Livestock grazing in the Great Basin has increased cheatgrass, a highly flammable annual grass. Livestock advocates allege targeted grazing can reduce large wildfires. Photo George Wuerthner
A recent publication in the Journal of Rangeland Ecology and Management, “Evaluating the efficacy of targeted cattle grazing for fuel break creation and maintenance,” perpetuates […]
Continue Reading →Livestock is one of the major factors in cheatgrass invasion across the West. Photo George Wuerthner
Wildfire is a big issue in Western states. As climate warming has increased temperatures, created severe drought, and increased winds, wildfire has become more challenging to control, and the annual acreage burned is growing over the […]
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Targeted grazing seeks to create vegetation free zones, which advocates suggest will assist firefighters in controlling blazes. However, the collateral damage from grazing vastly exceeds any benefits. Photo George Wuerthner
A recent article in the Post Register described the research that the University of Idaho Range Department conducted on Continue Reading →
The ecological impacts of livestock production is significant and there is seldom a full accounting of these costs. Photo George Wuerthner
Livestock is responsible for more ecological damage to the western landscape than any other human activity. However, few accounting of these impacts is ever compiled. One source is my book Continue Reading →
No chance of fires here–remove all vegetation and your problem with wildfire is solved. Photo George Wuerthner
A recent article in the Capitol Press titled: “New game plan: How targeted grazing on public lands is changing” describes how targeted grazing can fix any problems on public lands. Not unlike how […]
Continue Reading →Biocrusts are important in arid ecosystems. Photo George Wuerthner
Biological soil crusts, known as biocrusts, are lichens, algae, mosses, fungi, and cyanobacteria common on the soil surface.[i]They are critical to arid ecosystems, where they help to reduce soil erosion and maintain stability. They assist in water retention and act like […]
Continue Reading →Senators Steve Daines of Montana and Diane Feinstein of California have once again introduced legislation, the “Emergency Wildfire and Public Safety Act of 2020” that is based upon misguided assumptions that fuel reductions will preclude the large blazes occurring as the West.
Never mind that climate change is the driving force in all these fires […]
Continue Reading →Juniper removal below Abert Rim, Oregon Photo by George Wuerthner
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is now taking comments on a massive vegetation project for the Great Basin and adjacent areas of the Colorado Plateau. The PEIS for Fuels Reduction and Rangeland Restoration in the Great Basin (the Fuels Reduction and […]
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Caption: Above Cheatgrass invades fuel break cleared along road in Oregon. Bottom: Fuel break created in Idaho’s Snake River Plain. Photos by George Wuerthner
The Department of Interior released a final decision to created 11,000 miles of linear cheatgrass corridors, which they are euphemistically calling “fuel breaks.” Think […]
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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is rewriting its grazing regulations to allow more “flexibility” into range management. The agency even proposes increases in grazing seasons and numbers. All of this, of course, is the result of the pressure from the fox (Trump administration) guarding the hen house.
I think most career […]
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