It is unfortunate that money seems to have so much power over everything. It is especially unfortunate that money is more important than generations and generations of a family's ranch. Large companies are coming in and pretty much giving ranchers no choice but to give up their land. I don't think that is it really fair to have the ranchers in the Southwest exploited in a way that their animals are placed on an endangered list in order to avoid the ranchers making a profit on their land. I don't think it is fair or ethical that the large investment companies are placing the blame on the farmers and ranchers in order to get access to their land.
I was happy the rancher in Arizona successfully defended his position and his cattle, (that they did not degrade the area he was using) and that he was awarded some sum of money. Hopefully this offset some of the legal costs that I am sure he endured.
I also feel bad for the ranchers. I work with a lot of great ranchers, interacting with them on a professional level. I find many to be progressive people who have pride in their ability be great stewards of the land. And yet even the best ones get hampered by regulations, environmentalists, and well meaning people.
ReplyDeleteOne weird scenarios is when a rancher does everything right to increase biodiversity, but that increase brought with it an endangered species. So the good sustainable work is rewarded with regulations and sometimes loss of the ranch. There are ways around that now, but it is still a tricky subject.
Then there are the activist environmentalists who are always out for blood. Just last month the Center for Biological Diversity was able to convince the Fish and Wildlife Service to designate 1,100 square miles of southern Arizona and New Mexico as critical habitat for the endangered Jaguar. That comes with a whole list of rules and regulations that will impact everyone that lives there. The kicker is that in the last 50 years there have only been three sightings of jaguar down there, all male. So there are no breeding pairs. Also, since it is at the very tip of the supposed northern extent of jaguar habitat, there is strong skepticism that the land is suitable as critical habitat. Those arguments have already been made and lost. 1,100 square miles of new rules and regulations that need to be dealt with.