Customer Reviews

The Western Range Revisited: Removing Livestock from Public Lands to Conserve Native Biodiversity (Legal History of North America)

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This book is particularly earth shattering; 1) Debra is a Professor of Law at the University of Wyoming, 2) She holds an MS degree in Wildlife Biology from Texas A&M University, 3) She has worked for three Federal Land Management agencies, as well as the National Wildlife Federation, 4) Her book is already trumpeted as heresy by grazing interests and their supporters, and 5)Predictably in a public grazing State, the Head of the University of Wyoming is giving her the barest of academic support already.

Debra lists more than 800 sources for her book, and has chosen certain excerpts from these sources to convey her thoughts through the words of other people. This book will serve as "The Reference Book" for many years to come on the subject of livestock on public lands.

Because her writings cover so many groups, and her materials are so pertinent to the general public and others in this day and age, I predict her book will soon be on the shelves of innumerable groups, scholars, and individuals. Her writings could ultimately become as important to the general public as the first writings of Rachel Carson

Cattlemen of the West have frequently made the statement cattle "merely replaced Bison as the grazers of western lands". Debra's research debunks this argument, shows cattle and Bison have different grazing patterns and food sources, and brings out the fact very few bison were ever found west of the Rockies, or for that matter, on BLM lands. Again, cattle interests have often been quoted as saying that if no cattle or sheep grazing existed on public lands habitat biodiversity would be greatly restricted. Debra utilizes the statements of various experts to prove differently.

A nearly insidious relationship between many Range Management Professors at Universities and grazing interests is both alluded to by Debra and documented. Debra also points out many range management texts are currently outdated and outright erroneous in their content and recommended methodologies. She shows the same situation applies to the current BLM range management evaluation methods, and goes on to quote various authorities to prove her case. Even the Society of Range Management is mentioned. A cozy relationship between Society members, University Professors, grazers, and federal agencies is discussed in depth and documented.

Debra documents the continued decline of public grazing lands. She does so using figures developed by the Departments of Agriculture and Interior. She brings out that the agencies themselves predicted in 1994 that if a "No Grazing" alternative was decided upon, it would effect "less than 0.1 percent of total westwide employment." On the other hand "the social well-being of recreationists and environmentalists would improve under No Grazing" because of "improved riparian and wildlife habitat and improved recreation opportunities ".

Costs borne by the public to underwrite grazing on public lands is proven through numerous sources to be far greater than revenues returned to Federal agencies. Her facts and figures also indicate, rather than ranchers keeping small towns in the West alive, the reverse is more likely. Many ranchers who hold grazing permits must hold a second job in order to continue ranching - for ranch costs are frequently greater than ranch incomes.

Debra methodically destroys the reasons for continued grazing on public lands, and builds upon why grazing on arid lands with less than 12 inches of precipitation should be discontinued. She also fills in the reasons why many misconceptions about grazing have developed and continue to exist. She stakes out no middle ground, steps on many toes, and eloquently presents her reasons for doing so.

The book points out actual cases where changes to animal grazing periods or to the numbers of Animal Unit Months (AUM's) were made at the peril of Bureau of Land Management managers and employees. Those who attempted change were frequently transferred, moved to other positions, fired, or made to apologize to the affected grazers in order to hold their jobs. Other unjustified activities were documented.

Some adverse effects of grazing documented by The Western Range Revisited include excessive upland and stream erosion; hoof damage, particularly in hot arid regions; loss of plant diversity; water pollution; the near absence of riparian habitat because of grazing; decreases in the abundance of birds, animals and aquatic life, and; increasing numbers of rare and endangered species because of grazing. The plight of sage grouse that formerly ranged over nearly all of the affected public lands is set forth as one example of a species that may soon be on the threatened or endangered list because of grazing activities.

One of the most disturbing findings brought out by Debra concerning biodiversity is the possibility that vast areas may have already passed the point of no-return, or threshold, for a return to earlier biodiversity.

In her Conclusion, Debra points out that the lands in question are public lands, subject to management in the public interest, and that any public versus private rights issue is not just economic or philosophic, but ethical as well. It is also her contention, and one to which I firmly agree, "we can no longer afford to sit back and wait for them [federal politicians, land managers, and agriculture service agencies] to act or for agriculture to reform itself."

