The Center points out that cows, adapted to life in fertile agricultural land, can have devastating effects on the indigenous wildlife of this more fragile ecology where water is scarce. It's an oligarchy of people who conquered the land and others who bought in to the romance. They put on cowboy hats and think they're kings of the earth. It's true that the cowboys, symbols of self-reliance, have actually been cosseted by the government for years. Rates on private land would be six or seven times higher.
Ranchers get flood and drought payments and subsidies to build fences and water tanks.
In effect, say environmentalists, they get paid to trash the land. According to Todd Schulke, a zoologist working with the Center, the Gila valley is the only river basin in the world where every native fish species have been wiped out or recommended for listing as an endangered species. Cattlemen, in turn, accuse government agencies of degrading grassland by suppressing fires and encouraging too many trees. They point to the recent reintroduction of the Mexican grey wolf to national parks as a case of the American public's infatuation with wilderness rather than people. Western cowboys feel the political tide has turned against them.