Cattle cattle everywhere on OUR property: Cattle on the Charles M. Russell National WILDLIFE Refuge

Are cattle “wildlife?”  No?  I didn’t think so either.

But here they are, as sure as rain, on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, like everywhere else in the country---our our public lands, tearing them up, eating the natural grasses, creating cattle poop that doesn’t disintegrate in your lifetime.

Once again we ask why?  The cattle raised on our taxpayer-funded public lands account for 2% or so of the cattle Americans eat.  A miniscule amount.  Would not be missed.  And while the ranchers who do this pay “fees,” for the use of this land so what?  

The fees don’t even cover the administrative costs.  It is like renting an apartment in an historic house to somebody at a loss.  But, of more significance, it isn’t YOUR apartment to rent---the apartment is only held by you to take care of by the 330 million actual owners.  And then you find out that when the renters leave they have torn up the place.  

When we have mentioned this issue at Ranger Stations or park offices, the answer (when there is one) is that it seems unfair to change anything since they (the ranchers) have been doing this for so long.

So what?  Whose way of life has been guaranteed by the US Government for “so long”?  Everybody’s jobs and livelihoods have changed dramatically in the past 25 years.  Everybody has had to adapt to changing times and changing economies.  Why is the US Government so concerned with protecting one (very small…..actually tiny) group’s way of making a living but not anybody else’s?

It needs to stop.  All of it.  As taxpayers we receive a LOT more income from this land from recreational uses than from cattle ranching, with FAR LESS damage to the fragile ecologies of our public lands.  It belongs to the 330 million of us, not to a few cattle ranchers and cattle that destroys our lands.  

So, which animal in this photo belongs here and which does not?

Side issue:  Most of the rules that apply to campers and other people who use these public lands for recreational uses have to do with not doing anything that degrades the quality of the lands.  It is really somewhat of a farce to have all of these rules when a single, small herd of cattle can cause so much destruction and leave the land disturbed for dozens of years.  

One hour later:

The closet to our camper we had seen cattle was about a mile from us.  After returning to our camper from our hike, eating lunch, and writing this blog entry, we looked out to see this:

It is like the Cattle Mafia came to our home to warn us to not post this blog entry, or they migt have ti do something about it we wouldn't like.