Mike Hudak has written a book about what it is like for the citizen-activists who are fighting the livestock industry over livestock abuses on your western public lands. It can be pretty dangerous, especially to your job.
Review of the book. The Politics of Public Lands Ranching. Western Turf Wars. By Jamie Newlin. Counterpunch.
I hope some folks will pick this book up at amazon.com or better http://westernturfwars.com
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Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University with specialties in natural resource politics, public opinion, interest groups, political parties, voting and elections. Aside from academic publications, he is author or co-author of three hiking/backpacking guides, and he is past President of the Western Watersheds Project.
I went to the westernturfwars website and now I am going to get this book. I was a seasonal Forest Service Range Technician for 8 years. I observed several livestock companies exert their influence. They exert pressure on their state congressional representatives to force the Forest Service to do what they want. One livestock company in particular was able to have a portion of a roadless area designated general forest-multiple use in the revised forest service plan. Their grazing allotments encompass this portion of the roadless area. This roadless area has highly erodible soils, and should not be designated general forest-multiple use. Roadless areas allow grazing, but this livestock company has rallied hard against roadless area management. This livestock company also has employed big time government predator control on their allotments.
There is now a fire management proposal for some of their allotments that would allow mechanical treatments
(bulldozers) to be used to construct fire lines, in case the controlled burn gets out of hand. The soil science of the highly erodible soils is being ignored.
MP
You are certain right. SOP for the livestock industry and one-party states like Idaho; . . . and as we have seen, maybe two-party states like Washington.
Andy Kerr has lots of good, solid info at his Web site: http://www.andykerr.net/Grazing/GrazingPT.htm