debate of Western Ranching Economics. Wolfsoul, February 1997

• Majority Rules? I think not! Wolfsoul, January 1997

• Another Southwestern Biologist Resigns: Cites frustration with Forest Service mismanagement of grazing, logging, and personnel. May, 1998

• USDA Subsidizes Beef Consumption: Reprinted by permission of Highlands News, Spring 1998

• More Forest Service Whistleblowers Speak Out On Overgrazing, Logging, Abuse of Biologists in Southwest. Southwest Center for Biological Diversity, 3/31/98

• Top Forest Service Biologist Blasts Agency Mismanagement -Calls for dismisal of key leaders, end to livestock grazing in Southwest, scientific review of damage to watersheds and endangered species. Southwest Center for Biological Diversity, cfp:3/20/98

• Frustrated Biologists Blast Forest Service Albuquerque Journal, 3/5/98

• Seven Species Project -- Fish. "range management is a chronic abuser of riparian habitats" Forest Guardians, cfp:3/20/98

• Endangered Species and Livestock Grazing on Public Lands. National Wildlife Federation, cfp:3/25/98

• New Mexico: Photos of grazed and ungrazed streams. Forest Guardians, cfp:3/25/98

• Arizona: Photos of grazed and ungrazed streams. Forest Guardians, cfp:3/25/98

• Endangered Streamside Forests: A 1995 report concluded that the Southwestern cottonwood/willow forest is one of America's most endangered ecosystems. Forest Guardians, cfp:3/25/98

• Grazed to Extinction: The species listed here have one thing in common -- they are being driven to extinction by historic and ongoing abusive grazing practices on our public lands. Livestock grazing has severely diminished native biological diversity in the western U.S. Forest Guardians, cfp:3/25/98

• Wilderness or Feedlot: Southwestern wilderness areas in our national forests are being grazed to the bone, the result of cumulative impacts of a century or more of livestock grazing. Grazing in wilderness areas has impaired biodiversity, degraded water quality, and harmed recreational values. Forest Guardians cfp:3/25/98

• The High Cost of an American Myth: Despite projecting an image of rugged independence, western public land ranchers are propped up by cheap grazing fees and a host of federal handouts which collectively amount to $500 million per year. Arid land ranching only appears to be economically viable because taxpayers pick up most of the operating costs. Forest Guardians, 3/25/98

• Economic Backbone or Boondoggle? As western economies change from being extractive-based to more environmentally friendly, non-commodity values such as wildlife, water quality and recreation are increasingly important. Today, non-commodity based operations in many western states contribute far more to a state's economic vitality than does ranching. Forest Guardians, cfp:3/25/98

• Wing-Tipped Welfare Cowboys Ride the Range: Politicians and ranching industry groups, claiming changes in federal grazing policy will hurt small "mom and pop" ranchers, are playing loose with the facts. A majority of public land is controlled by a few wealthy individuals and corporations. Forest Guardians cfp:3/25/98

• Unranching on State Land: Forest Guardians is using the free market to bid on state school trust grazing leases to protect fragile streamside ecosystems from abusive livestock grazing. Ranchers, long considered icons of the free market, oppose our efforts to compete with them. Forest Guardians cfp:3/25/98

• Livestock Grazing and the Forest Health "Crisis": Livestock grazing in ponderosa pine forests has drastically altered the structure and function of these ecosystems and other fire-adapted ecosystems across the West. Forest Guardians, cfp:3/25/98

• The City Slicker's Guide to Welfare Ranching in New Mexico. Patricia Wolff, January 1998

• Livestock Grazing is a Major Cause of Increased Tree Densities in Western Interior Forests. Defenders of Wildlife, July 24, 1995.

• Taking From the Taxpayer: Public Subsidies for Natural Resource Development. House of Representatives, August, 1994.

• Grazing Facts: The environmental and financial cost of cattle grazing on U.S. public land is no chickenfeed. Natural Resources Defense Council, cfp:3/25/98

• Pictorial Tour of Grazing Impacts: Federal Rangeland "Management" Manages to Destroy the Environment. Friends of Earth & Range Watch, cfp:3/25/98

• Subsidized Munching. The Wilderness Society, cfp:5/31/98

• Cheap Grazing = Overgrazing. The Wilderness Society, cfp:5/31/98

• Cow Myths and Reality. The Wilderness Society, cfp:3/25/98

• Idaho Watersheds Project Photograph Archives. Idaho Watersheds Project, cfp:3/27/98

• Livestock Grazing in the Weiser River Drainage, Payette National Forest: A Review of Forest Plan Compliance. Payette Forest Watch and others, 1997

• A Monitors Report: Year End Grazing Report for Southeast Idaho, Idaho Watersheds Project, December 1997

• Employment Graph: Figures showing the relationship of public lands ranching to the Idaho economy. Idaho Watersheds Project, cfp:3/27/98

• Viewpoint: What do healthy and unhealthy watersheds look like? Idaho Watersheds Project, cfp:3/27/98

• Our Public Lands...Ground Into Hamburger. Idaho Watersheds Project, March 1998

• The Real Welfare Queens. Idaho Watersheds Project, March 1998

• Grazing Photo Gallery: Graphic examples of the negative impacts of cattle grazing upon the natural resources of Arizona. Jeff Burgess, cfp:3/28/98