Donahue has certainly done her research. In a few places, the book becomes a slightly difficult read because of all the attributions, references to different legislation, etc., but generally it is a very strong argument against the destructive nature of grazing on arid and semi-arid federal lands. Given the growing public sentiment for preserving and restoring biodiversity and wildlife habitat, I suspect Donahue's book will emerge as a breakthrough in exposing the economic fallacy of public land grazing.

I have just finished reading Debra L. Donahue's book entitled: The Western Range Revisited Removing Livestock from Public Lands to Conserve Native Biodiversity. My critique of this book, because of it's complexity and depth, can only be restricted to making a few salient points and giving a general idea of the book's content. This book is particularly earth shattering because; 1) Debra is a Professor of Law at the University of Wyoming, 2) Not only does she have a law background, but she also holds an MS degree in Wildlife Biology from Texas A&M University, 3) She has worked for three Federal Land Management agencies, as well as the National Wildlife Federation, and 4) her book is certain to be considered heresy by grazing interests and those who support these interests.

Having worked for two Federal Land Management agencies myself, including the Bureau of Land Management, I can truly say Debra Donahue listened closely to all that she was told over the years by co-workers, managers, grazing allottees, and biologists with whom she came into contact. All of the excuses she heard for justifying the continuance of livestock on public lands, as well as the reasons they should be removed, stuck with her and can be found in this book. She uses more than 800 sources to document and methodically destroy the reasons for continued grazing on public lands, and builds upon why grazing on arid lands with less than 12 inches of precipitation should be discontinued. She also fills in the reasons why many misconceptions about grazing have developed and continue to exist. She stakes out no middle ground, steps on many toes, but eloquently presents her reasons for doing so.

Debra Donahue pulled no punches in this bombshell. She not only mentions many special interest groups, but she documents some of their past activities. Because her writings encompass so many groups, and her materials are so pertinent to the general public and others in this day and age, I predict her book will soon be on the shelves of innumerable groups, scholars, and individuals. Her writings could ultimately become as important as the first writings of Rachel Carson, who changed people within the United States forever.

Holders of grazing allotments, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U. S. Forest Service (USFS) managers, biologists, scientists, environmentalists, state and federal senators, university groups, people of the U.S. who are interested in the fate of their public lands, and strangely enough - members of the Morman Church - provides a small smattering of those who will find this book of great interest.

Many of the fore-named will read the book, circle the wagons for the attacks sure to follow, or try to justify their past or future actions. The others will initiate attacks in an attempt to speed removal of public land grazing on arid lands.

Debra's knowledge of the law, and willingness to review the Taylor Grazing Act in great detail, sheds an entirely different picture of the Act than that portrayed for so many years by grazing interests. "The three chief purposes of the Taylor Grazing Act are to "stop injury to the public lands by preventing overgrazing and soil deterioration, to provide for their orderly use, improvement, and development, and to stabilize the livestock industry dependent on the public range.""

It is Debra's contention that intent established in the fore runner to the Taylor Grazing Act, the Stock Raising Homestead Act of 1916, was carried over to the TGA. "[T]he use of these lands for grazing shall be subordinated (a) to the development of their mineral resources, (b) to the protection, development, and utilization of their forests, (c) to the protection, development, and utilization of their water resources, (d) to their use for agriculture ...., and (e) to the protection, development, and utilization of such other resources as may be of greater benefit to the public." "And the act [Taylor Grazing Act] directs the secretary to identify lands "more valuable or suitable for any other use than [grazing]" - a proviso that surely reflects the general opinion that grazing was not an especially valuable use of public lands." Further, she makes the point: "The meanings of the section 1 terms "chiefly valuable for grazing" and "highest use of the public lands" merit scrutiny because they relate to the continuing discretionary authority of the BLM to allocate grazing lands to other uses, including biodiversity conservation."

FLPMA, as a whole, did not replace but supplemented the Taylor Grazing Act. It provided the authority for regulating livestock grazing on the public land. A policy of multiple-use and sustained-yield were mandated by FLPMA and it also included a provision "..to manage all resources without impairing the land's productivity or environmental quality". A controversial section of FLPMA that could hold major connotations for supporting landscape-level land management changes for biodiversity purposes is entitled Areas of Critical Environmental Concern. Areas so identified are to be protected from irreparable harm. Debra states: "In summary, FLPMA's policies and principles and the agency's self-proclaimed management direction are consistent with a landscape-level approach to biodiversity conservation on large, arid rangelands managed by BLM."

