03/21/07 Angry man

Angry Man What happens when you get an angry man with an agenda? I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be right back to tell you. Many years ago, Jon Marvel had a disagreement with a rancher about a cattle, dog and fencing issue within an open range area. In this area it was Mr. Marvel's responsibility to fence his property and no agreement was made to fence the property as neighbors. Evidently this perturbed Jon Marvel to the point of disliking every cow and cowman in the western United States. His vendetta against cattle in general and particularly cattle grazing federal lands spawned the Western Watersheds Project or WWP dedicated basically ridding federal lands of any cow that is grazing there or might ever graze there. Marvel says cattle ranching tradition and culture are archaic and dying. Oh by the way, he is doing everything possible to help that demise take place, such as opposing clearing of Juniper trees to trying to convince people not to eat meat. Well, Jon there is some pretty solid evidence that I have seen proving removing excess Junipers improve watersheds and increases stream flows. The issue of not eating meat especially beef is a personal preference and personal choice seems to be very popular in our country. I understand Mr. Marvel is an architect. Well, there are plenty of areas I'm sure people regret seeing buildings and developments covering once open and natural lands, oh, I forgot it's not really about what's good for the land  it's about a pure dislike to cattle and cattlemen. I'm Jeff Keane Western Farmer-Stockman March 2007