It has long been a tenet of wildlife management that, on properly managed ranges, livestock presents no problems for wildlife. A corollary of this belief has it that livestock grazing is actually beneficial to wildlife. I personally must have been thoroughly indoctrinated with these ?facts? when I was getting a degree in wildlife many years ago. Certainly I never serjously questioned them for a long time afterwards despite personal observations that should have given me pause. There is, of course, a kernel of truth in these ideas. Unfortunately what is generally ignored is that qualifier ??on properly managed ranges." Also ignored is the fact that the species of wildlife occasionally favored by grazing are seldom as desirable as those that are displaced. In reality, despite such a long cherished and widely held belief that all is well between livestock and wildlife, the grazing of domestic livestock on western rangelands has probably had a greater adverse impact on wildlife populations than any other single factor. The impacts are particularly severe on the deserts of the Southwest.
|