Debra documents the continued decline of grazing lands even after the Taylor Grazing Act was in place. Various assessments by both government and non government officials indicated the range was in decline. In fact, in 1963, Forsling, the head of the grazing service from 1944 to 1946, recommended closing to all grazing "many million acres of arid and semi-arid land in the West." By 1968, BLM had revised its grazing policies to reflect its position that continuous grazing was unacceptable, even though over the next 5 years continuous grazing was discontinued on only 274 out of 1,767 continuous grazing allotments.

The book points out actual cases where changes to animal grazing periods or to the numbers of Animal Unit Months (AUM's) were made at the peril of BLM managers and employees. Those who attempted change were frequently transferred, moved to other positions, fired, or made to apologize to the affected grazers in order to hold their jobs. Other unjustified activities were documented. Cattlemen of the West have frequently made the statement cattle "merely replaced Bison as the grazers of western lands". Debra's research into this matter throughly debunks this argument as both their grazing habits and food sources differ. She also brings out the fact that very few bison were ever found west of the Rockies in the arid southwest.

Cattle interests have often been quoted as saying that if no cattle or sheep grazing existed on public lands habitat biodiversity would be greatly restricted. Again, Debra utilizes the statements of various experts to lay this argument to rest.

A nearly insidious relationship between many Range Management Professors at Universities and grazing interests is not only alluded to by Debra, but is documented. She points out that even at the current time, many range management texts are outdated and outright erroneous in their content and recommended methodologies. She further states much the same situation applies to the current BLM range management evaluation methods, and goes on to quote various authorities to prove her case. Even the Society of Range Management is not left out of the picture. A cozy relationship between Society members, University Professors, grazers, and federal agencies is covered in some depth.

Numerous experts and sources are quoted to prove most current rangelands are overgrazed and have been overgrazed for years. Debra uses figures developed by the Departments of Agriculture and Interior for the draft Environmental Impact Statement entitled Rangeland Reform `94, to bring out the fact that the agencies themselves predicted if the "No Grazing" alternative was selected it would effect "less than 0.1 percent of total westwide employment." The agencies also wrote "the social well-being of recreationists and environmentalists would improve under No Grazing" because of "improved riparian and wildlife habitat and improved recreation opportunities". In other words, complete removal of cattle from public lands would harm few people and improve conditions for many.

Dear Editor:

Thank you for printing Debra L. Donahue's "The Western Range Revisited - Removing Livestock From Public Lands To Conserve Native Biodiversity".

All conservationists, citizens, wildlife managers and federal land management specialists of Wyoming and the west would be well advised to obtain a copy of the book and avail themselves of the wealth of knowledge Ms. Donahue has presented in a truly professional and scholarly manner.

Over the years, laymen and professionals alike have struggled with the task of obtaining historical, cultural, political, biological, legal and socioeconomic information on livestock grazing on public lands from a host of authoritative sources. Ms. Donahue has brought it all together in one place so the average person or professional can see and digest the many issues related to public lands livestock grazing.

The bottom line is that some of our fantastic, natural, arid landscapes and other public land areas are being seriously damaged by improper livestock grazing. Some damages are past the point of repair. It's taking a heavy toll on all our wildlife species both plants and animals and our western environment, all to support the lifestyle of a very small portion of the western livestock industry.

Removal of all livestock grazing from all public lands would affect only 8% of the beef cattle inventory in the 11 western states and less than 1% of the sheep inventory. This represents only 2% of all U.S. livestock production.

Many wildlife professionals have been agonizing over and trying to deal with this issue for many years and would welcome change in a use of public lands that was never considered to be the best use of those lands to start with.

"Examine each question in terms of what is ethically right as well as what is economically expedient. A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise." - Leopold

Thanks, Phil Riddle - Retired Wyoming G&F Regional Wildlife Supervisor

Ms. Donahue is not the first to expose the damage done by over 100 years of livestock grazing on public lands of the western U.S. but she may be the most effective. Her relentless logic and use of facts will be impossible for the livestock industry to counter because there is no answer. Western ecosystems did not evolve with cows or anything like them. They are as exotic as any weed from Eurasia but the nice thing is that we can remove them, when we muster the will as a nation. Read this book and help begin restoring a century of damage to the West.

