Rating: 
Summary: Rachel Carson Redux
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Rachel Carson Redux
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Public Land Grazing nearly Killed Me
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: The Western Range Revisited
Review: 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
Rating:
Summary: The Western Range Revisited
Review: 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
Rating:
Summary: This land is YOUR land. . . .
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: This land is YOUR land. . . .
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Look closer
Review: 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
Rating:
Summary: Look closer
Review: 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
Rating: 
Summary: Missed some major points
Review: Debra Donahue lays out lots of stats but misses the key facts about the ownership of the "public lands" of the west. If you are looking for a book that says cattle are bad, this is it. If you are looking for some facts to broaden your knowledge of the west or the land, this is not it.
| 
