Grand Staircase grazing plan

We are talking about beautiful natural areas, and the question is essentially one of distribution, namely, what is a fair way to distribute access to or use of beautiful land. It is one thing to support the rights of ranchers to use this land as long as they do so responsibly and sustainably, and while you could argue against this kind of use I think that represents a bit of an extreme position. Most people on here appear to be of the view that ranchers need to remember that this land is a public resource and as such it needs to be treated responsibly. It is not their private property to do whatever they fancy.

Bundy indeed did Ranchers a huge disservice. These people depend on the use of federal public lands; "big government" is not their enemy.
 
There is one basic problem with grazing in the desert. It isn't sustainable for the ecosystem. Take one look at all the scars from overgrazing throughout the southwest and its an easy conclusion to arrive at. Ranchers have been there a long time but 15 foot deep creeck beds weren't, not until they overgrazed the landscape.

This is what country suitable and sustainable for cattle grazing looks like

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Or This
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Or even this

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This is sustainable because cattle actually thrive on GRASS!

This land below is not compatible with cattle grazing. Grass is almost entirely absent and the plants available are so thin as to take up to 80 acres to sustain a single animal.

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Scrubland consists mostly of mostly scattered woody plants, cactus and increasingly, invasive species. It is only sustainable with huge below market grazing subsidies and out sourced supplemental feeding. Just like other industries reliant on government largesse and huge direct agricultural payments it should be allowed to expire. The costs of producing cattle and the additional external costs ( erosion, degradation of resource, invasion of non native species, huge transportation and energy costs, imported labor and immigration costs ) make for an extremely inefficient market in Utah. Welfare ranching creates entitlement and market failures that are harmful both to the ranchers and the land.
 
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