Debra Donahue has done an incredibly thorough job assessing the reasons for and results of continued livestock grazing on arid public lands. Frankly, I expected the conclusions drawn regarding the physical and ecological damages associated with this practice. I did not expect the socioeconomic results to be as they are. Ms. Donahue provides factual information and statistics which prove that not only does grazing of these arid regions cause severe and possibly irreparable ecological harm, but also that such grazing fails to be self-supporting in a purely economical sense. The arguments in favor of the practice based on preventing financial decline of small Western communities and/or loss of a way of life that has come to symbolize the West, are thoroughly debunked in this well researched book.

Ms. Donahue has written a commanding treatise that examines the development of grazing practices from all sides. To find a single book that covers the history of cattle grazing, the evolution of the law, the ecological damage, the culture and politics surrounding grazing, and the economics of ranching/grazing is a gift. Without sinking into emotionalism or rhetoric, Ms. Donahue presents the facts as they presently exist and explains how they came to be. She is also unafraid to state her opinions and conclusions based upon those facts. With a background in wildlife science and range management, many years working in the field, and her current position as a professor of public land law, she is uniquely qualified to present a well-rounded and thoughtful picture.

I began reading this book as a believer in conservation, but also with a strong love for the land and the life of a rancher or farmer. By the time I finished the book, I had come to this position: As a taxpayer, an outdoorswoman, and a human being, I find it offensive that our government, and particularly the BLM, continues to permit the grazing of cattle on arid public lands in the face of the obvious destruction of vegetation and wildlife. As the daughter of a mid-Western farmer, and one whose family continues to farm and raise cattle, I fully understand the desire to continue a long-standing family lifestyle. I do not see a justification for the federal government, and by extension every taxpayer, subsidizing such a choice. This public land is mine - and yours. Ms. Donahue's book, along with it's eighty-five pages of sources, can and should serve as the basis for a legal challenge to this continued practice.

After reading Debra Donahue's powerful book on the misuse and abuse of western grazing lands, I'm of the opinion that she might be as well remembered in the future as Rachel Carson is today. She has vividly pointed to a problem that has broad negative implications for everyone in the U.S. today.

Permit me to briefly tell you my story with respect to open range grazing.

While vacationing at my in-laws in Arizona in 1997, I went down to the San Pedro River with my daughter and some nephews. While the kids played in the water, I sat in the water watching - scratching some bug bites that I'd received the previous day. After several hours, I took a walk upstream about 100 yards, and discovered the body of a dead "open range" cow lying in the river.

Five days later, back in California, I awoke to a raging fever with rashes up both legs and a left thumb triple its normal size. After rushing to the hospital and beginning emergency antibiotic treatment, I was diagnosed with an infection by "flesh eating bacteria".

Let their be no doubt, my exposure to a antibiotic-doped-up range cow dead in the San Pedro River was the cause of my ailment.

After five days and 39 pints of antibiotics, I went home with a thumb joint that is fused and unusable. If not for the presently effective antibiotics still available to humans, I would have had my left hand amputated.

Debra's book touches upon the ecological destruction that is done on Western grazing lands for the sake of partially producting 3% of the U.S. beef production. (All these cows must be sent to a feed lot to be fed adequately for butchering.) You must read this book and you must act upon it -- it's for all our sake.

After reading Debra Donahue's powerful book on the misuse and abuse of western grazing lands, I'm of the opinion that she might be as well remebered in the future as Rachel Carson is today. She has vividly pointed to a problem that has broad negative implications on everyone living in the U.S. today.

Permit me to briefly tell you my story with respect to open range grazing.

While vacationing at my in-laws in Arizona in 1997, I went down to the San Pedro River with my daughter and some nephews. While the kids played in the water, I sat in the water watching - scratching some bug bites that I'd received the previous day. After several hours, I took a walk upstream about 100 yards, and discovered the body of a dead "open range" cow lying in the river.

Five days later, back in California, I awoke to a ranging fever with rashes up both legs and a left thumb triple its normal size. After rushing to the hospital and beginning emergency antibiotic treatment, I was diagnosed with "flesh eating bacteria".

