Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

Glad to have your input as a range ecologist. I don't post all these things 
because I just happen to agree with everything, but to provoke discussion on 
issues the public needs to see. As a teen in the '50s I worked with my father 
with herefords on his place, made fence by hand in east TX summer heat 
(endless), and in '57 we sodded fifty acres in coastal bermuda for permanent 
pasture. It worked very well with vetch and cut way down on spending for hay, 
not to mention holding soil in place and doing away with any need for annual 
seeding. My best memories were circling those pastures, high up on a tractor, 
mowing to hold down weeds and spur bermuda spread, clounds and blue sky 
overhead, without a worry in the world.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 7/30/2008 at 1:05 PM me wrote:

>Actually, I live in Ellensburg and am right in the middle of things
>here. The article in the Seattle Times was spot on.
>
>I am a range ecologist and now run a native plant seed company.
>As a range ecologist I am educzted to manage land (plants and the native
>ecology) for livestock production. Actually, I had a wildlife emphasis
>so I am actually a range and wildlife ecologist.
>
>Here are some of my comments in regards to the issue.
>
>1) it is a political issue and funded by corporate ranchers. The effort
>is supported primarily by big corporations not sentimental mom and pop
>small ranchers. Most of these guys were corporate execs who have now
>used their money to buy out the real cowboys so they can play cowboy
>themselves.
>
>2) The cattlemen first abused their own private lands until they became
>decadent with noxious weeds including cheatgrass, knapweeds, etc. A half
>century ago they started permitting with land management agencies like
>the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR), BLM and US
>Forest Service. But state Fish and Game lands were always off limits as
>these lands were purchased with hunter and fishing license fees for
>winter elk habitat (sagebrush steppe). Now that the surrounding DNR
>lands, BLM lands and such have been degredated, the cattlemen want
>access to the last of the prime lands (also the last of our very
>impressive wildflower displays in spring - which drives a recreational
>economy here). And so this is the worst of rape and pillage in that they
>abuse until the range becomes undesirable and then move on to the
>"greener pastures" on the other side of the fence. It is not unlike most
>of these aholes that treat their women in divorce. They just dump them
>and move on to "greener pastures". It is common in the corporate
>mentality of today. It is a commodity to them to be used and thrown away.
>
>3) Not all the ranchers are bad. Some actually understand the issues here.
>
>4) Jeff Tayor - I know him and have worked with him in the Big Game
>Management Roundtable. He is one of the upper administration in the
>state Fish and Game and this is a political issue for him to advance his
>political career in my opinion. He is a politician first and concerned
>wildlife manager second, or third... or maybe tenth... Maybe not at all.
>His job is to sway public sentiment to the side of the politically
>correct ranchers through lying and deciet as he does so well in his
>comments in this article. It would do him good to look for a new career
>because the IT industry is soon to be involved here on behalf of the
>environment. As I understand it, the Gates Foundation etc have been
>informed of this issue. So this is going to get heated in the future.
>
>IT verses the cattle industry. Both are corporates though so one never
>knows what will happen.
>
>5) These lands were set aside for elk habitat. The grasses cure and dry
>during the summer. The elk are in the mountains on the Wenatchee
>National Forest during the summer. They come down to these sagebrush
>lands in the winter when snows force them down to lower elevation. They
>are thus dependent upon the dried, cured grass for forage and to see
>them through the winter. Elk and deer are compatible in that the elk are
>grazers (eat grass) and deer are browsers (eat shrub twigs). But cows
>are grazers too and compete with elk for forage. The cows of course get
>the forage first in the spring when the elk are up in the mountains.
>When the elk come down in the winter, there is nothing left for them.
>
>6) Our sagebrush country is very hot. All of the grasses and plants have
>evolved to go dormant after spring. All the above ground materail dries
>up by June and the plants go into summer dormancy. The dried grass
>retains much of its nutrition through winter (if it is not removed by
>cows).They like to make you think the cattle are only out there in the
>spring and are "quickly" removed from the range so that there will be
>more growth for elk. But the truth is, the time the cattle are out there
>is during the short growing period. And so the cows eat EVERYTHING and
>it is a bald faced lie that the next 4 months of summer produce forage
>for the elk. The plants in fact do not grow anymore but go into summer
>dormancy to survive our summer heat and drought.
>
>7) The fish and game lands were fully purchased with hunting and fishing
>license fees years ago. The threat from housing developments are not a
>threat to fish and game lands. True, the Fish and Game might be able to
>garner some support from ranchers to buy NEW tracts of land, but then,
>lets limit the grazing to these new tracts instead of opening all the
>traditional lands (hunter paid for) to grazing. This point is
>politically smoothed over in this Seattle Times article. Besides, there
>is NOTHHING to stop the housing development. It was happening long
>before the ranchers, it is happening even now after they are given
>access to grazing.
>
>8) Elk are on these lands in winter when the plants are dormant. Cattle
>are on these lands during the growing season. They trample the hell out
>of the plants where the elk do not. Elk use these land temporarily in
>winter to survive and then move up to the forest and alpine regions
>following the greening cycle up the mountains and far fewer in numbers.
>
>9) As a range ecologist, about half our native plants are given the
>title "decreasers" in range ecology terms. They die off quickly when
>cattle grazing is introduced to pristine areas during the growing
>season. And so, our biodiversity and incredible flower displays in these
>limited and last of our pristine habitat will suffer irreversibly. With
>continued abuse, as has been the case in all situations, essentially all
>of the flowering plants are removed from the site.
>
>10) The cattlemen graze their cattle on their degraded private lands
>first filling their bellies with knapwees and cheat grass seeds. Many
>noxious weeds benefit from what is called acid scarification - the seeds
>are not destroyed by the digestive system but acutally break the
>dormancy of the seeds and are pooped out ready to grow. After grazing
>their cattle on their depleted range, they then turn them loose on these
>pristine areas and the cows go about pooping out the seeds in their
>bellies with fertilizer of their poop. THAT is the dirty little secret
>the cattle industry does not want you to know about... the reason most
>of our rangeland are so infested with noxious weeds today.
>
>And now the cattlemen are after the last lush pieces of pristine land
>that are the last of our remnant biodiversity including plants that are
>edible and most that have not yet been researched for medicinal benefits
>to society. From Quinine (malaria) to aspirin, these plants hold many
>secrets and when we destroy them those secrets are lost forever.
>
>This is rape and pillage at its worst. They grazed the hell out of their
>own private lands until they only get half an AUM per month. So they
>turned to the lush DNR and BLM lands some half century ago. Now those
>agency lands are destroyed and so the cattlemena are again looking over
>the fence for the last of our pristine areas. It is a travesty and an
>outrage for those, including hunters and cattle people like myself, and
>for those who truly understand the ecological issues and politics
>involved here.
>
>Ken Boettger
>Ellensburg, WA
>Range Ecologist
>
>