Rustlers Beware

I recently read an account of rustling in Nevada and the deterrent element provided by brand inspectors. This is my first time of having seen evidence of one.

Small white sign pinned to the truck. Notice how trammeled the ground is.

Let's NOT Give It Back

There're rumors these days of returning public lands to Native Americans. Some of the rumors are fueled by romanticism about how "naturally sustainable" they are. 

The road to Ojito crosses Zia Pueblo. Below are pictures of that land. 

There's NO vegetation that'll feed a cow. Here's one they let die....for lack of water or feed.

A closeup for you forensic folks who might be able to attribute it to something besides starvation or dehydration.

Yup, they've learned a thing or two about "extractive" practices. The ground's so pulverized from trampling that when the wind blows the area looks like 1930s Oklahoma.

Letter to Monticello BLM Field Office

Latest Version (yet to mail)....


Mr. Jeremy Martin
Supervisory Park Ranger, Monticello Field Office
Bueau of Land Management
POB 7
365 N. Main St.
Monticello, Utah 84535

                               Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Dear Mr. Martin:

This hyarz a vituperative rant so needz tuh be red with 'n' ear cocked for the nuances of inflection.

My wyf an' I spint the past sevrl weeks hikin' an' campin' upwards from Bluff, Utah to a few mylz south uv Jacob's Chair.

We'd took note of the fact -- in a 1998 issue of Archeology Southwest Magazine -- that cattle'd bin banned from much uv the Cedar Mesa beginnin' in the 1940s. Thus, we wuz EXTREMELY upset tuh see the profUSION of cow shit and depreedations occurring in Butler Wash, Comb Wash (Snow Flat Rd), Johns Canyon an' in the Kane Gulch area.

Whenz this gonna stop?!

Seein' this, it's damned hard tuh take seriously any of ya'll's exhortations an' admoenishunz tuh Leave No Trace, hopscotch, stay on trailz tuh prezrve cryptobiotic soils.

WHEN ar our public lands gonna be returnt tuh providin'  habitat for the indigenous species? A frequent question from people we meet is: "Haz u seed enny wyldlife?" In over 50 yarz uv travel we ain't NEVER had no-one 'citedly ast: "Didjoo see thet thar cow?!"

The time has LONG past tuh keep BSin' folks 'bout sustainin' the myths o' duh West.

PLEASE do all you kin tuh reemove lifestock fum our public lands.

Thank you.

Sincerely,


MFH

Whaddya tink?

Popular opinion about ranching in the West has shifted over the past couple of decades. There's increasing pressure to retire grazing allotments on public lands, especially in places such as Cedar Mesa and Bears Ears Natl Monument. Overgrazing has so devastated the West scientists predict the ecology will EVOLVE rather than recover. I first wrote this in a standard, straightforward manner, but it just seemed too boring. Ms. Cook thot I'd get a better response by leaving out the crudities (since expunged) and returning to standard english. Y Usted?