Let their be no doubt, my exposure to a antibiotic-doped-up range cow dead in the San Pedro River was the cause of my ailment.

After five days and 39 pints of antibiotics, I went home with a thumb joint that is fused and unusable. If not for modern antibiotics, I would have had my left hand amputated.

Debra's book touches upon the ecological destruction that is done on Western grazing lands for the sake of partially producting 3% of the U.S. beef production. (All these cows must be sent to a feed lot to be fed adequately for butchering.) You must read this book and you must act upon it -- it's for all our sake.

Debra Donahue is a University of Wyoming law professor with a background in range and wildlife biology. She is motivated by a striking concern for the Western landscape. In The Western Range Revisited, Donahue makes a factual, thoughtful, but unconvincing case for ending livestock grazing on public lands. After laying an impressive foundation, Donahue stumbles badly in Chapter 8 - "The Socio-Economic Landscape." She states the two main arguments against her thesis: "Public land grazing is important to the economic base of the local community, if not the region, and the ranching way of life merits preservation both for its own sake and as a means of preserving the West's open spaces (p 229)." If we do away with these arguments, "no warrant should remain for leaving livestock on arid public lands (ibid)." She fails to do so. Many statistics are used but not fully explored. Only 2% of all livestock are produced by federal lease lands. Perhaps, but what of the local economies? About 70% of ranchers do not rely on federal leases (p 253). But what of the 30% who do? Large operations (those running 151 Animal Units or more) generate 75% or more of their income from cows; small operations (150 Animal Units or less) generate only 39% of their income from stock .(p 240). Donahue states that 300 units is a break-even operation - yet argues at the same time that eliminating leases would matter little since ranchers could, 1) intensify use of their private lands, or, 2) reduce herd size. Intensification of private lands would create severe overgrazing, water pollution from runoff, and destroy wildlife habitat (since 75% of the big game winter range alone is found on private lands in the Rockies). Reducing herd size would drop more ranches below her own definition of "breaking even" which would lead ultimately to subdivision and development. Ranching is already economically tenuous - "only a 1-3% return on capital investment" (p 260). Donahue wants to make it worse. We cannot argue away geographic certainties with a dither of statistics. I have worked with The Nature Conservancy, the Montana Land Reliance, and other trusts for 24 years. I have done biological inventories on scores of ranches and designed nearly 100 conservation easements. A profound, simple fact has emerged - overall, ranchers do a good job as land stewards on both land they own and land they lease. If they did not, why do so many ranches meet the qualification criteria of groups formed to protect biological diversity? I have designed conservation easements on ranches that protect wolves, grizzly bears, black-footed ferrets, bald eagles, and an array of endemic non-game organisms ranging from a rare rockcress to a globally endangered freshwater sponge. Many ranchers are conservationists and to make sweeping condemnations is insulting and plain silly. Donahue does not understand ranchers and makes little attempt to. The two major books on ranching culture were missing from her bibliography: Paul Starrs' Let the Cowboy Ride: Cattle Ranching in the American West (1998) and Terry Jordan's North American Cattle Ranching Frontiers (1993). The author also does not understand land regulation and conservation, making mis-statements about conservation easements and land trusts, and falling back on ineffective, politically untenable tools such as zoning as a way to stop development. None of the literature on these critical subjects was used (see, for example: Saving American Farmland: What Works by the American Farmland Trust, 1997). That is a glaring omission given the stakes here. Debra Donahue reached too far with The Western Range Revisited. She argues that ranching is much like mining and logging - an environmentally destructive, economically misguided use of public lands (see, The Economic Pursuit of Quality by Thomas Power, 1988). In fact, the landscape ecology of ranches is much different - they serve as habitat corridors for species movement and as buffers between development and wild lands. If Donahue had persuaded us of the need to revise or eliminate riparian grazing, increase protection for Heritage caliber biota, and revoke the permits of poor livestock managers, this book would have made a valuable contribution. Instead, she chose to attack and alienate an entire group of people who are worthy of being understood and respected. The Western culture wars continue. John B. Wright, Department of Geography, New Mexico State University

This book is simply a polemic to eliminate livestock from the rangelands of the US and has no objective basis in fact. It has no merit whatsoever except as a guide to the limits to which anti-large mammal fanatics will go. I would have given it zero stars, but that is not one of the alternatives.