NM National Forests closed to sheep/goat grazing permits protect Bighorn

[cal30_sniper]

I found this to be interesting.

Now if we could do something about the legions of cattle.

Santa Fe, Carson forests closed to goats, sheep to protect bighorn sheep

Sheep and goats grazing illegally in wilderness areas is not a frequent problem and the order is intended to keep it that way, Forest Service spokeswoman Julie Anne Overton wrote

www.santafenewmexican.com

 

[slick]

It might actually provide benefit having cattle on the landscape.

Even if cows were to be removed it doesn’t automatically mean the forest becomes healthier and now there’s more elk.

I’ve seen areas where they’ve kicked off permit holders and after 10 years it looks like sh*t.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[S.Clancy]

I found this to be interesting.

Now if we could do something about the legions of cattle.

Santa Fe, Carson forests closed to goats, sheep to protect bighorn sheep

Sheep and goats grazing illegally in wilderness areas is not a frequent problem and the order is intended to keep it that way, Forest Service spokeswoman Julie Anne Overton wrote

www.santafenewmexican.com

There's a lot of research out there to show that grazing has a positive benefit on grassland production, primarily bovids. Now sheep are a bit different because they can essentially graze to the dirt due to their teeth.
The biggest thing about cattle is they are a vector for noxious weeds, but so are ATV/UTVs and horses. It's a complicated world.

 

[cal30_sniper]

Yep, once you mess with the natural balance, you're in unexplored territory.

Cattle vs Bison grazing, Wolf/Predator Reintroduction, Controlled Burns, Logging, and many other of our most controversial topics fall under this category.

A bit different than the forest area referenced in this article, but my comment regarding cattle was ambiguously directed towards the Rio Puerco BLM/Forest area that I like to frequent. Centuries of overgrazing public/govt land there has done unquantifiable damage to the natural landscape, and continues to date.

I also spent a bunch of time in White River National Forest last year in CO, and was appalled from some of the overgrazing/overpopulation damage I saw from cattle there during a drought year. I grew up around angus cattle, angora goat, and merino sheep operations as a kid/young adult, and spent many a summer working those outfits. I'm somewhat familiar with what good land management in a harsh environment looks like, and the two examples above weren't it.

 

[ZDR]

Funny, I’ve never seen goats or sheep in NM wilderness areas. I have seen the overgrazing in many areas and then there is the ‘permanent’ ranchers camp in the Pecos wilderness that the forest service turns a blind eye to. The cattle I get, not the permanent camp though.

 

[cal30_sniper]

Yeah, I don't spend much time in the areas they referenced in this article. I just found it interesting, and hadn't seen it as a topic for discussion here.

 

[Schaaf]

Worth noting this decision had nothing to do with whether domestic sheep overgrazing allotments.

It was about preventing disease transmission.

Now the Forest service needs to grow a pair and do this in places like CO/ID/MT

 

[brocksw]

Worth noting this decision had nothing to do with whether domestic sheep overgrazing allotments.

It was about preventing disease transmission.

Now the Forest service needs to grow a pair and do this in places like CO/ID/MT

this should be SOP from here on out, when going back over grazing leases. Not just in wilderness areas, but all FS and BLM lands.