The New West

To be healthy, desert ranges need three things: (1) large, concentrated migratory bison herds or cattle grazed to mimic bison’s migratory patterns; (2) a lot of predators of all sizes; and, (3) a high, diverse population of prey species. Remove any of these and the system collapses.

The mutual antagonism of wildlife advocates, cattlemen and conservationists shows that all three have drunk the Kool-Aid® of invasive species biology. This phony science maintains that if you favor certain animals or plants you must kill everything else to protect them from “competition.” Such wrong-headed thinking leads to actions that harm everything, as demonstrated by wildlife and habitat declines.

Private landowners offer our country the best hope for understanding and acting on these landscape changing insights. Because of their personal investment in the health and well-being of the land in their care as well as their bottomlines, they are the group most likely to accept and implement restorative grazing practices.