newsroom

TODAY Wednesday 20 August 1997 Each weekday. Conn Nugent on what's new in the world, on the site.

 

TODAY IN THE WORLD: Cattle and Jet Skis

The grazing of cattle on public lands in the West has been a serious source of environmental degradation. Semi-arid grasslands have been subjected to inappropriately large herds, supervised sketchily. They have chewed away native grasses, displaced native animals, and have fouled streams and eroded streambeds. Conservationists have objected to these abuses and to the subsidized leases from state agencies and from the federal Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management that have made them seem cost-effective.

In Arizona, two conservation groups -- the Forest Guardians and the Western Gamebird Alliance -- tried to join 'em rather than beat 'em. Just like ranchers, the groups applied to the relevant state agency for the right to graze cattle on Arizona public land. Last Friday, according to Greenwire, the Arizona Land Department said no. The applications were invalid, the department said, because the intent behind them was not to graze. The Forest Guardians, part of a coalition that had successfully imposed competitive bidding processes for the use of state grazing lands, have announced that they will sue for their right to pay top dollar for the grazing of non-existent cattle. The Arizona Cattlemen's Association has already declared its intention to appeal the competitive bidding requirement. Cowpokes versus greens, full tilt.

Meanwhile, there's a big fight going on in Minnesota over the desirability of motorized craft on lakes in public lands. Michael Furtman reports in the CLEAR newsletter that enviros and local merchants are unable to reach agreement on appropriate uses in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and the Voyageurs National Park. It's complicated, but basically there's no consensus on how much small motorboat use to allow in the wilderness and whether to allow any use of jet skis in the national park. To the surprise of no one, the same forces arguing on behalf of motorboats in the Wilderness argue on behalf of snowmobiles and jet skis in the national park, and vice versa. The jet skis -- yes or no -- have become the non-negotiable demand for both sides.

Ecologically, there is some evidence that motorized craft endanger natural systems -- from oil leaks, fumes -- but mostly they are harmful because they facilitate the invasion of humans. In a wilderness, or even in a park, they are less important environmentally than the character and density of any service infrastructure that they demand. In northern Minnesota, as in most parts of the country that abut public lands, local democratic sentiment is on the side of the engines. A politically-savvy, well-read ecologist might argue that a fight to ban jet skis is not necessarily a fight worth waging. The key, he or she might say, is vigilant opposition to permanent human settlements.

Well, we pick our fights for various reasons, and I'm all for the enviros in this one. Goddam jet skis. I don't care if we're haute bourgeois and they're blue collar, I don't care if we're spoiled whiners and they're solid Americans looking for a little fun, I say bleep the jet skiers. They make too much noise and too many waves. It's like helicopters over the Grand Canyon. We greens have to watch our tendencies to mistake fastidiousness for environmental protection, but sometimes you have to go with the aesthetics. And besides, it's not bad politics outside the local congressional district.

On the other hand, I'm a reluctant bystander in the ecologically more serious fight about grazing rights. That there should be strict standards on herd size, fencing, and the like seems inarguable, at least from 2500 miles away. And that some portions of federal land (maybe in Arizona?) are simply inappropriate for cattle ranching also seems pretty believable. But I wonder if raising beef on BLM land does as much damage to the nature and culture of the Southwest as raising beef in factory feedlots does to the nature and culture of the Midwest. If we want to eat bovines, better that they graze on grass than be force-fed grains in a stall. And I wonder if bankrupting ranch operations that use public land but are based on private land is better than opening up that private land to vacation-home development. There is more than a little sentiment at work here, I suppose, a city person wanting to appear sensitive to leather-skinned cowboys, and some romanticized notions about the authenticity of the pastoral. But, as I say, sometimes you have to go with the aesthetics.

 

TODAY ON THE SITE:

Geeks at Work! The Liberty Tree design team is laboring over a new cover page for the site, designed to download faster and impart more information at the same time. By next Monday, we hope. If you have any comments, especially negative ones, about design of the site and its sections, do let us know at listen@libtree.org

 

Recent "Today" columns:

8/19: Not Dirty, but Bad
8/18: Thirty Glorious Years
8/15: We Span the Energy Globe
8/14: Up in Flames
8/13: Environmentalism for Grown-Ups
8/12: Right to No
8/11: Cleavage
8/08: The Monsters from 12,000 BC
8/07: A Little More Room
8/06: Big Victory, I Guess
8/05: Necessary Vulgarization

To access more "Today" columns, click "Archives" below.