To the editor:
This is in response to the article by Jeff Vice, "Proposed grazing attacked," Aug. 11.I think, perhaps, Mr. Vice was presented with the facts from only one side of this subject; at least that is how his article read. Because of the intense gravity of the subject, I feel morally compelled to respond to the article and offer another side for you and your readers to consider.
Lawmakers do understand the impact of the proposed legislation. That is why they have introduced the bills. Rep. Synar's bill will offer funds for land reclamation . . . to attempt to restore the overused, open range land as close to its original state as possible.
Perhaps the "sudden" drop in the price of cattle per head is due to the public's becoming more aware of how the cattle industry is destroying the global environment and is making a protest, of sorts.
I do not see this congressional agenda as "one issue by someone who wants to control land use." I see it as hope that there are some in power who can see how desperate the situation with the use of our public lands really is. The cattlemen and women are the ones who need to be educated about the impact of their industry.
The "Eastern representatives" may not "know all the facts"; however, they are much better informed than Mr. Larsen and Mr. Stuben and Mr. Vice about the effects of livestock grazing on the open range.
Ranching is rapidly approaching the category of "welfare industry"; it receives that much government subsidy. In further fact, livestock ranching on public lands causes federal, state and local taxpayers a net loss of $1 billion annually, if all negative impacts from public lands that are ranges are considered. It further causes a private economic loss of approximately $1 billion.
How about land costs? How many acres does it take to support a steer? Good, healthy, rich land will take two to 21/2 acres; within a few years, after the "cattle-use erosion," a single steer will require 12 acres. And what about water? To produce a single pound of beef, it takes 2,500 gallons of water. That's as much water as an average family uses in a combined household within a month.
The 17 Western states receive limited precipitation, yet their water supplies could support an economy and population twice the size of their present ones; but most of the water goes to produce livestock, either directly or indirectly. Thus, current water practices now threaten to undermine the economics of every state in this region.
Cattle ranchers have amassed roughly 75 percent of Western federal, state and local public lands for cattle ranching. That is 75 percent of Western public lands for only 3 percent of this country's beef.
Puggy Holmgren
Park City