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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Pauls ranching, destructive cowboying and the Seattle Times article

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: "Dean" <andeanfx@midrivers.com>
  • To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Pauls ranching, destructive cowboying and the Seattle Times article
  • Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:15:49 -0600

Whew, I agree with Paul that cattle are not sustainable food so there needs to be a better way of livingontheland and it is OWL.

Also, please remember: all licensing comes from government (permission to do that which would otherwise be illegal), all corporations are the governments children, all zoning comes from government, government by its very nature produces NOTHING as it is only restrictive in nature. Public 'whatever' means government, personal means corporate (governments children) and private is non-existent due to government usurpation.

That said I doubt any reasonable man or woman (not person which is again government) would argue the point that government is the biggest detriment to livingontheland and OWL there is.

Dean, born and raised in Wyoming and now living in Montana and spent several years in Washington and Oregon.




----- Original Message ----- From: "me" <ken@wildlanders.com>
To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2008 2:26 PM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Pauls ranching,destructive cowboying and the Seattle Times article



The difference between your situation Paul and what we have here is that
the ranchers here are permittees. You own the land and you managed and
took care of it. But here it is different. These people abused their own
lands until they became unproductive and full of noxious weeds. Since
they now pay the USFS, BLM or DNR, as small as the fees are, they feel
they have no responsibility for these public lands they graze. They many
times are required to upkeep the fences but in most cases do not. So
they graze the public lands then walk away from them.

The other issue is the cattlemen tend to think they are the God's of
this country and their ranches and their cows should be given precedence
over everything and everyone else. I do agree that there is a sense of
culture (as well as open space) that needs to be preserved here but at
the same time, their arrogance and pride takes things way to far in that
direction. This applies especially to the multigeneration ranches - not
all of them but a few. They think that since they were the first in the
country they can do whatever the hell they want to and that the public
lands are more their lands than anyone else's - that they do not have to
conform to the issues facing us as a result of lost resources. It is not
all the ranchers but a few. Also, this is the mentality of the corporate
folks too. Only their argument is "I have more money than you or more
political clout than you" and so they think they can run rough shod over
everyone else. Very arrogant and prideful people and poor examples for
Americans. And I hope the public wins this one over these special
corporate farming interests and the few unethical multigenerational
ranchers.

The truth is, we are only 80 miles from Seattle and the growth here is
such that the ranchers should move out. All of this country is becoming
urbanized quickly. And the big corporate ranchers do not belong in such
areas. I lived in Wyoming for many years. It is easy to drive a hundred
head tens miles down the road to new rangelands. But how do you drive
100 cows down the road ten miles in a city???

They do not belong here anymore. Times have changed, but these people
are unwilling to change with these times and prefer to live in the past
causing hardship for everyone else. There is only half the land now but
these folks are still growing more and more cows. It is utterly
unsustainable and now damaging not only the remaining wild areas and
wildlife but also the community and how they are precieved. There is
nothing the general public can do about our growth and urbanization
other than to reduce population growth. But that is unlikely to occur.
And so people have to adapt in such a way that we all can live together.

I can understand an elder lady trying to stay in her home when it has
been condemned or annexed. Such people are not doing the environment any
harm. But these psuedo corporate farmers and wanna be cowboys are
destructive in all that they do. They are willing to destroy the ecology
(our elk and last of our pristine desert wildflowers) just to make their
profits. But a way of life that results in destruction is one that does
not belong anymore. Like I said in the earlier post, it is rape and
pillage mentality. Corporate mentality. And unfortunately a few of the
old time ranchers (unethical) hold to that mentality as well. With that
said, there might be a way to preserve some of this ranching, I would go
for that, but the way these cowboys arrogantly and pridefully look at
themselves as better than everyone else... that they not only think but
demand precedence... well... they then become the problem to what they
otherwise would call progress and an advancing civilization.

-Ken







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...

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.

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