Grazing Team: Sierra Club Activist Network

Summary: We advocate for eliminating the adverse effects of livestock production on native species and their habitats on all federal public lands of the United States.

Livestock grazing occurs on more federal public lands than any other commercial use, affecting more than 260 million acres—an area the size of Texas and California combined! Additional impacts related to livestock grazing—including water diversions, wildlife killings, and mile after mile of fencing—further threaten the wildlife and wild character of these public lands, including habitats important to many of our most imperiled species of plants and animals.

In the United States, livestock grazing has contributed to the listing of 22 percent of federal threatened and endangered species—almost equal to logging (12 percent) and mining (11 percent) combined. Nationwide, livestock grazing is the 4th major cause of species endangerment and the 2nd major cause of endangerment of plant species. No other human activity in the West is as responsible for the decline or loss of species as is livestock production. The Sierra Club has placed a high priority on protecting and restoring native wildlife and habitat to our public lands by seeking management changes that will correct livestock impacts. In some locations, this may require an end to commercial livestock production.

The goal of the Sierra Club’s grazing campaign is to promote the health of our federal public lands by eliminating the adverse effects of livestock production on native species and their habitats on all federal public lands.

The Sierra Club recognizes that the preponderance of scientific evidence documents that grazing by non-native species has led to severe and sometimes irreversible degradation of native ecosystems. Federal public lands belong to the American public and must be managed to maintain their long-term ecological integrity.

Our Projects

The Grazing Team is working on two projects: 1) monitoring of environmental conditions on federal grazing allotments, including cow counting; 2) enactment of legislation that allows any rancher to voluntarily relinquish his federal grazing permit and to direct the management agency to permanently close the associated grazing allotment.

How You Can Help

* Link the Grazing site from your Group or Chapter website.

* People interested in learning how to monitor conditions on public lands grazing allotments in their area are invited to contact Jim Catlin at jim@wildutahproject.org.

* If you’re interested in legislative issues involving public lands ranching or in educating the public about the topic, please contact Mike Hudak at mike_hudak@yahoo.com.

Comment Wall

Mike Hudak

April 23

Grace Adams: "Would buying out the grazing rights of ranchers now running cattle on the commons and replacing the cattle with bison managed as game animals work any better?" Normal migration of bison typically resulted in an area being grazed once every 5-7 years. Plus there were many other species now absent. Such restoration is the long-term goal of the Great Plains Restoration Council. One issue to consider is that most of these lands are privately owned (not public).

Grace Adams

April 23

TED talk reminds me of "Graze Anatomy" in a 2010 anthology by Daedalus Books. I believe rotational grazing has a place instead of raising corn, soy, and hay in fields to feed to cattle on feedlots but maybe not in American Southwest deserts.

Grace Adams

April 23

Would buying out the grazing rights of ranchers now running cattle on the commons and replacing the cattle with bison managed as game animals work any better.

Sudhir Sajwan

March 15

HATS OFF TO ALL MEMBERS FOR THEIR TREMENDOUS EFFORTS.

Jane Feldman

March 07

Hmmm... Sure do wish there were easy answers...!! Living in the Mojave Desert, I've seen public lands after cattle, feral horses and feral burros have been allowed to persist for too long. The animals themselves suffer as well.

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