Public-land ranchers have built tens of thousands of watering sites on federal lands. These improvements help wildlife as well as cattle. In the eastern and central United States, wildlife is almost entirely dependent on ranch, farm and other private lands. Many species have blossomed as a result of good private management. More increases in wildlife populations are foreseen as ranchers invest more time and effort in managing for wildlife on their land, particularly as the economic incentives to do so, specifically fee hunting and watchable wildlife opportunities, become the norm in many parts of the country.
Ranchers make significant investments in public lands which benefit society as a whole.
A rancher has no reason to manage his private land and public grazing allotments differently, as both are crucial to his operation and are most often intermingled. Since these lands are so integral to family ranching operations, ranchers have every incentive to manage them well. Ranchers often give free access across their private land to BLM and Forest Service lands beyond. As a result of intermingled land ownership, when one is given access they are usually spending time on both public lands and adjoining private land. Extreme views hurt the search for common ground.