• Panacea or Snake Oil? A review of the abundant research contradicting the claims made by the proponents of Holistic Resource Management (HRM. (Photos included.) Jeff Burgess, 1996

• Suitability: You Can't Cram a Square Peg in a Round Hole. A commentary on the appropriatness of livestock grazing in the desert. (Photos included.) Jeff Burgess, 1994

• Livestock Waters: Another Grazing Myth Exposed. A review of the growing body of reaearch questioning the myth that wildlife rely on livestock-type waters for their survival. (Photos included.) Jeff Burgess, 1996

• Red Herring Ranching: Will saving public lands ranching really save open space in the West? Jeff Burgess, 1998

• Whistle Blowers: Land Management Personnel Speak Out. Southwest Center for Biological Diversity, cfp:3/28/98

• Fire & Forest Ecosystem Health in the American Southwest: A Brief Primer. Southwest Forest Alliance, May 27, 1996

• Survey of livestock influences on stream and riparian ecosystems in the western United States.- Bibliography. Oregon Natural Desert Association, cfp:4/1/98

• U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) Reports Relating to Livestock Grazing on Public Lands. Jeff Burgess, cfp:4/1/98

Rummage Bin

A perpetual problem with the internet is the aggravation of "broken links". Sometimes the material has been deleted from the hosting website, somethime the entire website has gone out of business, and sometimes things have just been rearranged. As the information that was available from my broken links may still be available on the internet and I just couldn't readily find it, or it may still be available from the original source in some other form, known broken "Cowfree" links are being placed here in the "Rummage Bin" as a source of potential leads for those who may be researching the topic.

• Lime Creek Cow Alert: With photographs of watershed damage resulting from grazing. Friends of Lime Creek, 1997

• Who Will Save The Land? The Fish Line, October 1996

• Public Misinformation. The Fish Line, January 1997

• What Prevents Healing of Riparian Areas. The Fish Line, September 1997

• Ranchers and Environmentalists Clash over Sierra Nevada's Golden Trout Wilderness: Years of abusive cattle grazing practices threaten wildlife habitat (and California's state fish). Natural Resources Defense Council, April 1997.
• Something Fishy About Those Cattlemen's Ads. Natural Resources Defense Council, 1997
• Tragedy on the Wing: For a Full Half of the Native Bird Species Nesting in America's Dwindling Grasslands, Time is Running Out. National Wildlife Federation, April 1997.
• Rivers of Crud: Grazing saddles the West with a heck of a problem. Grist Magazine 8/26/99

• Grazing buyout would benefit endangered salmon. Magic Valley The Times-News, August 16, 1999

• Grazing threatens goshawk in Nevada. Las Vegas Review Journal, 3/5/99
• Grazing Subsidies: Your Tax Dollars at Work. National Wildlife Magazine, January, 1996

• Little Grouse on the Prairie: Reversing the Decline of Lesser Prairie-Chickens. New Mexico Game & Fish Department. cfp 12/3/98

• Brown-headed Cowbirds: From buffalo birds to modern scourge. Smithonian Migratory Bird Center. cfp:12/3/98

• Why do we have to sidestep cow pies? Bozeman Daily Chronicle, 8/31/98
• Rangeland "skin" being trampled to oblivion. DJC, July 28, 1998
• Fenced Out: Ranchers call it the beginning of their end, but environmentalists say the ranchers' refusal to protect N.M. streamsides has cost them their cows' access to water. Albuquerque Journal, May 30, 1998
• Decision to Continue Livestock Grazing on Four BLM Allotments Appealed - Desert Tortoise Recovery Plan Violated. Agency Biologists Ignored. Southwest Center for Biological Diversity, April 30, 1998
• Saving Our Streamland: BLM fences are keeping cattle out, protecting state's fragile riparian areas. Albuquerque Journal, 4/9/98
• Endangered Species and Livestock Grazing on Public lands. National Wildlife Federation, cfp:3/28/98

• Endangered Habitats: Prarie Ecosystems. National Wildlife Federation cfp:3/28/98

• Forest Fraud and Forest Health: U.S. Forest Service Report Hides the Disappearance of Old Growth in the Southwest. Southwest Forest Alliance, November 14, 1995
• Forest Health and Fire in the West - Grazing Finally Blamed: In sick, crowded ponderosa forests of the west, seeds of infernos lie ominously in wait. New York Times, May 11, 1996

• Showdown Looms: Do cattle increase threat of wildfires? Arizona Republic, July 6, 1996

• Environmentalists Say Grazing Has Made Forest Fires Worse. Santa Fe New Mexican, May 15, 1996

• Forest Policies Come Under Scrutiny. Experts: Better Strategies Could Reduce Fire Danger. Mesa Tribune, May 12, 1996

• Scientific Study Links Forest Degradation to Overgrazing. Southwest Center for Biodiversity, April 29, 1997

• Livestock Pollution of Oregon's Water. Oregon Natural Desert Association, cfp:4/1/98

• Grazing and Rangeland Statistics for Oregon (1990 data). Oregon Natural Desert Association, cfp:4/1/98

• What Others Say About Grazing and Water. Oregon Natural Desert Association, cfp:4/1/98

• Some Highlights of NW Power Planning Council Report, Return to the River: Restoration of Salmonid Fishes in the Columbia River Ecosystem. Oregon Natural Desert Association, 1996