Is Cattle Grazing an Appropriate Use of Public Lands?
The heart of the public lands grazing controversy can only be found in human values. Some believe that the public lands are innately invaluable and should not be grazed by domestic livestock or exploited by humans at any cost. Wilderness, they say, is a necessary antidote to our modern civilization. On the other extreme are those who do not even recognize the government’s legitimacy to regulate the “public lands”, that based on historical claims should still belong to homesteading ranchers. Still others suggest that forage rights to public lands should be privatized and sold on the market to ranchers and conservationists alike freeing each to pursue his/her own management objectives. In addition, some citizens feel that because public lands grazing supports a unique culture and Western tradition, that it should be allowed to continue. Others argue that the mythical cowboy of the “Old West” never really existed and that civilized people should be allowed to enjoy nature without stepping
