Grazing the West--At Discount Prices

The recent discussion on grazing rights has grabbed my attention. I found this article along with an extensive fact sheet about the costs and effects of grazing the West. According to this sheet, the amount of beef produced that comes from animals grazing on Federal rangelands is less that 3.5%. There is also an estimated annual loss to the Treasury of anywhere from $20 million to $150 million per year due to grazing programs. It seems to me that the present grazing programs provide nothing but a few expensive hamburgers for the Treasury. This article, put together by the National Resource Defense Council, also claims that about 20% of all endangered species are further threatened by the effects of grazing, and that the number one threat to trout streams in the west is overgrazing. Professor Simmons brought up the idea that it isn't just overgrazing that can harm ecosystems, but minimal grazing can as well. Some ecosystems weren't meant to be grazed, and a slight change can bring about major, noticeable consequences as well as permanent damage.

The article also discusses the typical view of using federal rangeland as a "Graze it All" approach. With such obvious reasons for reforming the federal grazing policy, I don't understand why there isn't more being done.